Back To The Garden

It's a sunny day here in North Lincolnshire. I could blog about vegan sausages, Pineapple chutney or how much I love Coconut Kārums, but instead here's some photo's of what's happening in the garden.


These are Golden Sweet peas, which have been producing lots of delicious, sweet & juicy mange tout style peas, they're so tasty I've been adding them raw to salads. The peas are quite tall, they've almost reached my height! They came from Seeds of Distinction (though you can find them in a variety of seed catalogues). This is my first year of trying their seeds, and have found them to be excellent quality with high germination rates. I'll definitely be saving seeds from these to grow next year!
The other thing I love about these peas is their beautiful pale blue flowers - so pretty against the green leaves!

Ezethas Krombek Blau is the tongue-twisting name of another pea variety I'm trying out this year. It grows as tall as the Golden Sweet, but with delicate pink-purple flowers. They are a real pleasure to look at when pottering about in the garden. The pods are an impressive dusky purple, though apparently the peas themselves are green.
I'm also growing green peas, Asparagus peas & Parsley peas too!

The Barn Swallows that nest each year in my woodstore zip around me catching insects while I'm gardening. They quickly worked out that I wasn't a threat when they first arrived, just some lumbering great herbivore. So I've been able to watch the chicks get fatter & fatter over the last few weeks. It's a miracle they can all still fit in that nest!

Where ever you are, I hope you have sun, good company & a patch of earth to dig in

Midsummer

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, the longest day & the shortest night of the year here in the Northern hemisphere (no, I couldn't get to sleep either, and Mikeyfox announced at 5am that he was not only getting up, he was also going to cycle to work*).

To celebrate, we took a trip across the the Trent** (that big ole muddy river) to visit Julian's Bower in Alkborough, North Linconshire. Julian's Bower is a Turf Maze or a Miz-maze (technically a Labyrinth - a single path twisting to the centre), which were once found across England under various names (usually referencing the city of Troy), but now only a handful remain-the Alkborough example is the last surviving Julian's Bower (The name stemming from Julius, son of Aeneas of Troy). The design is based on the Classical (or Cretan) Labyrinth. Luckily this one didn't have a Minotaur waiting in the middle. Phew!
Opinion is divided as to whether turf mazes were constructed for fun or for punishment. After having a go, I'd say they were fun!

The bower is on a hill overlooking the uniting of the rivers Trent (that big ole muddy) & Ouse, and the RSPB reserve Blacktoft Sands (home of the bearded tit. Snerk.).

Below the Bower is the Alkborough Flats, a habitat for wildlife on the edge of the Humber flood bank, home of numerous things tweety, fluttery & migratory, and a lovely setting for an afternoon of ambling about and saying 'Ooooooh' while pointing at things.

*18 miles away. It took him 1 hour 40 minutes. Beer and Tiger balm await him when he cycles home. Nutter.

**One of the peculiarities of the Trent is that it's not easy to cross it. It's a tidal river, and a dangerous one at that, so swimming, wading & paddling across in a dinghy are out of the question. So it's a 20 minute drive down to Scunthorpe to the nearest bridge if you fancy a pint there. Until we get an aquacar.

'Grass

There seems to be a million names for Asparagus: sperage, Sparrow-grass, Asper-grass... In Thailand it's called No mai farang (meaning 'Western Bamboo shoot'). In Hereford & Worcestershire where I did fruit & flower picking as a cub, it was just known as 'Grass'. The name Asparagus originates from the Persian Asparag, meaning 'sprout' or 'shoot'. Fancy that.
Whatever you call it, it's been around for a long time, and even featured in the Apicius de re coquinaria ("On the Subject of Cooking") a collection of recipes from the late 4th century. The recipe is pretty revolting, actually, poached warbler (a type of small tweety bird) & asparagus in a fish & egg sauce. Ick. Asparagus doesn't need much cooking, just lightly grilling, steaming or stir frying will do the job. It goes well with eggs and/or cheese too.
Growing asparagus is quite a commitment, too. Nothing says 'I'm sticking with you*, garden' quite like planting a crop that takes up a load of space for a small yield and takes 2 or 3 years to produce anything you can eat. So I have pledged my troth to my patch of Lincolnshire by making an asparagus bed.

