Runner Bean Ali.

I wasn't intending to take out the runner beans for a few weeks yet but storm Ali brought my plans forward. As in previous years I grew this year's vines up a nine foot high wigwam constructed of ash poles. Rather shortsightedly I had placed this growing frame within four feet of the greenhouse. When I was tramping around the garden at eight o'clock this morning it was very evident that the leafy vines were presenting ,"Ali," with a punchbag that was not going to be able to resist the storm's gusty punches for very long. Rather than have several panes of glass needing replaced I decided to crop the beans and dismantle their scaffold. Most of the pods were quite young and tender but I did discover several very mature pods which had escaped my earlier croping. These have yielded me with enough seed beans for next year's planting. I must remember to locate the wigwam further from the greenhouse!

Beetroot Store

Vegetables that can be stored add considerable value to the garden and the ideal of self sufficiency. Beetroot is one of those vegetables that should be lauded much more than it is. As a fresh vegetable it is available in NI climes from July until early October. Thereafter a mini clamp protects the excess crop from the extremes of winter weather and extends the climatic availability of the crop as of course does pickling. The yellow and candy striped varieties do I think look particularly good in their pickling jars. Perhaps another, "boiling," is required.

A Paucity of Cucamelons

I have to concede that my experimental growing of cucamelons has not been a wholehearted success. They proved to be quite easy to germinate and after transplanting the seedlings into three inch pots and growing them on for about three weeks I was able to plant the small vines into twelve inch rings which I had sunk in the greenhouse border. I planted a total of twelve vines - two per pot and erected a bamboo wigwam in each pot for the vines to climb up.

All the literature which I had read told me that if you can grow cucumbers then you can grow cucamelons. Both thrive in the same conditions and require the same husbandry. Taking this advice to heart I planted the cucamelon vines next to my six cucumber plants. The latter have done well. To date I have pulled an average of seven cucumbers from each of my plants and by the end of the season I would expect to have had in excess of fifty cucumbers. 

The cucamelon vines have been very vigorous in their growth and there have been hundreds of little flowers with embryonic fruit behind them. The problem is that the vast majority of these have failed to swell and have fallen off the vines. I am coming to the conclusion that the flowers have not been fertilised. My cucumber plants are self fertile. I have noticed that there are just not as many bees and other pollinating insects in the garden this year. 

So far I have pulled the grand total of seven cucamelons so definitely not a productive use of greenhouse space. I will have to decide if it is worth continuing the experiment next year.

Coloured Beets

T'is that time of year when the vegetable garden racks up the quantity and variety of its produce. I should probably grow more beetroot than I actually do. I like their sweetness when roasted and a shredded beetroot adds colour to a summer salad. 

Thinking back to my childhood I have memories of my mum pickling beetroot for winter usuage. She would also preserve boiled beets by cutting them into cubes and placing them in jelly along with several cloves to add flavour. I have to concede that I didn't like jellied beetroot. It must be nearly fifty years since I dissected cubes of purple beetroot from their clammy gelatin coating. The memory still makes me feel slightly queasy.

The archetypal beetroot is purple in colour and global in shape but there are cultivars which are white, orange, pink, yellow or striped and many beets are cylindrical in shape. I sowed a packet of mixed coloured beet seed for my first sowing of beetroot this year. Today provided me with my first meal with beetroot as the principal vegetable.

Pea Green

I sowed my second batch of peas of the year yesterday.. Unlike the first batch I sowed them directly in the position that they will crop in, - hopefully at the beginning or middle of September. The first sowing of pea seeds took place in the greenhouse in March. They were sown in modular root trainers. I suppose that I ended up with about one hundred plants. These were planted out on either side of a stretch of netting wire in May.

In between today's heavy showers I was able to pull the first pods of the year. Their contents have now been consumed. Fresh peas from the garden are so much sweeter than their supermarket cousins which almost invariably have started on the downward slope to starchiness.

The Edible Thistle

It is over fifty years since I first saw globe artichokes being cultivated. They appeared to be very exotic to a young school boy, tall and strange. It was in the kitchen garden of Aberfoyle, (formerly know as Richmond), that I espied this member of the thistle family. It would be four or five years after that when I had my first opportunity to taste this vegetable which is just at home in the herbaceous border as the vegetable patch.

Two years ago I determined to grow on my own specimens. Although five of the seeds germinated and the resultant plants were planted out in the raised border surrounding the yard four of them succumbed to the local slug and snail population. The sole survivor should provide me with at least three or four flower heads for cropping this year. Not a big cropper.

Courgette Chutney 2016

September's vegetable glut has necessitated the unearthing of the large chutney making saucepan from the cellar. It hasn't been a great year for vegetables but the courgettes haven't objected to the lack of sunshine and the very temperate temperatures. I have been picking ten or twelve courgettes every week for the past couple of months. With the best will in the world this is a number that I can't consume as courgetti, stuffed or fried.

