Successful Cake Number Two!

These dark evenings may not be great for gardening but they sure are handy for practicing my baking skills...a blessed relief after all the home decorating!  After purchasing some lovely new 6" cake tins from a certain kitchen shop which has just opened in town, I decided to try it out on some work colleagues.  As it would be sampled at home as well I decided to go for my husband's favourite of coffee and walnut using proper espresso as opposed to instant coffee powder - yeuch!

Turned out well, in fact it turned out brilliantly and is probably the nicest coffee and walnut cake I have ever had and I'm not trying to be big headed.  Nice height, even size, gooey and moist but not under-cooked...yes indeed it is another sure fire WI winner!!  Obviously I won't be divulging the recipe in case I decide to make my fortune in cakes (if book writing doesn't pay the bills) but have a look at the pictures and be amazed. YUM.

Autumn Colours at Westonbirt Arboretum

This weekend was a weekend away so no work was done on my new, still very naked plot (I have visions of couch grass growing rapidly in my absence) but we did manage to have a lovely afternoon out at Westonbirt, the National Arboretum in Gloucestershire.   Luckily my snappy snap camera had a full battery so lots of lovely shots were taken. It really is a spectacular place to visit at this time of year; doggies are welcome in the Silk Wood but not in Acer Glade, which is where we spent our time.

Enjoy the photos...

I have just had a look at my earlier posts at the beginning of 2009 and it is quite interesting what I said I would do this year and what I have done this year.

• Plan earlier - yes but I still need to plan even more...with a 4mx20m lottie on my hands I'll be planning til the cows come home (if I was allowed to have them on the plot!).
  
• Start sowing earlier and think about staggering the sowing (although this didn't work a jot with broadies as they all ended up cropping together) - staggered crops such as radish, lettuce and beetroot but this still didn't work well; perhaps I need to stagger them further apart as they all ended up cropping at the same time. I think staggering works along as you eat the veg at the appropriate time otherwise it all goes to pot!
  
• Feed, feed and feed some more - yes did this and had interesting results. I think I may have damaged my beans via the added manure as they wrinkled badly and didn't crop well however the soil overall looked amazing...did feeding work? Not 100%.
  
• Make the brussels bed a bit more firmer - not growing them this year but the PSB is well wedged in.
  
• Move the beans from their usual spot - yes.
  
• Don't bother with tomatoes outside - waste of time as it ALWAYS rains in July - success story of 2009; tomatoes were bl**dy brilliant especially the outside ones which were much bigger than the indoor ones.
  
• Don't bother with aubergines as the weather is never hot enough - yes; it wasn't hot enough and I wouldn't have managed a full-size aubergine.
  
• Pick things and don't let them go to seed e.g. radishes growing two foot tall - need a new freezer I think!  Radishes only grew to 1ft tall this year the lettuces managed 2ft.
  

Ruminating about 2009

Outside the trees have started to lose their leaves, the rain has turned into drizzly cold stuff and it is dark when my alarm goes off - autumn is well and truly here!  It is a case of s*d's law isn't it. I get an allotment and the incredible dry spell ends!!!

Overall though 2009 has been a rather decent year in terms of weather; whilst we may not have had the scorchers that we've had every now and then in the past decade it certainly felt a bit more like British weather although I could have done with a nicer July but that is just asking too much I think.  The early part of the growing season was gorgeous - memories of having to water everything everynight - only to be followed by a hideous wet July.  The plants loved it and went potty but it meant everything was out of kilter and subsequently cropped all at once by the end of August/early September.  Given the past three years of blighted tomatoes I was fully expecting the same again and admit I turned to the use of Bordeaux Mixture - whilst not considered 'organic' it certainly saved the entire crop from being decimated unlike the rest of the country which suffered terribly.  Anyway I'm not too concerned as I don't buy organic fruit and veg, I don't buy organic seeds and I have used glysophate, tomorite and slug pellets - I can hardly start worrying about a little use of Bordeaux Mixture.  Now whether or not I try to be organic with Lottie 11a is another matter and one to be perused over the winter...and perhaps in a winter blog when there is little to take photos of in terms of progress.

Successes of 2009

Tomatoes have to be the winner in this category - I estimate that we had over 30kg of tomatoes.  They were all productive to some extent although the best performers were Vanessa F1, Cherokee Purple and Tigerella. I probably wouldn't grow Ananas Noire again as the Cherokee Purples were just as big (quite unexpectedly) and just as, if not more tasty.  I have grown the Beam's Yellow Pear for a good few years and have decided to give them a rest as they can get a bit bland; instead I am going to go for a standard cherry such as Sungold. We will continue to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse but have decided to not have any grow bags in 2010; they are just too unsightly and a faff to water. I think Stan is keen to regain use of his 'Mediterranean' garden.

