June 2017 in the Garden

June has been beautiful. Lots more plants coming into flower and plenty of colour; I've loved just being out and weeding and deadheading.

Glut in the Garden - Cucumbers -Bread and Butter Pickles

Anyone who grows fruit or vegetables has a glut from time to time. Some things, such as potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables can be stored in a cool place for several months. Others, such as tomatoes and soft fruit can be frozen. We've always made jams and chutneys which we eat throughout the year.

We usually plant  couple of cucumber plants in the polytunnel, but often one is brought down by a fungal disease, so we only have enough for salads during the summer. This year, both plants are romping away with plenty of good-sized fruit. I gave a plant to a friend and hers is doing amazingly well, too. So I thought I'd see if there is anything that cucumbers can be used for other than sliced in a salad.

Bread and Butter Pickles - based on a recipe from Quick and Easy Preserves by Simone Sekers

500g cucumber (prepared weight)
1 large onion
25g salt
125ml cider or wine vinegar
125g sugar
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp mustard seeds

1. Slice cucumber and onion thinly. As my cucumbers were large, I quartered them lengthwise, and removed the seeds. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Stir occasionally for an hour, and then drain off the liquid that has formed. Rinse in water and drain again. Dry on a teatowel.

2. Heat the sugar, spices and vinegar until the sugar is dissolved. The spices can be varied - I'd like to try cumin, fennel, or chilli.

Add the prepared vegetables and simmer for 3 minutes.

3. Spoon into sterilised jars. This will keep for 2 months.

This pickle is so called as they are reported to be all you need in a sandwich. We ate them with some farmhouse Wensleydale and a loaf fresh from the oven.

Polytunnel part 2 - the frame

Once all the ground-works were finished, The Gentleman Farmer was keen to get the polytunnel frame up so that we could have the best chance of harvesting crops this year. The first task was to install the 12 foundation tubes and their anchor plates.  This was the most time consuming and difficult part of the whole construction project, largely because of the ground conditions; once you are more than a foot down from the original surface, the ground here contains many large stones / small boulders, which had to be dug out. The anchor plates themselves require that the holes be about two square and about two feet deep and the foundation tubes have to stand plumb vertically within this hole, before it is back filled.  Accurately setting the foundation tubes is critical to a successful build but in the end, after much labouring and delays caused by bad weather, that is what was achieved.

You may recall from an earlier post that the top soil had been set aside during the ground-works and then returned in order to provide a suitable growing medium. However, because the top soil is a fairly heavy loam and was now full of roughly chopped turf, GF felt that hand digging it might be a bit of nightmare. Furthermore, GF felt that numerous barrow loads of well rotted stable manure, very kindly donated by our neighbours, should be incorporated. Therefore, he hired a rotovator, and, with two lambs supervising, he turned over the ground. He also took the opportunity to rough out a couple of further vegetable beds, below the site of the polytunnel.

The main frame then went up fairly easily, sometimes needing both of us, and was completed in early April. Always the sheep were curious to see what was going on. More annoyingly, they did like to sleep on the soft newly-turned soil, so we soon got a contractor in to protect the vegetable garden with some stock fencing. The GF had toyed with the idea of installing the fencing himself, by hand, but having seen how it is properly done, by someone with the right equipment, he was heartily glad that this idea passed!

Covering the structure with the polythene sheet was another matter altogether. Our field is relatively sheltered, but every time we planned to cover the structure, the weather conspired against us. Just one small gust under what was effectively a ca. 100 square metre sail could be disastrous - not only the expense of a replacement, but would set the project back. 

We tried first at the beginning of May. It's not often that the Gentleman Farmer is stressed, but this was one of those times. At one point, there were six of us lying on the sheet to stop it flying away up the dale. Eventually, at the end of May, we had a still day, the assistance of two good friends, and the tunnel was sheeted in no time.