I’m Back… November 23, 2009

Coooooo-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyy!!!

I’m back.

My self imposed exile of too many hours at the office and not enough blogging (or social life-ing) has meant my lift has been too full of sh*tty work! But, be thankful that it HAS been busy!

Anycase, back to blogging!

The garden is looking bare, and slightly sad for itself, as is about right for this time of year. My carrots, that I planted a while ago – (when Gardeners World said “this is the last week for planting late carrots”) are coming on a treat. Those and the cabbage are looking rather healthy and not at all frost bitten which I’m pleased about. My dad left me a small 2 inch carrot on the side of the kitchen last night, just to prove that they had grown.

All the aliums are planted, lets hope that the squirrel doesn’t dig them up, and my Fritillary I planted in the grass next to the back door, as they like boggy conditions, and hopefully the bloody squirrels won’t dig up either!!!

L is for London & Being Lazy October 1, 2009

Rather than work hard in the garden this weekend, we spent it in London….but it was the most gorgeous weekend…again! Whats going on with the fab weather?

We stayed at a little hotel in Clerkenwell, and had this wonderful roof terrace. Mr Veg and I agreed that to live in London and not have a roof garden would drive us insane!!! And Mr Veg breaks out in a rash if he even steps into the garden!

I was absolutely desperate to go to Columbia Road Market but we never got there. I’ve seen it on the TV, and it looks great, although me travelling on the tube full to the brim with bargains plants was never really going to be an option, so instead we headed for the National Histrory Museum.

They have something called the Cocoon which has all sorts of stored bugs and plants – its all very interesting….just not surrounded by a million kids and their stressed parents. FUN!!!

Impressive building though.

I like the wheel thing too – looks a bit boring for my liking!

A is for Apple September 30, 2009

My apples are looking quite lovely on the tree at the moment, but on closer inspection, about half of them have this mark on them….

…and the weird thing, the mark is near enough on the same spot every time – up near the top of the apple towards the stalk. I’ve tried googling for the problem, but not come across anything relevant, as they are delicious other wise….

Can anyone shed any light…?

Putting things to bed… September 17, 2009

Don’t know about you, but autumn seems to have literally leapt out from behind a curtain, and gone “BOO”! Its arrived as if over night!

We made the most of last weekends sun, which I believe may be the last of the sunny days for this year, and went to Bridlington with the dogs.

As it now feels like you have to put the garden to ‘bed’ so to speak, I took it upon my self to start doing jobs that I have put off for a while, as we’ve been busy elsewhere. So I chopped a tree down, or rather Mr Veg did, as it involved a chain saw! I just don’t trust me and chain saws…..

…and then it was gone! It had stared to blot out the light into next doors kitchen, and as an Elderflower, it has rocketed in the 4 years we’ve been there!

Going to spend the weekend pulling out my semi blighted tommys, and probably cleaning out the beds of my very powdery mildewed courgettes.

We’ve just picked the last marrow ….

I’m going to miss them now they’re gone…till next year when I’ll be calling them ba*tard courgettes again…!

Hurrah – back on line! September 11, 2009

Dunno whats been wrong, but I couldn’t post – but hurray – back on line……Sorry!!!

So updates – I now have bloomin sweetcorn!!! Get in – can you see my mum and dad at the back of the sweetcorn – I thought I had a ‘new arrival’ it was that exciting!

Really pleased – I had checked one last week, but thought that it hadn’t formed and had left all of them to mature into proper cobs, but I have since looked again, and its a gammy one!

courgettes have near enough stopped (thank god!) theres only so much marrow you can take before even your neighbours cringe at the sight of them!

Celariac is growing nicely, and I LOVE the smell – kind of earthy celery – its lovely. We once had a creamy celariac soup at a restaurant – ohhhh, was gorgeous! Hoping to make some, but the damn things need to keep growing – seems a bit of frost is good for them, but to pull up before a harsh front.

