Raspberries & Tomatoes, Tomatoes and Raspberries - Yum!

Well, at last we are having some dry, sunny weather. It’s not hot, not summer hot, not even for England but, maybe that is good as we have not been used to summertime hot temperatures and it takes a few days to acclimatise. Today, I believe, it is somewhere around 20 - 22ºC, which is pleasant. More to the point, it is sunny.

I was at my plot early this morning as I was picking raspberries for a friend. I was aware that I was no longer picking from last year’s canes – that most of the fruits were coming from this year’s and I decided that today was the day to start cutting out the old [last year’s canes].

I know I have talked about this before and I haven’t yet had a convincing argument about cutting back the canes in the autumn/winter.

Some say that cutting back the old canes allows the new canes to develop properly and produce a good crop – well my new canes are already  4 – 6 tall and are already cropping.

Some say that keeping the old canes stops the new canes developing – I have spent most of today cutting out the old canes on some of my rows of raspberries. Each plant seems to be producing multiple new canes – I have reduced the numbers to 4 – 5 on each plant to allow these to become strong. I have also cut away any spindly and out-of-line canes so that the base plants are strong and productive.

One friend did say to me that my method produced too much fruit for him to want to deal with but, really it does provide cropping from early June until October [depending on the weather and the year – sometimes it is earlier and sometimes later].

What I have noticed is that I have not been careful enough to keep my rows of raspberries properly weeded and it has allowed fairly rampant growth of bindweed over my raspberry canes. This has prevented good leaf growth on the new canes further down the stems. The variety I have is Hedge Bindweed or Bellbind – Calystegia sepium, not the more timid variety Convolvulus arvensis. This one is a monster and I also have lots of it in my garden at home. It doesn’t have to be a problem if you keep weeding it out but in this constantly wet year, there have been more pressing problems every time it stopped raining.

Of course, what do I do with all of this fruit – I make jam, I’m not a jam fan and I don’t really like preserves which are seedy – and raspberries are seedy: I can make puddings but, I’m not a ‘sweet’ person, I only make desserts when I have guests; I can freeze the fruit, which I do and I can give it away which I do. This year I needed room in my freezer for this year’s stuff so I went through what was left over from last year.

A few tubs of blackcurrants made blackcurrant jelly. Some tubs of tomato pulp are being recycled into lots of pasta and chilli con carne recipes, but that left me with about ten tubs of raspberries. I made raspberry jelly [yes I mentioned this in my last blog but, here is a recipe]:

Raspberry Jelly

Ingredients

Raspberries (the amount is, up-to-a point irrelevant, they must fit easily into your preserving pan)

Sugar – depending on the amount of juice

A knob of butter

Method

1.      Pick over the fruit to remove any leaves, twigs, etc.

2.      Put in the preserving and over a very low heat, simmer gently until the fruit has broken down and is totally tender,

3.      Strain though a jelly strainer.

4.      Measure the amount of juice.

5.      Allow 1 kilo (lb) sugar for each litre of juice (pt) – don’t mix up the quantities from metric and  imperial measurement.

6.      Put the fruit juice and the sugar into the preserving  pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

7.      Bring to the boil in a preserving pan or a large saucepan to allow the preserve to come to a rolling boil.

8.      When setting point has been reached, add the knob of butter and mix in well to reduce the amount of foam on the top of the preserve.

9.      Pot, cover and label.

A plot neighbour, Christine, gave me a few tomato plants earlier this year. I thought they were all Alicante. However, one had a growth habit which was obviously a bit different from all the others - very rampant and straggly.  It became apparent fairly early on that it wasn't Alicante and that it had small salad/cherry-type fruits. A couple of them looked as though they were ripe yesterday so I picked them. Yellow fruits, [as Christine described them 'acid yellow']. Amazing flavour and very juicy. Like little sweeties. I can’t imagine any of these making it home. They will be eaten while I’m at the plot.
‘Broad Ripple Yellow Currant’ - they are a Heritage Variety and hard to get hold of seeds though I will explore this.
It is easy to save the seed as they are not a hybrid.
The Garden Organic website has them available for adoption [ I'm not sure what this means - does it mean when you pay your £15 to adopt a heritage plant then you get a packet of seeds, or a plant or do you just get adoption papers and an annual newsletter on its progress - like adopting a tiger!]
Garden organic gives them the following write-up:

‘Indeterminate. Cordon . Originally discovered growing in a pavement crack in downtown Indianapolis, this variety can produce masses of sweet-tasting, tiny yellow fruit right up until mid November! This variety will need rigorous pruning and plenty of space as it is a very vigourous grower. Noted by many as being only mildly affected by the dreaded blight, and very hardy. Seed Guardian Loppy Garrard says "kids love them as they are 'sweetie' sized". The Bell and Bird Table pub, Wellington, voted this tomato joint first at their annual tomato tasting day.’

