September on the Allotment 2015

September on the Allotment  2015

I remember, earlier in the year discussing, with a fellow allotment holder, our very warm and sunny spring time. He said then that he had noticed in other years, when we had wonderful spring-times – around April – that the summers were cool and wet. Well, until recently, although it was not particularly wet [ in fact, when it did rain, it was too light to be of much use to the ground or our crops] but, it has certainly been remarkably cool and very disappointing for the school children who must now return to their studies in the new term – I believe some have already returned in the last week of August. I always think that it must be disheartening for them to see ads for ‘Back-to-school’ uniforms, equipment, etc. Appear almost as soon as the beginning of their long summer break. When I was young, we had 10 weeks for our summer holidays which was to enter into a fantasy world of freedom which, of course, became quite boring towards the end and had us looking forward with some excitement to the new term and new school year. When my children were little in the Republic of Ireland, they actually had 3 months. As I remember, we parents were delighted to see the autumn set in.

Of course, so much learning is lost in those long holidays and when I was teaching, I ran summer schools for children who planned to come to our school in the autumn. They were always over-subscribed [it gave the parents a welcome break !] I digress.

In spite of the cool weather, I believe it has been one of my most productive years [except for some brassicas – cauliflowers, Romanesco and similar vegetables which needed so much more water]. It has been a totally outstanding year for fruit both soft fruit and the harder autumn fruits like apples, pears, plums. In the spring, when the fruit trees were blossoming the weather was warm and sunny giving the bees an excellent opportunity to pollinate the crops.

With these over abundant crops with the joy of making jams, jellies, pickles, chutneys, etc comes the chore of too much stuff to use and preserve. After my first four or five pickings of red and white currants and gooseberries [and I only have 2 white currant bushes] I was happy to leave the nets off and let the birds help themselves. Even the birds seem replete.

Maintenance

Ø  As crops finish their harvest, remove the spent plants and compost them;

Ø  Over-wintering Harvests – brassicas – [cabbage, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts]; leeks, parsnips, Swedes etc, clear of weeds and watch out for pests like white fly on the brassicas [ there have been fewer of these during the dry weather but during the wet weeks the numbers of these little pests has increased;

Ø  Keep perennial crops, asparagus, globe artichokes and fruit bushes, canes and trees free from weeds;

Ø  Keep paths and edges tidy and cut back to prevent perennial invading the plot [and you neighbours’ plots];

Ø  As beans, sweet peas, peas and other crops finish their harvest, lift the canes, clean them and store them where the canes or their ends are not sitting in wet conditions, which will rot them. Carefully looked after they should last for several years;

Ø  Crops in poly-tunnels and greenhouses should still be good to mature and ripen for a couple of months so, make sure you keep the plants well watered and free from pests.

Ø  As you finish using tools, cloches and netting, ensure they are clean and store in a safe and dry environment;

Ø  Remove top growth of tomato plants to ensure the plants put all their energy into those trusses which are already developing. Except for small salad tomatoes – restrict the plants to 2 – 3 trusses now

Preparation and Planning

Ø  As summer cropping plants finish their harvest, start digging these areas once cleared, especially if you have a large plot to dig. You may find that there will be fresh weed growth before the winter but it is better than leaving the digging until the spring. On heavy clay soil particularly, the difference between autumn dug and spring dug ground is significant;

Ø  Prepare beds for autumn planting perennial crops, fruit trees, bushes and canes;

Ø  Prepare ground for autumn plantings of onion, garlic and shallot sets and broad beans;

Ø  Think about ordering seeds, bulbs, sets and plants for autumn planting. Many of the large seed house are sending out their autumn catalogues now. Write to them to request a catalogue or find them on-line. 

Sowing and Planting

§  There is not a lot which can be successfully sown during September although some varieties of lettuce and radish can still be sown until the end of September – choose your varieties carefully and protect the young plants from slugs, caterpillars and pigeons as they will be one of the few tender vegetables around at this time of year and as the cooler conditions slow up the growth, I find that the pests have devoured or destroyed my crop before they are large enough for me to use.

§  You can, of course, still transplant spring cabbages into their final growing place – as with salad crops, it is important to protect them from the plethora of pests which will destroy them long before you can usefully harvest them. I have found it useful to plant some in my poly-tunnel once the summer crops have finished [a while to go yet!] but this will give me a welcome crop of green vegetables in springtime when little else is available.

§  In preparation for new strawberry beds, pot up ‘runners’ from young strawberry plants [these are much more robust than runners from old – 3years + - plants]. Make sure they are kept well watered and detach from the parent plants when the ‘runners’ are well rooted

§  Set up new strawberry beds with rooted runners. I use a 2 metre wide meshed matting [which allows water through but keeps the weeds down] to plant my young strawberries through. Ensure the matting is well clamped down or high winds will lift the matting the young plants. The method is not perfect and it is necessary to keep an eye on slugs which will hide under the matting but, is better that leaving the strawberry plants on open ground. Of course, you could, like commercial growers, plant in raised troughs, a meter above ground where you can harvest and care for, at your leisure – Hmm, now that’s a thought!

