August in the Family Vegetable Garden.

In the Garden

with the Professional Countrywoman.

Spring is around the corner.

Even though it is still winter there are signs that the miracle of spring is just around the corner. One of the miracles is that despite the ongoing cold weather, the occasional warm day will get the sap rising in the gardener as much as the plants!  However you will need to resist the urge a little as it is a bit early to sow much outside except for peas and broad beans.  Instead you can transfer that energy to getting your potting shed in order and prepared for sowing indoors.

Potatoes.

Seed potatoes are appearing in the shops. Potatoes can be chitted from now on or planted in a warm spot and protected from the frosts that will be expected for the next few months.  Use old egg cartons, sit each potato on end and put on in a warm light space. 

Garlic.

You may find you will need to water the garlic you planted in June and July to get them swelling and moving.  It has been very dry here in Otago and we all need rain.  Once the young shoots are up, liquid fertilise every couple of weeks.  They will respond to plenty of feeding while growing and you will be rewarded with lovely big bulbs in summer.

Garden Beds.

Beds rested over the worst of the winter can be dug over, digging in any mulch, compost or green crops.  Never dig if the ground is too wet as you can damage the structure of the soil.  

If you practice crop rotation then prepare each bed for the family of crops you will plant.  Legume beds (peas and beans) will appreciate lots of compost, wood-ash, blood and bone, lime and carbon from spring mulches dug in.  Same for the next bed of green leafy veges.  Beds destined for root crops such as beetroot and carrots will not like too much bulk or fresh manure so are happy to rely on the leftovers of the previous season.  They appreciate deep well dug soil. The beds set aside for heat loving plants such as capsicums and tomatoes prefer more acidic soil so I don’t add lime to those beds but plenty of compost. 

Early Sowing.

It’s still too early for outdoor sowing but you can start off in seed trays in a warm spot. Lettuce, cauli, cabbage, silverbeet, brussel sprouts, peas, broad beans, Later in the month: onions, beetroot, leeks, parsnips turnips, parsley.  Sow early peas and broad beans direct.

Plant; Cabbage, Cauli, Rhubarb, Asparagus, Shallots, Garlic, Artichokes, Strawberries,

So after starting out saying it was too early to do much in the garden, turns out there is a lot to do after all! 

Getting Ready for Garlic with Two Fat Cows

Next month will be June and the winter solstice – the traditional time to plant garlic. Garlic loves rich well fed soil so it will reward you if you put in the effort and get the ground prepared well in advance.  As it is a slow growing crop and is going to be in the ground for a minimum of 6 months, choose a place where it will be out of the way and can mind it’s own business while all the busyness of spring takes place.

In the crop rotation plan it is the first thing that I move forward to the next year. So I will be coming up to Year 3 myself which means that it is going to be in Bed 4. Garlic is not a “bed-hog” like pumpkins for example but is in the ground for a long time (6-8months) so I will plant mine in the bed 4 border bed where it is out of the way and can happily grow away. I have put put a grain based green crop in the main bed 4 to break up the soil and improve it in time for the other root crops to go there later in the season.

So I have dug a trench about a spade deep and filled the bottom with cow poo. Use whatever manure you have to hand – this was quite fresh but it should be ok  - by the time the roots get down the worms and soil organisms will be working their magic on it. It’s still a month or so before I will plant.  I have also incorporated some blood and bone into the top layer of soil. Add any compost, animal manure etc that you have to hand and then leave for it to work away until planting day. As usual –use what you have available. We have 2 lovely cows who faithfully donate to the cause.  Good wholesome organic cow poo.  Hannah on the left and Ruby on the right. 

How much to plant.

My bed is about 1.5 metres wide and 3 metres long.  That’s quite a good size for a family load of garlic.  If you work out how much garlic you use over the year – it might be one bulb per week.  So I suggest 52 would be a good place to start – that way you will have plenty. Look on line for a good supply of preferably spray free or organic local seed.  Trademe have some good listings.

Planting Time.

You can plant any time from now (late autumn).  The general rule is plant twice the depth of the bulb and about 10 cms apart. So lets say 5 cms deep. Press down firmly as you back fill with soil and then water in well with liquid seaweed if you have it.  Then wait until the shoots are around 15 cm tall before you start a fortnightly liquid fertilizer regime. You can plant your own saved seed but whatever you use you get the best results from using the biggest and fattest ones.

Recipe for Haw Sauce - Made from Hawthorn Berries

As promised here is the recipe for Haw Sauce – a surprisingly delicious asian-style sauce made with the berries from the Hawthorn tree. The ingredients are very simple so the flavour really is in the haw berries. As May is duck shooting month in New Zealand this might be a good recipe to go with dinner.