The picture on the Garden Organic Website didn’t really match the colour of my fruits but, perhaps I harvested them too early. I will post my own photo on a future blog when I have enough to photograph and hopefully, before I eat them all.

The Joys of a cool wet summer

A Cool Wet Summer – the positives!

I think I’ve been whinging on for the last few blogs on our miserable, cold wet summer, or lack of summer even. Yes, everything is true and the problems I’ve talked about do continue but, as always, there is a plus side.

When I go to my allotment or gaze out into my garden, I don’t see drowned devastation. While many crops have been disappointing or even failed completely because of the weather, there really are many crops which are just loving it. Let’s face it, if the weeds on our plots are thriving so will lots of other stuff.

Slugs and snails are having a field day [no pun intended] and I have been ranting on incessantly about red ants in my poly-tunnel but, apart from in March when it was very dry and I was trying to establish my brassicas, I haven’t seen any flea beetle and, I believe I’ve seen one – only one - white fly since early spring. Similarly, although I saw a few aphids on my roses early in the year, they have also been noticeably absent. During the last few years all of these pests have caused immeasurable damage to my crops and have weakened them to allow in further damage from mildew and scale bugs. Not so this year.

In my poly-tunnel, while I’m complaining about red ants and caterpillars on my tomatoes – there have been only a few of the caterpillars and I hope I’ve managed to remove most of them. Since they only appeared a couple of years ago for the first time when we were having a series of long dry summers, perhaps this cold wet one will remove the moths these caterpillars have come from. The red spider mite which was  a significant pest in my tunnel a couple of years ago has not appeared at all this year – something of a surprise as I always believed it was impossible to eradicate.

I have almost finished harvesting my 2nd pea crop – Hurst Green Shaft – and it has been more than satisfactory. These peas are sweet and tasty. If not left to become too big they are delicious eaten raw. In spite of suggestions from neighbours that they were likely to have maggots this year, these have not been apparent. I have already filled a drawer in my freezer with bags of shelled peas and might just get another half bucketful before I compost the vines. I have wondered about the possibility of growing a late crop of peas. The seed company [Dobies] have stated on the pack that they can be planted up to [and I’m assuming that means, ‘including’] July. Since I had the seed, I have, in any case, sown 4 more heavy rows in a couple of cleared raised beds. There should be time for them to grow and crop and I will report back on the success of the strategy.

After a difficult start in early spring, all of my brassicas look very healthy and promise good crops. After complete failure of my Brussels Sprouts last year, I have tried a variety I bought from The Real Seed Catalogue – Seven Hills [suitable for exposed sites, and I know that, compared with many areas of the UK, my site is definitely not exposed but, I am on top of a low hill]. I sowed the first round of these at the end of February in  my poly tunnel and from these, planted out some weeks later, I now have three rows of strong healthy plants where already I can see the nubs of the developing sprouts. Two further sowings have now been planted out and will hopefully provide me with sprouts to see me through the autumn and into spring. While the earlier transplanting of All Year Round Cauliflower suffered from the exceptionally dry early spring and bolted, those plants which were later or smaller, might yet provide me with good heads and will, no doubt, have me wondering what to do with twenty or thirty large heads all coming to maturity at once. I live in hope!

My sweetcorn, F1 Earlibird, sown on 10^th April in my propagator and then grown on in my poly-tunnel has now produced its male flowers and the silk of the females is just beginning to appear. I have planted them much closer together this year – 20cm or 10” apart – as in previous years I’ve some problems with the pollination of the female flowers. A later sowing of Rising Sun [both from Dobies]– sown on 2^nd May in the same conditions, is already as tall as the Earlibird but, hasn’t yet produced any flowers. Like peas, sweetcorn freezes well when cut off the cob and provides a welcome addition to the fresh winter vegetables.

Potatoes have been disappointing so far. The First Earlies [Vale’s Emerald], I tried for the first time and found them very disappointing – flavour, texture and cropping. I won’t grow them again.

I grew Red Duke of York as a Second Early – the cropping was disappointing but, as everyone is complaining of poor crops, I will put that down to the weather. The texture and flavour of these potatoes is excellent and I will be happy to grow them again next year.

