Change is a-foot at mtp. First, the bad news - I’ve given up my allotment (I know! I spent a week in mourning). But the good news is that I’m pregnant and have decided that growing vegetables in my own back garden will be much easier - at least for the next few years. Fortunately, my garden is pretty big and I have asked a local garden designer (Katherine Roper) to redesign it so that I can get the most out of it vis-a-vis vegetables, fruit and cut flowers. This is the plan that Katherine has come up with. I’m very excited about seeing it come to life.
Down the left hand side of the garden is a 10 foot high garden wall - perfect for training Apple and Peach trees. I will also have two Blueberry bushes in pots at the top of the garden, a Cranberry bush (hopefully) some Pear cordons and a Tayberry bush. I’m planning to have a row of Autumn Raspberries, one Blackcurrant bush and two Redcurrant bushes. Plus the obligatory Strawberry patch. So I think I have the fruit covered.
In the beds will be salad crops, potatoes, onions, garlic, peas, beans, sweetcorn, and pumpkins. All the stuff we like to eat. That leaves some space for cut flowers. These will be Peonies, Asters, Gladioli, Cornflower, Calendula, Tulips and a Rose arch. I have to decide what I want to grow in front of the Apple and Peach trees. We have Iris on the plan but I’m not sure I like Iris enough to have a whole bank of them!
The brown block at the top of the design will become a coldframe and there will be various evergreen plants, box bushes and shrubs dotted around to ensure the garden doesn’t look like a battlefield in winter. And that’s it - all we need to survive a minor world crisis.
So the next step is to create the final plans and get in the landscapers. More pics coming soon!
One thing that I can’t stand is when jam has bits in it. Pah, pah, phew (that’s me spitting the bits out). I haven’t eaten jam since I was young for this very reason. But things are about to change - because now - I’m in charge. I had a Tupperware box full of blackcurrants in the freezer left over from my adventures with Cassis and cordial-making. And now that, let’s face it, there’s little to do in the garden right now I have time to devote to stocking up my store-cupboard. So here’s my recipe for the most divine, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, tart-but-not-too-tart Blackcurrant Jelly which is very definitely devoid of bits.
No Bits Blackcurrant Jelly
Ingredients
- 700g of blackcurrants
- 1.25 cups water
- jam sugar
- juice of half a lemon
You’ll also need a sturdy pan, jelly bag and jam jars
Method
- Place the blackcurrants, water and lemon juice in a pan. Bring to the boil and let simmer for around 10 minutes. While simmering, mash the currants with a potato masher to get all the juice out.
- Pour the blackcurrants into a jellybag and suspend over a pan. Let the juice drip out for at least two hours
- Measure the juice and pour into a pan. For every 2.5 cups extracted add 2 cups of sugar
- Bring to the boil.
- Now comes the tricky part - the testing. Put a small plate in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Take it out and put a teaspoon of the mixture on it. Place back in the fridge. After 2 mins test it by moving it with your finger. If the mixture has started to set and has a visible skin on it that wrinkles when you push it, then it’s ready. If not repeat the test with a new teaspoon of the still boiling mixture.
- Once the mixture has attained the setting point take it off the boil and pour into jars that have been sterilized in boiling water.
- Process the jars (which means placing the sealed jars in a pan of boiling water) for 20 mins.
Monty says it’s time to plant tulips so that’s what I’m a-doin’. Although, I did cheat and plant some last month, most of my new tulip bulbs went in today. Everything I plant from now on until the garden is re-landscaped is in pots to save them being disturbed. So I planted up around 6 or 7 large pots with tulips. Why that many? Well I plan to use them as cut flowers and when you only have a few it seems a waste to cut them. I forget which varieties they are but the colours are mostly reds, blues, blacks and pinks. They like well drained soil and Monty suggested putting grit into the bottom of each hole, however since I didn’t have any grit to hand I went for a few rocks in the bottom of each pot and a mixture of sand and compost. We’ll see if that works. So here’s looking forward to a colourful Spring!
I planted up a few garlic last week. I’m doing them in pots for now as I’m planning to have the garden re-landscaped sometime in early Jan/Feb and so didn’t want to risk disturbing them. Garlic grows fine in pots if you plant them up now and then put them in the ground around April/May time next year. On Gardeners World last week Monty was very insistent that you should only plant up ‘hard neck’ garlic at this time of year as it’s less susceptible to neck rot. So I made sure mine were hard neck by checking that there was a hard round stem in the middle of the head before I broke it apart to plant the cloves. This is the third year that I’ve grown garlic from my own stock. The books will tell you that you can create your own strain of garlic this way - one that is resistant to anything your plot can throw at it. I’m not sure if this works. I always have a few casualties each year, normally due to negligence in the weeding department.
