I just bought a little piece of gardening history. The best thing about it is that I didn’t know how interesting it was when I bought it. It’s the Ryder’s Vegetable and Flower Seed Book for 1948. That’s a seed catalogue to you and I. Beautiful ain’t it?
I just love the faded colour in the illustrations and the typography used in the logo. What a find?
I didn’t really think much about the date on the cover ’1948′ when I bought it. I just thought, oh that’s a nice vintage seed catalogue. But when I read the welcome message on the opening page I realised that, of course, it’s only three year’s after the second world war and gardeners are still ‘digging to live’.
Here’s what it said:
“On the 6th August, 1947, the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. C. R. Attlee, pronounced in the House of Commons… ‘We must produce a great deal more of our food at home to replace imports which we can no longer afford to buy….’
Subsequent events have given added prominence to this warning, and the sorry fact exists that in this 1948 season, running into three years after the cessation of the second world war, we of these old and historic islands must literally ‘DIG to LIVE’.
Everything that can be won from the soil must be of value to the Nation and none more valuable at such a time than fresh vegetable foodstuffs.”
This is pretty cool in itself but then I did some err… digging around to see if Ryder’s seed merchants still exist. I don’t think they do because I found a house for sale in St Albans on ‘Ryder Seeds Mews, built on the former site of Ryder’s seed merchants’.
But, I did find some information on Samuel Ryder, the guy who founded Ryder’s seeds in the 1890′s. He has a wikipedia entry and it turns out that he was the first person to start selling ‘garden seeds in penny packets’. Apparently he built a successful business on the concept and became very rich. Later, he developed an interest in golf and started a little golfing tournament called… wait for it… The Ryder Cup.
I know! Crazy. What a fascinating story? I must say, I’m hooked. I think collecting vintage seed catalogues is my new mini-obsession. Alongside vegetable gardening of course.
Yesterday, I picked my first Peas. Most of them were delicious. However, there was the odd pod or two that didn’t quite taste as good as the rest. But why? The answer is I’d left them on the plant just a tad too long.
What you’re looking for is Peas that are round and green (as above).
What you’re not looking for is Peas that are square-ish and pale green (as below).
These Peas have been left too long on the plant. They have out-grown their pod and the taste has started to decline. They don’t taste quite as sweet as the round, green Peas. Some people would describe them as ‘mealy’, which just means that they have a thicker texture than younger Peas and they don’t go ‘pop’ in your mouth like the others will.
You can tell the difference before you open the pod. The old pods will feel fuller and there will be a slight difference in colour on the outside of the pods. The top pod in the photo above is the older one and you can see that it’s slightly lighter in colour than the bottom one. They might also start to curve and develop a pronounced texture on the outside of the pod if left a very long time.
Pick them regularly to avoid this. Sometimes only one or two pods a day will be ready but you can either eat them as they come or freeze them until you have enough to use. Either way is fab.
But if your Peas have gone too far don’t despair. You can still use them in soups etc.
Here’s your next photo mission. Take a photo of your favourite summer pairings. It has to be something you grew (edible of course) paired with your favourite accompaniment. As you can see I like to settle down on my deck, in the evening, with a massive bowl of Strawberries and a glass of chilled rosé. Ahhh!
But you don’t have to go for Strawberries and wine, you could choose New Potatoes with Mint, Salmon with Dill, or even Radish with Yoghurt – whatever floats your boat.
Send your photos to gill [at] carsonified [dot] com and I’ll make a post of the best photos. I might even choose a winner this time!
Ever since I watched the Victorian Kitchen Garden DVD I have had a micro obsession with White Currants. No Victorian garden would have been without its White Currant bush and so in my quest to copy the Victorian’s (albeit on a tiny scale) I planted a bush the year before last.
It didn’t do much in its first year. But this year it has produced a good handful of currants. I snipped them off as soon as they were ripe (before the birds could have a go) and this is what I harvested. It’s best to take the whole sprig rather than try to harvest every currant.
Now, the big question is what do you do with them. I don’t have enough to make jam, which seems to be the stock answer for ‘what to do with White Currants’. I must admit I couldn’t find that many recipes online. This Red, White Currant and Cherry Fool sounds quite nice but I don’t have any cherries. Anyone got any other ideas?
The tanginess level of a White Currant is about the same as a Gooseberry so I guess I could try some Gooseberry recipes. Or chuck em in with some of my Strawberries and go for Summer Pudding.
Okay, so maybe this recipe doesn’t strictly use anything that I actually grew. But I’m including it here for three reasons; firstly, because there aren’t many recipes online specifically for baby biscuits (normal biscuits with tons of sugar in them, yes, but baby biscuits well not really). Secondly, I’m fed up of spending money on Organix biscuits that are just as easy to make at home (nothing against Organix, some of their stuff is really nice). And thirdly, I took some nice photos of them that I wanted to share with you.
I put the recipe together using a normal Gingerbread Man recipe but I’ve reduced the sugar, exchanged most of the Golden Syrup for honey and added orange juice to replace some of the sweetness. You might think that 100g of sugar is still quite a bit for a baby but this recipe makes at least 25 – 30 biscuits and when you taste them you’ll see that they’re not sweet at all. So here goes…
Gingerbread Biscuits for Babies
Makes around 25 biscuits
Preheat oven to 190 degrees (gas mark 5)
Ingredients:
- 350g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 2 teaspoons ground Ginger
- 100g unsalted butter
- 100g light muscovado sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon Golden Syrup
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 egg, beaten
Method:
- Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger in a bowl.
