Sowing the seeds of summer

Despite the chill winds of mid-March, now is the time to start off those early seeds for summer crops. I sowed my chillis (Apache), aubergines (Bonica) and sweet peas and lobelia just over a week ago before escaping to the Alps for a sunny ski break. The lobelia (dark blue Crystal Palace) are up already, but no sign of the chillis and aubergines – not that I expected there to be! They can take up to 3 weeks, even in a heated propagator, so all the more reason to get them in early. You can, of course, buy young plants later on, but that’s much more expensive and I find they are more prone to disease and aphids if you buy them in, presumably because they are hot-housed in great numbers…. The sweet peas (Singing the Blues) are sitting 5 to a pot on the sunny conservatory windowsill and usually take around a fortnight to germinate. I soaked the seeds in warm water overnight this time before sowing; this used to be recommended practice, but advice seems to have changed in recent years, resulting in much worse germination in my experience – so back to the old tried and trusted methods! I usually sow another batch of seed straight out in the open in April too, and they invariably catch up by mid-summer, and extend the picking season too.

Today I’ve planted parsley (Champion) and basil (British Basil), both in small pots in the propagator, and also three kinds of leeks : Nipper for early baby leeks from September onwards, Pandora for mid-season leeks and the blue-green Bandit for late winter leeks. Last year’s plantings are still going strong; in fact, I’m probably going to have to lift and store them in the next couple of weeks to make room for the new-season crops! Yes, they are in the ground a long time, but such a good-value crop for very little outlay and effort…. I would hate to be without my leeks! Each packet of seed usually contains plenty for two years of sowing – watch out for parsley, though, as fresh seed usually gives best results.

I’ve also potted up some new dahlias from Sarah Raven, ordered a few weeks ago: I love browsing through her catalogue (www.sarahraven.com) and try and experiment with new ones each year, if I can find room! I jettisoned some single yellow dahlias I’d grown from seed last year, which didn’t go with my deep red, white and pink colour scheme down on the allotment, so just room to shoe-horn in a couple more! I’ve gone for a white and purple bicolour collection: Edge of Joy and Alauna Clair Obscur, as well as two pinks: a spikey cactus type, Sugar Diamond, and Gerrie Hoek, a pale salmon pink waterlily type – can’t wait! I find it’s best to start them in pots in my grow rack, allowing them to get going away from the harmful effects of slugs, then transfer them out when the shoots are growing well. Once they’re established, I usually leave them out to overwinter as they’re planted deep enough in the raised beds to withstand the worst of the winter weather, even when we had sustained periods of ice and snow a few years back.

My final task of the day was to pot up the tuberous begonia corms I bought last year and had overwintered, well-wrapped in brown paper bags, in the shed. The corms had tripled in size since last spring and seem firm enough, so I’ve potted them up in large pots and put them in the grow rack with the dahlias – just hope we don’t get any severe cold spells now!

Just time after all that for a brisk walk down to the allotment with the dogs to bring back some leeks and purple sprouting broccoli to accompany my duck breast and parsnip purée for dinner. Sublime…

Season of plenty

The problem with writing an allotment blog is that there’s so much to do in the summer months that you don’t have time to write! Hence the lack of updates recently…

In a brief bid to remedy the situation, and thanks to my son taking some lovely photos of my burgeoning allotment this month, I thought I’d add a quick photomontage to keep things up-to-date.

Despite the soggy start to the year, the mild spring and the recent spell of hot weather have meant it’s been a great season for most things so far. Raspberries and soft fruit came earlier than usual and went over quickly, but my well-stocked freezer bears witness to the plentiful pickings! I managed to harvest enough redcurrants to make my annual redcurrant jelly (indispensable with roast lamb: mix with grated orange rind and fresh mint from the garden for a delectable sauce), but then the blackbirds managed to get underneath my netting and stripped the lot overnight. Note to self: make sure netting goes to the ground ALL the way round next time. Gooseberries were equally prolific and in fact there are still some of the dark red dessert variety (Pax) left on for one more pie (see below). The early plums have just started and the autumn raspberries too…

The flowers are heavenly as ever: for me, one of the huge boons of having an allotment is being able to keep the house filled with vases of flowers from the first daffodils of spring, through wallflowers, sweet williams and poppies to the joys of sweet peas and dahlias in the summer months right up to the end of autumn. Bliss.

