First autumn storm has come and gone. It's time to summarise the gardening year. Growing season was a tad shorter this year because we built a new glasshouse in May. It is made entirely of recycled materials such as old windows, iron beams, Makrolon thermoplastic (for the roof, more stable under the weight of snow) and thick plywood boards from previous projects. The only thing we had to buy was an automated ventilation window installed on the roof. The glasshouse is twice as big as the previous one and has movable raised beds.

On the left, fresh baby carrots, on the right, roasted carrots, beets and onions.

I had great luck with carrots, all five colours developed equally well. Unlike last summer, when I got only yellow and orange carrots the day I set up to photograph them, the purple ones had decided to hide it out. This time I was able to dig up white, yellow, orange, red and purple carrots, all in one go.

Beetroots were a success as well. Three varieties, yellow, red and pink-striped. Fresh herbs, crisp salads and radishes throughout the summer, more cucumbers than we could possibly eat (threw half of the cucumbers in the compost) and an array of tomatoes that are still growing.

Roast quail served with roasted carrot ribbons and roasted beetroot cubes.

Roast quail with rosemary, thyme and garlic

2 quails, cleaned, rinsed, pat dry
quarter of a lemon, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
10g butter
2 sprigs of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary, halved
salt, pepper

For the herb butter
16g butter
1 tsp thyme leaves
1 tsp picked rosemary
1 smallish garlic clove
salt, pepper

First prepare the herb butter. Finely chop the herbs and garlic. Mix well with butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Use your fingers to loosen the skin on the quails' breasts. Make little pockets under the skin for the herb butter. Spread it as evenly as possible. Stuff the rest of the ingredients, lemon slices, herb sprigs and extra butter, into the cavities of the birds. Take some kitchen string to tie their legs together for even cooking. Brush the outsides with garlic oil if you happen to have any. Season with salt and pepper.
Lay in a roasting tin and roast at 200°C for about 15 minutes. After removing from the oven, wrap in tin foil for 10 minutes.