Beetroot Pickle

One of my garden staples is always Beetroot. It may not be a particularly fashionable vegetable but I adore it's earthy sweetness and wouldn't be without it in my kitchen.
This year I've grown three varieties of the red root; Perfect 3, Cylindra & the candy stripped Chioggia. I sow in modules and then plant out when the beets have outgrown the module. Most seasons I plant a very early crop in the polytunnel too...see, I told you, I love the stuff!
Three of my favourite ways to cook with Beetroot are to use it in a fabulous bright pink Hummus along with Walnuts and Tahini ( There's a great recipe in the River Cottage Veg book), to make a traditional Borscht or to pickle it. This is my recipe for Beetroot pickle.
This pickle is great with strong cheddar & crusty bread

3lbs Beetroot
1lb   Eating apples
1      Large red onion
1lb   Soft brown sugar
1pt   Pickling vinegar
2tsp Maldon Salt
Spice bag containing Bay leaf, mustard seeds,allspice berries, peppercorns

It couldn't be easier...
Peel the beet, apples & onion & finely chop so they're all a similar size. Add to a large preserving pan and add the sugar, salt & vinegar. Place spices to your personal taste in a muslin bag and hang in the pan.
Slowly bring it all to the boil & then allow to simmer for approximately an hour or until most of the liquid has gone. Remove the spice bag and bottle in sterilised jars. Try to leave the pickle for a month before eating to allow the flavours to develop.
Happy pickling x

And the award for the laziest blogger goes to...

When I started my blog late last year I was full of optimism that I would blog weekly ( well, maybe fortnightly ) and really embrace the format.
It's now eight months later and I've written the sum total of six posts...
I could use the age old excuse of too  much to do and too little time to do it but to be honest the truth is far less complicated...
There are sooooo many blogs about gardening, smallholding & Urban Homesteading ( as they call it in the US ) out there that I'm not really sure where I fit in or if I've anything worth adding...in short I've suffered a crisis of confidence. 
Lack of confidence already stops me doing so much in life from not leaving a job I hate ( I worry that people will think I'm a quitter ) to not wearing what I want for fear of what other people might think...hell, I only jog after dark incase someone laughs at my bum! 
I'm not alone though; lots of fabulous women I know are their own worst critics. Madness! 
Having been quite poorly for a while now I've had a lot more time on my hands to think about my confidence issues and how to address them. I don't have a magic wand; ( if I did I'd be writing a self help blog and not tweeting about Broad Beans ) but I do know that the best way to beat your demons is to face them head on...so watch this space I'm going to give it another go. Please be gentle with me x

A little taste of Spring

I'm not a lazy person; I have too many animals and am juggling too many 'balls' to be allowed that luxury. I am however someone who is far more sloth like in the long days of winter; I need the extra nudge to get me out of bed, the additional cup of tea before venturing outside...
Today, for the first time in what seems like an age the sun is shining, and suddenly (albeit briefly) I'm kick started back into action. This morning I've noticed things in the garden that have no doubt been there for days but which I've only spotted when the suns rays have touched them. The first signs of florets on the Purple Sprouting Broccoli, new feather growth on the poultry and the first glimpse of tulip bulbs pushing through the soil.
I know that it won't last, I know that snow could return tomorrow or that my garden could be awash after heavy rainfall but for today I'm going to enjoy the sun on my back and pretend that Spring is here

Potatoes...

Potatoes

Even if you are short on growing space it's easy to grow the humble spud at home and to enjoy the taste of freshly harvested, home grown potatoes. Potatoes can easily be grown in pots and planters, recycled waterbutts and dustbins, purpose made potato growing bags and even inside old car tyres...in fact they can pretty much be grown in anything you can find as long as there's enough room for a good root system to thrive and enough space to mound up earth as the plants grow.

There are a huge variety of seed potatoes available to the home grower, usually marketed as First Earlies, Second Earlies and Maincrop; you'll also find varieties marketed specifically as Salad potatoes and wide selection of traditional Heirloom potatoes. 

First and Second Earlies are ideal potatoes to grow if space is a premium; they spend less time in the ground leaving the ground clear by mid summer for other vegetables to take their place. Maincrop potatoes remain in the ground for approximately 20 weeks after planting and are the best to grow if you're looking for a crop to store for future eating however they do take up more space and will take up ground space for longer than earlier varieties. They can still be grown in pots but need more space than their early cropping cousins,

This season I've decided to grow he following varieties;

Rocket and Swift, both First Earlies. Rocket has a waxy skin and is great in summer salads

Pink Fir Apple, a traditional Heirloom Main Crop variety,  lovely knobbly tubers, pink skins full of flavour

Desiree, red skinned Main Crop. An old favourite of mine, a heavy cropper with great flavour. Stores well too

Before planting I chit my spuds.

By chitting your seed potatoes you are simply giving them maximum opportunity to sprout before you plant them. I place my seed potatoes in egg trays and stand on a warm dry windowsill so that they can benefit from the winter sunshine, but anywhere with plenty of natural light is ideal. When the shoots are between 1/2 an inch and an inch long I then plant out.

Last season I made a very early planting in February in old waterbutts inside my poly tunnel.

Planted into warm soil and kept undercover until the temperatures outside improved we feasted on new potatoes in early May. The remainder were planted outside in pots and raised beds in March, Main Crop followed in late April. I also thoroughly recommend growing a few spuds inside a stack of car tyres, the rubber keeps the soil warm and protects from frost and it's easy to add another tyre as you mound up soil around your growing plant. Harvesting is super easy too, just remove the tyres and 'dig' for buried treasure with your hands.

Happy growing!