seasonal fruit and veg « Penny Golightly

September and October in Golightly Gardens

October 2nd, 2011 by Penny Golightly

It has been an interesting couple of weeks in the kitchen garden, mainly because we’ve had a bit of a heatwave which has had a positive effect on some of the plants.

For starters I was convinced there would be no aubergines, then this happened:

The big butternut squash ripened, but it somehow got bruised so I had to cut it down and cook the undamaged bit. There were lots of small fruits that never made it to the flowering stage, then the plant decided to throw out seven healthy looking buds – I knew there was no hope of them all ripening, one would be a miracle at this stage, so I nipped four of them out last month and hand pollinated the remaining three to see if anything grew.

The Japanese onion squash (red kuri) had the same problem of fruit buds going yellow and not opening, so only one pumpkin grew on each vine. I’ve cut them today and put them on a windowsill indoors to start the ripening process, where the skin thickens and the flavour sweetens.

Both buckets of beans were still flowering in late September, but I think we’ve had the last proper serving out of them now.

The courgettes are still going, although they’ve had a bit of downy mildew (more about this another time). I’m hoping we might get one more to grow into a marrow, but we’ll see.

The crookneck squash plants are doing well…

… so are the cucumbers, after some hand pollination to make up for their well-hidden female flowers and lack of male flowers.

The tomatoes are still a law unto themselves, so I’ve had to cut some of the fruit and put it in the sunniest spot of the garden to see if more of it will ripen. Unfortunately it does look like blight has set in to a couple of plants in the last three or four days, but our neighbours have had it for several weeks already so all things considered maybe we had a good run here compared to most.

I’ll be writing about autumn garden tasks and planting soon, and catching up with the windowsill kitchen garden too. Might have to do a short series about garden pests and diseases as well, if there’s time.

How’s your garden growing? Are you thinking ahead to next year yet?

Tags: British garden kitchen, grow your own herbs, grow your own veg, grow your own vegetables, growing vegetables cheaply, growing vegetables on a budget, hand pollinate vegetables, kitchen garden, mildew on courgettes, seasonal fruit and veg, vegetables in season
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British seasonal food in September

September 21st, 2011 by Penny Golightly

What’s in season this month? I’m looking forward to autumn berries, the best wild mushrooms, the return of the shellfish, and the biggest range of goodies from the kitchen garden in the whole of the growing year.

Lots of UK gardeners have had problems getting crops to ripen this year due a lack of sunny days during the crucial months. In particular, quite a few people have complained to me about green tomatoes so stay tuned for ripening methods and the tastiest ways to use up the ones that stubbornly refuse to ripen. Meanwhile, on with the seasonal show:

Fruit & nuts: apples, bilberries, blackberries, blueberries, crab apples, damsons, elderberries, figs, grapes, greengages, juniper berries, first Kentish cobnuts, loganberries, pears, plums, raspberries, sloes. Imported: melons, nectarines and peaches.

Vegetables: all salad leaves, asian greens, aubergines, beetroot, broccoli, late summer cauliflower, celery, chard, chillies, chives, courgettes, cucumbers, fennel, globe artichokes, green beans (French, runner, and borlotto pods), green and red cabbage, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, marrows, peppers, pumpkins (put first Winter ones aside to mature rather than eat), radishes, red onions, rocket, salsify and scorzonera, samphire, shallots, sorrel, spinach, spring onions, squashes, swedes, sweetcorn, summer squash, tomatoes, watercress, wild mushrooms (ceps, chanterelles, oyster, puffball, shaggy ink cap and more).

Fish and shellfish: black bream, brown and rainbow trout, brown hen crabs, brown shrimp, clams, cockles, Dover sole, eels, lobster, mussels, native oysters, pilchards, plaice, prawns, scallops, sea bass, signal crayfish, skate, sprats, squid, turbot.

Meat, poultry and game: Michaelmas goose, Autumn lamb, grouse, partridge, venison at its best, wild duck.

Cheeses: UK: Double Gloucester, Farmhouse Cheshire. French: Brie de Meaux. (For other French seasonal cheeses see this table at baudelet.net).

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What are you going to cook? Ideas please!

Tags: British seasonal food, eating the seasons, food in season September, seasonal food, seasonal fruit and veg, September fruit and vegetables, September seasonal foods
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Vegetable garden update: End of Feb

February 27th, 2011 by Penny Golightly

There isn’t much to do in the garden at the moment, apart from tidying up a little, keeping an eye on the sprouting broccoli and spring cabbages, and giving the soil in the raised beds a good dig to finish breaking up the soil after the winter frosts.

