Hedgerow bounty

Jon Stokes, the Tree Council’s man on our patch and the instigator of our wonderful Hedgerow Harvest grant of fruit trees and bushes paid us a visit during our last Open Day. Jon was delighted with our progress with the hedgerow and said that he thought we had almost the most fruit from the 30-odd local projects that he has visited, so well done us!! Maybe it’s all that ground up pepper plant mulch that we get given by Tangmere Airfield Nurseries? Well, whatever it is, it’s good news for us!

 

Jon brushed up on our pruning required, especially for our nut trees, taking some dead wood out of the walnut in the north east corner of the Garden and also from the cob nut tree in the same area. Having cut away the damaged wood the trees will now ‘right themselves’ and head upwards again, in the case of the cob nut. We also looked at the damson and saw how to shorten the growth on that, and Jon said that the tree protectors should now all be removed and that has been done too. Our redcurrants were laden at the time of the visit and sparkled seductively. Jon encouraged us to all try the morello cherries, which disappeared in a flash, and brought some lovely preserves along for us to try too, including a gooseberry and elderflower pickle which we shall all want to make next year!

Jon is keen to enlist some volunteers to learn how to record fruity memories!  Ah, have I got your attention now?! This is Stage 2 of the project and goes like this. Before people who have an in-depth knowledge of fruit growing in communities in the past are no longer with us, Jon want to train one or two people who are interested in social history in interview techniques. This will enable us to record the memories of people in our own community and near-by, and to pass on the info to The Tree Council for their archives and for use in future projects. The training would take place some time in the autumn, when there is not quite so much gardening to be done. We are so lucky to have been recipients of a Hedgerow Harvest pack. Can you help with the Memories campaign? Please let Rosemary know and she’ll pass on your details to Jon.

Jon is hoping to be able to replace  the couple of trees that we have lost and maybe add in one or two new ones, as well as a few more bushes where we have gaps, e.g in the gooseberry grove. More digging – but not just yet!

Busy as a Bee

 

Well the weather has seen our crops take off and flourish. The most time-consuming thing at the moment is keeping it all watered sufficiently. We dug up a few of the potatoes this weekend, our first Charlottes of the year and they tasted gorgeous. All the more so for me as I didn’t have the effort of growing them this year. What a difference from this time last year when the weather was so wet we got blight and had to dig them up tout suite. The same with the shallots and onions; last year saw us scrambling to get them out of the rain and dry them off, this year they have been languishing in the warmth and soaking up the rays. The garlic has all been harvested and cleaned and is just finishing off drying in poly tunnel minor. The shallots are following behind and then the onions ,or what will be left of them, as they are slowly being claimed by the members for taking home to cook.

Last weekend saw the annual event of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and on Saturday the air was busy with Red Arrows and Vulcan jets shaking our boots. The community garden used the occasion to have an impromtu ‘cook up ‘ with available produce from the garden and some pasta for lunch while watching the free air show. I sadly, was elsewhere but the photos show a delicious looking plate of food.

Our broad beans did well but now all the leaves have been devoured by some rampant hungry insect and only the stalks are left with the odd broad bean attached that missed the picking. Karen also planted a slightly later variety that is smaller in form and  is also ready to harvest along with some beautiful little purple French beans. There are several different kinds of beans of the runner variety that are in the midst of flower and starting to bear fruit.

Poly Tunnel  major smells wonderfully aromatic with the basil and parsley, and the beef tomatoes are looking fabulous, can’t wait to pick some. The courgettes are looking like giants, we also have cucumbers coming along as well as peppers and chillies. The salad is dotted both inside and out with a regular supply of beetroot and lettuces.

The perpetual spinach this year is unrecognisable from last years puny offering as the leaves are about 5 times larger and prolific, I just need people to pick it now! Angela our fruit queen has been busy making markers to say what crops are ready to pick and what are not, great idea Ange and very helpful, Thank you.

We welcomed two new members this weekend Jeff and Veronica, (excuse me if I have got the names wrong and will rectify it later if someone tells me ) they were eased in gently and given some seeds to sow, I hope they enjoy their time with us and we are very pleased to welcome them aboard. Don’t forget members it’s our end of the month supper this Friday so let’s hope the weather stays with us and look forward to seeing you all there.

Just a footnote to say that a rather unsettling few days was passed by  the gardeners of both the community garden and the allotments, last week and the week previously, as a large group of travellers parked up on the airfield close by.  A very small number of the young males made their presence felt and as the weather was so warm ,water was the main focus as they continually used the gardeners supply. The more worrying element was that our garden was invaded and the livestock harried . They have now been moved on and thankfully no lasting damage was done, that is except for now making us all a lot warier about them in the future. What a shame.

