Cutting down the Asparagus

Since we have had a few days of colder weather now, and a couple of frosts, the Asparagus fern finally turned yellow. It was time to remove it.



During the warmer times, the Asparagus fern (leaves) serves to harness solar enegy for the plants, but once the cooler weather comes the fern dies off and can no longer do the job. The colour change from green to yellow shows that this time has come. If you just leave the fern in-situ it will eventually turn brown and decompose, but this will invite mould and fungal growths to move in, so it is best to remove the foliage and compost it. It's not a lengthy task in my garden. A few snips of the secateurs and it's done:

That bed of mine plays host to 10 plants. Two of them are replacements planted only this year and it remains to be seen whether they will "take". To be honest I wasn't too impressed with the plants that I bought, and when I planted them they didn't look particularly strong. I won't be able to tell until next Spring though.

I always cut my Asparagus down to a height of about 5cm, so that I can get a rough impression of where each crown is. This will help me to avoid damaging them when I cultivate the bed to apply fertiliser, as I wll do in the Spring.

The Asparagus crop this year was very poor. Nowhere near as good as I have had previously. I'm hoping that the reason for this was purely to do with the weather, but it's hard to tell. I have said to myself that if I get another poor crop in 2014 I will dig up the Asparagus and plant something else. Whilst I love home-grown Asparagus it doesn't have a very good VSR. It ties up a complete raised bed (I only have 6) all the time, and only produces one crop a year which is available for only a few weeks. Furthermore, you can buy Asparagus in the shops all the year round now, as long as you are prepared to buy stuff that has been imported from Peru! It HAS to be good to deserve a place in my small garden...

Harvest Monday - 18th November 2013

It won't be long before I have to drop out of Harvest Monday, for want of harvests to show off.

This week's crop looks pretty puny:

It was enough Brussels Sprouts for two servings:

 And another handful of chillis - "Aji Limon" and "Black Prince".

Other than a few sprigs of Thyme and Parsley, that's it!  We won't go short of fruit and veg though, because we have gone back to getting weekly deliveries from Abel and Cole

Apple and pear tarte tatin

I didn't make this - Jane did - but I think it is so impressive that you ought to see it!

Full details on "Onions and Paper"

Does it need a dollop of Calvados cream or what??

Smoked Paprika - the finished product

Well, I finally got round to grinding up those dried peppers to make some paprika...

Before I did it though, I had to remove the seeds - of which there were plenty:



Then the papery red/brown flesh was put into the spice-grinder. Ours was originally designed to be a coffee-grinder, but it works very well in this new role.

After a few seconds of "zuzzing", I had powder:



It's not a huge quantity, is it? Actually it is 25g - roughly two dessert-spoonfuls. As Jane pointed out, not a lot to show for all those months of cultivation! However, in my mind, it has been worth it. Growing stuff in my little garden is never an economically viable proposition. I'm certainly not self-sufficient, but it's rewarding. I like doing it. I'd far rather be producing a small quantity of something edible (and then eating it of course) than playing golf or train-spotting!

My thanks to Stephen Shirley at Victoriana Nursery Gardens for getting me inspired to do this, and for advice on the technique. Stephen is the "main man" of the forum called UK Veg Gardeners. If you are a gardener living in the UK and have not explored this forum yet, I strongly recommend you to do so.

I decided that I would use the finished product to make a batch of paprika-flavoured Almonds,so I fried them gently in some vegetable oil, into which I stirred the paprika powder and some salt to make a gooey paste which clung nicely to the nuts.

This is their final destiny - served as a pre-dinner nibble with a glass of sherry. Perfect!

The flavour of the nuts done this way is wonderful - smoky and savoury, but not hot. Remember that it was Sweet Peppers that I used for this paprika, not chillis. However, I think I may well use the same process to make some chilli powder as well, since I have a big basket of chillis in the airing-cupboard and they are nearly dry.

The Coldframe is put into action

As I write this we still have not had any frost, but it surely can't be more than a few days before we do. Last Sunday we had bright sunshine and blue sky - a great gardening day - so I took the opportunity to get the coldframe out of the garage and put it in the usual place round in the back garden, next to the wheelie bins...

