Winter weather weary, bring on Spring

Madrid (EP) .- The General Directorate of Civil Defense and Emergencies of the Ministry of Interior warned by minimum temperatures "many areas of the country" and "especially" in Catalonia.

Thus, Civil Protection warns that the minimum temperatures are very cold in many parts of the country and which may extend to -10 degrees Celsius to the regions of Catalonia.

Estate agents when selling you a house often tell you that,

Whilst sitting on your patio you can pick your own lemon for your Gin and tonic...

They never tell you that you can take the ice from the swimming pool to chill your Gin and tonic too!

Winter vegetables with North African Salsa

          

Garden Detective

A garden blog by Jessica Damiano that gets to the root of things

...I'm back, and I have some news to report: Carol Barker of the United Kingdom has won a copy of "The Herb Gardener: A Guide for All Seasons," by Susan McClure, for submitting some intriguing uses for all that mint taking over my backyard....

   

Winter vegetables with North African Salsa

 Ingredients 

• 4 ounces or 100 grams of  Carrots
• 4 ounces or 100 grams of  Parsnip
• 4 ounces or 100 grams of  Potato
• 4 ounces or 100 grams of  turnip / swede
• 4 ounces or 100 grams of  green beans
• 4 ounces or 100 grams of  Broccoli florets
•  2/3 sprigs of Fresh Mint
• Large cup of Natural Yogurt 
• Cumin seeds 1 tsp
• Coriander seeds 1 tsp

 Method

 Steam the broccoli florets and green beans until tender (al dente)

 Roast the root vegetables sprinkled with cumin and coriander seeds, sea-salt and ground black pepper.

 Salsa

 Natural yogurt, sweeten with honey and add your chopped mint leaves, season with salt and pepper.

 Spoon the salsa over the hot vegetables, dust with paprika and a pinch of cinnamon.

 Serve at once.

Desert - Mint ice cream.

 

• 568ml carton double cream
  
• 300ml whole milk
  
• 6 large egg yolks
  
• 375g caster sugar
  
• 300g  Dark chocolate chips
  
• 2 green cardamom pods
  
•  3 or 4 Sprigs of fresh mint leaves
  
• 
  

  Method

 Sugar syrup

   Separate the mint leaves from the stems.

   Heat 2 oz. / 200grams of castor sugar and 16 fluid ozs./500mls. cold water in a heavy pan

   Bruise the mint stalks by crushing them then add to pan.

   Boil mixture for 10 minutes then remove stalks.

   Allow syrup to cool

   Blanch mint leaves in boiling water

   Refresh leaves in cold water and then allow them to cool

   Once the sugar syrup has cooled add mint leaves and blend until smooth green consistency is reached.

 

     Ice Cream

    Beat the egg yokes with the remaining sugar until the mixture becomes thick and creamy.

    In a heavy based pan heat the cream and milk until just before they reach boiling point. Pour the hot cream     mixture on to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

    Return the mixture to the pan and heat gently,

    Crush cardamom pods lightly then add to mixture.

    Once mixture has thickened remove the cardamom pods and pour mixture in a bowl

    Allow to cool

    Stir in the cool sugar syrup mint leaf blend and cool for several hours

    Stir in the chocolate chips

     Place in ice cream maker and process until completion

     Serve with mint leaf garnish

Itchy fingers

My itchy fingers will have to wait a couple more weeks until the days begin to lengthen; the spring equinox is due on March the 21^st 2007. Before seed sowing begins in earnest I will have to clean up the old propagator and also pots and seed pans that have been previously used. I have in recent years favoured the use of old food containers which are used only for a season and then recycled.

Whilst in Tenerife I collected seed from this plant which I will have to identify before I can label them.

Winter is about to start in northern Europe and there are bound to be casualties of the weather. Seed and cuttings are a good insurance policy against winter losses.

Over wintering Cannas.

Richley coloured and exotic tropical foliage are sure signs that a plant likes moist conditions. Given those conditions Cannas will produce leaves almost as big as a banana plant. Our own plants were originally intended to form a mass planting scheme at the foot of the raised south terrace of the house.

There were several good examples of the plant growing in the neighbourhood, though when studied it was obvious they benefited from the protection of nearby buildings, orchards and shrubs. Our own wind swept site was therefore problematic, and having experienced the severe Tramontana winds of the last year we decided the Cannas leaves would at the very least look scorched if not tattered and torn.

There was however a narrow bed bordering the patio area, outside the cassita which houses our gas supply. The bed was protected on its northern side by a small wall and fence and the naturally free draining soil could be fairly easily enriched. Beyond the wall is the access road to the house bordered by a standing of oak trees.

Options for the Cannas included, raising them from seed, or buy bulbs or plants. We didn’t know anyone in the area who might split their own cannas to supply us. Seed raising would take too long, we had a barren plot and needed a quicker result. In the garden centres they were displaying the smallest of bulbs at 2€ each. Flowering plants in a four litre pot were 8€ each.

Having scoured the behind the scenes sections of several plant centres we found our bargains. The Cannas had bloomed and were looking a bit tatty and pot bound, they were really bursting out of their pots. Priced at 4€ each they were worth trying.

When we arrived home, we soaked the plants in water for a couple of hours before trimming away the ragged leaves and spent blooms. The pots had to be cut away to free the plants, though the roots looked healthy enough.

The shape of the bed really dictated that we should plant them in a row spaced at about 60cms. We prepared the bed by removing the rocks and weeds that are ever present here, before we enriched the soil by digging in some recycled compost from the national scheme. Once planted we kept the plants watered and soon they rewarded us by quickly regenerating themselves producing exotic foliage and flowers.

The fence behind the Cannas was used to grow runner beans the green foliage and red flowers of the beans complemented the lush red foliage of the Cannas. The remaining summer and autumn days the cannas thrived though we knew we were facing a problem. What did we do with the Cannas in winter? They were tender plants that do not like frost at all. Back in the UK most people lifted their plants and over wintered them somewhere warm. The Catalan countryside around us was no stranger to cold weather though snow we were told only happened once in fifty years. Funny thing was that that was the previous year!

We decided to leave them were they were but would not water them from early December; the cold combined with the wet we thought was the real threat to the plants. That winter produced temperatures of minus 12c. I saw snow twice so much for the influence of the Mediterranean Sea.

The drier soil stopped the bulbs rotting in cold wet ground, and a protective layer of compost protected the shoots. The Cannas survived they are now very robust plants and soon will be big enough to divide.