The Purple Majesty [Early Main crop] are just beginning to bulk up and, of course, provide an interesting, healthy and tasty alternative to the usual white potatoes – try them boiled in their skins or mashed – I have tried them as baked potato but, was not really impressed. The colour is wonderful.

Different varieties of squashes and pumpkins are developing well and look very healthy though, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, they have had an uncertain start. I think I may have too many, not really a complaint - they store well and are always welcome  to my family. [or maybe I'll have too few, I find this difficult to judge]

My gladiolas have been astounding this year, For the last two to three weeks I have been bringing home white and purple heads by the armful. They don’t last long as cut flowers, 3 – 4 days, but they just seem to keep on producing. The brighter colours are just beginning to send up their flower stalks and hopefully will be just as prolific.

While fruit this year has been disappointing, I still find that I have so much produce to turn into preserves. I have frozen many of my early crop of raspberries and made Strawberry Conserve with the much-reduced crop of strawberries. see last blog for recipe.

I found that I still had quite a few tubs of raspberries in my freezer from last year so have made raspberry jelly from those – very intense flavour but, delicious.

However, the star of the season so far, is my Gooseberry and Chilli Jelly. My neighbour, Christine, gave me the recipe for using windfall apples and as I have no apples ready yet and no crab apples at all [one of my complete failures this year!] I decided to try it with gooseberries which also give a good, sharp, flavoursome and reliable set – last year I made Mint Jelly and Rosemary Jelly with my crop. Do give this a try.

Christine’s Chilli Jelly

4lb fruit [ cooking apples or slightly unripe gooseberries]

2 pints [ 1200ml] water - a little of this, perhaps half pint could be replace by cider vinegar for sharpness

3 chillies whole [These can be fresh or dried. The season will affect the heat so  you might like to add seeds or not according to how hot you would like your jelly. The variety of the chillies will also affect the heat of the product]

1 cube [2cm – or 1 inch] ginger root - I used twice this amount and felt I could have added a little more - M.

1 garlic – whole, crushed

Method

·         Wash the fruit and remove any leaves or stalks – no need to remove cores.

·         Put the fruit and the water into a preserving pan and gradually bring to the boil.

·         Simmer gently until all the fruit is well soft.

·         Allow it to cool slightly then, put through a scalded jelly bag and leave overnight to allow the juice to strain.

·         Next morning, carefully measure the juice and return it to a clean preserving pan – allow 450gm [1 lb] sugar to each 570ml [1pint] juice.

·         Add the sugar to the juice in the pan and bring it to the boil stirring frequently to ensure all the sugar has dissolved. Add the chopped chillies [I added 1 at a time and tasted between each - M].

·         Boil rapidly until setting point is reached [use a sugar thermometer or when you feel you are getting close to the setting point, put a spoonful of the juice onto a saucer and place in a cool place – in a fairly short time, 1 min or so, when pushed by a finger, the jelly should wrinkle obviously].

·         Remove from the heat. If you wish, at this time you can add well washed and dried herbs [finely chopped mint, rosemary, ginger, or thyme. You can also add the chopped chilli at this time].

·         Freshly chopped herbs have a tendency to rise to the surface. You might want to wait a short time before the jelly sets and stir it to ensure the herbs are mixed in well.

·         Allow to cool slightly the pour into sterilised, warmed pots and seal immediately. Label.

strawberries

Strawberries, Strawberries

Well, the disappointing weather, this year, continues. I find I am commiserating with other gardeners and plot holders on an almost daily basis. My regular mantra of – all weather is good for something - [well, apart from storms and especially from the east – but, that aside!] is not going down well. I gather, from the news that the USA is having our share of the sunshine on top of their own and we are have their share of the rain, etc. That said, while a few people have died in the floods in the UK, I think there have been many deaths in the US from the exceptionally high temperatures. My heart goes out to all who have suffered from the extreme weather conditions that have been experienced in many countries around the world.

A plot neighbour was telling me that we have experienced unusually low light conditions for several months. This has affected many of our crops, and yields in potato crops have been particularly affected. While this is depressing, it is good to know that it is probably not something we have done but, is down to the weather conditions we have and just have to live with.

Yes, I know, it is okay for me. I am in the position, along with many allotment holders, of being able to go to my plot whenever the rain stops for a moment or two and when the sun creeps out. I am still worried about the more exotic crops like tomatoes, peppers, chillies [are they exotic? Well, they are insofar as they need sunshine, a commodity not guaranteed in the British Isles]. The plants are lushly green but the fruits are not ripening. I shall probably still be moaning on about this in my next few blogs but, I live in hope of some sunshine to come this summer.