What a Scorcher!

We had our first open day of the year on Sunday and with a nod to the Wimbledon men’s finals, we held it in the morning instead of our usual afternoon tea and a slice. The turnout was quite pleasing considering that the roads were congested with people heading for the beach, we had a steady trickle of visitors with a few new faces.

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Because the weather was so sunny we had all available umbrellas and gazebos dragooned into service from member’s homes and very grateful for them we were too. The sale of tea and cake was a lot less than usual but Aidan had made some elderflower cordial and was doing a roaring trade. The tom bola table too was groaning under the quantity of prizes on offer, someone had had a good clear out at home, by the end of the morning all were gone.

The garden was looking gorgeous in its summer finery of shades of green with the pretty flowers of the potatoes and beans dotted like jewels. The red currants are ready to pick in the fruit hedge and the gooseberries and strawberries are ripening nicely.

As an added bonus  Jon Stokes from The Tree Council came along with some home made pickles and jams to demonstrate what could be made from the fruit trees and bushes as well as the edible hedgerows. When the garden was first set up we were given a grant from the Tree Council to buy our edible hedgerow and fruit trees and these are great for wildlife of all sorts as well as yielding a harvest of goodies for us to eat.

 The garlic with its heavily rusted leaves has been dug and left to dry off in this great sunny weather, perfect for the job and the shallots looked nearly ready as well so I gave a few a trial lifting. To my great disappointment I found several of the plants had white onion rot which attacks the roots with a white furry mildew and leaves the leaves shrivelled and brown. Read about white onion rot This means that the affected plants have to be burned and then no onions can be grown in the bed for minimum 8 years. I decided to lift the whole bed in case it spread and leave them all to dry off for a few days, to my relief the Jermor variety hadn’t been affected.  Luckily over 20c the growth of the disease is inhibited so this spell of dry hot weather came at the right time. Despite this we have a good crop.

On Saturday we had the arrival of four new piglets and they have a special shelter rigged for them to give them a shady corner to snooze as the arc would be way too hot. One made himself straight at home by digging a wallow hole in the damp patch by the tap, they are making short work of the weeds that have sprung up since the last visitors. I hope they’ll be happy in their new home.

We have a good crop of Spring greens at the moment including perpetual spinach which is looking very healthy. I picked some yesterday which I used to make this  very tasty supper:

Ricotta, Spinach and Pasta Supper

A good batch of large spinach leaves (about 20 for two people as a guide)

A few broad beans

2 large cupfuls of penne pasta

Half a tub of ricotta cheese

A large knob of butter

1½oz of Parmesan or Pecorino grated

Clove of garlic crushed

Salt and pepper

 

Cook the pasta in some boiling water until al dente and drain

Wilt the spinach either by steaming over the cooking pasta or in a  pan with a tiny bit of water

Cook the broad beans either by steaming or in some boiling water for 8 mins or until soft.

Put the drained pasta,spinach, broad beans, ricotta cheese,  grated pecorino, garlic, salt and pepper and large knob of butter in a dish and toss. Serve with green salad.

 

 

 

 

Sea Spring Seeds Newsletter

Hampton Court

From the 9th to the 14th of July, we will have a stand at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. We’ve done the show before (in 2009 and 2011), and it is both an exhausting and exhilarating experience that brings out the best in gardeners.

In addition to selling seeds and chilli plants, we will have a cracking exhibit of chillies and sweet peppers. By using poster boards and live plants, we are trying to make the display interactive, attractive and educational all at the same time. Our goal is to explain and demonstrate species classification, plant growth habit, and both fruit and leaf colour, and we think we’v got the balance right. And to top it all, on Wednesday and Friday, Joy will give a talk on “Easy Peasy Gardening” – a treat not to be missed.

So come along, and if you’ve got the time, give us a visit – we will be in the Growing Tastes marquee, stall no. GT41.

Our exhibit at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2011

For other shows we will be attending in July and August click here.

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Time for a Visit?

Next month is August, and we have a couple of activities that may entice you to our nursery. First is our open day, which is on Sunday, the 25th of August (the Bank Holiday weekend). It’s free, it’s open to everyone, and it’s going to be very informative.

We also are running four pepper growing courses called ‘What’s hot, what’s not’. At just £25 per person, these sessions are extraordinarily good value for money. Not only will you get the low-down on growing chillies and sweet peppers, but you’ll also get tips on variety selection, harvesting and cooking. Click here for more information and to book.

 Excerpts only from the July Newsletter.