Winter has finally arrived and we've had several frosts and even some snow. The snow didn't hang around but the pavements have been very slippy to walk along, I had a very interesting (slow) walk to work the other day. But before that, on my non working day (weds) I had a nice three hours on the plot in the sun, carrying on with the weeding. I'm leaving the weeds on the soil surface to protect it against all the rain we'll no doubt continue to get. When I'm ready to use the bed I can just rake them off, easy peasy. I have to say, I did spend quite a few minutes just standing, facing the sun and enjoying the warmth, and listening to the birds, lovely.
This week my seed order arrived, yippee. There's still a few more to come plus some red onion sets
A few of the potatoes had already started to shoot so I've set them out to chit in the lean-to where they're in a light frost-free place. If you leave them in the dark they develop pale gangly shoots rather than the short, dark green shoots which grow in lighter conditions. When planted out, the shoots then continue to grow up through the soil and then turn into leaves above ground. One of the potatoes was a bit manky though, so I've thrown that one away.
I brought a few things home from the plot - beetroot, parsnips and a red onion from the shed. Plus quite a bit more corn salad that I didn't photograph
Jan wanted to make a 24hour pickle recipe which she saw in the paper recently - it has apple cider vinegar, a bay leaf and beetroot (all our own), celeriac (not our own as I'm rubbish at growing it), orange rind, coriander seed.
Simmer the vinegar, spices and orange rind for a few minutes, leave to cool and then pour over the chopped veg. Leave in the fridge overnight and voila!
We've had some lovely salads this week with the pickle - the orange zest (organic of course) adds a really special quality. I've made more hummus and red cabbage coleslaw to go with it plus we've had the gorgeous green corn salad leaves. No photos though.
Jan's also been busy making a pie which included our own parsnip and some more dried chickpeas we cooked from scratch this weekend, yummy
And to finish, we had a spooky surprise in the sourdough bread, wooooh (bought from the artisan baker on Norwich Market)
That's me for the week, linking in with Harvest Monday, hosted this month by Michelle at From Seed to Table
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I think the ability to grow celeriac is inherited - if it isn't in your genes then you have no chance.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, thanks Sue. Yep I don't have the celeriac-growing gene, that's for sure. I grew some tiny ones last year which weren't worth harvesting so I let them go to seed - maybe some will pop up on the plot this year and do better by themselves
DeleteI'm glad it's not just me that grows "sub-optimal" Celeriac! The pickle sounds nice.
ReplyDeleteHehe, my celeriac is generally sub-sub optimal Mark. The pickle was really nice, and the leftover liquid is nice as a salad dressing. The only thing is that heating up the vinegar must kill off the good bacteria in it which is a shame.
DeleteScary bread! That's funny. Parsnip and Chickpea pie. That's yummy! Good looking beets and parsnips.
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks Michelle. I think I have about 3 more each of parsnips and beets to harvest.
DeleteWe had a very warm fall & the cold cellar didn't get down to a nice, cold temp until late December/early January, which I think has caused some of my potatoes to start sprouting also. It seems a bit too early to start chitting them though - when do you normally plant your potatoes?
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of standing in the garden, doing nothing but enjoying - problem is I always forget to do that in the rush of getting things done!
Hi Margaret, I don't plant my potatoes out until towards the end of March, but they just sit quite happily in the lean- to chitting away slowly until then. If I left them in a cupboard I'd forget about them and they'd get too warm.
DeleteYes it's not often you get to enjoy winter sun on your face. My excuse was that it was actually very cold weeding down at ground level but standing up in the sun was lovely and gave me a chance to warm up :)
Just reading Margaret's comment; we live 7 hours or so from each other and I recall last year having the same thought of you chitting potatoes so early. We won't be doing that until April or May!! Love the spooky bread. But I particularly like the picture of the seed packets!! I'm still going through the catalogues to pick out the goodies.
ReplyDeleteHi Susie, yep I just looked back to last year and was actually chitting from December (as the potatoes had arrived already). I find it easier just to put them out as soon as they're delivered. Otherwise if I leave them in the box they start to produce the gangly white shoots (which has happened before when I've had a December delivery then gone away for Xmas and just left them). It's pretty cold in the lean-to, especially on the shady shelf where I keep them, but it doesn't get frosty so they're safe from damage.
DeleteOoh yes I do like a nice delivery of seed packets! All that food waiting to be sown and eaten :) amazing really. Have fun choosing yours.