Fat bastard

Such a great name for asparagus, we cracked up when we saw the name in the seed catalogue. But the crowns we planted today are the more conservatively named Mary Washington. I've had this entire raised bed saved especially for asparagus. A family favourite.

It had grown quite weedy in the time between being built and when asparagus is ready to plant, which is now. To bulk up the bed I pulled out all the weeds and left them in the bottom and threw in heaps of blood and bone to help them break down faster then covered the lot with cardboard. Then I hosed down the cardboard and covered with a layer of straw and scattered more blood and bone and some chook manure pellets. This will all break down to create a nutrient rich base for the asparagus to grow. Over the top of this was five bags of potting mix and a few bags of composted manure.
These asparagus crowns are two years old so they shouldn't take too long to get established. I bought eight which should just be enough for our family of four. Weird looking things, they remind me of a Matrix Sentinel to be honest.

I read lots of different ways on planting them, but here's how I did it. Hollow out a circle roughly the diameter of the crowns in the soil. Make a little mound of well composted manure in the middle of the circle then place the crown on top. Spread out the tentacles all around the hollow then cover the entire thing in a mix of soil and manure. About two inches. Then gave them a good drink. You cover the ferns with more soil as they grow up through the soil.

You're not supposed to pick them the first year so as to get established. Then they should last for about 15 years if well looked after. Hopefully in about two years, come spring we'll be awash with delicious Mary Washington asparagus spears. But I think we'll call them Fat Bastard anyway. Fingers crossed they will be.

Pickle your fancy

"Oh enough already!" That was my initial thought when George called to let me know he had a box of tomatoes waiting for me. George is one of my favourite veggie growers. Here is the entrance to his store.

But then I realised you can you ever have enough pasta sauce tucked away for the winter. And seeing I finally had my hands on a copy of A Year In A Bottle, the wonderful book on preserving by Sally Wise, I thought I might as well go for another 20 kilos.

If you've ever thought about putting away food as jam, preserves or even freezing, this book is for definitely for you. This book is beautifully written with easy to follow instructions and plenty of recipes. Sally lives in Tasmania and this book is also peppered with tales of her own, from adventures with her grandparents as a child to picking fruit with her own children.

Pasta sauce not withstanding, it was a recipe for tomato chili pickle that caught my eye. With 20 cloves of garlic, loads of olive oil and a mountain of cumin, cooking this pickle filled the house with the most irresistible spicy fug.

If by any chance you still have a couple of kilos of tomatoes lying around I thoroughly recommend you cook up a batch. It's super easy and super delicious. Here is the recipe:

Tomato Chili Pickles from A Year in Bottle by Sally Wise

1.5 tbs yellow mustard seeds

1.5 cups white or cider vinegar

2.5cm piece of fresh ginger peeled

20 cloves of garlic

1.5 cups olive oil

250g large red chilies, finely chopped

2kg tomatoes

1.5 tbs ground turmeric

4 tbs ground cumin

1.25 cups sugar

1 tbs salt

Combine mustard seeds and vinegar in a bowl and set aside to soak for at least 30 minutes. Transfer to a food processor, add ginger and garlic and blend until well pureed.

Heat oil in a large saucepan, add chilies and tomatoes and saute slowly for a few minutes. Add mustard seed and vinegar mixture, turmeric, cumin, sugar and salt. Simmer for at least three hours or until thickened.

Pour into sterilised bottles and seal. Store in a cool dry and dark place for two weeks to allow flavours to develop before eating.

Makes approx 1.25 litres.

Not if, but when...

It's a not a matter of if, but when. That's the advice given to me on possums eating my fruit trees. We built a a fairly make-shift fence, but as predicted, last night the orchard was apparently the scene of the latest pop up restaurant for possums.

Today I had to pick what's left, they're not quite ripe (so I think there may be a few possums with a sore tum today.) They didn't touch the big sour bramleys, but they did love the sweet ones like geeveston fanny and cox's pippin.

I'm still pretty happy with this harvest though. Not bad for the first effort of my three year old trees. I'll cook these up for apple sauce to bottle in gorgeous new jars I ordered, due any day now. (I can't wait to show you!)

At least in jars I reckon the apples should be possum proof.

P.S. If you want to get your hands on some lovely heirloom apple trees - head over to Woodbridge Fruit Trees pronto.

Must love strawberries

Lots of people have told me that beagles love food. Well, um, Mabel loves strawberries. I found her today actually chomping on them in the strawberry patch. Racing Hugo to find the ripe ones. I can say that she's fitting in very well with this family.