January means Soups

Although we have soup for lunch most days, the winter is the best time to enjoy a warming bowl of broth, and here are some of my favourite soup recipes.  

Although these are some of my favourite recipes, most soups we have are mixtures: vegetables from the previous meal, together with stock, either vegetable, chicken or ham, along with lentils, split peas or other additions.  One of our mantras at dinner every evening is ' if we don't eat these vegetables tonight they'll go into the soup!'.


Chilli Bean Soup

2 Onions
2 oz butter/olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp chilli
2 x 14oz cans Kidney Beans, drained
1.5 pints stock
1 tbsp tomato puree
s&p

1. Chop onions, fry in butter/oil, along with the oil.
2. Add spices.
3. Add kidney beans and stock, cook for 20 mins.
4. Add tomato puree and s&p

Variation: could serve with meat balls to make a hearty supper:

Meat balls: Process 1/2 lb mince with half an onion, add 1/2 tsp chilli powder.  Fry teaspoons of mixture in a some oil.  Put on top of soup to serve.  (It's probably worth making double this amount, so save having half an onion left over, and freezing the meat balls  for next time)


Carrot & Coriander Soup


Fresh Coriander
1.5 lb peeled thinly sliced Carrots
1 Onion, peeled and chopped
1 oz Butter/olive oil
1.5 pints Vegetable Stock
(Single Cream - or milk)

1. Gently cook onion and chopped coriander stems in butter/oil.
2. Add carrots, cover and cook on low for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Blend, add chopped coriander leaves and stir through, season to taste.
5. Serve with a little single cream if liked, and garnish with a few coriander leaves.

When younger daughter was little we went out for a walk one Sunday afternoon into nearby woods.  At one point she wandered ahead, then came running back to us - 'mind the lentils! mind the lentils!'.  Mystified, we followed her to an enormous patch of nettles, which they've been called in the family ever since.  Here's a favourite soup involving the famous 'lentils'  (hint: must also find a recipe using nettles).

Spicy Carrot Soup (easy)

I found this recipe a little sweet, so on second making added a grated clover of garlic, a stick of celery (sliced) and a potato (sliced)

600g carrots, sliced

140g split red lentils

1 tsp cumin

a pinch of chilli powder

1 litre vegetable stock

125 ml milk or soya milk

1 tbsp oil

1. Put oil in pan, add carrots, cumin and chilli powder and cook a little.
2. Add rest of ingredients and simmer until lentils are cooked.
3. Whizz, and enjoy.

Green Pea Soup

2 Onions, chopped
2 Potatoes, chopped
cumin, coriander, s&p, paprika
1.5 lb Peas
Single Cream

1. Boil onions, potatoes and spices, 'til cooked (or could fry onions and spices gently, then add the potatos and water and cook)
2. Add peas and cook a little.
3. Whizz.
4. Add cream to serve.

Note: 18/4/2016 - I made this soup and added a few leaves spinach which were left over from yesterday's salad and it was really nice as it took away some of the sweetness.

Chestnut Soup
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 tin chestnut puree
1 oz oil/butter
1 pt chicken soup
some cream

1. Cook vegetables in the oil for a few minutes. 
2. Add chestnut puree and stock, season.
3. Simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Liquidise, then reheat.

Spinach and
 watercress soup
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
325g potatoes, diced
600 ml chicken or vegetable stock
250g fresh/frozen spinach
75g watercress
300ml soya milk
s&p

1. Cook onion in oil for a few minutes.
2. Add potatoes and stock and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Add spinach, watercress and soya milk and simmer five minutes.
4. Season and then puree, reheat to serve.

Alternative: today I didn't have enough spinach so put in some courgette instead.

