Autumn Planting

Heather has re-planted the Garlic Moraluz and Cristo in the space where the beans were grown last year.  To this has been added Garlic Solent Wight, Shallots (Griselle) and Onions (Senshyu Yellow). 

Heather has sown a row of Broad Beans (Aquadulce) and Peas (Feltham First) where we had planted the garlic a few days ago... where the onions were grown last year.

We still have some more room, so we will plant another row of Onions and another row of Broad Beans in the next few weeks.

The last of the Beetroot has been lifted and we are going to store this in a clump just to see how well they last.

Danger, man at work...

I dug a trench, filled it with compost and incorporated plenty of bonemeal.

Two poles were hammered in yesterday and I will soon be attaching galvanised wire to straining bolts to create a strong support framework for the raspberry canes that we are going to move from the garden.

Keeping the vampires at bay...

Yesterday we planted the first of our garlic.

We bought one bulb of Cristo (as pictured left) from Proper Plants and two bulbs of Moraluz from Simpsons Seeds. Two bulbs of Solent White have yet to arrive from Dobies and I will plant these along with the German Red that we harvested from the garden this year.

...the beet goes on

Heather has been busy in the kitchen, pickling beetroot and red cabbage.

We have cleared out the Bulls Blood beetroot and given most of it away to people on the allotment.  We won't be growing this on the patch next year because it is a bit to 'earthy' tasting and the leaves are not very good eating, even when young.  However, the colouring of the leaves is spectacular and we will probably grow some for foliage in the flower beds at home.

The Cylindra beetroot has proved to be very successful both in yield and taste and we may be growing some more next spring. There is another variety called Solo F1 Hybrid which we will try. It produces a single seedling from each seed cluster, so avoiding the need for thinning-out.

Red Cabbage

We cut this one last week to make my favourite braised red cabbage dish. This particular variety is Red Drumhead and despite the collateral damage to the outer leaves, the head was firm and round.

The recipe for the dish is as follows :

• 1 red cabbage
• 2 desert apples
• 2 medium onions
• 2 ounces lard
  
• 2 tbsps brown sugar
• 3 tbsps wine vinegar (red preferably, but white is fine)
• 1 tsp mustard
• 6 crushed juniper berries
• a good scratching of grated nutmeg
• a good glug of red wine

Shred the cabbage roughly. Peel, core and slice the apples, then slice the onions. Melt the lard in a large pan then add the cabbage, apples and onions. Stir until they are glazed.

Add all the other ingredients, put the lid on the pan and cook slowly for about 2 hours.

We served this with roast chicken and roast vegetables, but it goes really well with game or garlicky sausages.

This dish tastes much better if eaten the next day !