Each season brings its own rhythm in the garden and I love autumn. The tasks are a pleasant ritual, rather than a chore. Gardeners need gloves but bright, dry days are a bonus and must be celebrated because the garden path is leading us into dark, dank winter days.
There are fallen apples to rescue (easy with our quirky apple picker-upper!) and zillions of leaves to heap into large bags to make rich leaf mould. Doc sends the lawn mower away for a holiday and a service. The smell of bonfires along our road is pervasive and reminds us that our neighbours’ are tidying up too. Some people feel that autumn heralds the end of the growing season, but for me it is the beginning of the gardening calendar. This is the time to get those bulbs into the ground and invest time in order to reap the rewards of next spring.
My foot has taken a step backwards this last week (sorry about the pun!) and I cannot manage even a gentle potter in the greenhouse. However, Doc was busy on the plot over the weekend, promising me that he would make sure the garden was fit for my inspection next spring!
Before this setback I was able to give the strawberry plants their autumn clean up. Mouldy, unripe strawberries attract slugs and they like nothing better than a snug, winter home under the decaying leaves. I made sure there was space between each plant to increase the air flow and this should hopefully reduce the risk of fungal infections. The bonus of course was finding some rooted runners (free new plants!) which I lifted, potted up and took to the sanctuary of the greenhouse. I already have 3 dozen plantlets and they make great presents for friends and family.
The vegetable plot is still providing us with comfort food and we need plenty of that at the moment. We have parsnips and leeks and the radicchio plants I haphazardly planted months ago and left to their own devices are making wonderfully sharp accompaniment to a boring sandwich. In the garage there are trays of apples, pumpkins and butternut squash. Even the greenhouse has its own offerings and my pots of parsley are still doing really well.
2013 has been a great year for apples and Doc’s cordons (18 and still counting!) provide us with daily apple tastings and we love them chopped up in our porridge. We could have invited the whole street for a Springfield apple tasting and if next year is as fruitful, we must consider organising a community event.
Anyway, the tree that always delivers the most abundant and tasty crop is the dessert apple: Katy. It is an old established tree and the fruits are bright red and full of rosy cheer. A few years ago Doc’s mum kindly gave us a juicer attachment to our Kenwood machine but we did not feel there were enough apples to ‘sacrifice’ in the name of experimentation. However, this year Doc decided we should try to make some apple juice so in went the apples, cored and washed and out came the most gorgeous pink juice. Usually I loathe apple juice - the kind that comes in cartons in the supermarket – but this freshly made apple juice was a revelation. It is wonderful stuff and we had 2 precious pints to savour. It does not keep more than a couple of days and unfortunately we did not have enough room in the freezer to store bulky juice, so we enjoyed it whilst it lasted. Next year, we need a bigger freezer!
We love making the most of seasonal produce from the garden but of course there is a freezer full of produce from earlier in the season. There are French beans and berries, rhubarb and gooseberries as well as bags of tomatoes I skinned and chopped.
Surprisingly, the star of the freezer has to be the bags of sliced strawberries and pots of strawberry puree. As with the apples, we had a glut this year and unlike raspberries, strawberries are not noted for their freezing qualities. But I could not waste them, could I? I pureed some because the texture of the fruit is not important and for an experiment I sliced some strawberries and open frozen them on trays before bagging them up. I intend to use the sliced fruit to try a new recipe involving whizzing the frozen fruit slices with semi-frozen whipped cream for a soft, instant ice-cream. I will let you know how it goes!
Strawberry puree is proving to be very useful - and delicious. A strawberry jelly tablet is transformed by putting the squares in a jug and filling it to the half pint mark of boiling water. Stir until dissolved and then top up with unsweetened strawberry puree, to make the full pint of liquid. Pour into a dish and chill in the fridge until set. We serve it natural yogurt and our granddaughter (Olympia, 16 months) would eat the whole lot!
Following the theme, strawberry jelly mousse is a must-try recipe. Dissolve the tablet of jelly in a couple of spoonfuls of water over a gentle heat. Defrost 7 ozs (200 g) frozen strawberries and sieve to remove the seeds. Whisk up 2 x 6 oz/170 g cans chilled evaporated milk until thick and doubled in volume. Fold in the slightly cooled jelly liquid and then the strawberry puree. This should serve 4 people but it may not!
It looks like I will be trying lots of new recipes if I cannot get out into the garden. Doc does not say as much but I know he is thinking that this autumn is bringing fringe benefits. I have put down the secateurs and picked up the recipe books. I am going to have to regard my situation as an opportunity rather than a threat - though I am not sure my waistline feels the same.
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