Today saw the third batch of 2016 courgette chutney being manufactured. The template receipe for today's culinary experiment came from the National Trust's, " Jams, Preserves & Chutneys." This tome was originally published with an asking price of £18.99 but it had been discounted to £6.00 by the time I purchased it from the shop at the Argory this summer. The original receipe had the grated rind of two oranges as an ingredient. With no oranges in the house I substituted lemons for oranges, (I have never found a gin that needs an orange!). With a large supply of apples available from the roadside tree I decided to add in a pound of diced apple. The quantity of courgette was also increased slightly. Accordingly the following were the ultimate contents of the saucepan. I should point out that the courgette was salted overnight and rinsed under cold water before being tipped into the saucepan.

4 lbs diced courgette

1.5 tablespoons of table salt

1 lb of chopped tomatoes

0.5 lb of chopped onions

1 lb of sultanas

1 lb diced Apple

grated rind of two lemons

2 lb granulated sugar

Half pint red wine vinegar

Half pint malt vinegar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon.

 

Christmas Sprouts

 

The oft maligned brussel sprout is probably the vegetable which is most closely associated with Christmas. I don't know why so many people dislike the humble sprout. Equally I don't know why it is regarded as such a necessaire of the dinner table on the 25th December. True it is a winter vegetable but so are carrots, parsnips, turnips, swedes, leeks and cabbage. Whatever the reason the shopper for Christmas sustenance seems obliged to throw a bag of sprouts into his or her wire basket.

I truly enjoy the crunchiness of the raw sprout and whilst I am more than happy to consume several or more on Christmas Day I also enjoy consuming their brethren before and after the festive period. I grew on some two dozen brussel sprout plants this year. They aren't quite as good as last year's specimens but they have been providing the vegetable imput for a couple of meals per week for the last month and I expect that this production will continue until the end of January.

 

 

Potatoes by the Pound

You won't get too many of these to the pound. In fact rather less than one. Granted this is not a particularly attractive specimen but it weighed in at a stonking eighteen ounces and its shape won't detract from its eating qualities.

I can't remember the variety of this potato. I grew it last year and as it appeared to be a fairly good cropper I kept some three dozen seed potatoes to plant this year. As well as producing a good quantity of large tubers the variety seems to have a high resistance to blight. These two factors have convinced me to keep back a few dozen of the smaller potatoes to plant again next spring.

 

 

Vegetable Coral

Brassicas are one of the mainstays of the vegetable patch. For many years I have grown the usual members of this family, cabbages, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and green brocolli. This year I have added romanesco brocolli to the list. It is I think one of, if not the most striking vegetables that can be grown in our climes. The lime green colour of the heads draws your attention in and then you appreciate the geometric symetery of the florets. The delicacy of their shape reminds me of coral or maybe a roofline view of minarets.

 

 

Beans mean Runners.

I think that runner beans must be one of the most productive vegetables that can be grown in the domestic garden. They don't take up that much ground space and of course most of the growth is in the vertical. I managed to grow this year's plants from seed saved from last year's harvest. One does get a bit of a thrill from not having to buy seed and having freebie plants.

In common with most of my vegetables the runner beans have been slow in coming to maturity this year. It has not been a year which has been conducive to the vegetable horticulturalist. I have been somewhat thwarted by the unseasonal weather conditions. That said I am now finding it difficult to use all of the beans as they become ready. Hopefully I will be able to freeze several pounds and make some chutney before frosts draw down the blinds on another year in the garden.

 

 

 

Piccalilli Days.

A superfluity of cauliflowers and courgettes prompted the dusting down and sterilisation of four preserving jars. Two diced cauliflowers and three courgettes were joined by similarly prepared green peppers, French beans and shallots. A total of four pounds of vegetables from the garden ended up in a preparing bowl with a liberal quantity of salt and left for twenty four hours before being thoroughly rinsed with cold water. Thereafter a paste of cider vinegar, turmeric, mustard powder, powdered dried chilli, cumin, coriander and cornflower was prepared. About a pint of vinegar together with a cup full of granulated sugar and a little honey was then brought to the boil. The paste was then added to the vinegar and the resultant concoction boiled and stirred for some four minutes before being taken off the ring and the vegetables added and folded in. The sterilised and still slightly warm jars were then filled, sealed, labelled and confined to the cellar for winter consumption.

 

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.

 

2015 Potatoes.

 

Potatoes have been off the shopping list for the past week. This year's new potatoes are finally ready. They aren't particularly large but they are much more appetising than the 2014 specimens that I have been forced to buy since my own stores ran out at Easter. I didn't transfer all of those pictured above to my platter but a good fifty percent are now being digested with the aid of a mint sauce and suitable protein together with roasted courgette. A glass of Pinot Grigio assisted my digestion. The second glass was for enjoyment purposes only. As for the third I'm not quite sure.

