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Top Veg for 2014 - and What Not to Grow in 2015

26/11/2014

 
Recently Peter, a friend, asked me what fruit and veg I'd grow next year. Well, here's the current top list - as well as a word of warning on what not to grow in 2015.

Best fruit & veg 2014
1. (Autumn sown) Broad beans - Aquadulce Claudia
Still a classic. Great taste and early cropping. Hard to find sweet tender broad beans in the supermarket, so definitely worth growing. I've just sowed next year's crop to overwinter. 

2. 'Green Globe' Artichokes
Easy to grow from seed, tough, and they all cropped in their first year! Delicious boiled and dipped in butter. 

3. 'Polka' Raspberries
These are large, sweet, and productive, even after a long dry summer, and in their first year. We're going to grow more of these - they are eaten as soon as they're picked. 

4. (Summer sown) Dwarf French beans 
A revelation. Small, tender, delicious. No air miles! No carbon footprint! A delicious crop to sow in mid to late summer for an early autumn harvest.

5. Rocket 
As regular readers know, a long standing favourite of mine. A hot peppery taste, and chemical free Don't get carried away, as I did, and end up with a spring glut; unless you have a family of twenty, instead, sow parsimoniously.

6. 'Migonette' Alpine Strawberries
Tiny, yes, and hence so small you hardly taste them. But they are ever so fun to pick, especially with small children, who are excellent at spotting the ripe berries hiding under low-lying leaves. The berries look lovely decorating puddings. The blossom is also decorative, so the plants make good edging. 

7. Parsley, thyme, basil, chives
Divide chives, pot up, grow on next year. Thyme is tough enough to over-winter. Parsley and basil sow fresh. If you have the space, grow Parsley in the ground rather than in pots (it puts on a deep tap root and romps away). I have blitzed my spare herbs into melted butter, and frozen it, for use on fish and veg.
Worst veg and fruit 2014
1. 'Wizard' Field Beans
This was a variety I purchased from the Real Seed Co. They do warn about it being suspectible to chocolate rust. But boy - I've never seen anything like it. Most of the plants were heavily mottled with rust, and even those that weren't still produced a bitter tough bean. Yuk. Try as we might, we eventually gave up eating these, and binned the lot.

2. 'Crystal Apple' white cucumbers
This was a Thompson & Morgan special. They describe it as follows: "The crisp, tender flesh has a sweet flavour with no bitter after taste." Rubbish. There is hardly any flesh on these - the insides are full of seeds - and the flesh is extremely bitter. Prolific, but absolutely grim eating. Again, in the end, after numerous bitter meals, we gave up on these.

3. 'Rossa Ricciolina da Taglio' Red lettuce and 'Rossa di Treviso' Raddicio
Bitter, bitter, bitter. That's all I can say. And I like bitter lettuces! Again, we tried, but couldn't bring ourselves to eat much of them.

4. Radishes - Red Globe
Unless you are Peter Rabbit or my father-in-law, you will be probably be defeated by these hardy, productive, peppery radishes. Sow thinly! 

5.  Strawberries
I grew several varieties, including Cambridge Favourite, Red Cascade, and Honeyoye. I netted them closely, but whatever I did, the mice and grass snakes still nibbled them. Honestly, I'll give them one more year, but I doubt I'll keep growing them.

Winifred's Lime and Lemon Marmalade

11/11/2014

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Recently a friend showed me her mother's method for making marmalade. The secret to her mother's method is that the fruit is cooked in a pressure cooker, and includes a lemon and a lime. The result is a chunky, slightly tart marmalade, which is simply delicious spread on hot buttered toast. 

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds / 900g Seville oranges
1 lemon and 1 lime (unwaxed)
3 pounds / 1.3 kg granulated sugar
0.5 pounds / 200g jam sugar
2 pints water
Note: for a tarter marmalade, use 3 pounds / 1.3kg sugar. 


METHOD

1. Place the whole oranges and the lemon in a pressure cooker, covering with 1.5 pints water. Cook for about 20-25 mins at pressure. If you don't have a pressure cooker, slow cook them in a low oven for several hours until the skins are soft. 

2. Cook the lime separately, for about 30 mins or until the skin is soft. 

Picture
3. Remove all the fruit from the pans, and break open. Scoop out the pips and pulp from the fruit skins, and place the pips and pulp into a sieve over the jam kettle to capture the pectin and help the marmalade set. Press them through the sieve, using some of the liquid to help, then discard. 

4. Place the fruit skins on a chopping board and chop into 2-4cm pieces, depending upon how fine or chunky you like your marmalade. 
5. Meanwhile measure out the sugar into a bowl. Place in a cool oven for about 20 mins so that it warms up. 

6. Strain out 2 pints liquid, adding water to top it up if needed. Mix the liquid, chopped fruit, and warmed sugar.  Bring to a roiling boil for about 20 mins, or until a jam thermometer reads 221 F / 105 C. 


7. Remove the pan from the heat. Let stand for 20 mins. Meanwhile, place your sterilised jam pots and lids in a low oven so that they're less likely to crack when you add the hot fruit.
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Adam and Eve Stew

6/11/2014

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This is a slow cooked stew, using relatively cheap ingredients. It's filling enough to fuel autumn and winter gardening without slowing you down. 

Ingredients
Approx. 900g pork ribs, cut into individual ribs
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlics, peeled and crushed
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 bulb fennel, finely chopped
2 tspns dried marjoram
1/2 tspn celery seeds
1 pint good quality chicken stock
1 cup cooked grains or chickpeas
some creme fraiche to serve, if desired

Method 
1. Brown the pork ribs over a medium-high heat. Remove from pan.
2. Gently saute the onion for 10 mins. 
3. Add the garlic and saute for a further 1-2 mins.
4. Add the remaining vegetables, herbs, pork ribs and chicken stock. 
5. Bring to the boil very briefly, then place in the oven at a low temperature (110-140).
6. Cook for minimum 2 hours, up to 4. 
7. Taste and adjust seasoning (especially salt and herbs), then add cooked grains/chickpeas, if you'd like a thicker, soupy-stew.  Add some creme fraiche if you'd like a richer dish.
8. Serve with buttered bread and some fresh peas and beans.  
 
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    Favourite Sites

    Seedaholic
    Good suppliers of flower, veg and unusual plant seeds. 

    Fentongollan
    Cornish bulb supplier. My go-to for daffodils. Helpful staff. 

    Peter Nyssen
    All-round fab website for bulb hunting. Excellent quality tulips.

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