My beetroot are a little bit big, as I only did one sowing of them – think beetroot soup (more soup…!) maybe in order, as there is a little slug damage – damn those pesky slugs!

**WARNING – (parent) COMEDY MOMENT**
I had been inspecting the chillis as they are doing quite nicely, when nearly overnight these orange ones appeared. Me thinking that maybe the little green ones had done a good job of truning orange, I happened to mention to my dad last week. He said that they had bought it down the supermarket, and had put it in there to see if i noticed. I can imagine there faces, guffawing in Morrisons about how funny it would be. Parents. Tsk.

My broad beans have had some rust, but seems its not too much of a problem, as they have finished there cropping, which was a bit sh*t to be honest – don’t think I’ll be growing them again. Taste like the sole of my shoe. URGH – not a fan! But heres some ADVICE if you want it.

Bloomin computers – Glad to be back!!

Chickpeas, Butterflys & 1690AD Food. August 20, 2009

During my “Domestic Goddess” phase – they are very infrequent and very short – I made some homemade hommous. Some of the chickpeas I didn’t use sprouted, so I thought I would plant them (I do the same with sprouting carrot tops and stuff – why…?) and this is what I’ve got – albeit a lot too late in the season….

And heres some advice on how to grow them. You’re supposed to sow them after the last frost – oops! Not Mid August then!!

My buddleia is in full bloom – they do take over the garden, but who cares, as the butterflies come in droves – this is a Peacock Butterfly:

And this one I looked up at lunch at home, but now cannot remember!

Me and my mum went to Clarke Hall in Wakefield for a night on 1690 food – its an old farm house from 1690 and they do educational things, so me and mum signed up for a ‘food from 1690′ which was basically salads that had to be based around hot cold, moist and dry – all very random, but very good!
here is my sald based around a “tree” which is some rosemary and a lemon….Hmmmmmmmm. Strange, I know! We could take it home for tea. I’ll be honest, the compost bin enjoyed it – said it was yummy!!!

Sunny D Squash for the Soul August 19, 2009

I ADORE this time of year – the veg patch is flowing with produce! After my first year of being really rubbish at growing tommys, my little heart leaps whenever we get it right, and this year, we certainly have! I can’t take all the accolades – my dad is the main water-er in my garden, wihtou him, all things would be DEAD!!!

This is what is “Sunny D” for the soul – gives you a lift! I love seeing ripe tommys, just ready for picking – all that hard work, and love that goes into them!

I call these ones below my ‘free’ tomato’s, as they just arrived from the compost bin after I top dressed my cordyline. After all the love I give to the others, this one has needed very little looking after, and now they’re going red! Hurrah!

I watched a SKY+ Gardeners World at the weekend, and it must be about 3 weeks old, but they said that now ie. 3 weeks ago! was the very last chance to grow a crop of carrots, so I did it this weekend – not a very exciting pic, but there’s a whole packet on that patch of ground!

My celariac is beefing up nicely – the smell is divine! That earlthy celery smell! I think after peeling, I’ll have the size of a small baby potato’s worth of celariac to use, but hey! Its MY celeriac! All from seed.

Spuds are out of the majority of the bed, so I had some spare gaps, and we’re having a race with next doors kids to grow the biggest pumpkin – think we may be winning – get in – beating 8 years old!!! So I have put sticks in to indicate where the remaining tatties are and then planted the pumpkins around the edges. I’ll then leave 1 fruit on to get massive! Gotta beat the 8 year olds…..grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

These are my dads butternut squash (Sunny D SQUASH, you see!) at his house – this was taken about 10 days ago – he had to get the step ladders last night to hook it to the drainpipe!

Jerusalem artichoking my beans! August 10, 2009

My runners this year are stuggling. Two issues:
1. they are under some large sycamores, and this seems to be blotting out a lot of the light
2. Jerusalem artichokes, that I swear on my life I dug up last year, have taken over where the runners are.
So, not only is there no light from the trees, where there may be some light from the side, the JA are eating that up.

