Growing our own fruit and vegetables means that Home Growns are at the centre of our meals, not at the periphery. Even though we have reduced the variety of crops we grow, we still manage to make meals from a rainbow of different fruit, vegetables and herbs. Parsnips are and always will be (we hope) the main event when it comes to winter root vegetables.
Some gardeners say that parsnips are fussy additions to the vegetable plot but with practise they are reliable. They like a rich soil, but not newly manured. Seed must be fresh and needs warmth to germinate. We live in the midlands so we don’t even try to get them started until mid April at the earliest. It would be a good idea to start them off in modules in the greenhouse and transplant outside when the weather warms up, but they prefer to be direct-sowed. Frustratingly, a parsnip seed can take as long as 3 weeks to germinate so you will need patience.
Once they are growing they need careful thinning as they take a lot of room up but you can interplant the rows with radishes for a quick catch crop.
'Gladiator' is an excellent, sweet, heavy-producing parsnip, which never gets too woolly. The advice is to harvest them small but we have produced some whoppers which are just as tasty as the smaller ones. However, don’t be tempted to lift your parsnips early because they taste so much better after the first frosts. Low night-time temperatures convert the starch to sugar resulting in a sweeter parsnip.
We find that parsnips store better in the ground and we harvest them to order. However, if there is very cold weather, digging them up is a real challenge. We have, once or twice, resorted to buying some from the shops because the ground is rock hard! If you do want to keep some parsnips for a few days, don’t wash off the soil, just wrap them in several layers of newspaper and store them in a cool, dark place.
Parsnips make a great winter soup. I use two or three parsnips, a potato, an onion and enough curry powder or garam masala to make it mildly spicy. It is the ultimate comfort food though mashed potatoes and parsnips come a close second.
A Sunday is not complete unless we have roasted parsnips and they always grace the Christmas lunch table. Peel and cut them into chunks, removing any tough core and then toss them in oil. Roast in a hot oven for 30-40 minutes, toss in grated parmesan cheese and roast for a further 10 minutes.
For a different topping to Shepherd’s pie, try grating parsnip on the top instead of mashed potato and if you feel like you need a Christmas treat and are a French Fry fan, then turn some parsnips into chips. You will not be disappointed. But for us, true decadence is layered parsnip and potato, smothered in double cream and baked. Topped with parmesan cheese and roasted until crisp and golden brown, it is delicious.
Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2015.
I have turned a corner – well, I think I have. (Nearly.) My foot problems began a year last March and finally I underwent surgery 6 weeks ago in October, which was like having my already painful foot walloped with a lump hammer! It has been a long and difficult journey but the road ahead is beginning to look straighter and the bumps underfoot feel a little less bumpy. I hope this is not a mirage - but I can see a hazy, dim light for the first time in over 18 months. I must press on, head towards it and never look back.
November is associated grey skies, damp grass and slimy leaves, as well as cold nights and short days. This year, the month started uncharacteristically mild with sunny, dry days. Now Jack Frost is making his presence known and we have seen a couple of white-outs across the valley. Autumn has bitten the garden with ice-cold jaws.
This morning, when the watery, fleeting sunshine had melted the tiny ice crystals clinging to the blades of grass, I wandered into the garden with my camera. For longer than I can remember, walking has required the same level of concentration as threading the eye of a needle with a fine thread and the idea of actually doing something as well as walking (such as talking or looking around), was an alien concept. However, today I took some photographs whilst standing up and took the odd step this way and that. I was thinking about the picture and not the standing which for me is a breakthrough, dare I say a small miracle. Maybe, using a pair of secateurs whilst standing up is a realistic target?
Springfield is going to sleep yet I feel like I am waking up after an long, unspecified absence. It is doubtful I will ever leap up with reckless abandon, nor would it be advised even if my bones did not break quite so easily. However I am stretching out my limbs, starting to look around and the landscape appears very different. It is like I am seeing for the first time and I am seeing potential, not necessarily the garden's potential, but mine. Maybe I can do things, not all of them, but some. If the garden can grow and change with every season, so can I.
