Getting a bit fruity

It's that time of year again where all the fruit is ripe at the same time so you have no idea where to start picking or just what to do with all that fruit you have.

I have several patches of fruit around the garden but my main patch is at the back of the garden by the greenhouse. It really dose get a lot of sun in this part of the garden this is why I originally chose this spot. we have two rows of raspberries two rows of strawberries a row of red, white and black currents mixed up grown as fans, Japanese whine berries growing up the back wall and finally a row of sauvignon blanc grapes.

 The currents have been under the protection of a net for the last couple of weeks as I was not taking any chances this year I lost most of the crop to the birds last year they where not getting them again.

I pealed back the netting to reveal the shiny red, white and back berries the red currents are so shiny you can almost see your face in them you can see why the birds are attracted to them so much.

After a few hours of picking and very red hands and fingers later we have several bowls full of yummy fruit. Now what to do with all this fruit some will be turned into Jam some will be frozen to use to use over the winter. The rest will be made into lots of yummy deserts over the weekend eaton mess and summer fruit pudding spring to mind.

 

Self Sufficient - wild food foraging

It was a lovely day to day so we decided to go for a walk and forage some wild autumn fruit. We headed down to the canal I always like to come hear at this time of year as there is always loads of fruit to be foraged. Learning to forage in the wild for food is an essential part of living a self sufficient lifestyle as once you know what you are looking for. There is almost a unlimited supply of food out there just waiting t be picked and of cause it's all free just the time it takes to pick it. But best of all you can get to be out in the countryside for a walk with the family.

Blackberry's are always the first one that most folk go for and I must admit that there juicy black shiny fruits are hard to resist. We always do bring back lots of them as they are such a good fruit as they make such good pies, jelly's and puddings. They are also great for freezing so you can make use of them all year round just wash them clean let them dry and pop them on a tray in the freezer them bag up once frozen. But there are so many other delights to be had out of the hedge rows at this time of the year.

 

Elderberry's everyone is keen on Elder flower and there is always a rush to get the best flowers in there short season in June. But the berry's tend to be ignored and left to the birds but they are just as versatile as blackberry's in the kitchen I don't know why they are not as popular.

 

Rose hips are hardly picked these days but during the war they where picked by the sack load to turn into rose hip syrup. Which is high in vitamin C and was used to make up for the lack of fresh fruit as we have plentiful supply's of fresh fruit the need for the rose hip syrup had diminished.

 

Hawthorn berry's again are not that popular and I can understand why they are fiddly little things to pick that is without having to navigate all the thorns. Plus you do need an awful lot of them to get a kilo but they do make great haw jelly so they are worth the time.

 

Slows every gin drinker will know these slow gin is a traditional British winter drink they are a bit like a small plum. They are easy to spot with there shiny purple fruit about the size of a grape so I feel a good batch of slow gin is going to be made this week for Christmas.  

 

We did manage to get a few Hazel nuts the squirrels always seem to get most of the good ones first so they where gone by the time we had got back to the car.

 

But even if you don't find anything to pick it is always good to go out for a nice walk on a nice sunny autumn day.

 

Just bare in mind if you have never been foraging before and are not sure what to pick get your self a good book to help you know what you are picking. Or go on a organised foraging course there are lots of them going on around county all the time so there will be one near you. But the best rule is if you are not sure what it is do not pick and certainly do not eat.

Happy Foraging



Self Sufficency - Saving seeds for the future.

One of the main aims of being self sufficient is being able to produce as much produce as you can and being able to produce all the resources needed to do that from your own land. So there is a continuous cycle with very little, if no input form the outside world. So to continue the vegetable garden cycle we need to produce as much of our own seeds as possible. This is not as easy as it sounds as there are many problems that you can come across such as cross pollination from similar crops.

So you need to do a bit of careful planning to prevent similar crops flowering at the same time but there are some crops that don't cross with other plants. Such as peas, beans and tomatoes there are couple of good websites that give lots of information that will help you a lot http://www.howtosaveseeds.com and http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html . Real seeds are a great seed company not only do they only sell open pollinated seeds they are the only seed company that encourages you to save your own seeds. Instead of buying seeds from them every year and they also have some great variety's that you can not buy anywhere else.

In the planning you also have to take into account the fact that some are biennials and some are annuals. So they could take up space in your garden for two years where as the annual variety's grow flower and set seed in the same year. Another alternative is to grow some crops in pots that way you can move them around the garden you can also put them in the greenhouse to protect them at the beginning of the year and help them dry out at the end of the season.

I have left lots of plants in the ground this year so I have lots of my own seed to sow next year just one or two plants left to go to seed. Will produce more than enough seed for your own needs and still have lots of seed left to give or swap with your friends.

