A New Year

So here we are and its February already. After two successful growing seasons in the greenhouse attention turns to the coming season. Lessons have been learnt, some harshly, some have been fun but all have added to the store of knowledge as to what crops are successful and which ones the rabbits (damn their hides!) don't like.

A major breakthrough was a spectacular crop of sweet potatoes, so tasty they brought a tear to the eye when baked and served with salt and butter. The Eureka moment came when we visited the home of Thomas Jefferson in Virginia last summer and saw sweet potatoes growing successfully in his wonderful garden (he wasn't in by the way) and picked up some useful tips.

We had a good crop of tomatoes although we will need to rotate this year and watch out for blight.

Thanks to Carey's over estimation with young bean plants we have a year's supply of Borlotti beans, dried and stored in Kilner Jars. No complaints from me - they are fantastic.

We have found a new company vehicle which we are persuading Carey to purchase which is a big improvement on the current one!

Rosehip Syrup

So - as promised, Ray and I made some rosehip syrup with the handy haul of hips (alliteration there) we snaffled whilst clearing the new rows down at the Band Produce greenhouse.

We got about half a kilogram (that's a pound to you) of rosehips.

Not withstanding a minor hiccup in using too much water, our syrup turned out pretty well. Going to put it on pancakes or something.*

So the general method:

Take all the stalks and whatnot off, and chop up the hips pretty roughly.

For half a kilogram add a litre of boiling water, bring it to the boil and then turn off the heat. Leave the brew to 'steep' for half an hour.

Should look something like this.

Once the steeping is done, filter and strain - we used a coffee filter. Keep the remaining pulp to one side.

Straining the liquid.

Chuck the hips back in your pan, add another half litre of boiling water and repeat as above, steeping and straining.

By now you should have 2 bowls/jugs or orangey red liquid, that is pretty fruity, but not very sweet!

To make into a syrup, put the liquid into a saucepan and reduce by half, and add half a kilogram of sugar - keep boiling until it has reached a syrupy consistency. Then, transfer into sterilised jam jars and it's all done.

* Sidenote - when is pancake day again?

'Erbs

Wanted to put some herbs in a quiet corner of the greenhouse. Do herbs go in greenhouses?

Read this:

The best site for a culinary herb bed is a sunny area accessible to the kitchen; the importance of this is never clearer than when it is raining. Also, the sunnier the growing position, the better the flavour - the sun brings the oils to the surface of the leaf of many herbs.

Course - none of that says greenhouse. Might work though, what do you reckon?

Guardian on 'erbs...

Clearing Day in the Band Produce Greenhouse

First day of February at the weekend which meant it is time to start getting the greenhouse ready for planting. Finger has the plans for where all the seeds will go, but first things first - time to clear a bit of extra space.

The greenhouse is an old vinery that had been used to grow roses in, with large parts of it still overgrown with rose brambles. We cleared two new rows (one to plant in and one to store kit on).

Horrible brambly bushes everywhere (good haul of rosehips though - syrup adventures to follow).

The gang hard at work

So a whole extra row is ready for use - some plan to use a rotivator to get the soil ready was hatched, and we put down some compost from the Guernsey Mushroom Growers farm.

Putting down the compost

Woo - Band Produce T-Shirts - Get Yours Now!

Hooray - profess your fondness for organic veg with the all new Band Produce T-Shirt. Perfect for wearing down in the greenhouse, it has specially engineered head and arm holes, and a big gap at the bottom for easy puttingonandtakingoffability.

Get yours for just £10.90 from the Band Produce shop...

Big up to Mikey

Thanks to Mikey for watering, picking (with assistance from Gran) and generally managing the business in our absence researching Californian organic farming and wine making (hic).

He is sick of the sight of beans and courgettes! Here he is fleeing the evil Band Produce Commune Project......

We Grow...

Tomatoes:


Lovely Chard: