14:40 - 13 September 2010
The buzz phrase of this garden season has been Grow Your Own and a huge percentage of gardeners have taken up the challenge and increased the quantity and variety of vegetables in their gardens. Allotment sites are oversubscribed and even the seed companies are reporting a huge increase in vegetable seed sales. It’s a modern day ‘dig for victory’ with the emphasis on healthy eating, feeding the family, healthy living and even saving money. With the price of food in the shops on an upward spiral, growing even just a handful of crops will make a difference to the family budget not to mention the health benefits. Make sure that everything that is cropping in the garden now is treasured, preserved and every morsel savoured.
Gluts and excess
Most gardeners share their produce with friends and neighbours, often swapping surplus produce in exchange for something they haven’t grown. It’s a fantastic form of bartering and reflects life of yesteryear when there weren’t supermarkets selling out of season produce.
There’s just no excuse for leaving surplus fruit and veg rotting on the ground. Of course they provide food for wildlife, but if you can’t use them then there is no harm in collecting them up and leaving them in a bucket outside your front gate for people to help themselves. But if you’ve time you can easily turn the surplus into apple juice. Bottle it in small 1 litre plastic milk bottles and freeze it if you can’t use it all at once. Or why not make it into wine or apple puree for winter puddings? Apple crumble for Christmas pudding – divine.
It does take time to prepare, bottle, jam and freeze fruit and vegetables. But with the price of food rising and the health benefits from your own food so huge it really does make sense. If you don’t use garden chemicals the home-grown food that goes to waste is even more precious since it will be equivalent to organic produce that commands such a high price in the shops.
Every year creates different excess and of course there’s always a lot of one thing when they are ready to harvest. The secret for future years is not to sow all the seed at once but instead stagger the sowing by growing a little every 2-3 weeks; it really makes a difference. You can then benefit from early crops but enjoy the same vegetable for weeks on end right into the autumn.
Autumn feast
Some fruit and vegetables will be damaged during harvest and will not store. It is essential to use these as soon as possible and this is a great excuse for a feast. The harvest festival was traditionally a celebration of the bounty of the harvest and still continues in many communities where gifts of food are delivered to less fortunate members of the community. Use up any bruised, bashed or stunted produce first, saving the very best for storing, freezing and gifts. Make ratatouille, soups and stews using freshly harvested veg from the garden.
Winter storage
Many fruits and vegetables can be safely stored in a cool, frost-free shed or storeroom for a few weeks, if not months. Suitable crops include main crop potatoes, onions, carrots, winter squash, pumpkins, apples, pears, Jerusalem artichokes and more. They need to be checked regularly to ensure that any turning bad or rotting is quickly removed. Use this stock steadily so that they don’t go to waste and keep a note of what stores well. Remember that some crops such as potatoes must be stored in the dark to prevent them turning green, which makes them inedible.
Jams and chutneys
Excess fruit and vegetables can be easily transformed into tasty jams and chutneys to extend the taste of summer. Some of the best recipes are handed down families, so it’s worth checking the family recipe book or asking older relatives for their secrets of success. Obvious choices include tomato or apple chutney, apple jelly or why not experiment with your own recipe for piccalilli. Don’t forget the hedgerow harvest. If you haven’t got a garden there’s nothing to stop you going blackberrying and then making jam from the proceeds. Look out for plump elderberries for wine, rosehips for jelly and sloes for some scrumptious sloe gin too.
