A single tempting autumn raspberry

I’m a raspberry lover. When the dessert trolley rolls up in a restaurant I ignore the profiteroles and sticky meringues and go for raspberries sprinkled ideally with a little vanilla sugar.

My passion for raspberries has led me astray recently. Our allotment site in Newmarket is a raspberry lovers haven. There is a narrow path that’s a shortcut to our plot. Here bushes laden with fruit tempt me. These bushes are so fructulent that the branches stray across the path – waving, tempting and teasing. I have to admit that I have snaffled on odd on or two – delicious naughty treats.

We plan to grow raspberries on our sunny allotment plot. We do grow them at home but our kitchen garden doesn’t have much sun to give them the warmth that they need. Autumn fruiting is a bit of a misnomer as they can fruit from July up until the first frosts.

The flavour of summer fruiting varieties is rather thin and watery compared with autumn fruiting ones. We had no idea until the day that we harvested our first berries – the expectation and waiting for the fruits to ripen made the disappointment huge. Gradually over the years I’ve replaced the summer fruiting raspberries with autumn fruiting varieties.

About ten years ago I planted Autumn Bliss and this spring added Polka – a new variety that fruits for longer than Autumn Bliss and bears more fruit. Apparently Polka has a stronger flavour too.

I thought that I do a bit of research before I ordered raspberry canes for the allotment. The variety that got the most recommendations for taste was Joan J (launched in the UK in 2002 – so I’d not heard of this one). Imagine my delight when I discovered that this is the best variety for flavour and crop chosen by gardening Which? Incidentally Polka came second in the flavour stakes and Autumn Bliss fourth.

The Gardening Which? article also discussed the benefits of double cropping. This technique gives a crop in summer and another in the autumn. Conventionally the autumn raspberry canes are cut to ground level in February. As primocanes they fruit on wood grown the same year and they will give an autumn harvest.

The double cropping method is simple. Leave the canes uncut in the winter to allow an early crop of fruit. When these canes have stopped fruiting cut them to the ground – these will be browner than the younger green canes so should be easy to spot. The younger canes will crop in the autumn.

The magazine trials indicate that the double cropping method produced a larger harvest overall with the exception of ‘Brice’.

The results for the double cropping experiment are exciting. 10 canes of Autumn Bliss (always a bit of a tardy fruiter here) produced just 2.5 kilos using the conventional cut canes down in the winter method. The double cropping gave a harvest of 5.5 kilos.

The results for Polka and Joan J were less dramatic but still significant. And the thought of guzzling these delicious raspberries in summer has my mouth already watering at the prospect.

I was concerned that double cropping might deplete the lifespan and resources of the canes. There is no evidence to suggest this an no extra feeding is necessary. A handful of general purpose fertiliser is recommended when planting with an annual does of sulphate of potash in the spring. We also mulch the bases of the canes with well rotted compost in late spring.

I’ve ordered12 Joan J canes for the allotment and will try the double cropping method as soon as they are up and running. Meanwhile, back at the cottage I’ll definitely be practicing double cropping on Autumn Bliss and Polka next year.

You can buy Joan J online raspberry canes online at Thompson and Morgan and Unwins.

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Imur prior beta donated to me by Magic Cochin of Purple Podded peas fame

Growing tomatoes is quite easy but growing tomatoes well requires relentsless enthusiasm. Their growing period can last for six or seven months before the first small and fragrant harvest. They are susceptible to blight. If not watered regularly they can fail due to blossom end rot. If you don’t feed weekly when the first flowers appear they will not set much fruit. And of course it’s very hard to remember to nip out every side shoot on cordon tomatoes. And when do you ‘stop them’ (nip off the tops) to finish flower production when summer is on the wane and all energy should be focussed on the quality of the fruit that is developing on the plant? In my case I nip out the top after the fifth truss of flowers.

“If they can be so tricky and labour intensive, why do we grow them?”

Most people who have access to even the tiniest growing space will have tried tomatoes. The taste has most people rushing back for more feeding/watering/nipping out shoots the next year. Home grown toms are the Prima Donnas of the entire salad opera. My mum admitted the other day that all her tomatoes had not reached her kitchen yet.
“I’ve guzzled them straight from the plant.”
Nothing beats the flavour of an ultra fresh tomato plucked on a sunny day and savoured on the spot. Danny agrees too.

Apart from the fact that homemade tomato passata makes a wonderful Bloody Mary, tomatoes are packed with vitamins and minerals. Almost enough to view that second Bloody Mary on a Sunday as a health drink. It’s the lycopene that makes the difference. The human body does not produce lycopene. The redder the tomato the higher the lycopene levels.

Lycopene neutralises free radicals in the body. Has been proved to fight numerous cancers. Cooking tomatoes releases even more lycopene and enables the body to absorb it better.