One point I have not mentioned yet is the fact that you can not save seeds of F1 hybrids, well you can but you will not get the same plant as you grew. This is due to the way they are bred to start with one other point I should make is that F1 Hybrids are not GMO'S which I hear occasionally. They are bread using natural pollination the only different is they are carefully selected and crossed in controlled conditions. This guarantees you get the same shape, size and colour every time and they also tend to harvest at the same time as well which is not what the home gardener really wants. 

Beans and peas are one of the easiest seeds to save they do not cross with other peas and beans so you can grow lots of variety's and get pure seed off them. All you need to do is leave some of the better pods to grow on the plants to mature and dry on the plant.

Dry all your seeds well after harvesting them to make sure they are completely dry then store them in paper bags/envelopes. Making sure you have labelled them with the date of harvest and store them in a dry place and depending on the variety will keep for a couple of years.

 



The italians know how to grow fresh veg

I have recently just got back from Italy from a nice family break spending the first 4 days in the mountain above Lake Garda. Then we moved south down to Tuscany for the weekend before heading home there where no mobile phones no computers so it was lovely and quiet. As we travelled about the country on thing I noticed was that nearly every house had a vegetable patch of one sort or another.

 Not to mention all the fruit trees growing every where figs, pomegranates, peaches and olives as far as the eye can see. Food plays such an important part in Italian culture especially locally produced food and  you can not get more local than growing your own.

 The size of vegetable plots varied a lot from a few pots of tomatoes on a balcony to great big plots growing a wide range of produce. But all the produce they grow they grow it for the flavour not a watery bland tomato in site just big meaty flavour packed fruit.

 It would be great to see more gardens in the UK like these I am sure it will come in time but I feel that most British folk have fallen out of love with food. It is just something you need to survive and not a pleasure to prepare and eat with the whole family. But unfortunately I feel that the ready meal will remain king for many years to come.

Preserving your produce for winter use

It is that time of year when there is more produce in the vegetable garden than you can possibly eat fresh.

It dose not matter how well you plan your garden you always end up with lots of one crop at certain times of the year. Mine at the moment is courgettes and runner beans I just cannot keep up with them and you end up being a bit fed up of eating them. So my new preserving bible is Keep it Fresh which came free from DT Brown seeds it is written by Rachel Cole. I keep this book in the kitchen now as I use it so much at this time of the year when I have so much produce coming in from the garden. I am not sure if it is still in print any more I can not find it on there website but it may be worth contacting them to see if it is still in print as it is such a good guide. I want to preserve as much as possible for use through the winter when there is limited fresh vegetables in the garden. I would not normally recommend frozen veg but the veg you freeze your self is so much better than any you can get from the supermarket.

 

 



Getting Fruity in the garden

Winter is a great time to plant fruit trees and bushes as this is the dormant season so we can buy bare root trees and bushes. These are generally much cheaper than the pot grown plants that you can buy the rest of the year. But what every plants you go for now is still a good time to plant, You will only get good fruit if you start with good stock so buy the best you can afford. It may seem a bargain at the discount shop when you see a gooseberry bush for £1 but you will generally be disappointed with it's performance. Besides the fact that you don't actually know what you are getting when it is just labelled Gooseberry it could be any old variety. It is always best to go to a specialist nursery whether it be for Fruit or any plant there is one fruit nursery that I would recommend. Is Lubera
 But they are not just a fruit nursery they are also breeders of some of the most modern variety's around. In fact they are they run the largest private breeding program in Europe and have brought to market over 80 new variety's. The company was started by Markus Kobelt and has carried out much of the breeding work at there nursery in Switzerland in very harsh surroundings so you know that the plants you are getting are tough.



Red Love Apple

If there was only one variety that you will know them for it will be the Red love Apples which are your traditional red apple on the out side. But they are red all the way through with fantastic flavour there are many variety's in the red love range now check out there website to find out.

Lubera video talking about Red love Apples

But what ever fruit you are planning on planting this year you need to start with good soil preparation. Dig in well rotted manure and a dusting of Bone meal then dig out a hold much bigger than the root ball of the plant. Before planting dust the root ball with a mycorrhizal fungus such as Root Grow this will greatly increases the root growth of the plant and in turn bumper crops of fruit.
Place the root ball in the centre of the hole making sure that the plant is being planted at the same level as it was in the pot or nursery. Not too high as you can dry out the root ball or too low as you can cause the plant to rot or encourage suckers from the graft to grow. Back fill with soil making sure there are no air holes between the roots then firm in gently with the back of your boot. Depending on what fruit your growing or the size of the plant you may have to provide some support in the form of a stake. Water in mulch with garden compost or wood chip and you will be rewarded with years of fruit.