Autumnal Colour

At this time of year the fruit and veg patch is definitely beginning to look a bit sorry for itself. The broad beans, runner beans, peas and courgettes have finished their cropping and have been removed. The tops of the main crop potatoes are dieing back and the Autumn raspberries have been picked and their foliage is turning yellow and beginning to fall. Amidst the greens and yellows the vibrant autumnal purple red hues of the blueberry bushes push themselves to the forefront of ones cognisance. Outdoor gardening is drawing to a close.

Almost Free Food.

There is a sense of satisfaction, perhaps even smugness in growing your own fruit and vegetables. There are no air miles, the produce is fresh and if you forget about the expense of time you are ending up with very cheap food.

Even better is food that literally pops up of its own accord and all you have to do is kneel down and pick it. I am fortunate that my garden throws up a wide variety of edible fungi every year. Most I consume fresh but when an over abundance occurs I then resort to drying them in the lower reaches of the trusty aga.

Mushrooms haven't been the only free food from the garden this August. I have four or five wild cherry trees growing along one of the marches and I was able to pick just over four pounds of fruit from their lower branches. Unfortunately cherries do force you to work a bit. It takes a long time to pick four pounds of the small wild fruit and then there is the effort of pitting.

 

 

Redcurrant Delight.

This time last year the produce from the redcurrant bushes was feeding the local blackbirds and thrushes. Once there was even a blush of red on the fruit they were spotted and devoured by my feathered friends. There was no sharing of nature's spoil. They saw red. They saw an easy meal. They stripped the bushes of their berries much more efficiently than any mechanical harvester. Now it is my turn to have the upper hand. The fruitcage is in place and the avaricious birds are kept at bay. I pulled about a pint of red currants this morning so probably something in excess of a pound. It does seem rather strange talking about pints of fruit. I expect that a few small pots of redcurrant jelly now require production.

 

Egg Plants and Chillis.

A bit late in the year but I have finally planted the aubergines in their final positions in the greenhouse. As in previous years I plumped on a variety which promises large numbers of small fruit. Todays's efforts also resulted in the planting of fifteen peppers of which nine were sweet peppers with the balance being of the chilli variety. All of these have been planted in pots sunk in the greenhouse border. I have several chilli peppers remaining and I expect that these will end up in pots on the greenhouse staging.

 

Tomato Growth.

 

It is now five weeks since I planted the tomato plants in their rings in the greenhouse. At that stage they were probably about eight inches high. Since then they have put on more than two feet of growth. I am always surprised at how quickly tomatoes grow. I shouldn't be. It's not that they are catching me unawares. After all I have been growing them for almost fifty years. But there is something so luxuriant and vigorous in their growth that never ceases to amaze me.

The plants have all thrown their third trusses and the lower trusses have begun to set their fruit. I will now have to start feeding them. Every three or four days I have been removing the side shoots so as to ensure that all the plants' energy goes into strong vertical growth and the setting of more fruit. Although I have what would be described as a large domestic greenhouse it doesn't have the height to allow me to get more than six trusses per plant even from the row next the central path. At the present rate of growth I would expect to be nipping out the leaders by the middle of July by which time the first fruit should be just about ready to pull. Tomato sandwiches beckon.

 

Fruit Cage Constructed.

The blackbirds and thrushes of the neighbourhood are not enamoured of me. I have now done what I had been threatening to do for three or four years. I have erected a fruit cage with the aim of retaining all my soft fruit for myself rather than providing my feathered friends with a self service restaurant.

To be truly accurate I assisted in the construction. A friend who is a builder/carpenter together with his son provided most of the brains and brawn in the operation. I did as I was directed. In any event the cage is now in situ. It took almost seven hours from start to finish, somewhat longer than all of us had anticipated. It is I suppose quite large measuring six metres by five metres and now houses my raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, red currants and blackcurrants.

 

Tomato Planting Time Again.

Monday was hot. Too hot to do anything in the greenhouse until the sun had sank in the sky and the glare of light on glass had dissipated. However with the comfortable warmth of eventide I was able to plant out my tomato plants in their rings. It is just about eight weeks since I sowed the seed. I grew on two varieties this year Shirley (an F1 hybrid), and Ailsa Craig. The seed packet for the former only provided ten seeds whilst I ended up with about sixty seedlings from the packet of Ailsa Craig seeds. I think that it almost deserves the designation of heritage variety. It is now some fifty years since I first grew this particular tomato. I do have to concede that I did have to avail of some adult assistance for the first couple of years.

 

 

Bubble Wrapped Tomatoes

Last year I lost several seedling tomatoes thanks to late frosts. This year I have been covering the developing plants with sheets of bubble wrap at night. To date this has provided the necessary degree of protection. If the weather forecasts can be believed I am hoping that tonight will be the last time that I will have to create my bubble wrap tent in the greenhouse for this year.

