Christmas Table at Chez Mum & Dad

With one thing and another I didn't get around to taking pictures of all the veg on the plate. It probably would have been a bit too steamy anyway. I peeled and roasted the potatoes at my place on Christmas morning. Two ovens are better than one.

I did get a picture of the winter salad and smoked salmon starter with a full complement of winter salad veg picked fresh the evening before.


A picture of Mom & Pop's lovely Christmas dinner table.
We had one of those fancy Kelly Bronze Turkeys. They taste so good you can really tell the difference. That's why we have turkey fro Christmas . This is our second year of free range organic turkey and I was so surprised at the difference I now make every effort to buy free range these days.

I should add that I, like most hand wringing Guardian reading lefties, was also shocked into compliance by Hugh Fernley-Wittingstall's and Jamie Oliver's TV shows at the beginning of this year. I'll throw up some links to their sites (lest we forget) and also one to the Jimmy's Farm site (another TV hero) where we got our Kelly Bronze Turkey. Jimmy's Farm is well worth the trip but check the weather beforehand and always take wellies just in case!

We have a (Maris) Piper down

Those that did not make the Christmas cut.

Carrots. I'm not sure I could grow a carrot that would last into darkest December. If I could I suspect that neither I nor anyone else would be able to eat it. Face it. Carrots come from supermarkets for Christmas.

I've still got some larger beetroot in the ground but they didn't make the Boxing day table. I tried to hide the taste with a white wine vinegar and fennel seed marinade but that just made it taste like pickled beetroot. Don't get me started.

The Green Tomato chutney tastes great but I forgot to bring that to Boxing day lunch because I'm not very bright. Trust me it's lovely.

I still miss the sweetcorn but it's just not a Christmas thing in this Hemisphere.

Mint, coriander, chives, tarragon and Margoram (Oregano) will be around this time next year once i get a couple of cold frames up for them. (OK maybe not corriander) As will rocket and the Italian salad spinich leaves.

pics to follow.

Grow your own christmas

I have to say it's difficult to have everything you need for a Christmas dinner ready or still around in December.

Parsnips and sprouts are a nail on certainty as they can stick around all year.

Leeks are your buddy.
Cabbage you might sweat on, depends on what you grow and where you grow it. This is June 08 sown Cavello Nero ( Kale) Still growing in December and high enough off the ground not to be bothered by birds.

Very small leaves are great in a wineter salad. Larger leaves are perfect for soups. These are true "fire and forget" crops. I love 'em. £2.50 a bag in Tesco. Nonsense!

Spuds have to be a bit more canny with. You have to make sure that the heads have died off before the first frosts arrive or they are likely to rot underground. However, you still have to plant them late enough to not have rotted naturally by the time December comes around. We planted these in Mid August.

You also have to remember that the shorter growing season and colder conditions will make this potato crop smaller so this a not a value crop, it's an indulgence.

I've always beleived that it's fine to be extravgant from time to time, but one should never be wasteful. (Nigella Lawson)

Finally the herbs. This is from one of the tables.

I've still got Mizuno (right) growning like a champ. This was sown in September and has been cut and come againat least three times since then. The rocket (Left) is hardy enough to suffer the frosts but it needs proper cover if it is to continue to grow in this harsh weather. Cob salad? (lambs lettice, those tiny green specks at the back) Don't bother. It will survive an English winter but sure as heck won't grow in one.



The herbs are looking good. Sadly the Mint, Chives and Tarragon have long since checked out for the winter, but both the parsleys the Sage and the Common Thyme are doing just fine in my sheltered sun trap herb patch. Not that there is any sun to trap at present.The Rosemary is just outstanding...
and how much do you love my Bay Tree? I know. I'm good for bay leaves!

On Sprouts Pt ii

I'm taking you under the canopy into the surprisingly light and airy world of the sprout.

The average sprout has a very architectural air about it. Look at the formality of the stems. The elegant ellipse markings before the leaf. Beautiful form and function.
Any old leave can be described as architectural. Sprout leaves have water features!

I love the way that the light is reflected around this quite graceful plant.
Look at the formation of the actual sprouts. You can see where I've removed the lower leaver popping out like tiny cabbages on an elegant helix production line.
You can see how firm the sprouts are. I did make sure that the ground here was nice and firm before I planted. If the ground is soft for Brassicas you end up with soft leafy badly formed sprouts that rot. Also this is a very to heavy plant with big spoon shape leaves that catch the wind. If the ground is not firm the sprouts will not last the Autumn.

On Sprouts Part i

The humble sprout. The least sexy most berated and even hated of all veg. If the sprout was an animal it would be a slug or a wasp.

Like the parsnip, the sprout suffers from early onset vegetable hatred. Everyone went off parsnips when they left a roast potato on the plate so that it could be eaten last, only to discover it was a roasted parsnip. Parsnips are nice but they ain't no roast potato.

Sprouts get a bad rep because they are the least enjoyable part of the world’s most enjoyable meal.

Whilst I'd be the first to admit that Christmas in this country has gotten way out of hand, nothing is greater than the traditional Christmas dinner. Even the vegetarian option is a wonder to behold. The sprout has made its name as the pantomime villain of the Christmas spread. Kids from early ages are expected to eat them when to the Child's palate your average sprout is basically poison.

Perhaps, like alcohol, we should not let children have some veg until they are older. No honey these are Daddy's vegetables. Eat your carrots. You can have sprouts when you are older. After all sprouts taste better than beer does.

Silly Bastard Trenching

Please! stay with me. I'm not being rude.

There is a technique called Bastard Trenching. (see capital letters. Noun.) It's probably some down home countryside phrase. In the same way that Asparagus is called "Sparrow Grass" in Norwich.

On a previous post I got all excited about my double digging and adding organic matter to the soil.

Well, there's a website ,dear reader, that I regularly visit which is far more knowledgeable about vegetables than my happy little site. I've been advised by people on that site that what I've been doing is not double digging. Not even a little bit.

I fear I've lead you astray dear reader and for that I can only apologise.

Some calcification is required. Double digging involves digging a trench twice the depth of your spade head. That's the double bit I guess. Then you dig another double trench next to the first trench and fill the first trench.....You know what ? Here's a picture.

Then there's Bastard Trenching. This involves digging the first trench to a depth of one spit then just forking over the soil the bottom of the trench to aid drainage, let air in and help roots go down deeper etc. You then dig another trench and empty the contents of that trench into the first and so on.

What I was doing was none of these things. Still at least I gave clear instructions so that those that know, were able to set me straight.

But I did your digging.

So, technicalities aside, if you like my style of digging and feel like adopting it for your own plot then I have provided a suitable hybrid name in the above title. Nothing flash or self titled. It's just so that when someone asks, you can tell them what you're up to. I dare you!

The Red hot chilli pepper experiment

Get a group of burned out surfers, teach them a few chords and find them a decent drummer. Add one catchy song that they can dine out on for a decade and turn your back.

Miraculously a very ordinary Californian funk band become the biggest flipping band in the world. Huh!

As the late, great Bill Hicks used to say... "I missed THAT meeting". **

Lets hope that I have as much success with my chilli plants.

Throw away your Television but not your chilli plants. The word in the green house is that we don't need to grow our plants from seed every year. With a little TLC, a side order of bubble wrap and stiff pruning we can have home grown red hot chilli peppers in early summer.

Lets give it a shot.

first pics to follow.

**Actually he's kind of rude and angry so please be careful. But if you must, then go visit youtube.