I should probably have put this up last month when the berries were at their best but there are still some out there on the trees.  If you are lucky enough to live in an area where the old settler-planted hawthorn hedges are still intact then be thankful for them and try to preserve them – they are sources of shelter and food for the birds and other animals.

The Recipe.

For every 500 grams of berries you will need 1 ¼ cups of white wine vinegar or cider vinegar. ¾ cup of sugar. A pinch of salt and some good grinds of black pepper.

Wash and destalk (as much as possible) berries.Use scissors if easier.

Wash and sterilize sauce bottles. Smaller ones are good.

Put berries into a preserving pan and cover with the vinegar plus 1 ¼ cups of water. Cook until soft.

Take off heat. Carefully put mixture into a sieve and press through to remove seeds and skins. (This is a bit tiresome – sorry. Any suggestions how to make this easier would be helpful. I have been making quince paste and you have to do the same thing. My arm is still sore.)

Put the puree back into the pot, add sugar and heat gently stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to boil and cook 5 minutes. Now add the salt and black pepper and pour into sterilized bottles. 

This is really delicious with pork or duck.

Credit for this recipe goes to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Pam Corbin and can be found in the River Cottage Preserves Handbook.

Autumn in the Kitchen Garden- Fruit Crumble Recipe

We are well into Autumn now so still a busy time in the Kitchen garden.  We should still be eating well from the garden, collecting, preserving and drying crops for winter eating. 

The days are getting noticeably shorter and the weather cooler but conditions are still suitable for many vegetables. The hedgerows will be fruiting as well – look around for elderberries, hawthorns, crabapples, wild sown apples and blackberries. Our fruit trees, in particular the apples are starting to produce now and the race is on to make jams and jellies to preserve the fruit for winter eating.  I recently made individual apple and blackberry crumble puddings that were particularly delicious.  Here is the recipe.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble.

Peel and slice 5-6 cooking apples such as Granny Smith, Bramley or whatever apples you have in season.  Put into a pot with a small amount of water and cook until tender. Put serving size portions into oven proof individual pudding bowls or ramikans and sprinkle blackberries on top. You can add a little bit of sugar to the fruit if you like. Sprinkle over a little bit of sugar.  

Crumble.

1 cup flour

100g butter – melted butter

1/3 cup of  sugar

Pinch of cinnamon

Put all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix together.  Pulse in your processor if using until it forms clumps. You don’t want the crumble to be too fine  – you are looking for lumpy crumbly mix.

Sprinkle on top of the fruit and then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or so.  Slivered almonds make a nice crunchy addition along with sliced almonds scattered on top.

Tips: You can stew your apples earlier and have in the fridge. Prepare your crumble and store covered in the fridge. If you using the oven to cook the dinner you can quickly prepare the dish to pop into the hot oven once you have taken the dinner out. Cook about 180 C.

You can also substitute some of the flour with oats, coconut, muesli, ground almonds, slivered almonds – experiment with what you think your family will like.   Any left over crumble can be put into a plastic bag and frozen, ready to sprinkle over fruit at a moment’s notice.

Bottled Beetroot

Beetroot

If I had a list of vegetables that everyone should grow in their backyard Vegetable Patch, beetroot would be on it. It is easily grown and you can eat it in lots of ways. When I was growing up the only way it came was sliced and pickled in a Watties can – used in a cold salad or on a hamburger.  Now you can juice it, roast it, pickle it, make relish, make a delicious salad with raw grated beetroot, have it hot and even make it into a chocolate cake. You can add the leaves to your salad and cook any baby thinnings you may have. You may know more ways and if you do then I am sure you will agree with me that it is a must have for the garden.  Here is a basic way to bottle beetroot.

Bottled Beetroot.

This is a traditional and easy method to bottle beetroot - delicious with salads. You can add pickling spices if you prefer a spicier version but this is a good starting point.

Wash and trim 6-8 beetoot but don’t peel. Put into a pot of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer until tender.

Drain but reserve one cup of the cooking water.

Once cool enough to handle rub off skins under the cold tap.

Slice beetroot.

Meanwhile in your preserving pan, add the following.

1 cup water you cooked the beetroot in.

2 cups malt vinegar

2 tsp salt

1 cup brown sugar (or white if you don’t have brown)

Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the sliced beetroot, bring back to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes or so until the beetroot is heated through. 

Pack into sterilized jars and seal. Use a slotted spoon to get out the slices to pack and then carefully pour the hot liquid onto them.