Hello everyone,
I've had quite a busy few days cooking in the kitchen, making lots of nice chutneys for you all such as a Mixed Fruit Chutney and a Banana and Date Chutney, which is surprisingly moreish! I've also done some experimenting: I made some chilli pickled garlic which will look really nice once I've worked out how to stop the garlic from turning bright blue... Apparently, this is due to the natural sulphur in the garlic reacting to the acidity in the vinegar. It's still edible though! Anyway, I'm going to try it again making some slight alterations to the garlic used, the vinegar used and I might distill the water in the recipe before adding it to the vinegar, see if any of this makes a difference. I also read online that some garlic would turn pink! Wouldn't mind that...
So, next month is going to be a busy month in the garden. There are lots of seeds to sow and I have a lovely new plastic greenhouse I need to build. Did I mention that my glass greenhouse got pulverised in the recent storms? Absolutely demolished, it's looks like a scrunched up paper ball. So sad, my little heart broke when I saw it.
Here are some of the seeds that I will be sowing next month.
Indoors
Aubergines
The variety I'll be sowing is Black Beauty which will produce large, flavoursome fruits around August-October time. I'll germinate them in a propagator and then transplant them into individual 3" pots until they're big enough to handle and move into bigger pots. I'll be wanting around 12 plants or so, and these will live quite happily in my greenhouse (if I get another glass one before then) or even in a super sunny spot. Last year my aubergine plants got devoured by slugs, so I'll be sure to grow a few "decoy" ones which I'll spare to the slugs.
The aubergines will be used to make Aubergine Relish and Grilled Aubergines in Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Chillies
I wrote about the chillies I was going to grow in a previous blog entry called "Some Like It Hot" (23rd January, 2014). Have a read if you'd like, but if you can't be bothered to flick back then I will tell you again!
The varieties I'm growing this year are Jalapeno, Serrano and Cayenne, which aren't scaldingly hot chillies but do have a tasty tingle to them. I'll also be growing more daring (and face meltingly hot) chillies such as Padron, Paper Lantern and Bulgarian Carrot. I might even get some Scotch Bonnet seeds because I prefer doing things in odd numbers.
The chillies will be used in chilli jams, chilli sauces, and as fresh chillies in different chutneys and preserves.
Tomatoes
Gardener's Delight and Moneymaker are the two tomato varieties I will be sowing in March. They're heavy croppers and taste delicious, which is exactly the fruits I will be wanting during the summer. I will be needed about 50 tomato plants so will need a fair few seeds to germinate.
My trick with germinating tomato seeds is to scatter the seeds, approx. 25-30, on a damp piece of kitchen paper placed inside an empty plastic food container. I cover the seeds with another damp piece of kitchen paper, put on the lid and place in the airing cupboard. After a few days the seeds will be sprouting little white roots and stems and then I will move them into 3" pots and sit them on a windowsill to continue growing. It's a much quicker way to get lots and lots of seeds to germinate in one go.
Tomatoes will be used for chutneys, relishes and to make Sundried Tomatoes with Garlic and Chilli, or with Lemon and Thyme.
Cucumbers
Cornichon de Paris are the sublime little gherkins found on charcuterie boards. I absolutely love them, completely obsessed. When I go out to France one of the first things I buy (apart from Hoegaarden Rose) is a jar of cornichons and I'll eat them with everything; cured meats, bread, cheeses, salads, eggs and pate. And sometimes on their own. I can't wait to grow these plants and have my own little cornichons to pickle!
Globe Artichokes
Green Globe produce large green heads which are beautiful to look at and divine to eat.
Violetto di Romagna produces purple headed artichokes which are very tender.
Artichoke plants take two years to mature before the flower heads appear and can be eaten. Smaller ones will grow in the first year, but I will remove these as soon as they appear so to ensure a bumper crop next year. I'm a bit artichoke obsessed, love the things, so this will be a test of my patience having to wait two years until I can harvest them and cook them.
These wonderful artichokes will be used to make Grilled Artichokes preserved in Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Outdoors
Beetroot
Detroit is a good cropper and produces good sized beetroots. I used this variety last year and it was such a winner, I'm definitely going to use it again. When I grew it last year, every single seed started growing which meant I really needed to thin the plants out. However, I allowed them to all grow together (truth be told this was laziness, I hate thinning plants as it's the most mundane task in the modern world) and only "thinned" them when the plants had formed baby plants. I then lifted several of the baby beets (probably 2 out of every 5) and ate them, and they were delicious! This year I'm going to use them to make Pickled Baby Beets.
Boltardy is perfect for early sowing which means I can sow these from next month to start my beetroot harvest from May onwards. I'll sow a few lines of beetroot every month to ensure a steady supply throughout the summer and until winter.
Burpees Golden is a stunning, golden (obviously) coloured beetroot which is a really vibrant addition to the kitchen.
Beetroots will used to make Pickled Baby Beets, Beetroot Chutney and the golden beetroot will be made into Golden Beetroot Chutney.
Garlic
I will be planting a dozen garlic plants each month throughout the year (hopefully, if my memory serves me well) to ensure a year round supply to make my Chilli Pickled Garlic and to add flavour to other pickles and preserves in oil.
Peas and Broad Beas
I saw a fabulous trick on a gardening blog that I follow which shows how sowing pea and broad bean seeds in plastic guttering works a treat! And they can continue growing in there until a reasonable size and then be transplanted to their permanent growing place. Ingenious! Am definitely going to give this a go, I'm sure my father has some spare guttering lying around somewhere.
These two beauties or for personal use; I don't think there's anything nicer than fresh peas on a summer's day.
I'm tempted to grow some soya beans too... Will look into this.
I will be posting pictures of all these little plants and their progress as it happens.
Have a great day/evening,
Ruth