Leek & Potato Soup
3 medium Leeks, washed and sliced.
1 large Potato, sliced
1 oz butter/olive oil
1 - 2 slices Bread
1/2 pint Milk
1 pt Stock
s&p, bay leaf*, oil

1. Melt butter/oil add leeks then potatoes.
2. Cover pan and cook slowly for 10 minutes.
3. Add stock and milk and bring to the boil, turn down the heat.
4. Add salt and bay leaf and cook for 15 minutes.
5. Remember to remove bay leaf! 
6. Puree the mixture.
7. Return mixture to the pan, bring to boil and serve immediately with fried bread croutons.
8. Serves 4

*Variation: omit Bay Leaf and add some Tarragon before serving.

Also see: 
Jamie -  http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/leek-and-potato-soup/#J4vRCWYoeFPY4Ccx.97
Delia - http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/leek-onion-and-potato-soup.html

23 Feb 2014:  I bought some leeks yesterday to make this soup, they had lots of green tops so the soup is a beautiful colour (looks more like pea soup) but the important variation is that I used soya milk instead of cows milk.  It was no different, so it's a cream soup for your vegan friends to enjoy.  I also didn't have any vegetable stock handy so, made some as follows:

Vegetable stock
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick celery
1 middle bit of the cabbage
bay leaf, s&p
usually I'd have used bg (bouquet garni) but wanted the flavour of bay leaf in the stock.  The reason was that so often I put a bay leaf into soup when making it, then forget and whizz it, along with the soup.  I thought that by putting it in the stock then it wouldn't be forgotten!

Here's a more fancy vegetable stock: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_vegetable_stock/

Bramborova Polivka (Potato Soup)

1.5 lb potatoes

5 fl oz sour cream

Flour, milk, butter

Black Pepper

Gherkins, hardboiled Eggs, Chives

1. Dice potatoes, then boil in salted water
2. Drain, keeping the potato water.
3. Make a roux with the flour and butter.
4. Add milk and potato water until there's a thick consistency.
5. Add cooked potatoes, sour cream, pepper.
6. To serve add chopped egg, gherkin and chives.

See also: http://www.mamincinyrecepty.cz/polevky/bramborova-polevka-s-koprem

Water is a precious commodity - this year we're facing hosepipe ban earlier than ever before and we can no longer take it for granted that there'll always be plenty of water.
Each of us uses about 145 litres each day, but the average household roof could harvest 85,000 litres of rainwater a year - pure, chemical-free, soft water - perfect for crops and plants in the garden and ideal to wash the car of clean the terrace.  Here are lots of good ideas to help so we'll need to water less:

• mulch the plants
• remove any weeds 
• improving the soil so it retains water better
• space plants densely 
• put in plants with low water requirements (see below).
• harvest rainwater and reuse household water 
• limit lawn space
• use drought-tolerant grasses and allow them to grow longer
• leave cut grass on the lawn as a mulch
• use permeable surfacing like gravel for hard landscaping;
• fill containers with peat-free compost (green waste, loam or coir-based composts retain water better) 
• water efficiently by thoroughly soaking the base of each plant in need of water (at a rate of at least 10 litres per square metre) - in the early morning or evening - to avoid transpiration.

The best way for householders to harvest rainwater for garden purposes is to place a container under a downpipe with a diverter which directs any overflow to a ground drain.
House roofs are obvious candidates, but don't forget greenhouses, garages, conservators, even sheds.


If a water butt isn't enough, go for an above-the-ground tank in agricultural corrugated metal; a complete underground system with pumps and filters; or a self-build system to purify household and grey water.


A drip-watering system, delivering moisture direct to the root zones is especially useful in vegetable gardens. when they can be hidden along the raised beds.  

If you're really committed you can establish a garden wetland to purify grey water, mimicking a natural wetland where plants, microbes and animals convert pollutants to biomass, leaving clean water.


