Breaking the rules and trusting the plants

Gardening has rules. It's true. Some of them are 'rules' old gardeners tales passed on. You're supposed to plant bulbs with the top pointing up but try pointing it down sometimes and see what happens (spoiler: it grows) Some rules are worth following though and this post is about how I broke one of those.

Move plants when they are dormant. It's simple. When plants are dormant they have pulled all their energy in on themselves and that's the best time to move them. However sometimes a plant just needs to be moved. And you can't wait for a better time.

Six inches too high. Either it goes or it's roots have nowhere to rest

Out allotment is tiered and we've made the decision to take some of those tiers out. Some are impractically small, some are mostly caved in anyway, so whatever. We decided to get rid of some of those tiers so earth is being shunted around right now.

A rhubarb was sitting precariously on top of a pile of earth that needed moving. We didn't always know this. When we got the allotment it had been cut down so we couldn't see the rhubarb there. Then we put a mulch over that part of the plot. In March when I removed the mulch there was a rhubarb. Surprise.

So I wasn't attached to the rhubarb. I didn't put it in and I really only like eating it one way. As I needed the ground beneath it to be six inches lower I had two choices: move or kill.

New home, please don't ask about the broken glass. 

Not to look a gift plant in the whatever I moved it. At the wrong time of year. But you know plants will generally put up with a bit of rough treatment. Their purpose is to grow after all. I'm also giving it a gentle start with some pampering.

I say pampering, it looks a lot like carnage. After being moved plants can undergo transplant shock, their roots aren't making the same sort of contact and everything is different. They aren't getting the nutrients that they need. The outer leaves are a great big energy suck for them. Leave them in and they'll go flaccid, weakening the plants in an effort to respire.

With A Haircut

So it's worth it to cut everything down to the young growth. It gives the plant less to do so it can concentrate all it's energy on establishing it's roots. There's still no guarantee it will thrive but taking a risk with rhubarb is better than having none at all.

Pickled Red Cabbabge

Being the vegetarian daughter of a meat loving Father it's not always easy to cook something he goes nuts over. I does happen though. My chilli is amazing like that.

Last year I had good reviews of my pickled red cabbage so I thought I'd do it again. Last year I got my cabbages for free being tiny, bug eaten, ugly monsters they where my reward for clearing the patch they sat on. It took about 5 of them to make two jars but at least they where free. This year I paid for my cabbage. 25p. It was in the seconds section. Another ugly bug but as it was a full sized cabbage I only needed half to make the two jars.

Political Pickle

The other difference about this years batch is that I've read Abundance (detailed reveiw forthcomeing but really? just buy it) where Alys Fowler talks about her aunt who names batches of jam after political injustices. Thought sounded amazing so the label was born.

Honeymoon Jewellery

Knitting take a while so I can't yet say what I've made out of my honeymoon wool (or what I want to) but I have made some really simple necklaces from the beads I bought.

The first features these wonderful frosted glass nuggets. I bought them because they remind me of sea glass, only in funky colours.

The second is a simple chain with these flowers.

I'm pretty happy.

Grow Write Guild Prompt #7: Write about one plant that is currently in bloom

I'm often telling people who ask that I don't know anything about flowers. I'm a vegetable grower. I barely know a tulip from a daffodil, I'm not even going to attempt tulip vs narcissus.

In bloom, battered and beautiful

There are flowers I do know. Flowers I've picked to sell to local restaurants: borage, fennel, rocket, nasturtium, viola, elder, wild garlic, chive, dianthus, pea, broad bean, brassica flowers, calendula. Flowers I've dyed with: Californian poppies, calendula again, dandelion. Flowers that grew on the playground: daisy, dandelion, buttercup. And yes, even flowers I just like the look of: aquilegia, sweet peas, valerian, lilies.

It is a quirk of my brain that when asked to think of one - just one - I go ahead and think of those 22. Even narrowing it down to just those in bloom now it's still a big list. Instead I pick one that isn't on it at all.

