It’s Chriiiiiiiiistmas! And I’m making a little something for my Secret Santa. I have to confess that I’m enjoying the ‘make do and mend’ aspect of this recession. It gets you thinking about things in a different way which can only be a good thing. Making something, with my own hands holds a lot of meaning for me. It’s more; heartfelt, individual, handmade, personalised. Even the fact that it’s time-consuming is a good thing because it gives you time to think about the person you’re making it for.
Here’s hoping my little Secret Santa loves my handmade gift. Ah ha!… you thought I was going to say he or she didn’t you - but you see I’m smarter than that :)
I’m certainly glad that I’m not relying on my garden for sustinance right now but I’m also always amazed by the way the garden looks empty but when I get out there I can bring in a winter harvest like this. As you can see I picked some Leeks, Spinach, Parsnips and the last Spring Onions. Not bad!
And it also went a long way too! I made roast Parsnips and Creamed Leek and Spinach to go with my lunchtime vegetable lasagne. Also I put the Leeks with some Courgette and cheese I had in the fridge to make Courgette and Leek Gratin for Jackson. He’s going to love it. Leeks are one of his favourite flavours.
You might think that the season is drawing to a close right now but you’d be wrong - it’s actually the beginning of the season because now you can start to plant some crops for next season such as Garlic, Peas and Broadbeans. Garlic needs a period of cold so make sure to get some in the ground now in time for the first frosts.
- Plant garlic
- Plant new fruit trees and prune existing wall-trained fruit
- Sow Broadbeans and Peas
- Dig heavy soils and leave in clumps for the frost to break down
- Pick off any yellow leaves from Brussels Sprouts
- Harvest winter Cabbage, Leeks and Parsnips
- Lift Chicory and Rhubarb for forcing. Rhubarb crowns should be at least three years old
- Bring in the last of the dried beans such as Runner and French
- Wash your pots and seeds trays thoroughly in soapy water. Also clean and oil your tools
- Order some seed catalogues
If you have any more suggestions for November jobs, add them to the list.
I love clearing up in Autumn and preparing the garden for winter. There’s something refreshingly final about clearing the ground, digging it over and starting again. My resident robin loves it when I get in clear up mode. He sits and watches me until I’m done and then swoops in for the kill. He normally goes home with a morsel or two in his beak.
However, the thing I love best is sweeping up leaves. There are so many colours in my garden but I’m not sure why. I only have one tree (an Acer that I have had for about 7 years and it’s only ever grown an inch). All the other leaves are blown in from neighbouring gardens. I don’t mind because they’re all such gorgeous Autumny tones.
I cut down the last of the Runner Beans too and stored the poles until next year (making sure to scrape off all the dirt and bits of vine). I harvested the last of the Runner Bean seeds and stored them in an old tin box in the potting shed ready to plant next year.
I even had time to oil my garden furniture to protect it from the winter frosts, which, says the woman in the florist, are coming this weekend! Bring it on, I say. I shall be inside sat in front of my cosy woodburner reading seed catalogues.
I’ve always wanted my own branded seed trays, just like Monty at Berryfields. But it’s one of those things that you never see for sale in the shops and much less the opportunity to put your own name on it. And even though I did find somewhere online selling traditional seed trays, and also somewhere offering personalised branded trays I felt that they were charging too much to make it really worth while. After all, I am only going to fill it with dirt and leave it in my cold frame all winter!
So, in these cash-strapped times there was only one solution - to make my own. I used part of an old packing box for the tray and bought a stencil and permanent marker. I’m pretty proud of the result. After one season of dirt and moss it will look just as good as the real thing, I’m sure.
I seem to have a small obsession with pickling at the moment. A neighbour gave me a bagful of windfall Apples so I had to find a recipe that required a load of Apples, and fast. A quick flick through my recipe books and I found this Apple & Plum Chutney - with the usual adjustment for Raisin haters.
Apple & Plum Chutney
Ingredients:
900g Plums
900g Apples
75g Craisins (Dried Cranberries)
450g Brown Caster Sugar
570ml Cider Vinegar
450g Shallots (chopped)
2 teaspoons salt
quarter of a knuckle of fresh Ginger
1 teaspoon Cloves (ground)
1 teaspoon Allspice
1 teaspoon Ground Pepper
Method:
Stone the Plums and peel the Apples. Chop into small cubes. Place in a pan with the cider vinegar, Shallots, Craisins, salt and spices, ginger, salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer until the mixture has reduced to a thick, gloopy consistency. Mine took a few hours on a low heat.
Boil the jars and bottle. Then process (boil the full jar) for 30 mins. This recipe made four large, snap-shut jars.
Jackson is going to his first ever Halloween party tomorrow - we’re both very excited. Apart from scooping out the traditional pumpkin lantern we made these little treats. We’re calling them Scary Mary cupcakes. They’re scary because they’re a new type of spider that may have only six, sometimes five legs! A true freak of nature.
It’s that time of year again. I just love to grow pumpkins. They’re so interesting. All the different shapes, colours and different knobbly bits to look at. They’re amazing. This year I grew Turks Turban pumpkins and I have just brought in the last of them. Some of them haven’t reached full size so I will probably use them for decoration if they don’t change colour in the next few weeks.
As per the suggestion on Gardener’s World last week (Toby is doing well in my opinion) I made sure to leave an inch or so of stem on either side of the stalk so that the smaller pumpkins could carry on maturing once they had been cut. We’ll see if that makes any difference.
I’m not going to waste these on Halloween lanterns - no way! (I bought a cheap one from the supermarket for that). No, these will either be Pumpkin soup (with funky bowls to boot!) or else Pumpkin Pie for our small and first ever Thanksgiving celebration in a few weeks.
Occasionally, very occasionally, I actually do something else apart from gardening. Today, I’m making some ‘real’ red and blue bunting for my, usually clad in red and blue, boy.
Everybody wants ‘real’ bunting these days (ie made out of fabric instead of plastic). The shops are full of it. It feels very forties, wholesome and makes you want to drink ‘lashings of ginger beer’ with everything (or is that just me). It’s so easy to make and can make a room look instantly vintage, or perk up your party. I’m all for it.
The cowboy material was given to me by my sister-in-law, Kerri and the other material cost around £3. Apart from this all you need is a metre of iron-on interfacing and some bias-binding in a contrasting colour and you have your very own bunting for a fraction of the cost.
Of course Jackson is waaay too young to appreciate the time, effort and enjoyment I get from making him stuff. Infact, in this photo he’s more interested in catching our cat, Candy (God help her) as she makes a run for the door. But once I start making him Halloween costumes, Christmas stockings, birthday hats - he’ll start to appreciate me more. Won’t he?
