It's been a while since I actually wrote about the Pottager and food. The garden really is paying back dividends beyond my imaginings. I have realised that the returns on the investment of time and effort are very worthwhile when it comes to diet and general well being. So far since I came back from overseas in April with only really 3 of 4 afternoons of input (prepping beds, planting out, sowing and setting up nets or poles) we have enjoyed 9and it is a joint effort now with Jane) carrots (4 varieties) potatoes (4 varieties), broad beans, peas, artichokes, lettuces, rocket, beetroot, Jerusalem artichokes, onions, baby leeks, garlic and the latest great provider the French beans, "violette". Long purple pods that magically turn vibrant green at the addition of boiling water.
I have become a pea hoarder. Another thing I have learnt pretty rapidly is that you either have to keep up by eating or hoard or preserve a glut by processing. With peas it's quite a satisfying process. Podding ...
(Kate) - blanch(et)ing)...
and freezing.
First lesson then is to get on and eat stuff or find a way to preserve it. The second lesson very much is to be ready to replant, sow or generally be ready with the next crop.
Artichokes and broad beans are done and dusted by mid to late June and very nice they are too. The difficulty though is that a month can slip by and you are not ready to get the next crop in. I find myself in August very much playing catch up with filling the gaps. The pea net is down, the broad beans are all frozen or eaten and we are very much onto our fourth crop of potatoes. Pink Fir Apple (below), Blue Danube and Red Duke of York are rapidly getting eaten from their hessian sacks. I am struggling to keep up with the gaps this year. I think the answer is that every week you have to sow or be planting out baby plants. It is non-stop and you need a huge spreadsheet or campaign plan. Next year I will be far more organised !
Our last big crop of potatoes are Cara. So far they have made the mash top on two fish pies, have been roasted to help along Sunday's chicken and made a vat of mustard mash last night to help along four sirloin steaks from our very fine Butchers, Legges in Bromyard.
I am pretty sure that lesson number three should be that you can ever have enough potatoes ! I am now panicking that all the lovely sacks will be empty by Xmas and that I will be queueing up for spuds in a plastic bag in Morrisons - can you imagine the shame of it.
Ooh he didn't plant his last main crop - got caught short by All Hallows. I do feel like a medieval peasant at times. Thankfully we are not dependent on my efforts to feed this family. I can increasingly see however that it is possible to probably fulfil all your vegetable needs as long as you plan. But to actually live on just what comes out of the Pottager with the odd side of barbecued pigeon or pheasant ? That's seeming like quite a big ask at the moment. That was my dream when I was overseas - to turn into some kind of rural Robinson Crusoe. Maybe next year.
The harvest though isn't just in calories. I am sorry to state the obvious but for me the sheer joy of the rhythm of inputs and outputs is a small end in itself. My confidence is growing along with the crops. I had no idea when I made the French bean frame that it would actually produce as much food as it has or is ! It is joyous. I made a rubbish looking structure out of a few poles from the wood and covered it with some random bits of pretty garden string. Purple beans seemed like a good idea so two "Violette" beans were popped next to each big stick. They took a while in the hot weather in June to get going and I wasn't sure they were going to make it.
I think just two ten weeks on the results are amazing. Maybe the rain of July helped but the whole construction of poles and French beans now looks like a giant angry vegetable elephant about to walk off,
From the same angle as the original picture of the bed you get the before and after. So a fourth lesson would be water as much as you can when it isn't raining and even if it is give everything a good soaking of Tomerite. Feed, feed and feed some more. I have taken to dumping a whole litre bottle of Tomerite in a 300 litre water butt once in a while and making my way round all the beds. Anything producing fruits, flowers, leaves and I am not sparing the roots either.
The beans play hide and seek so its back to lesson one - eat them or freeze them !
They are everywhere - hiding in the rafters and tucked under the skirts.
I guess my fifth lesson is a little simpler but worthwhile none the less. And thats just to look and make sure that you see the beauty in what you are creating. Jane again takes the Party Ring Biscuit here. Out next to the corner of the Hoggin Pétanque pitch in one of the raised beds you can find the most exquisite display of golden courgettes and their flowers surrounded by the bright stems of Swiss Chard.
I have to remind myself to keep looking. Walk five yards and the sweet peas are still not giving up after two full months of picking for vases. I cannot remember a better cutting season really for these at any place or time we have planted some out. Again once the rain had come in July they really took off in the four places we strung a small net along Heritage avenue. Same lesson again - just keep picking.
So while the weather feels Autumnal it certainly feels like high Summer as far as the bounty from the Pottager is concerned at the moment. In Summary
(1) Eat it all or Freeze it !
(2) Fill and plan for those gaps - keep sowing and then sow some more !
(3) You can never plant enough potatoes;
(4) Water and Feed; and
(5) Make sure to stop and admire every once in a while.
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