Lots of overwintering herbs, salads and greens are sprouting away in the mini greenhouse, which is doing its job really well, and will eventually provide some overspill space for any windowsill plants that get too big for their boots in late Spring.

Today I’ve been digging, lugging bags of compost around and doing one batch of planting. Late February seems to be a good time around here for planting Early Onward and Sugarsnap peas, including a few extra ones to eat as pea shoots in March and April salads.

These have both been grown in pots, and I’ve sown a variety of different radish seeds in between the peas as a catch crop, plus some winter-hardy lettuces to add ‘living mulch’ and help keep the soil moist. The three different plants are traditionally thought to grow happily together, and my gardening experience last year seemed to bear this out.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on the budget for the year, and it’s going OK so far:

The £10 for seeds has all gone now. If I need anything else it’s going to involve bartering or swapping. Or asking nicely for a few Sunshine F1 kabocha squash seeds for my birthday – hint hint, Beau. Subtle, huh? *cough*

My £20 compost budget has gone too. I managed to find a special offer on some nice peat-free organic compost at Harrod Horticultural, plus a voucher code and some cashback. Managed to get 250 litres of the good stuff, very pleased.

The remaining £10 for ‘general garden stuff’ has had £4 spent so far. I used £2 to get some extra-long garden canes so I could grow French, runner and borlotto beans on wigwams, and a few extra to train climbing squash plants up. Another £2 went on some heavy duty weed fabric. This is partly to keep weeds down in the raised beds, but mainly it’s a last ditch attempt to stop M-Cat digging every living thing in the ground up (and crapping on it as the final insult).

What’s left? There’s only £6 to go for the rest of the growing season. I have plenty of pots, bird-scarers and supports, so all that’s really needed is a little fertiliser and some tomato food. Nipping out later to get a packet of Growmore granules from Poundland. Rock and roll. Woo.

I’m going for a very low maintenance, high-yield bunch of crops this year, and have been looking into all sorts of ways to stop the soil in pots drying out. I now have various water reservoirs, recycled heavy duty plastic soil covers and living mulches sorted out, and am looking forward to lots of healthy eating and not too much associated faffing about.

Edited to add: now spent the last few quid on some Growmore to rake into the soil and prepare it for planting in a few weeks, plus enough vegetable and tomato feed to last until the Autumn. Hoping to keep the garden pesticide free, and will be planting some of the three packets of wildlife-friendly seeds I’ve kindly been given to encourage lots of pollination and natural pest control.

Are you growing your own this year? What are you growing? Do you have any tips for low maintenance (but cheap) gardening? Please let me know!

Tags: bad kitty, British garden kitchen, cheap fruit and veg, grow your own veg, grow your own vegetables, growing vegetables cheaply, growing vegetables on a budget, kitchen garden, money saving tips, seasonal fruit and veg
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Seasonal foods to eat in January

January 20th, 2011 by Penny Golightly

It might not look like there’s much sprouting away in the garden at this time of year, but don’t be fooled. The majority of the root vegetables and brassicas are in full swing, and there’s plenty of fish and feathered game around too.

What’s good to eat right now?

Fruit: apples and pears from store, forced rhubarb, last few seasonal nuts, quince and medlars. Imported Seville oranges.

Vegetables: Asian greens, brussels sprouts and tops, cabbage (red, white, green), cardoons, celeriac, chicory, endive, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, leeks, parsnips, salsify and scorzonera, swedes, turnips, wild garlic, winter varieties of cauliflower.

Fish and shellfish: brill, brown crab, clams, cockles, cod, flounder, haddock, halibut, herring, mackerel, mussels, pike, native (rock) oysters, scallops, turbot, whiting. As ever, you may wish to avoid anything that’s been overfished.

Meat, poultry and game: mutton, partridge, pheasant, snipe, wild duck (mallard, teal, pintail, widgeon), woodcock.

Cheeses: Stilton, Blue Wensleydale, Appleby and other Cheshire cheeses, Lancashire cheeses, Bonchester, Sharpham. Bresse Bleu, Cantal, Pont L’Eveque, Roquefort.

What are you going to cook? I think I’ll be making some hearty soups and stews, some spiced cabbage as a side dish, and some fruit crumble or fruity rice pudding. Please tell me about your favourite January recipes or thrifty seasonal food tips.

Tags: British seasonal food, game season, January foods in season, January ingredients, seasonal food in January, seasonal fruit and veg, UK food in season
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