and I’m hoeing into my autumn harvest of sweet little golden nugget pumpkins making soups, roasting halves in the oven with a cheesy filling…..(more of that to come in recipes!) and making beautiful roast veggie salads but there’s also one other thing that I’ve been enjoying……..tomatoes and basil! Yes, you heard me correctly!! TOMATOES and BASIL over winter. How so you say? Well remember the cuttings I took from the excess foliage that I planted in pots? I bought those babies inside when the weather started cooling off and ta-da!!…..Winter cherry tomatoes!!

I have them behind glass in a sunny position inside and have had the most beautiful crop! Tomatoes are self pollinating so you don’t need the help of pollinators such as bees and other beneficial insects so growing them inside is a fantastic option….and a practical winter solution to bulk out those winter greens.

I also have a fantastic variety of basil growing indoors on the window sill called ‘lettuce leaf’ or ‘ocimum basilicum’

It’s leaves grow rather large….a bit more like a lettuce leaf so they work perfectly chopped up and sprinkled over the halved cherry tomatoes with a couple of pinches of salt and a grind of fresh pepper! Who said winter produce is boring!