Up to my neck in poo

or manure if you prefer.

Having got umpteen little jobs out of the way on Monday, and finally got all my accounts sorted, filed, acknowledged and signed off to keep the tax man happy for another year I can put all the pretty colour coordinated folders away, take off my office work head and get back to being a scatterbrained hippy in the garden.

Hurrah!

So - new strawberry plot to be dug, old plot to be dug over and big piles of stinking poo to move around.

Here is the existing edge of the strawberry plot.

Here is the new bit dug over.

Here is the new bit planted with baby runner plants.

All edged with the local building blocks that our house is also constructed from.

And even better - Ferguson caught his first BIG mouse.

YAY!!!


Much more fun than calculating balance sheets.

Greenhouse spruce up

I grow most of my tomatoes in the greenhouse. Having had a year when we lost all the plants to mildew in the garden (being left with no tomatoes was awful, watching the plants rot away before your eyes), so now I don't take any chances.

I do still put a few in the garden but tend to just grow what I consider sauce tomatoes like moneymaker outside, and these are from seeds collected from shop bought tomatoes.

In the greenhouse I grow cherry and plum tomatoes for eating, and these are from purchased organic seeds, although this year I have a lot of 'rogue' tomato plants that have self seeded from last years spill of fruit on the ground.

This morning I gave the greenhouse a spruce up - removed the planting table and pulled all the stray weeds coming in at the sides.

As you can see I use growbags. We decided that this was the best way to preserve the soil in the greenhouse floor.

I grow through the grow bags, they have a long split underneath to allow the roots to push through into the soil below, but it means when I add my nettle fertiliser it is concentrated into the grow bag and not just dispersed throughout the soil so the plant gets a better hit. At the end of the year when the plants are done, the grow bags are split open and the soil dispersed, manure added and a fresh batch of compost starts to mature, keeping the soil in the greenhouse rich and healthy.

In one corner is my 'nursery' plot, with the last few pots of toms for growing on, as well as some basil and chili peppers. In the other far corners are my aubergine plants, and a lemon tree.

But the best thing of all this morning, was finding the first couple of cherry toms ready for eating.  Not exactly a standard breakfast but very yummy non the less.

Reasons to be cheerful - 1.. 2.. 3..

1. Another bright and sunny day, at 25°c by 10.00 am this morning, washing on the line, greenhouse watered, freshly cut wild flowers and mint decorating the house in huge fragrant bunches.

2. Garden finally growing well - stopped worrying about the things that are obviously not going to germinate and grow, just going to sit back and relax and enjoy what we have, and today looks like a harvest of radish seed pods, the first courgettes are ready to eat too and an abundance of coriander in bloom.

3. Chicks have grown up well, all 10 have survived and have just moved into their new home this morning (what used to be the piglet rearing room, now with the door blocked off with a big dog cage), and in full view of the rest of the chickens so should be able to integrate them soon.

Here is Mama Hog paying the first visit just to see what food they may have, they are about the size of our bantam cockerel now, but I will feel happier letting them out when I think they can stand up to the other larger cockerel and not get bossed about too much by the Queen of the yard, Edith.

What the heck are endives?

Now those of you dwelling in the UK may never have heard of these much less encountered them on the supermarket shelves, I know I hadn't until I moved to France.

They are about the only fresh veg you can find in early spring and my neighbour seems to be on a single handed mission to convert me to the eating of these things, and to that end bought round another crop yesterday in return for some eggs.

So I thought I would educate us all with a bit of info:

The endive I am talking about is generally known as a Belgian endive or Witloof in the US, and is grown from chicory seeds.

Cultivation is pretty labour intensive and that is why I am happy to leave my neighbour to do all the hard work while I just get on with looking for recipes afterwards.

To Grow Endives:

• First plant your chicory seeds in May or June, they need loose soil and lots of water.  Harvest the leaves and eat as salad throughout the summer months.
• In late Autumn, early Winter once the roots have had a couple of freezes under their belts, dig up the roots, keep any that have a diameter of over an inch for cultivating, the rest can be transplanted in the garden under cover for spring salad leaves.
• Trim any remaining sprouting leaves to within an inch of the top of the roots, and remove any side sprouting little roots and tendrils.
• Plant your roots in a box of rich composted soil, and place in the dark preferably in a shed or barn, they will need about 10 inches of soil, and pack them in tightly making sure none of the root is exposed.
• Cover the crowns with sand, straw or sawdust, it needs to be about 6 inches high.
• Temperatures now play a part, between 0°C and 4°C, they won't do anything, but at 10°C to 16°C they will begin to sprout. 
• Once you have reached growing temperature start to water weekly.
• After 3 weeks the first green tips of leaves should start showing through your blackout layer, harvest the endive, leaving a little crown again, recover and let the next endive grow through.

The whiter the leaves are the less bitter the taste.

Baked Endive:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

• Remove the bitter tasting base of the leaves and slice the endives length wise, 2 spears per person for vegetable accompaniment to a cutlet or escalope, 1 spear per person for a starter.
• Place in the bottom of a shallow dish, pour over some olive oil.
• Add a finely chopped onion
• A couple of crushed garlic cloves
• Some freshly ground black pepper
• A couple of slices of pancetta or other salty cured meat cut into small pieces
• Finish with a quick squirt of lemon juice
• Bake for 45 minutes
• Take out of the oven, and pour over a small 150 ml carton of full fat cream, less if you are only cooking a couple of spears.
• Sprinkle on a bit of paprika
• Bake for a further 15 minutes

Endive Gratin:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

• 4 endives
• 4 slices ham
• grated cheese
• fresh chopped parsley

Béchamel Sauce

• 30 g plain flour
• 30 g butter or margarine
• ½ litre milk
• salt, nutmeg & pepper

Trim the base of the endives then boil in salted water for 15 minutes.

In the meantime make up the sauce by melting the butter over a gentle heat, whisk in the flour until there are no lumps and you have a thick paste.  Gradually stir in the milk, whisking out any lumps that form until you get a thick creamy sauce, season (the nutmeg is optional - I never add any as a) I don't like it so b) there is never any in the house) and simmer for a few minutes.

When the endives are cooked, wrap each one in a slice of ham and place in a shallow oven proof dish, pour over the sauce and the cheese then garnish with the parsley leaves.

Bake for 15 minutes then finish under the grill for 5 minutes to brown the cheese.

Endive Salad Starter:

 Trim the base of the endives and remove the core to about an inch depth, these inner greener leaves are the bitterest.

Chop down the length, add a couple of sliced tomatoes, season with ground sea salt and some ground black peppercorns, then garnish with a couple of soft boiled quail eggs and a couple of sprigs of fresh parsley.