It may be dismal outside but there is colour and form if you look closely at the detail. The vegetable garden is browner than I would like. The leeks and parsnips are sad-looking but a blessing in the kitchen. The parsley is unstoppable and is growing verdantly despite the low temperatures. It almost looks defiant. This bright green colour makes a change from the red and yellow of autumn leaves!
Believe or not, two roses are still in flower and one has buds ready to burst. Surprise, surprise, the cotoneaster still has some juicy red berries to admire so obviously the birds have found food elsewhere. But the showstopper is the solitary clematis flower on the pergola at the side of the lawn. We have never seen that before in November!
Of course, the good garden stalwarts deliver as expected, such as the dogwoods (yellow and red cornus), evergreen sweet box (Sarcococca), ‘Autumn Joy’ (Sedum) and yellow jasmine ( Jasminum nudiflorum). No garden is complete without these plants for autumn and winter colour.
Back inside, after a much needed sit down and a coffee, I then set to work making a Gooseberry Frangipane Tart using some red and green 'goosegogs' from the freezer. I make a huge one and freeze it in smaller portions than Doc would like. I admit I did not make my own sweet pastry but I do have an excuse! It is a really easy recipe - see below for details.
Today has been a good day. I am finally sitting down with both my feet up on a stool. It feels great to have been into the garden, to have achieved something, to be there. Long may it continue. I just have to take it one step at a time.
Gooseberry Frangipane Tart
200g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
6 eggs
80g plain flour
250g ground almonds
3 heaped tabls gooseberry jam
400g gooseberries, frozen then defrosted
500g frozen dessert pastry, defrosted
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface, and line a large 24cm-26cm deep, loose-bottomed flan tin. Chill for half an hour. Heat the oven to 180 C, Gas mark 4. I used our electric fan oven which has a fan and bottom heat control. This means I don’t have to bake the pastry blind as the tart can be baked on the base of the oven – which reduces risk of a soggy bottom! However, you can if you prefer, bake the pastry blind first, before you put the filling in.
Beat butter and sugar for 2 minutes, then add the eggs slowly, beating well. Sift together the flour and ground almonds, add to the butter mixture. Beat for 1 minute.
To assemble the tart, spread the jam in the base of the chilled pastry case. Spoon the frangipane cream over the jam and then top with gooseberries. Bake in a preheated 180°C oven for 45-50 minutes, until the tart is golden brown and set in the middle. Cool in the tin for 20 mins and then turn it out on a wire cooling rack. Serve dusted with icing sugar and whipped cream flavoured with elderflower cordial. Doc prefers custard though!
Doc and I have been away for a couple of weeks, first to Dorset and Hampshire, visiting Number One Daughter and then to Derry in Northern Ireland, visiting Number One Son and family. We had a great time and the weather was amazing for both trips. We delved into the deepest recesses of the suitcase to find short sleeved tee-shirts and wore sunglasses most days. The bonus was to sit outside during the evenings, enjoying sunshine, warmth and flowers. How strange our weather is! The last half of August felt like autumn and no sooner had we got settled into September, than summer arrived again.
We needed a holiday because in a couple of week’s time I will be having surgery on my painful and troublesome foot. The diary is cleared in readiness, I have invested in a new non-slip bath mat and the freezer is stuffed with produce from the garden for Doc to transform into comforting meals whilst I am ‘off feet’ – though I have hardly been ‘on feet’ for the last 18 months. It will be quite a while until I dare to attempt to walk down the garden path but if the operation is a success I will, hopefully, be able to look forward to joining Doc on the plot next season, without a walking stick.
Doc is at this very moment continuing to ‘put the garden to bed’. Today he has swept and tidied the greenhouse and cleaned the windows. Earlier, he popped back to the house for a cuppa and said there is about 50% more light getting through the glass! It is important to keep a greenhouse clean otherwise pests and disease can take hold. Giving it a spring clean in the autumn (!) before you fill it with overwintering plants and equipment is a good idea. I hate the fact we stuff such a lovely space with cloches, hosepipes and the arch for the beans but if we leave them outside, a harsh winter would damage them. Doc has filled a cold frame with watering cans. If we leave them empty they blow around the garden and if we fill them up with water, we face cleaning out green slime in the spring.
