Grand stretch in the evenings!

The weather yesterday was glorious - rushed home from work and straight out to the garden after dinner. So much to catch up on after the cold weather we have had over the past couple of months. Big difference yesterday in the weather compared with the gale force winds the night before and of course today has changed back into heavy showers, so doubt I will get out again this evening.

Finally we got around to putting up some posts and wires for my fruit bushes. I am growing redcurrant, blackcurrant and raspberries and I have a gooseberry bush and a blueberry bush as well. Some of them were trailing along the ground which made them easy prey for slugs etc ( and also our lawnmower!). Also we had no defined edge for the border against the lawn, so this was needed to be put in. Above is the view along the side of the back garden.

This is the section behind the garage. I moved a few raspberry plant suckers (daughters) during the winter to this spot along with a blackcurrant bush cutting and so far they have all taken - can see new growth on them all. At the top left is my gooseberry bush which I hope to pick from this year as it was planted approx 18 months ago. 

Good link if you are thinking of transplanting your own raspberry suckers - 

How to Dig and Plant Raspberry Runners

This is the other side of the back of the site - the raspberry bushes have gotten very tall in places ( some same height as me 5ft 6"!!). There are still a few suckers I will have to dig out - more presents for friends! 

First posts and wire up - I am using the same wire they use here for electric fences - so it should be both very strong and durable. Also we got the edging in the whole way around.

I tied up some of the branches to wire to prevent them trailing along the ground. Also, should make picking from those branches a lot easier at harvest time.

We still need to put down some compost to help feed the bushes and clear the last weeds from around the plants and then we are going to put bark down to help control the weeds and moisture.

My garlic plants are coming along nicely. Onions planted to the front haven't started yet - but only down two weeks. I had a lot of trouble with birds and cats pulling up my garlic bulbs - had to cover the bed in a net until recently. Thankfully it doesn't seem to have bothered the garlic too much - great tough plant!

My broccoli is growing well in its mini cloche. I have some Pak Choi seeds planted or which a few have started to germinate under the cloche. 

I just love the colour the purple sprouting broccoli is giving to the garden at the moment - as well as the delicious veg for my dinner! 

In this photo, you can see the stump of the floret I cut two weeks ago and the new florets that grew around it once the space was released by the cutting. 

The rewards - a full bowl of broccoli! Great to have and to share!

I love self-seeding plants (and I don't mean the thistle in the above photo!) - above I have some violas that have self seeded in the bed just inside the gate. I usually buy some winter hardy viola annual plants in mid-autumn and I find that they usually survive the winter to produce a brilliant showing in spring/early-summer far exceeding the showing you get from ones brought in spring time. Also, they love to self-seed - which makes my job all the easier :-)

Now all I need is the weather to improve so I can get back in the garden!! 

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

First year ever growing Purple Sprouting Broccoli and definitely not my last!! So great to be able to go out and pick some veg at this time of year. I did get one shock with it which I will describe later.

There isn't a big large head like calabrese (normal broccoli) to you and me - there is a smallish floret at the top and the rest is spears that grow along the sides. 

I have managed 4 picks so far from my bed of about 8 plants. It has been largely ignored during the winter and is in good condition considering. There is another month of a couple of picks a week from the plants to go. Great at this time of year!! 

My first pick!

The purple sprouting broccoli doesn't take as long as calabrese to cook - just took a couple of minutes in boiling water. I cooked it with some parsnips that I had still in the garden ( which had been cooking already).
Discovered then, purple sprouting broccoli looses its purple colour when cooking - the water absorbs it all, and so did my parsnips slightly! Was totally shocked - had people over for dinner and was promising them lovely purple broccoli, but it just looked like normal calabrese! Tasted slightly sweeter, but then again, picking to cooking time was only about 10mins!


Those of you that are fans of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - he has a couple of recipes for purple sprouting broccoli at the link below.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/mar/01/purple-sprouting-broccoli-recipes

More details on the growing of Purple Sprouting Broccoli on the GIY website:
http://www.giyireland.com/articles/detail/growing_purple_sprouting_broccoli

Definitely one for the plot if you have space!!

Broccoli/Calabrese Harvest and Freezing

Couldn't believe the size of some of my Broccoli yesterday morning. Harvest time beckoned.

I have included photos of my blanching and freezing of the broccoli to keep it over the next few months. Note - before you start, you should make sure that you have enough space in your freezer to store them all especially if you are trying to freeze them individually. You are better off blanching and freezing as soon as possible after picking to ensure maximum freshness, but they will hold for a couple of days in the fridge if its not a suitable time.

These were seedlings I bought back in early April and sowed under cloche for the first month. They have turned out so well - I might do some this way next year and also bring on my own for a later sowing.

You need to watch your broccoli carefully when the heads are formed as they can quickly turn to flowering (which indeed is what we eat - the flower buds!) and you will have missed your harvest after all your hard work caring for them.

A fine sized pot of broccoli and the headless plants!

Lovely full heads - ran out of space in the big sauspan bringing them in. Wouldn't be Irish without the cup of tea on the side!

 

First batch chopped up into usable sizes. If you have a large amount of harvest, it is better to do them in small batches or else your boiling water will cool too much when you put them in.

To blanch them, put them into boiling water for just one minute. They retain a lovely deep green colour after blanching as above. The water afterwards looks like the hulk took a bath in it!!

To cool them afterwards, I place them directly into a bowl of iced water. This helps cool them down quickly to stop them from further cooking ( as otherwise they turn to mush when cooked later on). I then place them on clean tea-towels to dry before starting the freezing process.

 

You can just bag them up once cooled and dried, but if you freeze them that way, you may find that the whole lot freeze in one big iceburg and make it difficult to pick out just the few pieces you want at any time. I line them up in trays, any plastic boxes with lids - all separate so they aren't touching.

This was the freezer once I had the whole lot done - about 8 heads of broccoli freezing here. Give them a few hours in the freezer before bagging up to reduce the space required in the freezer.

 

Remember to date and label your bag prior to putting in the vegetable - it is much easier to do when the bag is empty. I'm not sure how long they will store in your freezer, I just know that all mine will be used up before they go out of date anyway!

They will only require about 5 minutes ( adjust less if you prefer more crunch in your Broccoli) in boiling water to cook from frozen or can be added directly to your stir-fry.

Broccoli has some great nutritional values - click here for a link to them on Wikipedia

I have left the plants to continue growing as from past experience, there will be further (although smaller) heads that will appear at the sides of the plants.