Brassicas [cabbages-Golden Acre, Cauliflower-All Year Round], peas[Hurst Greenshaft], beetroots [Boltardy], Courgettes [Orelia], Broad Beans [Imperial Green Longpod, sown in February – autumn sown beans are well past their time] are all doing very well with little effort from me - what joy! And, for the first time since I’ve started growing the stuff, my coriander is actually staying in leaf and hasn’t gone straight to seed. Perhaps I didn’t water it enough in previous years [or at all!]

Although I think that fruit is poor this year, I find I am coming home with bowls full and buckets full of a rich selection of fruit. Yes, the crops are disappointingly low but, I find I still have a lot of fruit to deal with. Of course, when you spend hours harvesting these crops, you must spend even more hours doing something with them.

Two days ago, I came home with a bucket full of gooseberries – to be made into Gooseberry chilli jelly [I haven’t tried this yet. The recipe has been given to me by a friend and I’m half way through the process of making it – will report back]; a large bowl of redcurrants [now in redcurrant jelly – a disappointing harvest this year]; 2 large tubs of raspberries [now frozen in tubs] and a large bowl of strawberries.

Well, I’ve titled this blog ‘Strawberries, Strawberries’ and I really do have lots of strawberries to deal with. It has not been a good year for this fruit. The lack of heat and sun has resulted in a very late crop which has been attacked by blackbirds, slugs, ants, woodlice, greymould. Did I leave anything out?

I try to keep to reasonably sized beds going, 4 by 9 plants across a five metre wide lot. My new bed has produced nothing – but that is probably good as it is recommended that no crop is taken in the first year. Much of the fruit has been attacked by wet rot, pests and diseases on the older plot [also 4 by 9 plants] but has still allowed me a good ongoing crop. This year I have had demands from my family for strawberry conserve. It does take some time to make [ up to 3 days] but, I have seen a pot of it demolished by three people on fresh, homemade bread in  one sitting.

Strawberry Conserve

There are many recipes for strawberry conserve and all saying much the same thing. This particular one is from ‘Allotment Growing Recipes’ – www.allotment.org.uk

 2lb (1kg) small strawberries or halved, hulled larger strawberries

2lb (1kg) granulated sugar

Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tblsp bottled lemon juice)

·        Place alternate layers of strawberries and sugar into a bowl.

·        Add the lemon juice, cover and leave to stand overnight – 12 hours.

·        Next day, transfer the fruit and the sugar to a pan, bring slowly to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

·        Pour back into the bowl, cover and leave again for another day.

·        Finally, transfer to a pan, bring to the boil and simmer until setting point is reached.

·        Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little (until the fruit begins to sink in the syrup).

·        Stir and pour into small, hot, sterilised jars and cover immediately. Label.

Strawberry jam should not be ignored as it is arguably everyone’s favourite jam:

 

Strawberry Jam

2kg ( 4lb) strawberries

1¾ kg  ( 3½ lb) sugar

Juice of half a lemon

Method

1.      Hull the strawberries and wash only if really necessary ( it is important that no more liquid is added to the fruit).

2.      Put the strawberries into the preserving pan with the lemon juice and heat very slowly until the fruit is really soft and has released much of its juice. ( 20 minutes or so).

3.      Add the sugar and stir over a gentle heat until you are sure that all the sugar has dissolved.

4.      Bring it to the boil and boil briskly until setting point is reached – test  a little on a saucer or use a sugar thermometer.

5.      Leave the jam in the pan for 10 – 15 minutes until it has cooled slightly. (when it has cooled slightly the setting process has started and this prevents the fruit rising to the top.

6.      Heat sterilised jam pots then place them on a wooden surface to pot the jam.

7.      Pot up the jam, cover and label.

( my personal preference is for the jam to be only lightly set, I think it has a better flavour.)

Strawberry Cheese Cake – possibly everyone’s favourite cheesecake!

1 x 8oz pkt digestive biscuits [250gm]

4 oz [100gm] melted butter

4 oz [100gm] icing sugar

2 x 300 ml Philadelphia [or similar] cheese – you may prefer to use ‘light’ to reduce the fat content

300ml double cream

1lb [500gm] strawberries

Juice of half a lemon

A spoonful of icing sugar for the top

Method

·         Using a rolling pin, crush the digestive biscuits between layers of greaseproof paper or in a large plastic bag.

·         Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the crushed biscuits. Mix well.

·         Grease the base of a loose bottomed cake tin or round pie dish[if using a pie dish, ensure the dish is well greased]. Add the cake crumbs and flatten down well. Chill until set.

