Jasmine

Hello there, you brave, responsible soldiers. Please note how I avoided ‘old soldiers’ for reasons of propriety and the purpose of protecting my relationship with you! 😬 Here in Lockdown Hell we only have each other to rely on. So Mrs Cheoff is losing out almost 24/7. Never mind, eh.

We do also have the small distraction of a garden to look after. Some of it is just looking after itself. A particular case in point is the Jasminium Florifartibus which has spread a fan of foliage across one fence for years. But it’s never done what it just did before! Of course, all will be gone by the time you are allowed to be invited here. The excitement will be in waiting to see if there is a repeat next year.

Please wait for the reveal of something which I can only convey to you visually. Alas, the pungent fragrance cannot be communicated. Even at a distance one is transported to a world smelling of more perfumed fanny than you would get in an entire series of ‘Craddock Cooks’. Heady stuff!

Stair well. Stay well. And don’t let the bed bugs nick your cocoa.

Love from me and from the only reason I am half the man you can’t come and see before you today - the ever-lovely effervescence that is Mrs Cheoff. -xx-

Gardener's Delight*

*If only I'd used the internet, I'd be able to say, "That's Lycopersicon esculentum to you!"

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Middle of April 2010

Seven years ago we built a couple of raised beds in our garden. It was the start of a very amateur but very keen attempt to be as close to fresh produce as possible. We have made mistakes which we still don't always understand but every year we have also been given so much simple, abundant pleasure that we can't now imagine cooking regularly without ingredients which are picked just minutes before preparation.  

As a tribute to all those small, wonderful successes, I've put together an album of HOME GROWN pictures which shows the variety of vegetables (and a few of the fruits) which have delighted us.  

The main growing area is still only four and a half by five metres. This is always supplemented by many tubs and troughs but gives terrific rewards from very little space. No plans for an allotment yet... cooking produce half an hour old would be an awful compromise!

I'm not sure our sons have forgiven us for removing the pond and two conifers which they planted as toddlers. But I do know that they enjoy as much of the new garden as they can when they return... they sometimes even grab and cook parts of it.

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Beginning of July 2010

Oh, we've never had a greenhouse. Just two plastic 'sentry box' affairs to give seedlings a bit of protection. 2017 will be much the same. I've had a spring tidy up already and will add to the album when new crops appear.

It's all here waiting for your gentle click

#101TTDBNT: Number 5

101 TTDBNT: Number 5 - Grow Tomatoes

Here's the beauty of #101TTDBNT Number 5... you really don't need to actually do this one until a Thursday in 2017.

Since it's a bit late in the gardener's tomato planting calendar now this is intended as a bit of inspiration for what to do when next season comes round.

We have no greenhouse except for a four shelf plastic 'sentry-box' affair and have grown our crops from seed or with bought plants for almost ten years now. No allotment - just an eight by ten metre back garden which has about a third devoted to raised beds and borders for cultivation. We put in a few flowers for the first time this year... just for some extra colour after four decades of marriage!

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Our 2016 tomatoes were all grown along a west facing fence - ten plants in ten rough clay drainage cylinders which were at the bottom of the garden when we moved in forty years ago. They make things easier for dedicated watering and feeding and the roots have plenty of chance to establish before they reach the earth below. I'll have to exert a little more control next year. Growth was so rampant that it was difficult to keep up with the pinching out and nipping off to keep things from going 'Triffid'. Sweet peas, fennel, French beans and runner beans completed the jungle on view here.

Here are the varieties we grew this year. That one 'Big Boy' is the first to ripen on the vine. Experience suggests we might have to pick subsequent fruits for ripening indoors before attack from all sorts of things, including baby snails and slugs which rasp out little holes. 

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From top left, clockwise:

Supersweet (cherry), Moneymaker, Golden Sunrise, Black Cherry, Sun Baby (yellow cherry), Big Boy, Tumbling Tom Yellow (cherry), Roma (plum)

Tomato sauces have already been made and green tomato chutney beckons, made following my favourite recipe.

With such lovely ingredients inspiration is never far away but after a visit to Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons my most pressing task is to reveal the essence of tomato and use it for what must be one of the more simple but most exquisite dishes I have enjoyed for some time. If you or I make Summer Vegetable Risotto to just half the standard which was served to me last week we will be transported to a version of heaven which is not described in any religious writings. Those online recipes give you enough information to work through but Monsieur Blanc's 'Kitchen Secrets' offers deeper understanding of the methods and the way to achieve perfection. I already have the book and that risotto recipe is on page 183... Woo Hoo!

None of the recipe books or online offerings show the refined presentation which came from Le Manoir's kitchen but the flavours alone are the essential and wonderful starting point for this one.

First things first, though. Mrs Cheoff has already made her rather stupendous tomato soup from a batch of our plum tomatoes. A hint of smoked bacon and a lot of basil. It's not the only reason I love her for all eternity... but it does add another layer to the cement which binds us together - tomato yumtious!

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Of course you might find splendid people who can supply you with fine tomatoes but please consider finding space for at least a couple of plants of your own. If things go well and you discover even mildly green fingers the delights of the tomato are yours for the picking.

All because you did something before that Thursday in 2017.