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Butternut Squash Soup

We have loads of jobs to do in the garden but rain has stopped play today. We have had torrential rain since the early hours of the morning so couldnt carry on outside. We have come indoors and I am making Butternut Squash Soup.

One medium sized Butternut Squash

One small onion

One potato

One/Two chicken stock cube

Seasoning to taste

Cut the butternut squash lengthways and scoop out the seeds and the stringy flesh. Peel and cube. Cook with a little water until soft and put on one side. Cook the potato and onion until soft. Combine them all and mash to a smooth pulp. Add the stock cube disolved into a pint of water to the butternut, potato and onion. Season to taste and cook on on low heat stirring all the time or even put into a slow cooker on medium heat until you are ready to serve. Serve with crusty bread for a warming treat. I have seen recipes that add carrots, apple, orange or even curry but we like it simple.

Raspberry Canes

We potted up three raspberry canes yesterday. They were from Lidl so only £2.47 for the three. They look very healthy with a good root system but have no variety on them or any indication as to wether they are Summer or Autumn fruiting. I already have one raspberry plant given to me by my sister. We plan to erect a post and wire row for them all in the Spring.

Raspberries are best in full sun. They produce new canes in the first year and these canes fruit in the second year. First year canes are green and second year canes have a thin brown bark. It is best to prune back the cane after it has fruited. Maybe we will do what we do with the red currants and cut the wood back whilst it is covered in ripe berries. That way you do two jobs in one and the branch can be taken home to remove the fruit then trimmed and used as a cutting for a new plant.

Call Ducks For Sale

I have finally had to put some of the Call Ducks out for sale. They are lovely but to be fair to them I don’t have enough room for them. Ideally they need plenty of grass and moving water. I am letting them go for ten pounds each so a bargain for someone.

I have bought two more roses for the side garden. They were an impulse buy at two for three pounds from Lidl. They are both Hybrid Tea. One of them is Rosa Pascali which I have bought before and am very pleased with. It is white with a lovely fragrance. The other one is new to me. Rosa Dame de Coeur has deep green leaves and large, rich, red flowers and as it was sold as a fragrant rose I am hoping for a strong perfume too.

Rosa Susan Daniel

I was doing my ususal jobs out in the garden this morning, feeding the ducks and the chickens and cleaning up after them. I was feeling a bit downhearted about a few things when I spotted a few late autumn roses blooming away even though it is late October. The perfume  of the Susan Daniel was beautiful and made me realise how lucky I am to be well enough to be working in the garden at all.

The Rose Susan Daniel is named after an opera singer.  The most striking quality of this rose is its peachy transluscent colour. The ivory outer petals of the buds have lemon at the base opening to coral and finally changing through pale bronze to gold in late Summer. Disease resistant this rose has an amazing perfume. I bought this rose amongst a group of bare root plants from Harkness Roses.

A Bit of a Squash

Our squash harvest has been better than we anticipated. We had low germination but those plants that did make it have given us plenty enough fruit. Even our favourite butternut squash has been prolific with more fruits still growing on the plants.

We had the usual glut of courgettes this year and I have used some of them in this recipe, given to me by Marie, my Yoga teacher.

3 table spoons of olive oil

2 medium Courgettes thickly sliced

3 large flat mushrooms sliced

4 large ripe tomatoes sliced

2 teaspoons of dried Oregano

3oz grated cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 200. Heat the oil in a pan and add the sliced courgettes and mushrooms and cook through for a few minutes until golden. Add the tomatoes and heat through. Arrange the mixture in a baking dish and sprinkle over the oregano and cheese. Season to taste. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Remove the foil and finish off under the grill. I have tried this replacing the cheese with Carbonara sauce. It is lovely. Thanks Marie.

Overwintering Cabbage

We have sown seeds of two overwintering cabbages. Spring Hero F1 Hybrid and Durham Early. Both sets of seeds have germinated successfully and have been pricked out into bigger pots.

 

A ballhead cabbage, Spring Hero has good frost hardiness and forms solid heads from late April through to May.

Durham Early produces firm, pointed, well flavoured hearts.

Pear – Pyrus Communis

Surprisingly the pear tree is a relative of the rose and the quince. Of our three pear trees in the garden only one has given us a decent amount of fruit this year. The Red Williams, a Minarette,  did have three baby pears but only one has reached maturity. It is a corker however and we are looking forward to next year when we may see more fruit. The Conference has no fruit at all but is a very healthy tree. The Beurre Hardy has about fourteen fruit all looking great and they should be ready to harvest soon. Late September or October is the time for picking pears I believe so it wont be long now.

Pears are a good source of vitamin B6 and vitamin C, potassium and copper. A slow-releasing energy fruit, excellent for helping to balance blood sugar levels.

 

Call Duck Hatch

The final count of baby call ducks for this season is twelve. I have four sets of  ’babies’ of different ages to look after. I shall have to find new homes for some of them which is always a wrench. The difficult bit is deciding who to keep and who to sell.

More Jam Than Hartleys

The kitchen window ledge is now full of jars of jam made from the fruit harvested from the allotment. I do still have some picking to do but I am nearly at the end of it. I have kept a few for ourselves which are in the fridge, given some away and have thirty two jars needing new homes. I have Black Currant, Red Currant, Pink Currant, Red Gooseberry and Green Gooseberry,

I used all the Victoria Plums in a pie. Although the tree was covered in blossom in the Spring only fourteen plums survived the very cold spell. The Damson Merryweather is still not ripe and I would imagine I will get another pie out of that. Both the cherry trees did well this year and the fruit was all eaten as it ripened. The pears are showing a few fruit and should be ready soon. All in all for such young trees they haven’t done badly.

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