The rockery. Stan has continued to develop the rockery which he originally built from old paving concrete; this year it has taken on a completely new form, one that is lovely to look at if only by next door's chickens! 

Cucumbers against the shed. This has been a raving success and one that will definitely be repeated in 2010.  The shed obviously absorbs any southern heat and radiates it back onto the cuke plants resulting in an absolute shed-load (!) of fruit. Plan for next year is three different varieties including a true pickler.

Leeks are looking good so far...time and winter will tell.

Shallots Eschallotes Grise were tres bon!  If a little small although I understand that is quite common; they had a very useful hard coating which could be peeled off in one although when they are the size of a cherry that can be quite difficult!

Cutting flowers - my annuals have been great this year and I have supplied the house with a continuous array of flower arrangements. My favourites have been the purple and white dahlia, love lies bleeding (green) and the purple cosmos. 

Disappointments 

Beans.  These looked so promising until they all cropped within a six day period...when we were in Bruges for Stan's 40th birthday! Oh well.  They are now drying (!) on the plants and will be used in casseroles during the winter and for seed next year...interestingly the big black seeds of Black Emporer are big pink seeds...somewhat different to type.

Courgettes. This was my fault as I carried out a mulching experiment which went horribly wrong. I 'think' that the problem occurred with the paper shreddings...I won't be doing that next year but one has to experiment.

The herb bed aka the coffin. Stan built an odd-looking but useful seat opposite the pond which was lovely to sit on whilst having breakfast in the summer mornings but I don't think it receives enough sun to be a herb bed. The invading nasturtiums loved it though.

Early potatoes. What early potatoes??!?!?

There is more to comment on but I will save that for the bestseller :)

Practical Uses for Gluts

This year has been a fantastic year for certain things in the garden namely tomatoes (at last!!!), cucumbers and damsons.  Other vegetables didn't do so well but we don't talk about those in this post...perhaps later in the 'What I Won't Grow Next Year' post.

The tomatoes have been used for many things but the most successful and hopefully the most useful recipe has been Delicious Magazine's Ultimate Tomato Sauce. It has been fantastic and results in a rich, smooth sauce that would be fab with pasta, sausages, fish, beans, chicken...well pretty much anything and by requiring 5kg of tomatoes each time it certainly helps out with the tomato glut!

 Trying to squeeze this many tomatoes into two ovens proved difficult!

 Garlic, shallots (from the garden) and chillis (from the garden) will used to make an infused oil which was poured into the crushed, roasted tomatoes. The remaining bits formed part of an accidental smashed mess the first time round but didn't end up on the floor the second time and were delicious in a curry!

The final sauce was fabulous and was a different colour and quantity each time I made it...strange but true!

The cucmbers did amzingly well on the trellis Stan helped me make on the South side of the shed; it certainly proved to be a real sun trap and they thrived there in their tubs.  I will definitely be growing them again next year, perhaps a different variety in each tub.

The cucumber pickle recipe was a great success, or at least it smelt like a great success as it is still maturing behind the fridge.  The cukes were sliced finely using a mandolin as were plenty of onions. They were sprinkled liberally with salt, left to sit in a fridge for three hours and then rinsed and drained.  After being mixed with tumeric and various spices vinegar and sugar were added to make what looks like a relish as opposed to a pickle but i am certainly looking forward to eating it. Perhaps with some nice boiled ham at Christmas?

The damsons were plentiful; the tree was so laden with fruit that branches which were hanging at head height flew back up about five to six feet once the fruit was removed. Here was our first batch.

I made damson cheese using a recipe from Roast Figs, Sugar Snow a gorgeous recipe book which is defininitely more than just a recipe book. It is very much a bedside reading book too!  The damson cheese is lovely and so far has tasted very nice with blue cheese and I hope it will go well with some red meats, etc, as we go into winter.

The remaining damsons were sieved into puree, most of it unsweetened and frozen but some remained in the fridge so got used in things like Book Club cakes - rather proud I was too.  According to our members it would have won a WI prize - honour indeed!!!

My Naked Plot

Back in the early part of this year I joined two waiting lists for allotments. The reason behind joining? Mainly because I wanted to grow a wider choice of vegetables and big ones at that so things like cabbages, sweetcorn, asparagus, rhubard, etc.  One list was for the allotments closest to where we live and one was for those at the bottom of our road some one and a half miles away or five minutes drive or bicycle (downhill!).  The closest allotments claimed a six month wait and the further away one was one month; it turned out to be about five months for the one further away but here I am now the proud owner of an allotment 11a or lottie for short. Stan is designated deputy tenant because to gain his allotment badge he will be contributing to the 'build and make' element of the project! 

