Miss Blyth's Famous Red Onion Marmalade

Saturday 14th January 2012

Now, wherever did I read how to banish the smell of onions?
I buy my onions as sets early in the year. In fact, I've ordered this year's supply just last week. Although slightly more expensive, I find this a much more straightforward way to grow onions, rather than sowing from seed. It also cuts down on disease and bolting. I was pleased with my onion harvest last year, despite everything happening a bit later than ideal. So in late summer I dug up those that I had not picked fresh and set them to dry for a few days. I then plaited them onto strings and suspended them from the beams in the stables. One of the delights of our radical lifestyle change has been learning so many new skills.  Inevitably a couple went soft and needed to be removed. However, if you keep a watchful eye out for this then it won't spread to the others. As it was the first time I'd tried anything like this, I chopped and froze a few bags too, just in case it all went wrong. I find it almost impossible to buy vegetables from the shops when I know I could have grown them myself. I'd rather go without for a while and find that this makes the eventual harvest all the more special. The seasonal element of food has all but gone these days as it is so frivolously flown all around the world to satisfy our every whim. Sadly, familiarity breeds contempt and after all the food miles it is rare that the food gets the appreciation it deserves.
The stored onions won't keep for ever, so Sue spent yesterday processing most of what was left into her delicious red onion marmalade. Recipe courtesy of Hugh F-W. We've left a few hanging to bide us over.

Roots and Shoots

That wasn't supposed to happen!

This first year has been a year of much learning and experimentation. A year of trial and preparation. Many times I had read that root vegetables can be harvested then stored for the winter. One method is by clamping, basically burying them under straw and soil in a kind of garden burial mound which can be plundered when required. I may eventually try this, but not this year. So the alternative was to store them in boxes. But so much conflicting advice on the internet and in books. To wash or not to wash? Dry sand or moist sand? In the end I took some advice and ignored even more. To wash? Yes, but only because the carrot fly had got to some of the carrots and parsnips, so they needed a thorough clean so that only the most perfect of roots could be selected for storage. I plumped to store them in compost, as this seems nice and clean and was what I had to hand. They were dutifully laid out, none touching the other, each layer carefully covered. The boxes came from those left for collection after the Holbeach street market is finished on a Saturday afternoon. They were then dutifully labelled, Beetroots, Carrots, Parsnips and Scorzonera (a lovely veg which defies pronunciation) before being stacked in the utility room. My logic was that they would be easily accessible and relatively safe from the hungry eyes of mice and rats.
There they sat, almost forgotten, then this morning I notice that I've found a very good way to grow fresh, young salad leaves! The young beetroot leaves were deliciously crunchy and zingy.
So, why did this happen? I'm not actually sure. Need to read up even more. As far as I can see, there are three possible reasons.
1: Should have used sand and not compost.
2: Utility room was too warm, plants think it's spring.
3: Too much light.
If I were more scientific or methodical in my ways, I would change one variable at a time to isolate the cause. As it is, I have moved the boxes into the garage, dark and cold. Root vegetables have gone to the top of the menu list and beetroot tops will be appearing in lunchtime sandwiches and as meal accompaniments for a while.