Harvesting

Ø  Late sown sweetcorn will still be available for harvesting. I have harvested mine in the last week and will probably make relish this year. In previous years I have preferred to freeze it as it really does freeze well off the cob, but my freezers are full and I find that my family is quite keen on sweetcorn relish

Ø  Beans – my runner beans are still good to eat. I have grown Lady Di this year and have been very pleased with them. It is important to keep harvesting them to keep the young pods developing. I have far too many to use myself so I put them on my garden wall along with other overabundant crops [like courgettes – Zucchini] to allow neighbours and passers-by to help themselves. A stonemason, working on a house opposite mine told me he had come prepared with a bag and although he wasn’t so keen on the courgettes he did like the beans and some windfall Bramleys. French beans for fresh eating are still harvestable. I have grown a climbing purple bean – Cosse Violette. Although I don’t have too many plants they are productive, certainly far too many for me but good to give away. Drying French beans – Borlotto, Jack Edwards, Yin-yang, etc, are now drying on the vines and will be ready to harvest soon. I have learned to grow only climbing varieties as they are out of the range of our vast slug population – anything close to the ground will be eaten. I found a source of climbing Borlotto and discovered that they are also wonderful as fresh beans. I haven’t started to harvest yet and I will certainly leave lots for harvesting for drying but, if you do grow these, try them as fresh beans – yummy!

Ø  Curcurbits – winter squashes, pumpkins are beginning to mature and the skins to harden. If possible, lift the fruits onto a piece of wood, stone, brick or similar, to keep them off the ground to avoid slug and wet damage. They should be useable in the kitchen now but, for storing, ensure they have dried well and can lift from the withered plant easily [store in a cool dark place – I have had some which have kept until May of the following year but, only a few. Check them regularly throughout the winter and remove any which show signs of rotting]. Courgettes [zucchini] are now coming to the end of their main harvest. My yellow courgettes, especially, are markedly, slowing down – I can no longer be guaranteed a crop which I have to leave on my garden wall for neighbours to take.

Ø  Tomatoes are at their best now and I certainly have more than I can use in the odd salad, or even a daily salad. Think about using the excess for Tomato Ketchup, Tomato Chutney, Freezing as pulp for winter use, freezing in a salsa with other ingredients. Outdoor tomatoes are likely to finish cropping earlier than the indoor grown varieties.

Ø  Peppers and chillies – are now beginning to ripen. Peppers can be stored frozen as part of a salsa, chutney or just sliced and frozen. If growing a thickly fleshed chilli like Jalapeno, they do not dry well in our UK conditions but, they will keep well, sliced in small pots in the freezer. Thinly fleshed chillies like Joe’s Long can be hung up and dried very successfully and used all winter long.

Ø  Potatoes – it is likely that all Earlies and Second Earlies have long been harvested and eaten. My late Maincrop variety of choice is Sarpo Mira which, I hope, might see me through the winter – they have excellent flavour and cooking qualities, are blight resistant and will store successfully through the winter. I will start to harvest them later this month. This year I also tried Red Duke of York and Shetland Black as trials for me. The Red Duke of York were wonderful and I will grow them again next year. I’m not so sure about the Shetland Black – in this a great potato year, there was nothing remarkable or impressive about it. But, it is good to try out new stuff

Ø  Brassicas – some varieties of Brussels Sprouts, broccoli/calabrese and late cabbage are available now. Early kale can be harvested but may be best left until winter.

Ø  Early leeks and parsnips are harvestable now.

Ø  Salad crops, of course are still excellent where we have managed to keep the pests off.

Ø  Fruit – autumn harvesting raspberries are still available;

Apples, depending on the variety will now be harvestable – if they come easily from the stem they should be ready and can be stored. If you allow them to fall, the resultant bruising will mean that they must be used immediately. Check also for insect damage – those fruits also must be used immediately or discarded.

Pears, plums and damsons should still be ready to harvest.

Recipes

Plum and Almond Flan

For the fruit filling

500gm [1lb] approx ripe plums – Victoria are best

2 Tblsp sugar

1 tsp. water

Method

·         Wipe the plums and pierce them. Place them in a saucepan with the sugar and water over a very low heat until the juice starts to emerge.

·         Raise the temperature to gentle simmering point until the plums are soft and broken down.

·         Cool. Remove the stones and pour off most of the juice and put aside.

