December at the Allotment

It’s been the mildest autumn I can ever remember and as I haven’t had much time to give it lately the weeds have been growing. I’ve had a busy time checking on and cuddling my new granddaughter Phoebe (7lb 2oz on 8^th November), finally managing to launch my own range of skin care products, and having an adventurous & busy weekend in London.

 Sprouts are soon to be harvested for Christmas dinner, leeks and parsnips are doing well. I harvested a few late raspberries today and a good handful of chillies.

 We had our last gardening lesson of the year today, we looked at each other’s plots to what was still growing, and people are still putting in garlic so I am going to get some. We have had some fan trained trees to grow against the wall, an apricot and a cherry and a fellow allotment holder has kindly helped me to plant them today.

Apricot Tree

Cherry tree

 The Shark Fin Melons were harvested today which were grown from seeds donated by garden organic. Some people are going to dry the seeds so as we can plant more next year and spread the seed to others. To be honest they taste a bit bland and it was decided that we need some good recipes if we are to continue with the cause or we are growing them for nothing.

Shark Fin Melons

 The gardens where the allotments are have been in touch with an old fashioned brewery that uses Costmary in their brewing instead of hops and will supply a barrel of ale in return for an amount of the herb. I’d heard of Costmary but didn’t know anything about it, Mrs Grieves says it gave a spicy flavour to ale and one of its other names was Alecost. Costmary is similar to tansy in appearance with small yellow flowers, but has a more balsamic aroma.

Costmary

 We also discussed beetroot gluts, beetroot juice is supposed to be very good for you. Just juice raw beetroots and add a bit of carrot or apple, a tale was that neat beetroot juice can freeze your vocal chords; this did not seem to have affected the story teller though!

 Jo-Ann, thank you for your comments, I can’t comment back on this blog any more but I hope you have used your quinces, my slow cooker is smaller than most and I manage well. I’m very interested in your quince brandy, is this made in the same manner as sloe gin?

Shark Fin Soup and Shark Fin Melons

My hubby was watching the news earlier and something really grabbed my attention; Richard Branson was in China starting a campaign to dissuade the Chinese from eating Shark Fin Soup, a dish prized as one that Emperors used to dine on. Then we saw fishermen on their boats cutting all the fins off sharks while they were still alive and then throwing them back into the sea where they presumably drowned, a very sickening sight.

 This was the second time in the last few months that I had heard about this practice but I hadn’t realised the sharks were mutilated whilst still alive. At our monthly gardening lesson in August our teacher, Joyce had four Shark Fin Melon plants up for grabs and as I was one of the first to arrive I was honoured with receiving one to put in our allotment. I must admit I said thank you very much but wondered what I’d accepted, I’m not that keen on melon.



Our Shark Fin Melon Plant



 I found out that Shark Fin Melon (Cucurbita ficifolia) is not used as a fruit but as a vegetable, grown in a similar manner to squashes. The name has been given because the strands inside are scraped out and made into a broth that resembles the texture of Shark Fin Soup. The flavour, I’m told, is mild and of melon and cucumber. Joyce said that Shark Fin Melon was being promoted as an alternative to using actual shark fins in soup; I suddenly wanted to grow lots of these melons and donate them to any Chinese restaurant with Shark Fin Soup on the menu!

 Joyce had received the seeds for these plants from Garden Organic who are trying to promote growing plants that are not usually grown in this area with their Sowing New Seeds project. The seeds for our plants originate from the allotment of a Vietnamese couple and if we get any fruit we have decided to save seeds to carry this on as there seem to be few suppliers offering them. Our plant has no flowers yet and is a tender perennial so I fear it may have been transplanted out too late but it has been a learning experience and I have not given up hope yet either.

 I’m sure Richard Branson will have far more success saving sharks than I will with my allotment, I wonder if he knows about Shark Fin Melon? But I can help by spreading the word: eat melons not sharks!