- Rub in the butter to make fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar.
-
Add the honey, golden syrup, beaten egg and orange juice.
- Bind together and knead on a floured surface until smooth. You can chill it in the fridge at this point if it’s too sticky.
- Roll out until 1/4 inch thick. Cut out biscuits and place of a buttered baking sheet.
- Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins. Keep an eye on them as they will burn quickly and become too hard.
*Remember, because the biscuits contain honey they shouldn’t be given to infants under one.
Happy eating!
After the disappointment of the last few days I thought I would cheer myself up with a sweet little summer treat – yep, hold the front page, the Strawberries are ready!
There’s nothing quite like that first taste of juicy, sweet, slightly warm but oh so ripe Strawberry. And there’s only one way to enjoy it – stuff it in your mouth and eat it as quickly as possible. As demonstrated by my lovely assistant.
Now, if only I could get away with eating like that…hmmm.
Ack! I’ve got White Rot on my Garlic. I noticed that some of them had started to split and the leaves were turning more and more yellow. I pulled one up to investigate and that’s when I discovered this nasty little fungal disease, lurking beneath the surface. It’s not good news. White Rot is serious stuff for which there is no cure. All I can do is lift the affected plants and burn them. I won’t be able to grow Garlic in the same spot for quite some years, maybe even eight! Bummer.
I think the disease must have come in either some bags of manure I bought at the garden centre or else infected soil from potted plants. I grew Garlic last year and it was fine. But the worst of it is I also have a whole crop of onions (very susceptible to White Rot) growing right next to the Garlic. Hmmmm…
I suppose I’m lucky in the fact that I have four separate beds here at mtp. Each one with slightly different soil (one sandy, one stony etc) so I do have some other options. I’m also wondering if I shouldn’t dig all the soil out of that particular bed and replace it? Does anyone have any experience of that?
It feels quite cruel to be thwarted by nature in this way after all the care and attention I’ve put in. Especially, with something so devastating. To be fair though, I have had some very nice Garlic in the past. I guess this is just the year the Garlic gets it huh?
Off to drown my sorrows.
I harvested my first Spring Carrots today. I sowed them quite early in the year in my Victorian cloche. I filled up the cloche with compost and sowed the seed under glass. They germinated quite quickly and have been happily growing undisturbed ever since.
I have sowed some Carrots in the open ground since then that have not faired so well. The first time I sowed them the small seedlings were duly mown down by our resident slugs. The second time I sowed them they actually got to the ‘first real leaf’ stage before they were, yep – you guessed it, eaten up again.
So it’s my third attempt with the main crop Carrots and fingers crossed. If this batch don’t make it then these little beauties could be the only Carrots that will be on my plate this year.
A couple of evenings ago we went on a hot air balloon ride across Bath. I’m not usually great with heights and so I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I was the person holding on very tight before launch and not saying very much. But once we were in the air, I was fascinated. One of the things that caught my eye was an aerial view of Bath’s Victoria Park allotments. Wow! I was actually stunned to see how big the site is. I’ve driven past it many times but never had a close look.
Everyone’s plot looked so neat from the air. And there were communal areas with poly-tunnels and funky-looking garden sheds. You can even see a little party going on if you look closely next to the tunnels. And I’m sure I saw some evidence of BBQ smoke. What an amazing community!
It made me really miss my allotment. And it got me thinking about what a garden can give you that an allotment can’t, and vice versa. This is my take on it:
Garden
- You can go there at any time, even if you only have 5 mins to spare
- All of your tools, seeds, and stuff are to hand
- You can plant trees and put up sheds (most allotments don’t allow you to)
- No-one will steal your veg (at least, it’s unlikely anyway)
- You can weed with your dressing gown and slippers on (very important for early morning gardening)
- You can water your garden with a hose pipe or irrigation system
- You can child-proof your garden with gates and fences
- You can look out of your window and see all your hard work every day
- You can harvest veg whenever you like
Allotment
- You’ll be part of a great community
- You will get tons of advice from seasoned growers
- You will have lots of room to grow plants that need a lot of room (Pumpkins, Potatoes and Courgettes)
- You don’t have to worry about your plot looking pretty
- You can enter your biggest Marrow in the allotment Veg Show and win a prize!
- You can have a nosy around other people’s plots and get some great ideas
- You will be able to grow waaay more produce than you can ever eat so you can give some away!
- Lastly, (but not to be underrated) the soil will already be very deep after years and years of digging
If you can think of any other pros and cons then add them in the comments.
I’ll stick with my garden for now, but some time in the future (who know’s when) I think I might have to have another allotment if only for the BBQs.
Everything (well almost, everything) is green in my garden at the moment. At this time of year all of the fruit is unripe and most of the things that are ready for harvest are either green (Lettuce, Spinach, Kale etc) or the colour is under the ground (Carrots, Radish etc). With the exception of my Lollo Rosso Lettuce and my amazing display of Chive flowers virtually everything else is green. My Strawberries, as you can see above, are still green.
My Blackcurrants are plentiful, but you guessed it, still green.
My Peaches are fluffy and cute but very much still green.
But, my Redcurrants, well, they are mostly green but today I noticed that one of them has a tiny patch of pink on it. Yey! Bring on the summer – full of ripe, fragrant fruit and a garden full of colour.