They are great – they look like large sunflowers and have that kind of flower (Soilman, pic courtesy of you, as mr veg has the camera in scotland…).

This will be the second year I’ve grown them – you dig them up once they’ve flowered. Last year I left them in the shed to dry out, and the mice ate them. Little sods. So, this year, I am going to do something with them. Just not sure what….? Maybe some of the below?

Jerusalem Artichokes In Wine, Rosemary And Cream
Serves 4
2 tablespoons olive oil
450 g jerusalem artichokes, scrubbed well, thinly sliced into rounds
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dried
120 ml white wine
60 ml double cream
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the jerusalem artichokes and garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add the rosemary and wine, and cook over a high heat until the wine is reduced by half. Add 1 tablespoon of water, cover and simmer until the artichoke is just tender, between 1 and 5 minutes. Remove the cover, add the cream, and reduce the sauce for a couple of minutes until

Carrot And Artichoke Soup
Serves 6 – 8 people
700 g (1&1/2 lb) jerusalem artichokes
3 celery stalks, chopped
450 g (1 lb) carrots
1 medium onion, chopped
75 g (3 oz) butter
1.5 L (3 pints) light stock
salt and freshly ground pepper
Peel and slice artichokes then put them into a bowl of cold water to prevent them from discolouring. Peel and slice the carrots. Melt the butter in a cooking pot and soften the onion and celery for 5 minutes, then stir in the carrots and artichokes. Add some salt and put the lid on and let the vegetables sweat for 10 minutes on a low heat. Then pour in the stock, stir well, put the lid back on and simmer for a further 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Then liquidise the soup. Taste to check the seasoning, re-heat and serve.

We can all trump together!

Oxford 2009 August 5, 2009

Last year Pat n Steph @ Bifurcated Carrots very kindly put together the FoGroBloMe meet, which was a wonderful day in Oxford.

They have decided to do it again, and are putting together the following:

Oxford 2009 — Seed Saving and Plant Breeding

Date: Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Time: 9am to 5pm
Venue: Restore Cafe/Elder Stubbs Allotments, Oxford
Cost: £15 per person
Information/Reservations: oxford2009@patnsteph.net
Blog: http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog
Mobile Telephone: +31 6 40109417

“Following the success of last year’s meeting at the Oxford Botanic Gardens, readers of the weblog Bifurcated Carrots and other interested people will meet for a social event. The day will include presentations, picnic lunch (indoors if necessary), seed exchange, informal conversation, a walk around the Restore garden and maybe a visit to the Elder Stubbs Allotments.”

Its honestly worth it – I went last year, and even just to have a chat with people, and learn from them – I learnt so much, that you put into practice for the following year. No one bites, everyones really quite nice!!! Then there’s a seed swap – last year, I didn’t do seed saving, but this year, I am a demon!

So, if you’re free, and you fancy a day out, then come on down – get in touch with Pat n Steph on the blog above, and have a grand day out (and Oxford is ACE! First time i’d been last year, but looking forward to it this year, and its a grand day out for my dad!!)

Proper Seeds from Italy & Free Seeds August 4, 2009

I was very lucky to go to Italy this weekend to see some friends, and whilst there, took the oppurtunity to visit some shops – it would be rude not to!

So I bought some real Seeds from Italy! I bought another kind of aubergine – a bit like this one
then just some lettuce and some radish….nothing too exciting….but they are seeds…..from Italy. I felt quite proud. Sad realy, isn’t it!?

I’ve also saved some seeds from winter rocket, which I let go to seed, and I am going to pack up and send out to any one who would like them – they’re really small the seeds, so I’ve prob got enough for about 5 packs? Maybe a few more – let me know if you want any, as they can be sown in late summer for growing over winter.

I did however, get quite a good crop from just normal lettuce that I left outside over winter, even during the snow! So, be brave and plant some lettuce now for a great winter crop!