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.