Doc tells me that the compost bin is hot and smells of decay – but in a good way. He has gradually been adding spent green material from the vegetable plot and mixes it with straw, cardboard and anything brown he can find. He says it is turning the compost that makes it work and he does this regularly with a fork. Mind you, not everything goes into the compost. For instance, the asparagus ferns must be burned otherwise the asparagus beetle will take even more of a hold. (If you have any other tips to get round this problem, please let me know!)
There is still produce arriving in the kitchen, reminding me that the garden has not quite gone to sleep. We are eating courgettes every other day, though they have definitely outstayed their welcome. There are green tomatoes on trays on the kitchen table which gradually turn red. They are very welcome, as are bowls brimming with glossy black brambles. Doc has put cooking and eating apples in old banana boxes, lined with newspaper, in the garage. This takes longer than you would think because each fruit has to be carefully placed so it does not roll over and not touch its neighbour. If it does, any rot can spread to the rest of the crop. The garlic is strung up around the rafters (so we should be clear of witches at least) and there are 6 large butternut squash to look forward to. Doc is eagerly anticipating digging up the first leeks but he will have to be more patient for parsnips. They are best eaten after the first frosts because they become sweeter as the weather gets colder.
Doc does keep bringing me parsley. I have never known a year when it has been so prolific and I groan when another bunch arrives. I use it in salsa, toss it into steamed vegetables and have frozen handfuls of it in bags to use this coming winter. However, there is still more to come and I am wondering if I could put it in a vase as a cut flower! The vibrant green is uplifting and the curly leaves have a wonderful texture. I have come across a recipe for parsley soup which makes good use of all that vitamin C but I am doubtful it will taste as good as it sounds. I may try making parsley pesto instead.
After the driest September we can remember, it is raining on and off today and the garden is giving a little sigh of relief. The leaves are falling and Doc says that although there is a lot of dead heading to do in the flower borders, there are fewer new blooms taking their place.
Sometimes I feel cheated that I have not been able to feel the full benefit and joy of such a wonderful summer and delightful autumn because I have been in so much pain, for so long. However, if my op is a success, I won’t mind being outside in a howling gale, torrential rain or freezing cold. I will be deliriously happy to be a mad, eccentric woman gardening in the depths of winter. I won't mind the weather, just being there will be enough.
After such a hot summer, autumn arrived surprisingly early. The purple beech tree at the back of the house started to glisten with coppery tones towards the end of August and watering the tubs of blooming pelargonium with beech leaves fluttering down like confetti was a little sad.
I have been mostly absent from the garden this summer; the pain has been so unbearable at times that sometimes I can barely venture out to the dustbin. However, the garden is rarely absent from me because Doc steadfastly and regularly deposits a large trug brimming with produce onto the kitchen table. We have had enough runner beans to supply a supermarket and ditto, the cucumbers. We are not quite fed up with courgettes, lettuce or cherry tomatoes but it is getting that way. (Number One Son suggested a new recipe – see below - which is adapted from a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe. It makes a change from the usual courgette staples if you are desperate.)
The autumn fruiting raspberries are a disappointment. Although we have enjoyed these luscious berries for breakfast, there have only been a few extra to freeze. Doc says the canes are old and worn out so he will replace them next year. However, the cultivated blackberries are star performers and we have been turning our tongues black daily. The squash are not really squashing which is intriguing because I thought butternut squash needs lots of heat and we have had plenty of that....perhaps they were too dry......?
Despite the chill in the air and heavy dew most mornings, last weekend developed into warm sunshine on both Saturday and Sunday. Doc stoked up the barbecue, probably for the last time this year and he tortured the neighbours with a delicious, smoky chicken aroma, and added courgettes smothered in lemon oil for good measure. I managed to walk down to the greenhouse for a potter about and I removed as many leaves as I dare from the tomato plants. My theory is that all the energy will be directed into the fruits not the leaves and by exposing the green tomatoes to the sunshine will turn them a healthy shade of red. The thermometer in the greenhouse suggested an Indian summer but I am not so sure. The leaves on the trees don’t lie, do they?