Another fortnight and the tomatoes should be ready to plant out in their rings in the greenhouse border. Although the plants are no more than six inches tall I am already recognising that distinctive tomato plant aroma whenever I slide back the door and enter the shelter and warmth of the greenhouse. Summer may be still in anticipation but the tomatoes are its harbingers.

 

Orchard Days

 

My orchard is nearly complete. Finally! Only one space remains. At the moment this lacuna is more accurately described as a potential space as a pile of pea gravel occupies the area. By next spring the gravel will be used up and I will have to decide upon an arboreal companion for the present residents. This late winter/early spring I have planted a mulberry; two damsons, (merryweather) as well as four apple trees, (two bramleys and two eaters). When complete the orchard/nuttery will have a total of twenty eight trees. I suspect that it will be a few years yet before I need to start thinking of ways to use up surpluses! It will be good to be able to knock another couple of items off the supermarket shopping list.

 

Caged Fruit

Up until now I have foregone the benefit of a fruit cage for my soft fruit. There didn't seem to be a great need for one. It is only in the last couple of years that the blackbirds have garnered more fruit than me. I have two short rows of raspberries as well as three gooseberry bushes, three large blackcurrant bushes, a red currant and a blueberry.

I have determined that I will have the benefit of all of the ripening fruit this year. It seems therefore that I must invest in protective measures. I will need a 6m X 5m cage. One of my friends recommended that I should contact a firm by the name of , "Knowle Nets." They provide standard shaped cages with dimensions available in half metre variables. They can also manufacture customised cages. All of the cages are two metres high. Depending upon whether one elects for aluminium or steel fittings and the quality of the netting prices would range from £336 to £518 so not an inconsiderable price. I will have to check on the carriage costs.

 

Orchard Selection.

My embryonic orchard/nuttery presently has four cob trees; three cherries; three pear trees; six apple trees; three plums and a quince. I still have an area to clear of its willow and brambles. Hopefully I will be able to denude it before the end of March. I commenced the task today and managed to cut down four willow saplings each of which was approximately twenty feet tall. It is surprising how little wood they provided for next year's wood pile. Probably not much more than one night's supply.

Cutting them down was the easy part. Digging out the roots was much more difficult. I did however leave myself with a five foot length of trunk to provide leverage. If I do manage to clear the balance of the orchard area I will be able to plant another eight trees. What to purchase? More apple trees? Well probably two or three more. I think that I will also opt for another couple of quince. A mulbery tree would be a nice addition as would some medlars. I would also like a walnut tree but its size dictates that it is not appropriate for the nuttery/orchard. Perhaps I will plant one along the boundaries of the lower garden, I must turn my gaze to the online catalogues and determine what types of trees and varieties require to be purchased.

 

Not so Chilli Jam

The chilli peppers have done surprisingly well this year. Many have already been utilised in currys and chutneys. Others have been frozen or dried. Today I decided that I should utilise some of the remaining chillis in the production of chilli jam. A strange subriquet for something that is not really suitable for spreading on one's afternoon scones. This is more of a fiery jelly or conserve which compliments a salty blue cheese.

The receipe of choice for this savoury conserve came from the, "Nigella," stable. Unfortunately she has succumbed to metrification so I have have had to convert the weights and quantities back Into proper British measure so that I can understand what I am talking about.

The ingredients are not numerous. Five and a quarter ounces of deseeded red chilli peppers; ditto red peppers together with thirty five ounces of jam sugar and twenty one fluid ounces of cider vinegar.

The chillies and peppers require to be finely chopped in a food processor. Thereafter the sugar needs to be dissolved in the vinegar over a low heat. Next the chilli/pepper mix is added to the sugar and vinegar. A ten minute," rollicking " boil is then required after which the pan is permitted to cool. Some forty minutes later the jelly is ready to be decanted into sterilised small jars.

I suppose I had better leave the jelly until Christmas before checking the culinary outcome.

 

 

 

 

 

Mini Tomato Glut.

 

It's remarkable what a few days of moderate sun will do to ripen autumn's green tomatoes. This time last year I had managed to pick all my tomatoes and the plants had been taken out of the greenhouse. This year even after today's picking I expect there are still thirty or forty pounds of fruit to ripen and pull. Hopefully there are no early frosts and I am able to benefit from all of the remaining tomatoes. I haven't weighed the contents of the two trays of tomatoes resulting from today's picking but I expect there must be about a stone of produce. Soups, sauces and chutneys beckon.

