Garden Share Collective

Another month down and another update due for the Garden Share Collective.  May saw me picking Medlars.

 Medlars are an unusual looking fruit grown on a small compact tree which has a lovely white blossom in spring.  I covered them this year and managed to harvest a lot more than in the last couple of years. I am looking forward to Christmas this year and the chance to indulge in a little Medlar Liqueur.  By then I will probably not still be breastfeeding, and if I am it will be maybe one to two feeds a day so a wee snifter at night should be ok.  The liqueur has a light fruity taste a bit like apple or pear.

Medlar Liqueur
500g ripe (bletted) medlars
500ml vodka
375g sugar
Place the medlars in a large sterilised jar.

Warm the vodka just enough to dissolve the sugar, then pour the mixture over the medlars and seal the jar.

Shake the jar each day for a week, then leave in a cool dark place for 6 months before straining and bottling.

As I make mine in large Agee preserving jars I had to make some modifications.
490g medlar (the jar full)
400ml vodka
320g sugar

The garden is heading for hibernation and so am I.  This past week we have had a really cold snap, with the first snow of the year on the hills.  We have had 4 hard frosts this week and a lot of sad looking plants round the garden.  The last of the tomatoes are ripening in the glass house so I will probably pick them green and let them ripen indoors.

The rest of the garden is quiet.  The broad beans I planted in April have come up, the brussel sprouts and kale are lethargic at best and the ground is water logged and cold.

In an attempt to produce some more greens my daughter and I are trying our hand at microgreens.  We were sent some Cabbage Rubies free with the Go Gardening Magazine.  We sowed half in a pot and waited.  The packet said they would take 4-6 days to germinate and by the fourth day they were up.  They are meant to be ready to cut at 2-3 weeks.  Ours at one week are looking pretty healthy so it is time to sow the other half of the packet.

 

 

 

Time to put the fire on and read gardening magazines and seed catalogues and start dreaming about spring.