You can get asparagus in a few different ways, either buying seed (the cheapest way, though you have to wait an extra year before you can start eating) or one year old 'crowns' (a Cthulhu-like mass of fleshy, brittle roots with a few teeny little spears poking out of the centre). Two year old crowns are available, but they are painfully expensive, and slower to establish in your patch. You can get asparagus crowns from garden centers, or buy them online. I bought half online & half from a few different garden centres, and I have to say, order online! The garden centre ones were sad, dried out little twigs that have shown no signs of life so far, whereas the online ordered ones are growing well. I'll keep an eye on them, and maybe think about replacing them with autumn-planted varieties if there's no growth by then.
They're all planted in a raised bed, in trenches 15cm (6") deep, spaced 30cm (12") apart each way, placing each little rooty cephalopod carefully on a mound of soil & spreading out it's roots. Then cover with 7cm (3") of soil & water well. In the autumn the trench can be topped up to the surrounding soil level. No matter how tempting they look, you can't have any of the emerging spears. Why? Because harvesting any in the first year will weaken the plant, and you won't get much from them in later years. When established, an asparagus will provide plentiful spears for up to 20 years, so patience now will mean rewards later. Delicious rewards. And probably beetles, knowing my luck.

*'Cos I'm made out of glue
Anything that you might do
I'm gonna do too

Beetballs

It has been a bit of a trying week here at the Shack in the Marshlands. But instead of complaining about mad old misogynists, incendiary* brewery equipment or finances, I shall rejoice in two of my favourite things - bad puns & beetroot - which means Beetballs!

I've been messing around with Beetroot & fake meat puns for a while (Beetburgers, Beetloaf ect) but am pretty chuffed with how these came out. They are made with wheat gluten, which I've blogged about before, and is one of my store cupboard staples, as well as being good fun to mess about with.
I've been trying to come up with a good fake meatball recipe for a while. Most recipes out there seem to involved grinding stuff up, then trying desperately to make it all stick back together again.
I'm really pleased with how these came out. The texture is light & moist inside with a firm crust. I can't say whether or not they're a good substitute, as meatballs are something I've never eaten!

This recipe makes about 20-25 beetballs (or less or more, depending on how small or large your balls are. Oh. That just sounds filthy, doesn't it? Ah well). You can stick what you don't use in the freezer (or use what's left as sandwich fillings or tortilla wraps. Sounds weird, but it's actually really nice!). You can use pre-packaged cooked beetroot, or leftover roasted ones (that works really well) or grated raw beets. The tofu is optional, but I really recommend it, it gives them a really nice texture & keeps everything from getting too dense & chewy.

Beetballs
2 beetroots (or one really large one. Or three small ones. You get the idea)
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup wheat gluten
1 cup silken tofu
1 tsp dill
1 tsp parsley
salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/G4. Throw the red onion, garlic & beetroot into a food processor & blitz, adding a little water until you have a thick puree (or you can finely chop the onion & garlic & fry in a little oil until softened & golden, and mash the beetroot is cooked, or grate if raw, and stir together). Scrape into a large bowl & add salt, pepper & herbs. Add the silken tofu & mix well. Add the wheat gluten & mix together by hand. Get your fingers in there & really mush it all up. It will look like a goth birthday cake disaster, and feel like an alien autopsy, but trust me, it'll be worth it.

If it feels too wet, you can add some breadcrumbs to the mixture, but if you can get it into a roughly round shape, it should be fine.
Shape the purple goop into walnut sized balls (oh dear) & arrange on a greased baking tray. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, turning them over halfway through the cooking time. They should puff up a bit (though when they go cold they will deflate a little), and of course you should try one or two hot out of the oven. Just to, y'know, make sure they're okay.

Plays well with tomato sauce, over pasta, rice or any grain you fancy. Or just dipped in ketchup.
Nom nom nom!

*In both senses of the word

District (f)10

Rejoice, rejoice, for we have an allotment!

Hello, plot f10, you desolate wasteland, you.

