Sunday 23 October 2011

One Last Chutney

We're trying to get the hill-side apples turned into purée or similar as quickly as possible, as they're starting to go over. The freezer's groaning at the seams!

With some of the apples, though, we thought we'd make some more sloe chutney. Just a small quantity, as we only made one batch of sloe gin last time, which doesn't equate to much chutney. The sloe gin has been decanted, and is much better than last year. I think it's a combination of harvesting the sloes earlier, and freezing them before making the gin. Which means it's probably time to get out there and collect a pound of sloes for this year's gin.

Accordingly:
  • 10oz sloes, stoned (8oz)
  • 8oz chopped apple
  • 8oz soft light brown sugar
  • large onion, chopped
  • 12fl oz white/distilled vinegar
  • 8oz raisins
  • ½tsp chilli powder
  • ½tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp cloves
  • ½tsp salt
  • 2fl oz orange juice

Chutney's easy: bring that lot gently to the boil, and simmer until it's suitably thick. That quantity only took about 20 minutes.

We also made a batch of pickled damsons, which are better described as spiced damsons (the vinegar disappears, and the spicy fruity sweetness is much the dominant flavour). Recipe to follow...they're very good as a spoonful on top of yoghurt...

Sunday 16 October 2011

Winter Hanging Baskets

Candy canes

The last order needed for the winter hanging baskets arrived this week, so once we'd popped to the garden centre to buy ten white winter flowering heathers (Erica x darleyensis Silberschmelze), we were able to plant these. Out came the geraniums and verbena (geraniums repotted to over-winter, and verbena cuttings taken), and in went a bronze sedge, two heathers, five cineraria (previously in the hanging baskets on the arbour), and two candy-cane oxalis (O. versicolour: picture by Tanakawho). The oxalis are extremely unprepossessing: about 10mm long, and 5mm diameter, and shaped like a miniature shallot. Here's hoping they do something!

We also planted the baskets of paperwhite narcissi that we enjoyed over Christmas 2010. We spread them over several plantings last year. It didn't seem to make much difference, so we've done them all at once.

The fruit tree order I mentioned last weekend is now placed, so in a couple of months we'll receive seven fruit trees, some hedging plants, and a dozen Midwinter Fire dogwoods.

Sunday 9 October 2011

Wet Weekend

It's been decidedly autumnal this weekend, making an end to the reversion to summer. It's drizzled or rained throughout, and the wind's waxed and waned.

However, it was still a very pleasant weekend, as we had Alan and Ann visiting. We played rather a lot of Settlers (Cities & Knights, which was new to them), and rewatched Serenity, warmed by our first fire in quite a while. The chimney drew better than I remembered, and half a dozen logs kept us nicely warmed. The plan to install a stove has been rekindled, as a result.

We also made a batch of elderberry vinegar, with the last of this year's berries. This was a simple affair: an inch of berries in a big pan, generously covered with distilled/spirit vinegar. This was simmered for twenty minutes, and then squished through a cheesecloth and rebottled. It's meant to be good for salad dressings, or for adding to casseroles or roast meats' glazes. We shall experiment.

We've almost finalized an order of fruit trees and hedging, which will be good. Also recently arrived was thirty 'Firecracker' primulas, which are now in the troughs outside the porch, and a dozen mixed heucheras (to pep up the front garden). We've also got some bulbs on order from Parkers that should be arriving soon...including a couple of hundred daffs, and about 50 tulips. We also need to start planting the Paperwhite narcissi, in order to have them flowering at Christmas. We meant to do some on Friday, but it didn't happen!

Sunday 2 October 2011

Late Season Harvests

Thanks to an unseasonably warm week, we're still finding ourselves with salad leaves to pick. I'm sure the plants will either irrevocably bolt, or die in a frost, before too much longer, but for now, there are still salads to be enjoyed.

We've also managed to collect about 8kg of blackberries, which is better than we've done for the last couple of years. All into the freezer for now (which is starting to bulge at the seams), along with apple purée that we've been making in batches. The courgettes are still going, but the peas have pretty much come to an end, and the runner beans have slowed. I think we'll find that the summer harvests are over very soon. However, that just means we can start looking forward to the leeks, celeriac, turnips, and winter leaves.

The Summer Gold onions and Germidour garlic that we planted a fortnight ago are now sprouting (about half, anyway), and the spring onions have begun to germinate. There's no sign of the elephant garlic, yet, but that's buried twice as deep, so it'll take longer to emerge.

Less excitingly, I repainted the rest of the inside window frames (a job started a month ago), and discovered that the windows in the garage and workshop need some attention. I think they'll muddle through the winter, but next spring I think I should re-mortar them, and probably replace some of the putty/mastic.