Asparagus, broad beans, peas – mangetout and sugar snap – and far more salad than I could ever eat have ensured a wealth of produce to choose from on the vegetable front. Courgettes are coming on stream too now and the beetroot are doing well as ever.

In a bid to halt the badgers that decimated my sweetcorn crop last year, I’ve erected a sturdy (I hope) chickenwire fence around the sweetcorn. I’m hoping the butternut squash underplanting the corn will manage to grow through and beneath the wire and not be constrained – so far so good. Let’s just hope the badgers aren’t sufficiently determined this year to flatten and trample the lot…

The onions don’t look as plump as they have in previous years, which makes me wonder whether I didn’t keep them sufficiently well watered earlier on. Garlic was a complete failure again, succumbing to black rot despite being planted in autumn in a bed which had never grown alliums before. The only saving grace was the elephant garlic I planted just as an experiment, which seems to have escaped the mould, as I had been promised it would. In future, I might just give up on the normal garlic, which obviously doesn’t like my heavy soil, and concentrate on the elephantine variety. Leeks always do well, thank goodness.

Today I’m going to make a start on summer-pruning the fruit trees, which have put tremendous growth on this year, although they aren’t quite as weighed down as they were in last year’s epic fruiting season. Probably just as well! I’m expecting the early red Katy apples at home to be ready any day now – they always make me think of the perfect apple tree a child might draw. Bright red apples, sweet as you like, BUT they don’t store, so have to be eaten straightaway or transformed into a delicious pink juice.

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite recipes for using up a glut of gooseberries:

Gooseberry & Crème Fraiche Tart

Sweet pastry:
125g plain flour (spelt flour works well too)
2 tsp vanilla sugar
pinch salt
62.5 g butter, at room temperature
1/2 large egg, beaten

Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Stir in sugar, then rub in the butter (you can grate it from cold or even frozen if you prefer) using fingers. Stir in the egg, then work together lightly to form a smooth dough.

Take two large pieces of clingfilm, place the pastry on the bottom one, then place the other piece of clingfilm on top. Roll out between the clingfilm – no added flour means you can get the pastry really thin. Once it’s the size you require, take off the top piece of clingfilm but leave the bottom piece in place. Slide your hand under the pastry and clingfilm and flip over into the greased tart tin – easier than it sounds, just be confident! Gently ease the pastry down into the tin through the clingfilm and only when it’s pressed right down the sides, remove the clingfilm. You can then run a rolling pin over the top to neaten off the edges. (Use any leftover pastry to make mini tartlet cases – you can fill these with gooseberries and custard the same way.)

Place the pastry cases into the fridge, covered with foil or clingfilm, and chill for at least an hour, then bake blind at 180°C/Gas 5 for 10 mins before removing foil and beans and cook for another 5 mins until just set and golden. (If you’ve made mini cases, just prick the bases with a fork and bake blind for 5 mins before filling.)

Filling:
450g gooseberries, topped and tailed
1 pot crème fraiche (200 ml)
4 egg yolks
75g vanilla sugar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Turn oven down to 160°C/Gas 4 and arrange gooseberries in the flan case. Whisk egg yolks, crème fraiche, sugar and balsamic vinegar together and pour over gooseberries. Cook until the custard is set – about 45 minutes depending on your oven (the mini cases will only need 25-30 mins). Lovely served warm, or equally delicious chilled the next day. Enjoy!

I often make twice the amount of pastry and freeze half, so I can use a whole egg rather than have half going spare. (Or you could make two cases and freeze one after baking blind.) Similarly, the 4 egg whites you’ll be left with from the custard are perfect for my macaroon recipe (see https://rhubarbandraspberries.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/mouth-meltingly-good-coffee-macaroons/) or for Nigella’s chocolate macaroons in How to be a Domestic Goddess…. Meringue roulade would be another option 🙂

This also works beautifully with other fruit; I tried with redcurrants the other day and it was simply sublime – just use the same quantity of fruit. Jostaberries or blackcurrants would work well too.