Everyone said that I would grow great tomatoes the solar tunnel. I imagined that they’d be similar in growth to greenhouse tomatoes and that I’d just have more space. Wrong.

The laden truss in the photo has the potential to grow 26 tomatoes! Once the ripe ones are harvested tomorrow this will send a signal to the distant cousins (twice removed) at the far end of the truss. These tiny fruits will spring into action and if we have a warm September they should produce small fruit that can be ripened on a sunny windowsill in the cottage.

The temperature in the solar tunnel is very, very hot on a sunny day. Even with the doors open. Of course the tomatoes are basking in the warmth. This combined with a decent weekly feed and a good soak with water every other day, has produced a stunning harvest.

My only excuse for my surprise is that I’m a solar tunnel virgin. Just completing my first year. My legs are worn out from dashing down the garden each morning to survey my tomato harvest and then rushing up to The Rat Room to announce the daily count. Danny smiles and nods in between conference calls and densely worded emails. He has big plans for my tomato growing next year as we’re both tomato fans.

Of course, he is not yet the grower – so any plans will remain on the drawing board unless he reaches for tomato seed next spring. As yet he’s not watered these triffids or fed them lovingly or tried to keep them from snapping with the weight of the fruit. He is The Sampler of Texture and Flavour. His self appointed role of Quality Assurance Supervisor is his excuse for constantly sampling and comparing . Actually he is Q S Assistant but his input is useful as his taste buds are finely tuned to a more complex level than mine. This in plain English means – if he doesn’t like it he won’t eat it.

We both agree that the solar tunnel tomatoes have a better flavour than the greenhouse ones. And even the toms grown against the sunny wall of the cottage don’t have the va va vroom taste of the solar tunnel fruit. This year we have actually grown the same variety of tomato plants in all three places so that we could compare and contrast the harvest and flavour.

A complete surprise to me as I always used to think that outdoor raised tomatoes had the best flavour of all. That’s the draw of gardening.

Dessert gooseberries

It was Gilbert who introduced me to gooseberry gin. He produced a battered old hip flask out of a hidden pocket in his fatigues. We were foraging for wild cherry plums and were resting on a mossy bank. Gilbert opened the stopper with a flourish.
“I bet that you haven’t tasted this delicacy before.”
One sip and I was hooked and eager to make my own. I even had an old inherited hip flask knocking about the cottage somewhere.

This particular brew was made from red dessert gooseberries. These berries are far less tart than the green ones and can be guzzled raw. Consequently red gooseberry liqueur calls for less sugar in the mix. In the recipe below I give sugar quantities for both red and green gooseberries. As you can see from the photo I prefer to pick my dessert gooseberries when they are still not quite ripe. In a couple of weeks time I’ll make a sweeter ripe red version.

When I first tasted Gilbert’s grog we just had one green gooseberry bush in the garden. A nameless variety that I’d swapped with an old gardener in the village for a few jars of chutney. It’s easy to miss an occasional berry and this one bush has self seeded – the progeny are two hefty children and just this year I spotted a new baby.

Since our foraging outing was in Autumn, the gooseberry picking season was over, I immediately invested in two Hinnonmaki Red gooseberry plants from Homebase. These are reasonably priced slim line bushes that are sold in oblong boxes and need a few years to establish themselves well. If you are impatient for a more mature gooseberry bush there loads available online but to be quite honest we’ve had great results from the Homebase ones. It’s worth taking a peek in the box and choosing the ones that have the best, sturdy growth.

If you are a  gooseberry fan, investing in a desert gooseberry bush as well as a green one extends the season as dessert gooseberries ripen far later than the tart, green ones.

Back to Gilbert’s gooseberry gin. This is superb and well worth making even if you have to buy the gooseberries. It can be drunk neat, ideally poured over ice. The grog makes a good long drink topped up with fizzy water. Gooseberry gin is perfect poured over ice cream. Of course gin soaked gooseberries can be added to a fool, crumble or pie. One year I froze the gin infused fruit and made a scrummy sauce to accompany the Christmas goose.

Gilbert’s superb gooseberry gin recipe

Ingredients:
500g of gooseberries
1 litre of medium quality gin
100g of white granulated sugar for very ripe dessert gooseberries/ 200g of white granulated sugar for less ripe dessert gooseberries/ 375g of white granulated sugar for ordinary green gooseberries
Method:
Wash gooseberries, top and tail and discard any bruised fruit. Cut the gooseberries in half and place in either a large Kilner/Le Parfait jar or divide the raspberries between 2 (70 cl) saved gin bottles. I use a 1.5 litre gin bottle.
Using a funnel, add the sugar (divide the amounts if using several bottles) and top up with gin to the rim.
Shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer (leave for at least four months, we usually let steep for 6 months).
Drain the liqueur through muslin after six months and freeze the discarded fruit to pep up dishes at a later date. Taste and add more sugar if necessary. Bottle the liqueur and store in a dark, dry place.