Toms galore

At last our lovely Crimée noire tomatoes are ripening. I picked about seven kilos of tomatoes and courgettes early this morning so we've spent part of the day making delicious gazpacho and some more courgette pickle.

If you haven't grown tomatoes from seed before I urge you to try it. There is little more wondrous than planting some tiny seeds in spring then harvesting these mid-summer beauties. Tomatoes warm and fresh from the vine are packed with tongue-tempting flavours and the texture is quite unlike their shop-bought pretenders.