December in the garden
There was a time when I believed that the winter was a time of rest for the gardener, but I have learnt better. Preparation is key. To that end we are feeling pleased with ourselves that our borders are now weeded, mulched and planted up with new exciting mixes of tulips. The vegetable patch is cleared and marked out for next year’s salad crops with Chris St Pierre’s woodchip and the fruit cage cleared and pruned.
The compost heaps have been rationalised and at last we feel we have a workable system here at Falconhurst. We have researched various methods: the Dixter way is to put all compostable material into a giant house-like structure using ladders to scale it and dump fresh material on top – too cumbersome for me; the Sissinghurst way is to carefully separate all non-perennial weeds and place them on their compost heap; perennial and woody weeds are burnt and then there is the ‘dump pile’ of anything else – too complicated for me; and Charles Dowding (my no-dig guru) simply puts all his weeds on his perfectly managed compost pile (kept under a nice little cover) and turns it regularly – have you ever turned a compost heap?! So, the Falconhurst method for 2022 will consist of neat compost piles near the veg garden to take non-perennial weeds for quick composting and non-woody plants; long piles of layered larger debris kept for longer term composting plus a small burn pile of wicked weeds. Watch this space to see how this works in practice.
The polytunnel in the market garden is producing a wonderful array of lettuce for our Falconhurst Farm Shop salad bags. We use a mix of lettuces to provide the bulk including Merveille de quattro saisons, Lollo Biondo, Rossa di Trento and Little Gem; a spicy mix of red and green mizuna, red and green mustard and pak choi; radicchios Trevi and Merlot for colour and a touch of bitterness and a sprinkling of parsley, sorrel and mint. Delicious.
Sometimes, all I can muster for supper is an easy bowl of pasta. But it has to have a lovely fresh salad to follow with a sharp mustardy dressing. I can never understand why people buy salad dressings when they are so much more delicious made in two minutes from scratch. I make this nearly every day:
French dressing for salad for 4
1 rounded teaspoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons very good quality olive oil
1 teaspoon very good quality balsamic vinegar
Large pinch of Cornish sea salt
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
Grab a mug and put the mustard in the bottom. Pour in olive oil and vinegar and stir well until emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.
For easy dressing to add to your Friday fillet of fish (especially bass/brill/bream) add a good handful of chopped herbs and capers.
For delicious accompaniment to a Wednesday lamb chop, add a tablespoon of chopped mint, zest of lemon and crushed garlic.