MikeyFox & myself took a break from Crazy Scheme #87* to go have a look at the allotment.
'Desolate' is a good word to describe the location. 'Windswept' is another good one. 'Soil like concrete' is not a word, but certainly gets the point across.
So, weather permitting, we'll be heading out there after work today to plant some Jerusalem Artichokes (and see just how effective a windbreak they can be), figure out where all the fruit bushes rescued from the pound shops** will go, and start the long, long, long task of digging over & incorporating hops into the soil.

*Making your own marmite. No. Don't ask. Please.

**With numerous Schindler-esque moments as I rummage through my pockets for enough change to save just one more redcurrant bush.

Sowing The Seeds of Destruction (and radishes)

It's March (only just), so there's still time for the annual roundup of Seed Suppliers. Woo!

I've always been something of a compulsive seed-purchaser, and moving out to the arse end of nowhere & getting a bigger garden (not to mention the impending allotmentiness) seems to have brought out the worst in me (there's even enough room for -gasp- flowers! Ones that you don't eat, just look at cause they're pretty!). Mikeyfox managed to hold me to one agreement, no greenhouse plants (lacking a greenhouse as we are, and not living in the middle of a city & having that few degrees warmer thing that meant you could get away with growing some greenhouse stuff outdoors. You can get away with that in Sheffield, but not so much in North Lincolnshire).
Still, I have funky tubers (Oca, Yakon, Crosne & potatoes in various colours), legumes, radishes & other root veg of every shape & colour, more squash than is really wise (and most looking like the more outlandish spacecraft designs from Star Trek). Generally speaking, if you can't buy it in a shop, or have never eaten it (possibly never heard of it, unless you read a lot of Mexican cookbooks*), I'll probably have a pack of seeds for it here...

So this years favourite seed suppliers are;

The Real Seed Catalogue yes, I've mentioned them before, but I loves them. They have excellent advice on seed saving & storing, and the seeds have the best germination rate & are all excellent quality.

Plants of Distinction An excellent range of weird & wonderful veggies. I love their colourful collection packs too (if, like me, you're mildly obsessed with growing familiar things in strange colours, the packs of beetroot, radishes & caulis in all the colours of the rainbow are a great find). The seeds have a good germination rate too, and I'm practically giddy over their Czech tomato seeds!

Johnsons Mostly here because of their Welcome to Eastern Europe & World Kitchen ranges. Good quality seed, really interesting varieties (if you can actually say them. Starozagorski kamus, Hilds roter neckarruhm, Czerwony & krem...).

Victoriana Nursery A family run nursery who grow most of what they sell, and have a good range of older, non-hybridised seeds. They use compostable materials in their packaging too. I know it's probably an odd thing to pick up, but getting plastic & polystyrene packaging from seed suppliers really bugs me. Shredded paper can go straight onto the compost heap (or paper block maker). What do you do with a box full of polystyrene?

Nicky's Nursery I've been using Nicky's for ages, and can't rate them highly enough. A cracking range of all manner of seeds, from uncommon wildflowers to swedes. And yes, they have Jicama. You will be mine, Jicama. You will be mine.

Lidl A friend of mine got me onto Lidl's seed ranges a few years back. I was initially unconvinced, but it's 28p-47p for a packet of seeds, so what's the worst that can happen? The seeds are actually pretty good, and there's some good salads & root veg.

The sun's come out, so I'm off to sow some yellow cylindrical beetroot!

*Yes, I'm looking at you, Jicama

Garden

Hello Blog.
Yes, I know, I have been a poor and inconstant blogger. The shame. Turns out that running a brewery, lurching towards self-sufficiency & fixing up the Shack in the Marshes* takes up a lot the day.
Still, the damp course & guttering are all done, leaving only the mortal horror that is THE DRAINS. That will be fun.

And since I was in danger of having some free time (and finally breaking the cellophane on Bioshock 2), we now have an allotment. Woo! More on that another time.

Fortunately my glamorous assistant has been most helpful with the garden.

See that green stuff? That's garlic. Lots of garlic.

*Formerly known as project Shack in the Peaks. Not having a spare million pounds lying around meant lowering our sights a little. To about 4 meters above sea level...