Most vegetables need water to establish but these must be kept watered throughout the season:

• salad leaves and lettuces
• spinach
• summer cabbage
• cauliflower
• celery
• celeriac
• fennel
• runner beans
• anything which grows in the greenhouse, especially cucumbers and tomatoes

Plants which need less water include:

• Ones with silver grey leaves: cistus, santolina and artemesia
• Plants with aromatic oils: lavender, rosemary and thyme.
• Plants which store water: succulents and agaves.
• Plants with long tap roots: verbascums, hoilyhocks and umbellifers.
• Plants with hairy leaves: salvias, verbascums and comfreys.
• Sword-like leaved plants: yucca, cordylines and phormiums.
• Native plants suited to local conditions.
• Perennials need less watering than annuals and bedding plants.

DIY GARDENING BOOKS

• A Guide to Waterwise Gardening by Michael Littlewood
• The Resilient Garden by Marilyn Abbot
• Gardening in a Changing Climate by Ambra Edwards
• Waterwise Gardening by Ian Cooke

My Notebook

Like many people, my blogs are for me as much as for others, so - I'm starting a notebook of what is happening in the garden and allotment, together with 'must-do reminder lists'. NB If you find 'My Notebook' boring, do look at other pages as they're far more interesting.

First Day, 8 October 2011 - partly sunny, no frost.

• Sweet Corn: Checked for insects in the tops of the sweet corns and decided it's time to pick the last of them and put the stalks on the compost heap.
• Rubbish: Nearby was a message left, presumably by a fox, ditto into the compost heap (using a piece of newspaper, also good for compost heap).
• Courgettes: Picked some courgettes and checked the plants as am leaving one on each plant to become marrows as they keep longer.  (We love cutting them into large rings, par-boiling them, then filling the hole with cooked mince and topping with grated cheese, herbs and breadcrumbs and grilling. Yum Yum, I can't wait. Will put a pic on here very soon ...)
• Runner Beans: Picked a few stray runner beans, am leaving the big, tough ones to ripen, to use as seeds next year.  When they're ripe will cut the plants at the base, remove the foliage (compost heap) and retrieve the sticks. The roots can stay in the soil to fix the nitrogen.
• Tomatoes: Picked the last ones to ripen on the kitchen window sill, stalks to compost heap.
• Marigolds still look lovely, I keep deadheading which has no doubt helped. 
• Spinach: Picked some leaves to have tonight, put tatty/diseased leaves and stalks onto compost heap.
• Beetroot: Second crop are still rather small so will leave and see if they grow big enough to harvest.
• Leeks: planted out over the past month are settling in well.
• Parsnips: Hand weeded.
• Pests: Lots of snails and whitefly (note see what to do about them).

Note: 
Must collect some seaweed from the beach (before the Council cleaning truck gets there)
Take a photo of the Marigolds.
Time to plant:

• Broad Beans for next year (less chance of black fly, which was very bad this year)
• Red Onions (buy)

On Gardeners' Question Time yesterday on Radio 4, they said in August it's a good idea to plant lettuce, potatoes, runner beans, beetroot and others, just in case we have an Indian Summer, when it'll be possible to harvest late goodies.  If we don't, the price of seeds used will be minimal.  Will try this next year.


Sunday 9th
No time for any allotment work as spent a fruitless two hours helping Dorothy, but David was busy moving paths and starting to dig.  May get some done tomorrow....


Monday 10th
David still moving paths and I'm digging the bits in between and removing the stroil, ready for covering the soil to supress weeds, to make running the patch much easier next year.  I read somewhere that digging in the Autumn is preferable as it doesn't dry the soil out so much as digging in the Spring, a real problem here with our dry Springs and sandy soil.
Today picked the large runner beans which were left to grow large on purpose and they will be left in a paper bag to dry, read to plant next year. 
Also noticed that the green manure which was planted last week is coming through, must remember to chop it up and dig back into the soil before it flowers.


Tuesday 11th: digging, finding lots of stroil and then strew some green manure on the site.  We love this - a fairy or other friend must have written on it!:

Wednesday 12th: Planned to go to the allotment but thought first I'd attach the ivy which is parasitically clinging onto several trees in the drive, including a pear tree which is gradually losing the battle.  Started by making cuts all around the bottom and then pulled off as much as possible, leaving ivy in the top of the tree of die off and release the trees to become themselves again.


