In this second part of Looking Back, I’ve been pondering my culinary triumphs (and disasters) as I reflect on our first year as allotment holders.
1. What have you learnt over the past year?
Leave the cucumbers alone (see point 4).
2. What will you do differently next year?
I need to make more pickles and jams! There was a time in August when it felt as though I was preserving all the time, I barely left the kitchen! But, as it turns out, I didn’t make enough. I stashed the cupboard with about a dozen jars of chutneys, just for us, and feeling more than a little bit pleased with myself, I anticipated this would get us through the next year. How wrong I was! We only have about three jars left. I forgot that Ade hoovers up chutney like there’s no tomorrow and I’ll need to make much more next year, particularly as I’d like to give some away as Christmas gifts.
3. What was your biggest success?
My two favourite creations this year were my Kale and Feta Summer Pie and my Spaghetti with Fresh Courgette Pesto – two very simple recipes which I initially threw together without much forward planning but which became my staples of the summer; delicious, fresh and so easy.
4. What was your biggest failure?
Cucumber jam. I didn’t even blog about it at the time, I was too traumatised. It was not long after I’d posted this piece recounting the Pickled Cucumber Catastrophe of 2013 and my high hopes for cucumber experimentation in 2014. Cucumbers, I have learned, are best sliced and thrown into salads and I should never, ever attempt anything adventurous with them. I don’t think for one moment that this rather uninspiring denouement should be the destiny of ALL cucumbers, just mine. I’m sure there are many of you who can pickle them with aplomb, it’s just me, it’s a curse I have, and I can pinpoint the exact moment I was struck with my cucumber curse…
…but that’s a story for another time.
5. What new thing will you try next year?
I’m looking forward to experimenting with all the extra vegetables our second allotment plot will give us, as well as the new crops we haven’t tried growing before such as cauliflowers, celery and aubergines, but I’m also particularly interested in doing a bit more foraging next year. The allotment site not only has wild brambles for blackberry-picking, but nettles, rosehips and I’ve even spied an elderberry tree – I’m not sure if it belongs to anyone in particular but I would love to create some recipes with the flowers and berries.
There will definitely be more wild food experiments next year.
Roll on 2015!
AGENTS OF FIELD 
Oh, my! the dreaded cucumber curse, I dare not begin to think! What could it be?
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I’m sure you’re waiting with bated breath to hear THAT story!
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Agent Sophie: Our tomato crop failed in our part of France this year. I could see it coming and a good friend sent me a recipe for Green Tomato Pickle which was given to her by an elderly Italian immigrant lady. It is SO GOOD and unbelievably simple that I am very selective about to whom I pass it on. Slice your green tomatoes and arrange them in layers in a large bowl, sprinkling salt over each layer. Place a dinner plate on the top of the tomatoes and weight it down with a couple of cans of vegetables. Twenty four hours later pour off the water from the tomatoes, then cover them with White Balsamic Vinegar. Weight them down again and leave for twenty four hours. Pour off the vinegar. Stack your tomato slices in sterilized jars. Poke a branch of Oregano and maybe a couple of cloves of peeled garlic in the jars with the tomatoes and cover the lot with some sunflower oil. They are ready to eat immediately. I am thinking this recipe might do for your problem Cucumbers???? Lots of love, Jenny K
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Jenny, thank you so much for that fabulous recipe! I feel honoured that you could share it with me! I’ll certainly try it with green tomatoes, and with cucumbers? Well, discouraged as I am with my hefty catalogue of cucumber-based catastrophes behind me, I think I might have to give it a go. And I will give you a full report! 🙂
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The exciting thing about allotment gardening is that there’s a new start every spring. You can build on past experience and experiment with new produce and all the while get exercise and fresh air. Roll on April to start again and wishing you a happy Christmas and a productive New year.
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Thank you for your kind comment Sue, and you’re absolutely right, each spring provides a fresh start in the continual veg-growing journey! A very Merry Christmas to you too, and here’s to an abundant 2015! S x
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Sounds like you’ve already got a lot of exciting stuff on your second plot! Elderberries sounds great😊.
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They do don’t they?! I must check if that tree belongs to someone before I go getting into any trouble!
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I hope it will be yours to use…
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Your cucumber crop was AMAZING! Cucumber pickle is great, don’t give up.
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