My updated blog title feels like a suitable title for the project and certainly describes the current state of the plot. Before notifying me of its availability the council kindly rotovated my plot (which has its plus points and its negative points) although overall I'm fairly chuffed with it.  There is an argument for not rotovating and digging by hand as in theory the ground is cleared more efficiently that way. However, not rotovating would mean that I would have to spend months digging and not get very much done for the first few years.

Rotovating has quickly cleared the allotment ready for work to commence and by spending a few weeks forking through and lifting noticeable roots, etc, I should be able to start using it practically in the spring.

As you can see from the photo it is a decent size - 125sqm to be precise as it is a half plot (will do me fine thanks).  It is one half of what used to be a wholesize plot but the previous tenant didn't do very much with it and gave it up at the end of the season - lucky for me.  I haven't come across my immediate neighbour as yet but I'm sure there will be someone taking it on fairly quickly as there are already twelve people on the currect waiting list and the council allotment team won't let empty space remain empty for long!

So lottie 11a is relatively well placed although there is likely to be some shade at the far end towards the late afternoon in the summer and probably from midday onwards in the winter - useful for my planning. 

I have fell on my feet somewhat as I have a lovely tap and water trough on the corner of the lottie and, given that hoses are not allowed, it means my little leggies won't get tired from hoofing full watering cans backwards and forwards in the hot (!) summer months.  I only found out that hoses aren't allowed when I received my tenancy agreement today. Amongst other things on the agreement I am not allowed to keep more than 15 chickens, erect an buildings that would be used for anything other that storing my garden tools and I have to keep the paths and allotment well maintained. If you could see some of the other plots you would assume that the latter stipulation is not adhered to particularly well!!!

The quality of the soil is very good and seems to be a reasonable mixture of clay and sand; I squeeze it together and it clumps for a few seconds and then crumbles.  The rotovating has chopped up the majority of whatever vegetation was there which I think includes the dreaded couch grass or Elytrigia repens; this spreads using a vast network of white roots and even the tiniest bit of root can sprout a new plant.  Apparently it is not as bad as mare's tail and we have that at home and I don't think it is actually too bad so fingers crossed I can deal with a little couch here and there.

Next step of the plan to get myself down there with a fork and some bin liners (can't compost couch) and start digging! Allotment Weeding Party here we come...

Cheesy Damsons???

I do think it is nice when I actually make something quite interesting culinary-wise with the fruit and veg grown lovingly grown in the garden, it is particularly nice when it is with fruit and veg that either appears by its own accord (and no I'm not referring to Deadly Nightshade Pie) or that just exists because I haven't got around to getting rid of it. Enter the lowly damson.

In the garden we have a tree totally laden with them and some are actually still edible whilst the rest are rapidly mouldering (a word?) away to the joy of the wasps who seem to particularly like the goo that oozes from them. I was thinking about damson jam, damson gin (more on damsons and booze in a later post), damson crumble perhaps but no I plumped for that well-known delicacy damson cheese!! Apparently quince cheese or membrillo is well known but damson cheese seems to be more a rarity although when I googled it recipes appeared everywhere!! So is damson cheese cheese? No, couldn't be far from it. The only similarity is that it can be sliced and so can cheese but then so can bread and it's not called damson bread is it!!
I digress - I picked 2 kg of damsons from said tree in the garden and put them in a big pan with 4tblsp of water to simmer. After only ten minutes and a few times bashing with a wooden spoon they had reduced to a perfect mush.







This perfect mush was then pushed through a sieve to get all the gooey puree and juice out - this took ages as I did it bit by bit to make sure I got as much goo as possible.

For every 500ml of goo I added 350gm sugar and returned to the pan. I simmered it gently to get the sugar to dissolve and then let it continue to simmer (making sure the mixture does not stick to the bottom) until I could make sticky goo part on the bottom of the pan. As someone in another post has commented this does not have to be a Moses' parting of the seas i.e. it doesn't have to stay parted just leave a momentary channel.




I placed it into two flat containers from the indian restaurant and left to cool; after a night in the fridge it is rock solid and delicious - note the tester's evidence. YUM!!!

Can't wait to eat it on hot buttered toast (thick and white of course), with roast lamb instead of redcurrant jelly and with cheese - won't I look posh when I bring this out on a cheese board!!!