Cabbages and Blackcurrants

 

Feeling happy to see tomatoes appearing and a couple more cucumbers  .

Hard work keeping up with the watering . Cucumbers are thirsty beasts !

I made a good start harvesting and freezing up my blackcurrants . It took me a good couple of hours to pick and prune the blackcurrant bushes ...not finished tidying the beds where these bushes are growing . I still have a fair bit to do there . There are some hefty great brambles growing in amongst them .

I didn't take any pictures of this as the whole process of picking the black currants . It is one very boring job . Picking off all the tiny stalks but it forced me to slow down and it became a kind of mindful meditation in a way .

Then pruning out all the branches that had already fruited down to the ground and saving the new shoots for next year's crop . Once I've got the brambles out , I will give the earth a good restorative mulch .   

I now have four good sized bags of blackcurrants in the freezer . I have made jam in the past , but I think this winter I will use them for pies and crumbles...... mmmm....Cornish Clotted Cream ...

Meanwhile in the shed ....

I have been growing on my cabbages !  🤣 

Safe from harm from cabbage white butterflies , green fly , black fly, pigeons ,rabbits ,caterpillars .

They are beautiful , perfect , completely unblemished ! The best Cabbage I have ever grown !

 I wish that I'd grown my Cavolo Nero Kale in here and so that is what I have decided to do !

          So I harvest them all...chop, chop , chop !

Of course I know that these could get a whole lot bigger  , but I will process these and get them into the freezer and we'll see if the remaining plants will make new shoots . And if they do , then I might plant them out and bring them on for Spring greens .

 Will also start off some of my favourite Cavolo Nero Kale .Seeds are waiting to be sown , to replace the pigeon pecked ones out in the vegetable garden .

I think you are supposed to cut a cross into the stem , then new shoots come between the leaf joints .

I know this works outside . Not sure if it will work in the shed . Finger's crossed .

I have a few more baby cabbages on the side , which I will plant out under butterfly mesh ,surrounded with chicken-wire ,  cabbage collars , slug defence , pigeon deterring devices   .

And so , a quick wash in the sink ,

Shredding up ,

Blanch in boiling water for about a minute ...make sure the water is fast boiling .

Then ....

   Plunge them into iced water ....

Spread thinly on parchment lined trays ....pat dry as best you can with a tea towel .

Put into the deep freezer . I left them in over-night .

Next morning , all beautifully frozen and crisp . Easily break up to put into portion size freezer bags .

These will be fine for up to six months in the freezer .

If you don't blanch the vegetables they won't last as long in the freezer . You can do that , but must use it up quickly . I'm told only a couple of months .     

I would always blanch it to be on the safe side .

A quick quote from Roald Dahl -

🥬  " From now on , you must eat cabbage three times a day .

              Mountains of cabbage !

                 And if it's got caterpillars in it ..... so much the better !"   🥬

                                       from    -  George's Marvelous Medicine 

                      Dahlia "Night Butterfly "   made me happy today !