 

Autumn Flowering Apple

 

 

It has been a strange year in the garden. Late frosts, a dearth of bees, an excess of rain and average temperatures in the fourth quartile. Whilst walking around my embryonic orchard today I noted that one of the apple trees had decided to redesignate late summer as springtime. It has stupidly decided that it is the correct time of year to burst into flower. Silly tree! It is tempting to let the sapling proceed with its flowering but logic tells me that this is a waste of arboreal effort. I will snip off the flowers and allow the tree to garner its resources in anticipation of the forthcoming autumn and winter. Maybe it will decide to do what all right thinking apple trees should do and produce flowers next spring so that I will be able to pick a few pounds of fruit in twelve months time. Here's hoping.

 

Hot and Sweet - Peppers.

 

Somewhat surprisingly, in view of the unseasonal summer weather, my various pepper plants are growing apace and there is every prospect of a fiery crop from the chilli peppers. It would be interesting to know where they would rate on the Scoville scale. The fruits are still very green but hopefully the sun will deign to poke through the banks of cloud for a few days before the end of September and bring the peppers to their red maturity. Save for the sweet peppers which really need to be used shortly after picking I would expect to freeze most of the others for winter usuage. A few of last years crop are still rattling around in the freezer.

 

Xx

 

The Garden Trug,

Full summer and the kitchen garden is coming into its own. I have three gooseberry bushes. They have been in situ for nearly fifteen years and I can't remember the names of the various varieties. I know that I should have made a note of them in the trusted garden diary but I didn't. Anyhows the earliest fruiting of the three bushes has divested its crop consequent upon my pluckings. I have to admit to a few wounds resulting from the cropping. Not as bad as the wounds emanating from a blackberry harvest but none the less several bloddied scratches now besmirch my sallow flesh. Four pounds of fruit now have to be dealt with. Methinks that I will convert this produce into a jam conserve.

The yellow tumbler tomatoes are beginning to provide their produce and I was able to pick sufficent courgettes and kohlrabi to provide sustenance for a few evenings. At this time of year it seems as if you only have to blink before several more courgettes are ready for picking. I may have to make a batch of chutney to use up this largesse from the garden.

 

Greenhouse Gardening

 

It would be nice to have a heated greenhouse. The late frosts proved to be the death knell for several of the tomato plants and peppers which I had growing on. Even the plants which survived the frosts were held back. Looking at my notes and photographs from last year I would calculate that my personal Northern Ireland growing season is some three weeks behind schedule. My tomato plants, (Ailsa Craig), are throwing their third truss. I do not expect that I will be pulling tomatoes until the beginning of August. The exception to this will be the fruit from the tumbler tomatoes which I have in pots on the staging.

I managed to sow the seed for my sweet peppers and chilli peppers a little earlier than usual. That together with the fact that I kept most of them in the in-house propogator as long as possible has meant that I am already witnessing their small white flowers and I would be hopeful that this should prove to be a a year of abundant crops.

 

Elsewhere in the greenhouse the aubergines are growing apace. I am awaiting the first of their purple flowers and the rich darkness of the fruit that will follow on. I suspect that moussaka may be on the menu before autumn. As with the tomato plants the cucumbers and gherkins, ( three plants of each) are some weeks behind their forebearers of last year.

 

 

 

 

Seeing Red in the Garden

It is strange, well maybe not, how the predominant colour in the garden changes throughout the year. I suppose it might be to do with the insects available for pollination duties and their particular penchant. We start off with white coloured flowers then yellow, then blue and then we have the more strident colours, reds, purples and pinks.

The colour red is coming to the fore at the moment. At the head of the queue is the poppy. It is a pity that the petals start falling so quickly. Elsewhere in the garden the red hot pokers are coming to the fore. The flowers of the quince add to the red hues. Even in the fruit and veg end of the garden the colour red is becoming apparent. The runner beans are just coming into flower and of course the indoor strawberries have their own luscious tincture of red.

 

 

 

 

Apple Blossom Time

 

It seems rather late in the year for apple blossom, but nature has managed to avoid the late frosts. My apple trees are still very young and small so I don't expect nor want many fruit setting. What I do want is a year of growth so that I have substantial and established saplings by next year. That said I will probably permit a few fruit to set, grow and ripen so as to assure myself that the trees are growing true. The cox's orange pippen, (photograph above) is particularly heavy with flower. I was slightly concerned that I was too far north for this particular apple to flourish but it looks as if it may be prepared to prosper and grow in my little microclimate.

 

Strawberry Day.

Spring follows winter, summer beckons. The natural and normal seasonal progression has definitely been under attack this year. Late frosts, hailstones in the third quartile of May. Not what one might expect but maybe it is what global warming is lining up for us. Despite the vagaries of nature the strawberries which I have planted under the greenhouse staging have performed reasonably well. I have to admit that I plucked the first two ripened fruits at the weekend. The bulk of the fruit are now beginning to turn red. There aren't quite enough fruit for a, "jam boil," as yet but definitely sufficent for strawberries and cream. I suppose that I will have to force myself to eat them tonight.