 

Courgettes and Jam.

In between today's gusty showers I picked the first courgettes of the year. The late frosts postponed the planting out of the young plants so it hasn't turned out to be an early cropping year. I have probably planted too many plants. Well alright I admit that nine plants is slightly excessive but the seeds germinated and I don't like throwing out healthy seedlings. Its lucky that I like courgettes in their various culinary guises. I have a notion that a few of today's picking will be converted into zucchini crisps for snacking on.

If I find it difficult to keep on top of the courgette harvest and some grow on to marrow proportions I am not too worried. The larger specimens with their thicker skin will store well for winter usage. It is only ten days ago that the final two giant courgettes from 2014 were brought up from the cellar and converted into marrow and ginger jam. It is probably fifty years since I last tasted marrow jam. I remember my maternal grandmother making jam with one of my early horticultural successes but I had forgotten the taste. Now that I have reintroduced myself to its delights I have to report that it is definitely towards the top of my personal league of favourite jams. The flavour is more mature and complex than the obvious sweetness of raspberry or strawberry. A jam for the discerning gourmand.

 

Thunderous Weather - V V frightening

'Twas a strange day weather wise. Initially warm and humid. Then the closeness that precedes the weather of Thor. Heavy rain, thunder, lightning, natures forces rattling down. Doors rattle. I count the time betwixt the flash of lightning and the reverberations of the thunder claps. Fifteen seconds, ten seconds. Still two miles away. Four seconds! Crumbs that was close. I decide to stop charging my ipad.

The rain pounds down. I hear it thundering through the downspouts. I check the cellar. A languid weap of water is evident. The rain eases. The thunder disappears. The air is refreshingly cool. I amble through the vegetable garden. Everything is relieved that the thunderous torpor has dissipated. There is a freshness in the air. One can sense the invigoration of the vegetables. They are anxious to head skywards.

 

 

Onion Business

A little late I know but I have finally managed to plant the onion sets. I had purchased them some four weeks ago but the work on my embryonic orchard had delayed work on the onion beds. Still the sets are now planted. I had purchased two brown bags of onion sets, Stutgar and Red Baron. I was pleased that I was able to buy the sets by weight and not in a prepacked plastic covering. That said being forced to purchase items which are measured in grammes rather than in stolid ounces is rather disconcerting. The bags declared their weight as being 500g and the cost was £1.99 per bag. Between the two varieties I had some 260 sets so about 1.5p per embryonic onion. Hopefully not too many of the crop will bolt. That is the danger with onion sets. Growing onions from seed gets round the bolting problem to a great extent but other problems then present themselves noteably succeptability to onion fly. I have found that onions grown from seed do tend to store better than those from sets. The flesh is I think tighter and maybe that is why they store better.

 

Potato Chitting Containers.

 

Usually I just buy fresh seed potatoes each year. However this time I have my own seed potatoes to plant, having set aside appropriate specimens from the crop of 2014. Another little financial saving. The earlies have been planted already and I would hope that I will be able to start digging the first tops by the beginning of July.

The main crop varieties are presently being chitted in egg boxes and they should be ready for planting in another ten days. I have a friend who is a wholesale purveyor of eggs. I think that I will extract a few egg trays from him. That would enable me to have all of the seed potatoes of a particular variety chitting away on the same receptacle.

 

Hot and Cold

 

I suppose that I thought, - had hoped,- that winter had slunk away for another year. I was mistaken. When I pulled back the curtains and parted the shutters this morning a dusting of snow had whitened the lawns. Quite pretty I suppose, but indicative of cold. My outside perambulations confirmed a temperature that was barely positive.

Despite the coldness of the day I determined that today would be the day that I sowed my chilli and pepper seed. I have selected a fairly standard sweet pepper, "Lany," this year together with a red Chilli Pepper, (Hot Mexican), and a green Chilli Pepper, (Jalapeño). The seed trays are now ensconced in a heated propagator. I suspect that I should see some indications of growth within the next ten days. Summer seems a long way away.

 

 

Garlic Poking Through.

 

 

The new year, - just. Although less than a week of 2015 has passed over the yardarm I have noted that my autumn planted garlic is already beginning to poke above its protective soil. Hopefully the forthcoming months don't knock back this vegetative thrust towards the spring.

 

Maybe I planted the garlic cloves a trifle too early! Maybe the weather has just been too mild! If the worst should happen I suppose that I can plant more cloves in early spring but it would mean a later cropping and of course ground would be tied up for a longer period. It would be more difficult to obtain a second crop from the ground.

 

I still probably have forty or fifty garlic bulbs in storage in the cellar. There is no evidence of nascent growth as yet, but I suspect that it will not be too long into February before I will have to consider roasting the remnants of the garlic store and placing them in the freezer.