It is hard watching Doc racing around with the wheelbarrow, pruning and tidying and cutting the grass whilst I hover in the verges and contribute very little. I am yet again waiting for treatment for my foot but it is a slow, slow process and life will continue to be uncertain for some time to come. Gardening teaches you to be patient. I am only bordering on a C grade so I must try harder.
Courgette Polpette
500g courgettes, grated
1 tabls oil
1 beaten egg
2 tabls grated parmesan cheese
½ ball mozzarella, chopped
50 g breadcrumbs
1-2 tabls chopped parsley
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauté the courgette in a little oil until it collapses and starts to turn brown. Cool. Combine with the rest of the ingredients. The mixture will be sticky. Mould into golf ball shapes and bake in a moderately hot oven for 20-15 minutes. Serve with salads or a piquant tomato sauce and pasta. And very nice it is too.
Summer is one of the busiest times of year in the garden yet armies of gardeners up and down the country pile on even more pressure by opening their gardens to the public under the National Gardens Scheme (www.ngs.org.uk) – affectionately known as the Yellow Book Scheme. They hoover their lawns, give the clematis a shampoo and set, propagate plants and make hundreds of cakes, all to raise money for charity. Since its foundation, the NGS has raised over £42 million and we are indebted to those dedicated gardeners who generously and bravely share their gardens with the rest of us.
Doc and I toyed with the idea of opening Springfield under NGS scheme and do our bit for the cause. However, we soon realised that plot is a health and safety disaster waiting to happen. We have one area known as the Kamikaze drop, another called the Burglar Trap but the real test of courage is to walk along the gravel path that is drifting down an unfenced, steep bank. We are fine of course (note the cavalier attitude!), because we know where disaster lies but to unsuspecting visitors, some of whom may be elderly and probably wearing normal shoes rather than crampons, they would be vulnerable. Doc would be called upon to use his medical skills rather than his gardening ones.
Since we now have a young but very mobile and inquisitive granddaughter and also the fact that I have problems with walking, Doc and I have talked about improving the accessibility of our garden. But the To Do list grows faster than rosebay willowherb, doesn’t it? So instead we work to the principle that Visitors Must Be Supervised At All Times.
Still, this does not stop us from supporting the NGS scheme because we visit open gardens whenever and wherever we can. It is always a joy to wander around someone else’s garden. We are inspired by new ideas and different plants and love to chat with like-minded people over tea and cake. It is a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon and we always come home refreshed.
They say that a garden reveals the personality of the gardener or gardeners who tend it and having visited many NGS gardens, we would agree. There are relaxed’ gardens where the owners allow plants to grow free-form without much pruning. The result is a natural, informal space, usually full of wildlife. Conversely, we have felt hedge and lawn envy in many a ‘neat and tidy’ garden. But nothing is as potent as the passionate gardeners who simply love collecting plants. They fill every border, pot, and fence with interesting and unusual specimens and they always know the names of all their treasures. Amazing!
I am not sure what Springfield says about our personalities. There is considerable evidence of devastation because Doc spends many a weekend chopping his way through jungle-sized shrubs and trees, but being known as ‘slash and burn’ gardeners sounds like a contradiction in terms - and very sad. Considering the challenging terrain in our plot, maybe I would prefer us being described as ‘risk takers’. It sounds much edgier.
It is a really good year for strawberries and we are submerged in a sea of juicy pink ripeness. This morning I spent an hour in glorious sunshine, harvesting the bounty. We eat them whilst we pick, enjoy a handful of them on muesli and yogurt for breakfast. We eat them for lunch, a snack in the afternoon and with ice cream for tea. I puree them for the freezer to make mousse later in the year and to stir into porridge during the winter. Later today I will make up a batch of fruity frozen yogurt full of natural sweetness. If we could eat strawberries with gravy for dinner, we would. With such an abundant crop we don't even need to worry about the slugs and snails because there is plenty for everyone. Gardening doesn't get better than this.
