Posted in February 2008

Early planting for healthy growth

Source: Green Fingers
Wednesday 20th February 2008, 4:29pm

As spring arrives time to rejoice in the good fortune of having your own patch - but beware all is not well in the garden.

Mustn't grumble.

Winter has been especially kind to gardeners in the south - seldom have we had to reluctantly leave our warm fireside seats to throw protective fleeces over our precious and tender plants following a hard frost warning during the evening news. Only another month to keep an eye out for Jack and his pointy fingers. There is an old saying - Ne'er cast a clout before May's out which is a pearl of wisdom from days gone by but in these glorious gloabal warming days you can shave a couple of months off that.

Even the most established gardeners are optimistically making their first settings of seeds - they'd usually wait until the end of March.

But all in the garden is not lovely - winter has seen a continued decline in my standard of living.

Mortgage rates hiked up, credit cards maxed out and inflation rocketing

Even the most disinterested can't fail to be un-nerved by the continued reports about the impact of the credit crunch and how we are all facing a difficult year ahead. The escaltion of food prices, houshold bills and tighter controls on credit and lending could spell disaster for many. Growing and harvesting some of your own fruit and veg saves a bob or two but is little comfort when it comes to keeping up with the cost of living.

Hobby Gardener to Turn Commercial? - Mint and Watercress

Many a keen gardener has happily sold of surplus crops to make "seed money" - prices are low as the gluts of beans, courgettes etc are enjoyed by many others at the same time but this year I'm considering exploring niche markets for local specialist shops and restaurants.

First up Mint - no not the online finance people but the ever so easy to grow versatile herb - excellent in salads, rather refreshing as a tea, perfect as a sauce for Lamb and I spotted this interesting twist on using mint as the herb of choice when making a cornish pasty on Jamie Olivers forum

Next American Landcress - incredibly simple to grow, frost hardy, year round and has identical flavour to Watercess.

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Seville Orange Marmalade

Source: Green Fingers
Tuesday 5th February 2008, 5:28pm

Bar a few straggling leeks, an unexpected crop of self set rocket and a yet to emerge purple sprouting brocolli - there's little going on on MY PATCH

In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Winter wasteland would perhaps be too hard a phrase - but the patch does look a little worse for wear during mid-winter.

Every year around late January beginning of February I keep my eyes peeled for the arrival of seville oranges with the view to making a batch of home made marmalade.

Home Made Seville Orange Marmalade.

To make your own marmalade you'll need a pressure cooker, muslin bag, 6 proper Jam jars and the following ingredients:-

• 1 kg Seville Oranges
• 2 kg Sugar
• 1 litre water
• 2 lemons
  

Method

Squeeze out the juice from oranges and collect the pips in a muslin bag and tie .

Using a pressure cooker combine the water and the oranges, orange juice and bag of pips into the pan and pressure cook for 8 - 9 minutes at 10lb pressure. If you don't have a 10lb weight option you will have to use the 15lb for about 7 minutes.

This softens the fruit so you can chop it easily into thin slices

Reduce pressure quickly - stick the pan outdoors as the steam wreaks havoc on cold winter windows. When cool enough to handle take the bag of pips out and squeeze to get the maximum pectin out and the softened oranges and chop/slice them up as thinly as possible and put them back into the pan. (this is a bit messy)

Introduce the juice of the two lemons and the (oven warmed) sugar and bring to a steady rolling boil and continue until set - around 15 minutes

Marmalade is supposed to be a dead cert for setting however I found there's little wrong with adding half a sachet of Certo.

Let the pan stand for five minutes - this prevents the fruit all floating at the top then pour into hot jars and seal.

A real treat is that there always seems to be a little left over that doesn't justify part filling a new jar - pour into a bowl and leave in fridge.

While the jar lids are "popping" -- confirming they are vacuum sealed you can look forward to your first taste of home made marmalade.

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