This coldframe is one of the things I got last year with my prize money when I won the Achica Blog Award. It is made of twin-wall polycarbonate panels with wooden frames. It is incredibly light and I am amazed that it managed to survive all of last Winter without being blown away!

 A coldframe like this is a useful asset because it provides plants with shelter from frost and wind, but be aware that it doesn't provide any warmth! In the Spring it is also useful for protecting young seedlings during the "hardening-off" process whereby you gradually accustom young plants to outdoor conditions. During the Winter I keep some of my smaller potted plants in the coldframe. On Sunday I trimmed and tidied all the lucky "inmates" before putting them into their new home:

In there are pots of Mint, Thyme, Chives and Winter Savory, along with several Aquilegias. A point to note with coldframes generally is that you must ensure that the glass or polycarbonate panels are kept clean in order to allow the plants inside the frame to get as much lght as possible, so it may be a good idea to give the whole thing a good wash before putting any plants inside it.

 

It is all too easy to just close up the coldframe and forget it, but remember that the plants inside will still need watering occasionally. It's always advisable to open the coldframe for a short while now and then if you get any sunny days, because a bit of ventilation will help to prevent the growth of mould and fungal diseases.

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P.S. in between writing this and publishing it, we did get our first frost of the year, on Wednesday morning. Looks like it was a one-off this time though, and we're back to wind and rain again for a few more days.

Winter Lettuce Mix - Giveaway results

The lucky winners of the Winter Lettuce Mix giveaway draw are:-

1. Rozzie Mistry

2. Captain Shagrat

3. Twannywun

Congratulations to all three of you! Would you please email me the details of where you would like your seeds sent. My email address is in my Profile (underneath the photo of me, at the top of my sidebar).



Mushroom and Cavolo Nero risotto

With some nice Cavolo Nero available in the garden at present, we have been looking for interesting ways to use it. Jane came up with this idea. It's similar to one many of you will be familiar with, made with Spinach rather than Cavolo Nero, but I think that the Cavolo Nero is better than Spinach in this case, because it holds its texture better. Spinach often disintegrates completely and just makes your risotto green.

Though the inclusion of Cavolo Nero was Jane's idea, I was in charge of its execution. In the photo above you see the ingredients - Arborio rice, onion, stock, mushrooms, butter, Parmesan cheese, garlic, thyme and Cavolo Nero. For completeness we should add vegetable oil and salt and pepper.

I cooked the mushrooms slowly, in a tiny bit of oil along with the thyme and garlic and a generous knob of butter. Meanwhile I made a plain risotto in the normal way in another pan. This involves cooking the finely-diced onion in some vegetable oil, then adding the rice and cooking it for a minute or two until it is beginning to swell, and incorporating the hot stock in small quantities until it has all been absorbed. Remember - add the stock slowly so that the rice is never very wet, and make sure it is hot. Adding cold stock will keep reducing the temperature and stop the rice cooking evenly.

When the rice has absorbed all the stock it will be cooked but not soft - it needs to have a certain amount of "bite" left in it. You know the term "al dente"? Well, like that. If you use the right sort of rice, it will have taken on a sort of creamy texture. Now is the time to add the cooked mushrooms (see photo above).

Once the mushrooms are fully mixed in, cover the dish and let it stand for a few minutes to let the ingredients "get to know each other". Now is the time to prepare the Cavolo Nero. You need to strip the soft green bits away from the tough central veins of the leaf.

Finally, about five minutes before serving, add in the Cavolo Nero. It cooks quickly in the residual heat. Just let it wilt. It certainly won't appreciate any fierce heat. This is also the time to stir in a generous quantity of finely grated Parmesan to enhance the flavour and the creamy texture of the risotto. 

 

After a few minutes in the hot risotto, the Cavolo Nero will have softened, but not gone sloppy. Make any final adjustments to seasoning, if necessary, and serve.

This is the finished product. We had ours with a green salad and some toasted granary bread (maybe a Ciabatta would have been more appropriate?). A nice glass of Frascati would probably also be welcome!

Here's a closer look, in which you can really see the creamy texture of the rice:



As many of you probably know, Jane and I have been making a conscious effort to reduce our meat consumption, so this dish fits perfectly with our current dining regime. It is healthy, flavourful and sustaining. It just doesn't contain meat. Oh, and by the way, it can be cooked in 30 minutes and involves very little in the way of specialised skills!