Sunday 28 March 2010

Starting the Raised Beds

I spent the weekend building the raised beds for the raspberries. The wood was delivered first thing on Saturday morning by the excellent Walker Timber: it looks like a huge pile, but then there's about 320m of plank, and around 100 posts/pegs.

I started with the raspberries as they -- along with the strawberries -- are the most in need of the new beds, and they're also the simplest (about 1.2m wide, and 4.3m long, simple rectangles). Because the corner posts are meant to be six foot taller than ground level, it meant digging 60cm holes for them (can't hammer the top of a three-metre post: I'm not that tall), which was actually simpler for being in clay. Once the posts were in, cutting and screwing the planks was reasonably quick, and both beds are now done.

I might order some top-soil for next (Holy) weekend, if they can deliver it, and then the raspberry beds will be done, and I can turn to the strawberries. The vegetable beds will be last, as the turf for them hasn't even been cut, though we did mark the beds out.


Sunday 14 March 2010

Chocolate, Fudge, and Mulching

I had a weekend of cooking and gardening, as Liz was working, and I had to entertain myself. There was a big pile of branches waiting to be chipped from last autumn. A lot of them were from the big gorse that was blocking the sitting room window until about September, and they were making the corner of the garden rather untidy. Thus, I borrowed the chipper from Liz's parents, and set to. Chipping always takes a long time, and I'm always struck by how a huge heap of branches turns into a small pile of mulch. Nonetheless, I now have several bin bags of chipped stuff, which will make its way onto a fruit bed sometime. There's still a bit more chipping to do, but that can be next weekend's entertainment, as I was subsequently distracted by making fudge.

This is what happens when I'm unsupervised. I made a batch of chocolate almond fudge (basic fudge recipe, but with chocolate and toasted almonds stirred in), a tray of fridge cake, and two sorts of Easter egg (blackberry brandy, and caramel filled).

I have good memories of making fudge and toffee with my father, when I was little, especially toffee apples; fudge is a favourite of his. I have a soft spot for almonds, so the chocolate/almond fudge is a treat. I prefer dark chocolate, so I use plain in the fudge, so it's not as sweet. Toasting the almonds gives them a better flavour, I find. The fridge cake, I've been having indecent daydreams of for the past couple of weeks, so I'm pleased to have finally made it. I've only had one slice (admirable restraint, I have to say), with a coffee, and am very happy. It's a different recipe to what I've made before, with condensed milk, and it's turned out very well.

Filled Easter eggs were also an experiment. We've got a set of moulds (a silly-priced 10p for four sheets of 18 small halves, and 2 single big halves, in the supermarket after Easter a few years ago), and we've made solid small eggs and a couple of hollow big eggs. However, I fancied trying my hand at filled eggs, so I made hollow small eggs, and then whipped up some caramel (70g sweetened condensed milk, 55g butter, 55g light brown sugar, heated a bit shy of 'fudge' (116ÂșC)), and a truffle (dark chocolate, splash of the same milk, butter, and blackberry brandy). I filled the hollow eggs, and sealed them. I'll take them out of their moulds and join the halves when I can...and hope that they've worked!

An entirely unintended consequence is that I have a mug full of 'spare' caramel. Oops.

Sunday 7 March 2010

Lights Fitted and Raised Beds Measured

I've now fitted those lights in the sitting room, and they're behaving just as hoped. The previous lights had big metal hoods which stopped much light from going up to the ceiling, but these have 'bare' candle bulbs, so even though the bulbs (cumulatively) have no more power, much more of the light bounces round the room. Very pleasing.

With the lovely weather earlier, we also went out to re-plan the vegetable beds, and measure up the perimeter of the raised beds. The first design for the veg beds was, really, too fussy, so we've simplified it considerably. There's a long bed at the bottom (about 7m by 1.25m), parallel to the fence, and continuing the lower raspberry bed, and then a C shaped bed (squared) above this (6.7m). Within the space this leaves, there's then an annular bed, with a path cutting into it. I'll do a plan, when I have a chance.

Anyway, doing that allowed us to calculate the perimeter of all the beds that want raising. We intend using 6" planking, two high: there's about 170m of perimeter, so it adds up to a lot (80-odd) of planks. I know where they're coming from, so I'll probably order them next weekend. The pegs for the beds will also form the supports for netting cages for the fruit, and we'll have to work out how we net the veg beds later. Then we'll need soil to fill the beds: I'm guessing about a dozen cubic metres, but I have the measurements to get a proper figure. An expensive installation (about £600 for the planks and posts, and about the same again for soil), but should be well worth it.

Monday 1 March 2010

Boiled Home-Cure Ham

Just to quickly report: the boiled ham was delicious. The cloves in the wet cure worked nicely, and added a touch to the flavour. After the over-saltiness of the bacon, we soaked the ham for 36 hours: I think 12-24 would be sufficient. However, it was cooked (slow-cooker) beautifully (I'll note the recipe down at some point...), and tasted excellent.

No More Head Banging

We've found, after a few months of looking, new lights for the sitting room. They're from Homebase, and are a little more 'stately' than I might have intended, but -- once in situ -- actually look really good. The main/pendant 'luminaire' has five candle bulbs: each one's only 5W (fluorescent), but between them, and without the ludicrous metal shades that blocked so much of the light from the previous fitting (which had three 11W bulbs), they ought to light the room well. The second wall light (two 5W candle bulbs) will go in the corner with the TV. I have -- on order -- a second wall light, that will go at the foot of the stairs, which will be excellent when trying to get from stairs to kitchen.

The best part? They were half price, and then had bulbs thrown in, so the fittings were effectively only £3 (wall) and £12 (luminaire). Bargain.

I've not installed them yet, but the new ceiling light will be higher than the existing one, so I'll stop smacking my head. Technically, I've not hit my head for months, but Liz's dad does so every other time he comes round, and Alex seems to manage it twice every visit. Read into that what you will, but it'll be good to eliminate the threat.