Five white petals, yellow in the centre, barely noticeable and one of my favourite things

The strawberries are in bloom.

The flower of a fruit is the greatest flower of them all. It warms my veg growers soul. It turns into food. The petals drop, the centre pushes outwards, the colour changes from green to red. A strawberry flower is the most delicious promise hidden in the delicate, angelic white.

Promises, promises

[This post was written as a response to the 6th prompt of Gayla Trail's Grow Write Guild. Check it out.]

Grow Write Guild Prompt #6: Landscapes

Describing where I grew up to people who haven't been there is hard.

I grew up in a small town, yes, but a small town that was part of a sprawling conurbation. As people from Heywood we have our own identity (oh how we have our own identity) but we're never more than 45 minutes away from the centre of Manchester (by bus).

Miller Street, it's called that for a reason...

The house I grew up in was an end terrace. The yard outside contained a coal shed and an outdoor toilet (no longer used, I might add) Although it was built to be stuffed with a family on each floor we had the whole place for a small family of three, two, three, four, then five before we moved on. Most of the time it was just enough space.

The view from my childhood bedroom window (or rather the view from the street, camera angled up. Close enough) 

From my bedroom window you could see a cotton mill, closed down now, and it wasn't a rare site in my town. Clearly this was a place born in the industrial revolution. But for all of it's industrial ghosts we didn't want for green.  Even without taking into account into account how little time it took to walk into countryside proper and feed a horse with your palms flat. There was always some green. A road side verge filled with daisies, vast school playing fields, overgrown orphan patches and parks.

Parks. The biggest, the most beautiful and the crown jewel of the park is Queen's Park. I adored it as a child, it was my sanctuary when I was home from uni in the summers, I still stroll around it whenever I have the chance and remember it fondly from the other side of the country. You can sum up how the town and how I grew up like this: I may have lived on Miller Street but Queen's Park was at the end of it.

Once a boating lake in summer and ice rink in winter, now a home to some wonderful water loving birds

Queen's Park is a park in the most stunning Victorian tradition. When the family that originally owned it died out the ownership went to the crown. Queen Victoria who presumably heard the news and said 'I own land where now?' gave the land to the people of Heywood.

This park separates the park from the 'woods'. The wilderness of my childhood.

Let's leave behind Victorian England and go to the early nineties of last century when I was young. By this time the park had decayed to it's worst. Recently the park has been lucky enough to have been the recipient of a major regeneration. This is a good thing in that the park is stunning and a great place for the local people however it does mean I have no pictures of my park.

One of the only features without improvement: A pool left to fill in and full of  'weeds'

Let me describe it. My park is a park of decay. The gorgeous fountain, turned back on when I turned 19, had no water in it. It was covered in 'weeds' like a giant, stunning planter. I seem to remember roses growing over it but my plant identification wasn't as good back then. There where plinths without statues, the old turnstiles of the boat shed (but not much else of it) and every so often something would turn up missing or burnt out.

A jolly nice office

But my park is also a park of dignity. As a kid the biggest crime was stepping onto the flower beds. They where heroically kept perfect. In that working class way of finding someone commoner than you and looking down on them, absolute scorn was reserved for people who let their children ruin our flowers. The grass was always nicely clipped, the bowling green thriving, the band stand was full of graffiti and bands, and once a year the park was host to a fare.

Restored: the stunning fountain though I think it worked equally well as a planter

Those twin lessons shaped the gardener I am today. Watching nature overrun it's intricate Victorian confines gave me a respect for it's power and a taste for the aesthetics of decay. Watching a community take ownership of a space taught me that growing is not an individual pursuit but something that effects our community at it's core.

[This post was written as a response to the 6th prompt of Gayla Trail's Grow Write Guild. Check it out.]

Tie Dye

There was a week there where I was doing a hell of a lot of tie dye. It was about when I got married and I was cautioned not to make too much of a mess of my hand with all the dyes.

