Shoots and leaves...
The whims and woes, highs and lows, of trying to grow fruit and veg in Nordic latitudes.
It was +5C when we went to bed last night and +5C when we woke up. It would be great to get the plastic back up on the polytunnel but it was way too windy today. P did shovel some gravel under the poles to stabilise the ground where the autumn storms had shifted the foundations.
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Red pepper Redskin F1 from Lord Nelson (first try with these) Sown indoors 28.2.2015 8 seeds in seed compost topped with vermiculite Aubergine Moneymaker Nr.2 F1 from Lord Nelson (same variety as last year) Sown indoors in pots 28/2/2015 5 seeds in seed compost Time to start sowing. I'm off to the Garden Centre to get some seed compost and then it's time to restyle our living room into a heated greenhouse! The arrangement works quite well, but it means we are surrounded by plants for almost 3 months until we can move everything to Pojo.
I've ordered seeds from Marshalls again but only the varieties that I struggle to find here. They deliver seeds-only orders to EU countries but annoyingly their website can only deal with UK postcodes so I had to phone in the order. I got my French beans, broad beans, butternut squash and a few other things from there. I also bought seeds from seedaholics which has some heritage varieties and a few unique varieties such as Squash F1 Autumn Crown which is a fast maturing hybrid between Crown Prince and a butternut squash: looks like a pumpkin but tastes like butternut. And then I got some Lord Nelson seeds from the local hardware store, Nelson is a Nordic company. I have been scouring Lidl for the "Saladin" cucumber seeds that I bought two years ago - so far no luck, but they were a German variety from Sperli and just perfect for our conditions so I might just order them online. My new laptop refuses to recognise the weather station so I am back on the old hp Touchsmart to update the winter weather data.
It has been an exceptionally mild winter with temperatures mostly hovering around zero. There were a few dramatic dips though especially during the Christmas holidays: On 26th December at midnight we had -15.3C and the coldest temperature of the winter so far was on 29th December at midday when the mercury hit -20C. In January the coldest day was 6th (I was in the UK!) at -17.7 and then on the 12th we had a milder -12.9C. In between the chilly dips we had many frostless days culminating in a positively balmy +11.9C on the 11th February which could well be warmer than last year's midsummer when I spent two days in bed with flu. Then the temperatures dipped again briefly during Valentine's weekend but climbed just above zero during the day. We had cloudless skies and a magnificent view of the Milky Way when we took our sauna on Sunday night. So, the hares seem to have enjoyed the sprouts. Not much left. I noticed that they have nibbled away all the tiny sprouts and left just a few of the bigger ones. They seem to prefer the tops as nearly all the leafy top parts have disappeared completely. Oh well, they can have the rest. I'll just buy some for Christmas dinner. It snowed this morning but it was raining by the time we left and most of the snow had thawed. We were visiting P's mum in Pargas yesterday so stopped here on the way back to do some gardening and tidy up before the snow comes. It is cold out but gloves and a warm sweater are enough to deal with it. I cleared all the textiles out of the log cabin, as the mice will be coming in soon and it does get a bit damp in there if we don't have the heating on. We went up to the farmhouse and lit the fires to warm the place up, meanwhile I folded up all the rugs and runners and we will wrap them in plastic and cover the furniture. We have mouse traps in all the rooms and have managed to catch a few mice already which the birds are happy to deal with. I have no problem with them staying in the loft but mouse pee destroys the furniture and stains the walls and window sills, they are everywhere! In the garden I dug up all the leeks and Peter helped me to dig up the artichokes. I also picked some sprouts and we put a pile of manure and straw on the rhubarb and the asparagus. The problem with mulching this time of year is that the mice and voles just love nesting underneath and it's also a safe place to scuttle around out of sight of hungry birds. Didn't have time to look for mushrooms and the locals were elk hunting on the back field anyway. But we had a sauna in the evening and saw three deer (a female and two young ones) nibbling sprouts in the vegetable garden: I had left the fence open!
P's brother, sister and three dogs are coming to stay for a few weeks. Peter brought me back some leeks and the rest of the beetroot. Now all that is remaining in the vegetable garden are the brussels sprouts and the jerusalem artichokes and a few more leeks.
The wind has come from the north-west (unusual) and moved the telegraph poles - and in fact the whole side of the tunnel - inwards by almost 30 cms. Oops. Luckily none of the structure was damaged but it's definitely time to remove the plastic.
We bought some of West Chark's organic Hereford beef sausages at the Slow Food fair so we had them for dinner tonight. I roasted a small butternut (sprinkled with paprika and a slab of butter). Here's how: We were in a hurry so I put them in quite a hot oven (about 180C) but they didn't take very long. I prefer to keep the squash quite "meaty" rather than mushy.
So here is our stall at the Slow Food fair on Saturday morning in Fiskars. We are sharing with our neighbours who grow cereals and potatoes and other veg. It was a great weekend. There were thousands of visitors, both days, so we were literally kept on our toes selling our veg and loading up the stall from the trailer. The nicest thing about selling food is that everyone is so chatty and friendly, with stories to tell and questions to ask. We met some really interesting people: some customers, some stallholders and producers like us and other people just wandering around, walking their dogs/children or taking photos. There were international visitors too, I met some journalists from France and reps from Slow Food Italy. There were plenty of "Foodies" from local restaurants and small shops and markets.
