Nome saves her first seeds

Seedsaving is something I always promise myself I'll get into someday; you know, after I've mastered everything else. It's certainly something I must get the hang of if I ever want to take self-sufficiency seriously, which I do.

My seed-saving exploits so far include planting an apple seed when I was... oooh, four? six? and growing a little apple tree in a tub; saving some salad seeds a couple of years back but then deciding not to plant them because I couldn't remember what they were; and harvesting some dried-out parsnip seed heads last year, which I was too nervous to plant this year in case they didn't germinate.

But two weeks ago I decided to take Daughter of the Soil's advice: "if you like the taste of it, scrape some seeds out of it". I've really been enjoying some plum-shaped 'Pomodorino' tomatoes which were on special offer at Sainsburys for a while, and so I thought I'd give it a go.

First I scraped the seeds out of the tomatoes and put them in a centimetre or so of water on a warm windowsill, with a loose cover so that air could get in and out. Every day I stirred it to keep things agitated.

After five days, when there was a thin layer of white mould on the surface and it smelled like some kind of weird tomato beer, I scraped the scummy stuff off the top and rinsed the seeds really well. (This five-day fermentation process gets all the gunk off the seeds so that you can save them and handle them easily.) Then I spread them out on a piece of paper to dry. They say you're supposed to use a coffee filter for this, so that the seeds don't stick, but I don't have such things so I just used a sheet out of a notebook, and pushed them around every now and then to try to stop them sticking. They also say to spread them out in a single layer. This is more difficult than you might think; wet seeds are extremely inclined to cling together!

It didn't take long for them to seem pretty dry - about 24 hours - and after that I left them in a glass dish in a warmish place for a few more days just to be sure.

And then, I planted some.

Bit late for tomatoes, I know, but I thought if I can get even just one truss of fruit, I'll know how true-to-type they come - or not - and I'll know whether to bother next year.

These seeds were in a fruit just 14 days ago!

Update: For a better way to dry seeds thoroughly, check out this post.

Brassicas Planted

If you've been following this blog for very long, you'll know that I'm always reluctant to try to grow anything in the brassica family, due to the profusion of slugs and snails, flea beetles, cabbage white butterflies and pigeons round here. Between them all, they really make it pretty pointless.

But this year, despite promising I was going to make things easy for myself, I have tentatively grown a few broccoli seedlings, and splashed out on a real proper brassica cage to try to protect them. And here it is, newly installed and filled with plants:

It looks a bit of a monstrosity really, and I hate having to do this sort of thing, but if I can finally try some purple sprouting broccoli next spring it will be worth it.

There are two purple sprouting broccoli plants, two white sprouting broccoli, and six summer-maturing broccoli, which I'm sure must really be calabrese. They are still quite small, as they were sown as an afterthought, but fingers crossed...

When we put the cage up I had to move a few onions which were planted too close to the edge of their bed (i.e. in the brassica bed), and in doing so discovered this:

More white rot? The first year here I had none at all, but it just seems to spread and spread! Luckily it only seems to get the odd plant here and there, but I always fear it will get worse...

Out, Damn Slugs!

So how many slugs and snails do you suppose I caught in my three beer traps last night?

Not a one. What, Punk IPA not good enough?

They're really giving me trouble now, in the garden and on the allotment. Look what I found on a plot-visit a few days ago, with the culprit still lazing there under a leaf:

That's 8 to 10 less squash dinners for us - the plant was completely felled.

And today I found this pile of snail eggs while weeding the potatoes. I wonder how many more such piles are lurking that I haven't found...

So tonight after coming home from the pub, we searched the garden with a torch and harvested this little bounty:

I'm never quite sure quite what to do with them once I've got them rounded up like this. This lot met their end down a street drain round the corner from my house.

We really need to find a chance to do this at the allotment as well - although we'll need a bigger torch. And a bigger bucket!

And on the subject of pests, the asparagus beetles still haven't given up. At least these two died happy...

Frittatas: Delicious but Dangerous

Yep, burned myself again making this delicious spinach and sorrel frittata - another Sarah Raven adaptation - and even after chilling my hand to the core under the tap, spent most of the evening periodically stroking ice cubes over my fingers. I was using an oven glove this time, but somehow managed to get the fingers of one hand onto the metal pan handle anyway while I was trying to wrestle the thing out of the pan. Maybe I need a better oven glove. Or maybe I should try making them in a cake tin - no thick handle to hold heat and they'd be easier to turn out, too...