Dyeing is the ultimate messy science you can do at home

I helped my Brownies tie dye a shirt each (for the Science Investigator badge), did one for myself (as a test run) and then did a tunic/dress. Lots of tie dye was going down. We also had relatives over and they have an adorable small child. So while walking through H&M Stephen and the parents decided that she needed a tie dye dress.

"Well," I said, "Just pick out a white cotton dress"

We don't have the model for obvious reason but trust me, she is cute

So I mixed up some procion dyed into a bright, cute, kids colour and soaked until cool happened.

Other People Keep Having Babies

And thus I keep having to knit booties.

Having might be putting that a bit strongly as I love the instant gratification and chance to work short rows. Both these pairs were made from the same stash leftovers so I was only out the cost of the buttons. But as shopping for adorable buttons is one of the most fun experiences in life I have no issues with that either. Pattern is the one hour baby booties from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation

Tomato and Nettle Sauce

Nettles are crazy nutritious with 6g of protein per 100g and lots of stuff that's good for you like vitamin a, vitamin c, calcium and iron. They also sting like a bitch.

In fact stinging like a bitch is their defining characteristic. But it's worth it at this time of year (spring, early summer only. Later in the year they suck) to put on a pair of gloves and pick the top few leaves of the nettle to eat. They are delicious, crazy nutritious and don't sting once you soak them in water.

It occurs to me that I could call this Net Bol but I don't know if I want to put you through that

This recipe takes advantage of their strong flavour to cook them in a bolognese style sauce. I'd like to think I'd make this by going out in the morning, foraging for nettles, cutting some fresh herbs and then lazily cooking this sauce in the afternoon. A good weekend project. Actually because most of the cooking is inattentive it makes a good quick weekday supper while preping for Brownies or catching up on your drudgery cleaning. Okay so more like watching TV. No need to judge me.

Moving on...

Serve this one over spaghetti for extra inauthenticity but whatever pasta you have will work.

Tomato and Nettle Sauce
(serves two)

1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small carrot, diced
a couple of teaspoons of olive oil
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
half a teaspoon each of fresh rosemary and thyme (chopped if you feel like it)
Salt and pepper
A big handful of young nettle leaves

Pop a large saucepan (use one with a lid!) on medium heat, chuck your oil in and add your onion, garlic and carrot. Cook for five minutes, until the veg is softened. You may need to stir and add a small amount of water to keep things from sticking

Add the can of chopped tomatoes, fill the can half way with water and add that to the pan as well

Just showing off my rosemary

Throw in the herbs and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper

Simmer with the lid on for an hour, stir every... whenever it occurs to you.

Remove the lid and cook for another 15 mins, adding a bit of water if it gets too dry

Wear gloves when measuring a big handful of nettles

While it's cooking roughly chop your nettles, wear gloves if you haven't soaked them.

When the 15 minutes is up add the nettles and cook, stirring often for another 10 minutes until the nettles are good and wilted.

Taste to adjust your seasoning, serve over past and enjoy.

Adventures In Supermarkets Part 2: Peri-Peri Seasoning Rub

If you put my heart in a box it would look like this

Part two of things that come in boxes from the supermarket and totally delight me is Nando's Peri-Peri Seasoning Rub. I kind of love Nandos devotedly. Or I did when I lived anywhere close to one, now I remember it with a fond longing. A fond longing to get my taste buds burnt off. Because I like it hot. So when I saw this seasoning rub in the condiments aisle (another favourite aisle!) I bought it, slipped it on some tofu and shoved the tofu under the grill.

Burn baby, burn.

Clean, hot, piercing heat and flavourful spices doing a little dance on my tongue. Happy Days.

Altella

Just a quick note to say...

I made the Altella Spread from Hearty Vegan and I love it devotedly. We couldn't stop eating it long enough to get a decent picture. If you have a copy of the book it's on page 218, if you don't I'd seriously consider buying it just for this.