Thanks!
There is a challenge in keeping too much produce when it all comes ripe at once. I got myself a decent sized chest freezer - I get quite a lot of boar and venison from the local hunt and freezing it is the only option. But this gives me freezer space for the tomatoes. Although making ketchup and storing that in jars is another good option. Beetroot, part roasted, freezes well (and goes nicely with boar stew in the winter).
I’m off to buy horse muck for the patch where I’ll put my 20+ butternut squash plants. These I’ve grown from seeds simply kept over from the last squash I cooked. First the patch needs dug over. Oh my aching back !!
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Yesterday my horse owning neighbour left three bags of fresh manure in her front garden for me to take. Crikey, it was like a weightlifting challenge! She hefted them into my car boot, then I drove straight to my allotment, backed almost to my plot, pulled them out onto the ground and pulled them, one by one, using a festival type trolley. Hard with the uneven ground but I managed it. Met a fellow plot holder on the path, said ‘fresh horse manure!’ and she answered ‘your stuff will grow well, lucky you.’
I have had to leave them in situ because the weather had turned nasty by that time (as my sister was with me briefly and I had to wait in for her). Will empty out the bags when it is warm and dry, and the neighbour can refill (though she agreed not as full this time). It can go into my new compost bin and onto a spare raised bed which I will cover and leave for a few months, till ready to dig in.
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Yes, hard work Jan @Jazzi , but well worth the effort for the good that it does. 
Luckily there are stables near us that leave their horse droppings, ready bagged, outside of their gates for anyone to collect as long as the bags are returned, so I often pick up half a dozen bags when passing and put them on my compost heaps to mix in with the green garden and kitchen waste…
All the seedlings are still looking good in spite of the late frosts, but we do cover them with fleece and light the paraffin heater if a frost is forecast…
Just started off some runner bean seeds (White Lady) and some French bean seeds to plant out later on in May.
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Exceptional.
My x20+ butternut squash plants are growing very fast in their pots. So fast I need to crack on over the next few days and get their plot dug over. And dig in serious compost as squash have proven to be hungry veg.
But my big worry is frost. My local neighbour says never plant tomatoes before mid May - but mine are in already. As are my courgettes. And tomorrow I’m thinking of buying a couple of aubergines (me missus hates them but a local friend does as mean cold aubergine, tomato and yogurt curry … ok sounds duff but is excellent.).
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Today I emptied the bags of horse manure (bleurgh!!!), struggled with the storage box but when I returned it to Wickes someone did it in less than 2 minutes. Got it back on the allotment. And did some strimming.
Hoping to go another day for more digging. Still need to get that greenhouse up. I miscalculated the width needed so have to do a bit more.
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PS, looking good, Barry. My own ones at home are doing well, waiting for planting out. A lady from the cafe meet has offered some tomato plants, so I said I’d take them (next week). Not sown mine yet.
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Looks a good crop @Minx ,what are you going to do with them? I tend to make passata or soup with mine.
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I’m made a green salad and perhaps a lovely tomato 
pasta!
Sounds great, I’ll be there in five… 
I have made soup in the past and not added any other ingredient, maybe some seasoning, but sieved tomatoes on their own, and water, made a lovely soup. Do you have a recipe you can share please@.
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I have somewhere Jan, I’ll dig it out for you tomorrow. 
This is it that I posted August 21…
Today I made tomato soup with surplus veg from the garden, tomatoes, carrots, onion and basil, (although celery courtesy of Tesco… 
)
Raw ingredients.
Prepared veg
Finished article (minus a bowlful which I will have for my tea)…
My first attempt at making this but it’s delicious, and has made ten portions for the freezer.
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Thanks. I will forego the basil as it repeats on me. Never thought of bulking it up with carrots.
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Here’s the recipe that I used @Jazzi , although I did tweak it a little to suit what I had to hand. 
Ingredients
• 1-1.25kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 12oz ripe tomatoes
. 1 medium onion
• 1 small carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 squirts of tomato purée (about 2 tsp)
• a good pinch of sugar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1.2 litres/2 pints hot vegetable stock (made with boiling water and 4 rounded tsp bouillon powder or 2 stock cubes)
Method
• STEP 1
First, prepare your vegetables. You need 1-1.25kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 12oz ripe tomatoes. If the tomatoes are on their vines, pull them off. The green stalky bits should come off at the same time, but if they don’t, just pull or twist them off afterwards. Throw the vines and green bits away and wash the tomatoes. Now cut each tomato into quarters and slice off any hard cores (they don’t soften during cooking and you’d get hard bits in the soup at the end). Peel 1 medium onion and 1 small carrot and chop them into small pieces. Chop 1 celery stick roughly the same size.
• STEP 2
Spoon 2 tbsp olive oil into a large heavy-based pan and heat it over a low heat. Hold your hand over the pan until you can feel the heat rising from the oil, then tip in the onion, carrot and celery and mix them together with a wooden spoon. Still with the heat low, cook the vegetables until they’re soft and faintly coloured. This should take about 10 minutes and you should stir them two or three times so they cook evenly and don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
• STEP 3
Holding the tube over the pan, squirt in about 2 tsp of tomato purée, then stir it around so it turns the vegetables red. Shoot the tomatoes in off the chopping board, sprinkle in a good pinch of sugar and grind in a little black pepper. Tear 2 bay leaves into a few pieces and throw them into the pan. Stir to mix everything together, put the lid on the pan and let the tomatoes stew over a low heat for 10 minutes until they shrink down in the pan and their juices flow nicely. From time to time, give the pan a good shake – this will keep everything well mixed.
• STEP 4
Slowly pour in the 1.2 litres/2 pints of hot stock (made with boiling water and 4 rounded tsp bouillon powder or 2 stock cubes), stirring at the same time to mix it with the vegetables. Turn up the heat as high as it will go and wait until everything is bubbling, then turn the heat down to low again and put the lid back on the pan. Cook gently for 25 minutes, stirring a couple of times. At the end of cooking the tomatoes will have broken down and be very slushy-looking.
• STEP 5
Remove the pan from the heat, take the lid off and stand back for a few seconds or so while the steam escapes, then fish out the pieces of bay leaf and throw them away. Ladle the soup into your blender until it’s about three-quarters full, fit the lid on tightly and turn the machine on full. Blitz until the soup’s smooth (stop the machine and lift the lid to check after about 30 seconds), then pour the puréed soup into a large bowl. Repeat with the soup that’s left in the pan. (The soup may now be frozen for up to three months. Defrost before reheating.)
• STEP 6
Pour the puréed soup back into the pan and reheat it over a medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until you can see bubbles breaking gently on the surface. Taste a spoonful and add a pinch or two of salt if you think the soup needs it, plus more pepper and sugar if you like. If the colour’s not a deep enough red for you, plop in another teaspoon of tomato purée and stir until it dissolves. Ladle into bowls and serve. Or sieve and serve chilled with some cream swirled in.
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Don’t suppose you have ever seen these, Feijoas,
As it’s now autumn figs are with us.
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No I don’t recognise those @Ciderman , are they a fruit or a vegetable? Do you grow them and do you grow the figs?
Thanks for the recipe, Barry. I will tweak the quantity.
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Feijoas are an aromatic fruit with a beautiful flavour. They originated in South America but probably were bought to NZ by early Polynesian navigators long ago.
Figs are still cropping although getting to the end soon.
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