Anyway, here it is. I changed the quantities for my own purposes, used ordinary bacon instead of pancetta, omitted the creme fraiche, and added some pine nuts.

Spinach and Sorrel Frittata
(serves 2)

• Chop spinach and sorrel leaves roughly. I used about 150g spinach and about 50g sorrel (would have used more sorrel but the plant has gone to flower and doesn't have many decent leaves at the moment).
• Beat five eggs with a few tbsps milk, 50g parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
• Chop 4 rashers of bacon and fry in 1 tsp oil until cooked and cripsy.
• Add 2 or 3 chopped cloves of garlic and soften for a moment. Then add the spinach and sorrel and allow to wilt (they'll reduce massively in size as they cook so don't panic if the pan is overflowing to start with!).
• Add 2-3 tbsps pine nuts, toasted first in a dry pan or under the grill.
• Add the egg mixture and stir in, then allow to cook on a low heat for 5-8 minutes.
• When the edges are starting to set, put the pan under a hot grill for a further 5-8 minutes, until completely set. (When you stick a knife in, it should come out clean.)
• Serve with buttered toast, or new potatoes, and salad.

I spent a lot of time in the home garden again this week, sorting things out and tidying things up. The snail population seems to be booming out there (and on the plot) and the organic slug pellets don't seem to be doing the job anymore. I have lost a few salad seedlings, herbs and marigolds, and have some damage to the brassica seedlings and tomatoes too. I have set beer traps for tonight - let's see if that makes any difference...

The cucumbers are getting on really well now and have lots of flowers - even thought they're not very big yet - but they seem a bit reluctant to climb up the supports I have given them. They are undersown with radishes.

The tomatoes are showing their very first buds, and will be planted into their growbags this week I expect. I have given them their first pruning too, taking off the lower leaves to prevent soil splashback which may cause blight, and pinching out the side shoots.

And the peppers and chillies are growing really well now too. I sowed them rather late, so I'm really hoping we have a long summer so they can reach full maturity!

A friend recently told me he has peppers on his plants already - on last year's plants! He keeps them indoors and, though they sulked during the short, dark days, they have sprung back and are producing again! I will definitely have to try this - we eat loads of peppers - so I have planted my last pepper seedling in a pot on the kitchen windowsill. I won't get my hopes up too much though - he keeps his plants under a south-facing velux window, and my kitchen windowsill only gets a few hours of sunlight in the afternoons...

Sag Aloo

As well as harvesting loads of lettuce, I picked a huge bagful of spinach at the weekend, and planned several spinachy dinners for the week!

Monday was this fabulous Sag Aloo, with rice and a cashew nut curry. Please excuse the sub-par picture - I was in rather a hurry to eat it...

The recipe is basically from Sarah Raven's wonderful 'Garden Cookbook', but I'll post my slightly tweaked version here for you:

Sag Aloo
(serves four as a side dish)

• Cut 500g new potatoes into bitesize chunks.
• Steam 250-300g spinach until cooked. Big leaves will do and there's no need to remove the stems or anything fancy. Drain it and squeeze the excess water out by pressing it into a seive with a wooden spoon (save the water for the veg stock so the nutrients don't go to waste!) then chop it roughly.
• Fry 1 tsp mustard seeds in a little oil until they start to pop, then add 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, a chopped onion, 3 or 4 chopped garlic cloves and some grated ginger. Cook gently until the onions are soft - about 5 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and coat them in the spices, then add 200ml veg stock and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
• Check seasoning and add the spinach. Stir in and continue to cook until the potatoes are done; a few more minutes. You want the liquid to reduce right down, but don't let it dry out completely - add more water if you need to.

The original recipe says to add 1 tsp Garam Masala right at the end of cooking. I forgot. But it was still absolutely delicious, and since I was serving this with another curry containing Garam Masala, it was a welcome variation.

I also reheated the leftovers with some tomatoes wedges and chickpeas the next day for a second scrummy dinner!

I might just post the cashew nut curry recipe here too, when I've finished perfecting it...