The event is getting bigger and attracts people from further and further away. Even if you don't buy anything, there are things to do and see. I quickly wandered around all the stalls, tasted lots of things like West Chark's lumikinkku (cured ham) which I love and some cheese from Tenala. I bought fresh eggs, a cauliflower, some celery... lots of things that we don't grow ourselves. I also bought some wonderful rhubarb, ginger and lemon marmalade which was voted local product of the year last year. One highlight was visiting the new microbrewery Rekolan which had an open day. I got in there early on Sunday morning and had a private guided tour. it was fascinating and incredible that one person could start up and run such an operation, very impressive. I went back later to buy some beer! The ginger beer is great - so nice to try something different. Another highlight was the dinner at the Copper Inn with some of the Slow Food organisers and other stallholders. We had a smoked pike sausage for starters, then a seriously delicious piece of pork, followed by a creme brule with lingonberries. A very chatty meal and we learnt a lot about Slow Food in Finland and about local producers. In a couple of weeks our neighbours are going to the biggest Slow Food event in the world which is near Turin in Italy, where the Slow Food movement started. (Also dug up the globe artichokes, shook off all the earth and put them in shoe-boxes full of peat and filed them away in the rootcellar for the winter. Still have leeks, kohl rabi, beetroot, sprouts and jerusalem artichokes in the ground.) So some of the foliage in the polytunnel has succumbed to the early morning frosts: we had -1C one night only but it was enough to finish off the vines at the edge of the tunnel. Fortunately the squash are not so fragile. We have now picked 95% of the squash and put them up in the farmhouse to cure in the daytime sun and warmth. They are a good colour and a nice size.
Outside the tunnel we have some nice "Atlantic Giants" - I was unable to lift the one in the picture! Over the weekend we gave some squash and also some honey to R.A: to sell on his stall at Mangs Gård Slow Food Fair. We sold plenty of butternuts and nearly all the Uchiki Kuri and ALL the big pumpkins (last year no-one wanted the big ones!) Everything that's left will now go to Fiskars for next week's Slow Food Fair which is the biggest market for us. Spent a few hours in the garden today before we went to Mangs Gård. I dug up some more carrots, a few leeks and kohl rabi. There are still more of each in the ground but I think they will be OK for another week or two. I also picked a dozen or so brussels sprouts (the general consensus is that proper nouns when used with vegetables, don't require a capital letter but not everyone seems to agree) and will scoff the lot one day during the week.
I have cut back all the herbs. The mint and the oregano went into the sheep field but I am drying the sage and the tarragon back in Espoo. I also cut back the asparagus and mulched over it with straw. Maybe it's a bit early for mulching but normally I leave it too late! I still haven't so much as peaked at the jerusalem artichokes which are way underground and will stay there until I need a pick axe to unearth them. As for the globe artichokes, I need to dig up the tubers and clamp them in the root cellar for the winter but I'll do that next week. I have three globe artichokes that are ripe for eating but I'm waiting for a quiet evening on my own because I don't want to share! Peter has planted a large amount of garlic (an extreme amount) and he also spread cow manure over the garden extension which is still quite heavy but slowly improving. We will plough over it and leave the frost and snow to do the rest. Finally, I cut off all the overgrown french beans and I will hang them to dry in Espoo. This means I may get some flageolet beans but I've never tried before. In the tunnel I picked some tomatoes and dug up the remaining aubergines. The latter are small but edible. There are still a lot of green tomatoes (as always in these latitudes) but if I have time I'll make chutney (unlikely). If I don't, they'll go into the compost heap or I'll flog 'em at the Slow Food market. Nothing gets wasted. I picked two lettuce which miraculously survived the frost and there are still cucumbers hanging there. If I'm lucky I'll get one or two more but it's touch and go at the end of September. We pulled up the black fabric from the floor of the polytunnel and will dispose of the vines just before we remove the plastic from the frame of the tunnel. I brought 20 metres of repair tape back from the UK so we can fix a few holes... Peter noticed that one of the aluminium supports had snapped in two. He repaired it but was grumbling...."Why aren't these made of stainless steel". They do get a huge amount of fatigue from the almost constant winds blowing up from the sea. So we're almost done for another season. Bit of a dilemma with the Uchiki Kuri (Japanese squash). They need another few days in the sun but the nights are much colder now. Dare we risk leaving them in the tunnel? We decided to remove about half of them, the ones that had already detached themselves from the vines and we are curing them indoors in the old farmhouse. There are about 20 of them altogether.
Next year I will grow more Uchiki Kuri as they require a slightly shorter growing season than the butternut squash (about 100 days) and can tolerate a milder summer (not a problem this year as it was hot, sunny and dry). As for the butternuts, we have picked a few and are curing them in the farmhouse. They can go to the Slow Food Fair in Mangs Gård at the end of the month. Leaving the rest in the tunnel for another week or two as the Fiskars Slow Food Fair is at the beginning of October. I removed quite a lot of leaves from the vines so the fruits get more direct sunlight. The daytime temperatures are still up in the 30s Celsius. We have over 200 butterrnut squash :-) We also have a dozen or so Small Sugar which are a nice size but still quite green. The other pumpkins: Tom Fox and Atlantic Giant are outside the polytunnel - they are HUGE and gradually turning deep orange. I am quite proud of these, grown from seed. I am certainly looking forward to eating them (there are two, maybe three). Not to everyone's taste but I am a huge fan.
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