For the rich sweet pastry                                                                                       

150gm [ 6oz] plain flour                                                                     50gm [2oz] butter                                                                
                                                                                                                  For the Topping

100gm [4oz ] butter                                                                50gm [2oz] caster sugar

25 gm [1oz ] caster sugar                                                                    125gm [5oz] ground almonds

Pinch salt                                                                                             1 tsp almond essence

1 large egg       - beaten                                                                       1 Tblsp. Amaretto

                                                                                                            2 large eggs - beaten

                                                                                                            50gm [2oz] self-raising flour

                                                                                                            25gm [1oz] toasted flaked almonds

Method

·         Make up the pastry – Rub the fat into the flour until like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Add the egg and bind the mixture together to make a soft dough. Chill for half an hour or so. On a floured board, shape the dough into a flat round then, roll out to fit a 25cm [10inch] flan dish. Bake the pastry case ‘blind’ [ place greaseproof paper on top and cover with baking beans to prevent the pastry from rising], in a hot oven 200°C or No 6 Gas for 10 – 15 minutes until the edges are golden but not browned. Remove the beans and greaseproof paper. Cool

·         For the topping - Cream the butter and sugar together and gradually add the eggs, essence and Amaretto. Stir in the ground almonds and the flour.

·         To make up – Put the plums with a little of the juice into the bottom of the flan case. Top with the almond mixture. Sprinkle with flaked almonds and bake in moderate oven 180°C or No 4 gas for 30 – 40Minutes or until the cake topping is golden brown.

·         Serve with custard or cream.

Sweetcorn Relish

6 corncobs – remove the kernels                 1 sweet red pepper – finely chopped

1 large onion – finely chopped                      3 large garlic cloves – finely chopped

1 – 2 fresh hot chilli peppers(keep the seeds in if you like it very hot)

500ml (1pint)white vinegar

250g (9oz) white sugar                                     1 –2 tsp salt ( to taste)

1 dsp. yellow mustard seed                             1 tsp mustard powder

½ tsp ground black pepper                              ½ tsp turmeric

1 Tblsp cornflour – blended with a little water or a little extra vinegar

Method

·         Put the sugar and vinegar into a large pan over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

·         Add the onion, sweetcorn kernels, red pepper, chopped chilli and garlic and simmer gently until the vegetables are ‘transparent’ and cooked 10 minutes or so.

·         Add the mustard seed and powder, turmeric, pepper and salt and cook for 10 -15mins.

·         Add the blended cornflour and stir in well.

·         Bring to the boil and boil for 4 – 5 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken.

·         Pot up in hot, sterilised jars. Cover and label.

Sweetcorn and Potato Bake

8 oz [225g] sweetcorn kernels – fresh, frozen or tinned

2 lb [900gm] approx. potatoes – floury potatoes are best – washed and peeled

1 large red onion

1 medium sweet red pepper

2 fl oz [55ml] milk

2 oz [50g] butter or 2 Tblsp rape-seed oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 medium tomatoes

6 oz [175g] grated cheddar cheese

Method

·         Prepare the potatoes, boil or steam them then mash with the salt, pepper and milk and half of the cheese.

·         Peel and finely chop the onion and seed, core and chop the red pepper.

·         Sweat the onions and pepper in the butter or oil until soft – don’t allow it to burn.

·         Add the sweetcorn and mix in well. [Most fresh sweetcorn is very tender and will cook quickly so doesn’t need prior cooking].

·         Add the mashed potatoes and mix all the ingredients – check seasoning.

·         Put the mixture into a greased ovenproof dish.

·         Slice or section the tomatoes and arrange around the edges of the dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

·         Bake in a moderately hot oven until the cheese is golden brown.

·         This is great as a lunch dish served with a crisp salad.

Plum Cheese

This is a recipe for and a method of using plums only when there is a glut of them. In more lean years they are too precious to indulge in this very ‘wasteful’ product. However, it is well worth the effort and the abundance of plums when they are available.

Fruit cheese is a very reduced ‘pulp’ of the fruit with sugar which can be ‘set’ into attractive moulds and turned out to be sliced and served with bread with pate, cheese, etc. Or I have enjoyed it with pork chops and lamb dishes.

The cheese has a cousin which is ‘butter’ which is less reduced and can be spread onto bread or crackers. I have not tasted it  nor have I tried to make it nor have I tried to make it.

Ingredients and Method

·         Add a little water to several pounds / kilos of fruit – in this case plums although you can also use damsons, black currants and other strongly flavoured fruit. Cook over a gentle heat until the fruit is very soft

·         If you wish, add a little spice – cinnamon, black pepper or cloves, etc

·         When the fruit is very soft – push it through a strainer or coarse sieve to get the pulp.

·         For every 450kg [1pint ] of pulp add 450kg sugar [1lb sugar].

·         Over a low heat, dissolve the sugar then bring the pulp to the boil. It is most important that this is stirred continuously to prevent it ‘catching’ and burning [I have done this with no trouble at all – I thought I was stirring continuously, and had to dump the whole batch ! ].

·         As the mixture thickens - when you can draw the wooden spoon through the mixture and can briefly see the bottom of the pan, the ‘cheese’ is ready.

·         Spoon it into prepared moulds or freezer containers.

·         Some moulds should be lightly oiled to allow the ‘cheese’ to be easily decanted for use. I have used silicon moulds which have easily allowed the moulds to be decanted.

·         This should keep for several months if covered and properly stored. I have not yet tried my frozen batches but will get back on this.

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.