Relishing beetroot!

The last few mornings have had a definite autumn feel to it - but then we have the shorter nights to remind us of summer's colourful cousin just around the corner. It's always been a bit of a mind bender to think back to the days of March when seeds were just seeds, and there was the big push to get them in the ground and get good food coming to the table. We planted most of our seeds on a gloriously fine and sunny (yet suspiciously too good to be true) mid March day. But even though all was started by Paddy's Day, things just seemed to just stop growing some time during May, standing still for some weeks after. The peas were the most notable absence to the Holly Cottage summer table - the plants got burned in an unforgiving May wind and never quite recovered after that. Swings and roundabouts with our crops though - this time last year I was worn out blanching peas and the freezer was packed of sweet, green bursts of flavour to add to stews and curries....(far away distance look :))

Beetroot relish a-cooking down slow and easy.....

Not to worry there's always beetroot :) This evening marked the start of the relishing of the crops. We have about a 6m drill of mostly small, baby beet size and then there were the 1lbers that obviously got the poorly distributed, yet powerful chicken manure hit ;) Five beetroot gave us 4lbs of purple goodness; add 2lbs of slowly sweated onions, a big hunk of ginger grated, brown sugar and red wine vinegar - and hey presto, magic beetroot relish to last maybe even until spring time. It took about 15mins to grate the beetroot - seriously, watch your fingers! Half an hour of slow cooking and the ingredients unfold to deliver the ultimate companion to baked goats cheese on crusty bread.....sorry, drooling on the keyboard ;) Add a few tasty, peppery rocket leaves and cherry tomatoes and wow - taste sensation. It's one of those jars that when you open in dark November you're back in the earthy tastes of summer...like when you bite into strawberry jam smothered toast on a Hallowe'en morning...mmm. 

Even if you don't have your own beetroot - go and buy some from your local veg supplier and just do it. We follow Darina Allen's recipe but there's all sorts to choose from and plenty of scope for some innovation I suspect - think apple, orange...go for it.

Buckwheat seeds - ones that escaped the cat!

Other news - the Buckwheat seeds sprouted on Saturday morning - so cute with their pinkish kidney bean shaped first leaves. I did however, catch a cat in the act of trying to sabotage those freshly raked beds, and I assume that's also why the blackbirds and swallows have been noticeably absent the last few mornings. Cats and garden birds do not together go. I am a cat lover, but the feathered friends win for garden entertainment. Especially those dare devil swallows..

Holly has also taken to reading the Holly Cottage blog over her Sunday morning nuts - check her out on the Blackberry!

"More of an i-phone dog myself....."

Garden suprises

All summer we've been finding the unexpected cropping up in the garden - by the way, it's largely a vegetable garden with a few flowering plants thrown in to keep the bees happy :)

This evening I landed home from a round trip to Erris in County Mayo, and while re-acquainting myself with this summer's Holly Cottage garden veggys I spotted something blonde and dazzling from the corner of my tired from driving eye. Over the last year we've been slowly clearing out the front garden (aka bombshelled area that has been ignored for the last two years) and the odd rose I tried to salvage usually died at my clumsy, amateur flowering fingertips. One of these I had tried to save but failed, and it ended up on the green waste area in the furthest darkest, coldest corner of the garden..to be forgotten. But funny how it happens that a plant will just suprise you. This fiesty rose wasn't going to settle for dried out potential fire starter - it has somehow taken root amongst the sticks of chopped up snowberry and despite all odds, is currently displaying two beautiful yellow roses with more buds to follow! And the scent, well. Do the old roses have the best of scents? This rose was probably growing in the front for maybe even 50 years. And there I had banished it to the cold and dark. Respect :)

Other welcome suprises (weeds don't count) are a few rogue tomato plants, several sporadic flowering blackcurrants, the odd holly sapling, a couple of unknown squash plants (hopefully they will provide a fruit) and the tastiest wild rocket ever. The rocket has superseded the variety we planted - it has a yellow flower and a very peppery taste. Four plants around the garden are enough for both of us and Holly the dog (she has a thing for lettuce, peas and strawberries).

So you never know! Before you top that potential weed, have a close look and be sure it's not a more welcome garden suprise...

A bit of Sunday evening dabbling in the unknown..

OK, OK...not half as exciting as you might think - this is to do with the undiscovered country of sowing buckwheat as a green manure ;)

For those of you interested in moving away from artificial fertilisers, read on...

Since we started the Holly Cottage Garden two years ago, the learning curve of one ultra novice and one farmer's daughter has taking a sharp turn upwards. First of all it was the power of chicken manure - fresh and real stuff from the laying hens of Cappaduff farm; then the bee allure of Phacelia and now we are trying buckwheat. More on the power of chicken manure another time - let's focus on the stuff you plant this time.

My ignorance was exposed last year when a gardening-artist friend of mine asked me what did I think about Phacelia...sounded more like an exotic building part than the beautiful bee drawing pleasure that it really is.  Anyway, needing to educate me in all things green manure, I was duly sent home with a fistful of Phacelia seeds - looked a bit like poppy seeds, which I cast on the bare earth that at the time was our 'fruit alley'.

Fruit alley ;)

The seeds emerged within days and soon we had a purple haze of our own, full of the summer splendour of honey bees, bumble bees and hover flies that were immediately addicted. I didn't need further proof of its value, but then I realised the unseen magic. The tall plants collapse pretty easy once flowering ends - they can grow to over 1m. Dig these flopping stems into the earth, or add to the compost bin and hey presto...even richer black gold (an endearing, value description for those who are in awe of the compost bin contents after a year of egg shells, stems, and all good things cast aside in the garden).

Phacelia....bees love it!

Having quickly become a fan, I spread it a bit too late last year where we dug up the spuds for the winter. October was too late but the sparse and poor growth turned more vigorous once spring came around and the falling stems were duly dug into the earth to feed the following year's root vegetables.

I'll let you know how the Buckwheat goes - I got it via post from the Organic Centre in Rossinver www.theorganiccentre.ie

A veritable bargain at only €2.90 for a bog bag that covered about 4m x 4m - we will learn if that was too thick or too thin! We raked it into the soil that was just yesterday home to onions and British Queen potatoes.