Where are the Italians when you need them?

I have four of these little trays on the go at the moment, with a ripening banana sitting on top of each one. And I have just two or three cherry tomatoes ripening up, a roma here and there, an oxheart or two.
The big ribbed giants and the beefsteaks are only just starting to colour up here and there and suddenly I'm starting to panic about the volume of tomatoes going to have in our garden.
I may have to invite my sister-in-law's Nonna over for a month ;)
Other than that, kids, get ready for bruschetta, pizza & tomato salads - there's going to be a lot of them.

Garden Royalty

So my summer harvest has begun in all earnest and I'm starting to panic about the volume of food. My latest success is the purple beans. These are Violet Queens & Purple Kings (bush & climbing).
Sadly, they turn green when cooked - I'm trying to find the fine line between cooked & warm that my children will still eat. The ToddlerTerror isn't as keen on these raw as he is the 'matoes' & 'sorberries'

Here's someone else fascinated by purple vegies and an idea to keep their colour which I'll have to try out - preserving the purple in vegies. I wonder if lemon juice would tenderise them, without cooking out the purple?
A perfect suggestion for my early glut came from My Carolina Kitchen, looking forward to trying this for NYE visitors.
And some great bean recipes.

Back Where I Belong

It's a sunny Saturday & I've spent the morning planting my bean seedlings against a woven bamboo wind break. The plan is that the fast growing beans will provide a windbreak for the tomatoes which are taking a beating...
We will see.