·         Cut up about a quarter of the strawberries – keeping the best for the topping and place in a bowl.

·         Add the lemon juice, cheese and icing sugar and whizz with an electric mixer until well mixed.

·         Spread the cheese mixture over the biscuit base and ensure it is firmed down and smooth on top. Return to the fridge until well set.

·         Remove the cake from the cake tin and place on a suitable serving dish.

·         Cut up the remaining strawberries and place them on top of the cake. Sprinkle with sieved icing sugar. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and serve with fresh cream.

Summertime and the living is seriously disappointing!

It’s early July and the rain is still falling! The forecast is not giving us any hope of the weather improving. I gather, in France, the weather has been fairly similar this ‘summer’ and that this kind of weather is referred to as ‘English weather’ there – gee, I wonder why!

That said, for some crops this cool wet weather has been really good [though not the high winds, which have really been quite damaging] but the rain, while providing excellent conditions for slugs and snails, has also boosted growth in my brassica crops, beetroots, carrots, raspberries, squashes and pumpkins, courgettes and many of my herbs are taking over.

This year the usual clouds of whitefly around my brassicas are conspicuous by their absence and, although I have seen some blackfly on my broad beans, they have not been overwhelming – and I haven’t pinched out the tops as I normally would.

The tomato plants, peppers and chillies in my poly tunnel are lush and are showing potential heavy crops though, I do worry that we might not have enough sunshine to ripen the fruits. Actually, while I’m trying to put a positive spin on the weather – I usually try to promote the idea that any weather will be good for some crops while not so good for others – but, I find that, this summer, I’m struggling to keep my chin up.

Over the weekend, all of my children have been home and have stripped my early pea patch [Little Marvel, sown on 6^th March]. They did harvest a couple of good buckets full which were shared out but, the crop was kind of disappointing. It had been knocked about so much by storms, eaten by pigeons and slugs that, I believe, the crop was probably reduced by a third. However, we have had our plot inspections over the last couple of weeks and I have heard many plot holders complain of really poor pea crops. This makes me feel that mine has not been too bad. I still have three strong rows of Hurst Greenshaft, sown 20^th March to harvest and they still look quite good.

I am considering sowing a late pea crop. The seed providers say that they can be sown up to and including July. I have never tried to sow peas this late before and I’ve been told by one of my more experienced neighbours that late sown peas are more likely to have maggots [not nice!]. My daughter wonders if I have heard of supermarkets which sell already frozen peas ! But, while there may be little difference in the flavour, the pleasure is in being able to fill your freezer with a winter’s supply of peas from your home grown produce. I have the seed, which would happily keep ‘til next season if necessary and if it stops raining for long enough in the next few days, I might just dig over the area and re-sow. Perhaps it is worth the effort just so that I can report back on the results.

I have been harvesting good crops of courgette F1 Orelia – a yellow variety. I was somewhat dismayed, a few weeks ago, that the leaves of all of the plants have turned yellow or a mixture of yellow and green. I worried that this might be the result of a mineral deficiency but it was suggested that this was typical of this golden variety. I love them. This variety of courgettes  with the denser drier flesh, suits my cooking preferences.

My beetroots this year, are excellent. As I have said in an earlier blog, I sowed in pots in my polytunnel then planted out when at the 2^nd true leaf stage. Although planted into some fairly rough ground, they have come on well and I have harvested and cooked lots. Because they were planted out from the pots no thinning was necessary. My daughters have also headed home with bags of tennis-ball sized beetroots each.

I am already concerned about my tunnel crops. I have been spraying reasonably frequently with SB Plant Invigorator [discussed in full in previous blogs] which seems to have encouraged fairly lush growth in the tomato plants. Already many of the plants have full sized green fruits but, with the cool, sunless weather, these fruits might struggle to ripen. Already, I am finding the large green and brown caterpillars which caused so much damage in the last two years. I wouldn’t mind them too much if they just ate the leaves of the plants but, they also nibble on the fruits. The damage attracts the botrytis spores [grey mould], which are everywhere, and much of the fruit can be destroyed.

The red ants, which have caused so much devastation in my poly tunnel this season are still present, in spite of my attacks on them and the introduction of the baited ant traps. Though, at least they have not caused any more damage to my crops. They seem to have moved to the untilled edges now.

Well, of course, this is a diffucult year. And I do mean it when I say that - whatever the weather, it is good for some crop or some aspect of allotment growing. But, I just hate the thought of going into another winter without having had a summer. I'm sure this strikes a chord with any people. However, we still have July, August and September to hope for something better. Keep your hopes up!