Thursday 13th: As it had been a bit damp it was a good day to start digging out the weeds in one of the side beds at home, moving the unwanted plants down to the bottom, near the summerhouse.




14 October: There was a light shower in the night but the ground had dried out enough by this afternoon, so we were able to go up again today and do some more digging.   We are making four long, fairly wide beds with grass paths in between (note: must take photo of this).
The Green Manure is coming along well, the Vetch that is, but the Rye Grass hasn't yet sprouted.


15 October: did some more digging and took some photos of the new beds taking shape:

19 October: Forecast of frost tonight so went up to allotment and harvested remainder of marrows. Dug over and applied chicken manure and green manure to dig in later.


31 October: still no frost, have now picked last of courgettes and consigned foliage to compost heap. Still picking a few stray raspberries. 
It's been rather wet so the digging isn't proceeding as fast as we'd like. However, what has been dug over has either been planted with green manure or covered with breathable membrane (so water can permeate).  The green manure planted is vetch and rye grass, will leave it 'til Spring, then chop and incorporate into the soil.


Autumn Recipe time - Smashed Curried marrow:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/smashed-curried-marrow

Three Ways to. ... Detect Nutrient Deficiencies

According to this week's Torbay Herald Express:


1   Insufficient nitrogen can cause foliage to turn pale green and for the plants to become spindly.  Apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer to improve conditions 


I can think of two ideas for this:
Firstly, chicken poo pellets (as can be seen from RHS site http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=297) they contain lots of nitrogen: 

Typical analysis of dried and pelleted poultry manure (can be variable):
N(nitrogen)         4%
P(phosphorus)    2%
K(potassium)     1%

"Happy to Help"

Secondly, leaving roots of peas and beans (legumes) in the soil after harvesting the legumes helps to fix nitrogen in the soil, using the nodules, see pic below (from : http://www.gardenhelp.org/food/nitrogen-fixing-root-nodules/)

2   Plants can develop yellow leaf edges spreading between the veins if they are short of iron.  This is most common on alkaline soils and you need to apply a product containing chelated iron (liquid or granular form) to ease the problems.

Chelated iron is a mixture of sodium, iron and a chelating agent to make the iron soluble in water and accessible to plants.  Perhaps this is why years ago old gardeners used to leave rusty bits of metal buried in their gardens (or were they just being untidy?!).  It can be purchased from garden centres and is also present in many general purpose fertilisers.

3   Lack of calcium - often experienced when plants are too dry to absorb it - causes distorted leaves, spots and cracks on fruit as well as blossom-end rot. Keep your plants moist to enable them to absorb calcium.

Remember - what my father told me years ago: 
Nitrogen (N): For green leafy growth
Phosphorus (P): For healthy root and shoot growth
Potassium (K): For flowering, fruiting and general hardiness


Ideas for problems and remedies from the excellent RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) site: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=456

Other essential minerals include:

Magnesium: to give green colour to leaves, with leaves turning colours such as yellow, purple, brown or red. Older leaves suffer first, and will die if they're not given any treatment. The nutrient can be leached out of light, sandy, acidic soil by high rainfall. or if there is too much potassium in the soil the plants absorb that instead of the magnesium.  As with our bodies, it's important to have a calcium/magnesium balance (eat plenty of bananas for potassium, that's why roses love banana skins).

For a long term solution, apply a yearly mulch of home-made compost.  This will conserve moisture, prevent the leaching of nutrients during heavy rainfall, and provide the soil with sufficient quantities of magnesium to keep the plants health.

An alternative is to apply Epsom Salts as a leaf spray for a quick, temporary solution in summer. Or Epsom Salts or calcium-magnesium carbonate can be applied to the soil in autumn or winter to remedy the deficiency for the next year.

(From: http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/problem-solving/magnesium-deficiency/)

For other minerals necessary in your soil there's an excellent site giving more information: http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=57. For instance this pic shows strawberries deficient in boron: