Sunday 11 August 2013

Today I'm a Fennel Fan

There were a lot of plot holders on site today; the warm.weather and weeds had drawn people out! Jamie's happy because we're now eating runner beans rather than saving them to grow the longest one! I picked a lot of mangetout; turn your back on them for a moment and another crop have appeared. The mangetout went into the freezer - I couldn't face another salad just yet!
As advised by Sue Garrett, we've pulled our garlic so that it doesn't stay in the ground too long and split. I've hung it over the pea support to dry out. No idea what were going to do with it all!
We have taken the cage off the shallots and lifted them slightly to get them to dry too so that we can start pickling. There are some very large shallots there, but we may find that they divide more when we skin them.
You may remember that I grew fennel and celeriac this year specifically to make soup. Things haven't gone to plan: earlier in the year my fennel was being destroyed by slugs and my celeriac was growing too slowly so I had to buy celeriac plants.
There are a couple of plants which look reasonably healthy, but no sign of a bulb (I haven't kept them wet enough). This is what most of the plants look like....rubbish..
And the Florence fennel is ready to pick. So, I decided to try fennel pan fried today. Oh My God! It was sooo tasty! Not so aniseedy as it smells raw. I added the remaining fennel to carrot and onion and made a really delicious Carrot and Fennel soup (albeit a bit thick at the moment). That will cover a few lunches at work, I can hardly wait!

10 comments:

  1. We have given up completely on celery and celeriac and unfortunately aren't fans of fennel.

    Hope your garlic is OK.

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    1. Yes, I think I was lucky with the celeriac as it was such a drenching year last year. I think it just needs too much water to be reliable

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    2. Ours was definitely drenched but neither it nor the clery did anything - we sowed seed really early too.

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    3. Mm, not sure I'll bother again, though I'd hate to have to buy a celeriac from the shops..

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  2. Garlic looks great - I'm a bit envious - mine didn't grow to half that size - despite being planted last October !

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    1. Yes, mine was planted last October - on the day I picked my successful celeriac (http://plot7marshlane.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/fennel-celeriac-and-garlic.html)

      Obviously the garlic really appreciated the weather here in Berkshire this year

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  3. I hope my three 3 Fennel survive so that I can try your Soup Recipe Belinda. I do envy you being able to grow Carrots. My Daughter has two beds of Onions, Shallots and Garlic. When does she have to lift them please ? They are all still green but the greenery is flat on the ground. Marion x

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    1. Yes, hope your fennel is beginning to bulb up - slugs really are a problem though!

      Re the onions: If the greenery has flattened out then I would think it's time to lift it.
      We will leave our onions/shallots/garlic to dry outside - hopefully the weather will play ball for a few days...
      We usually use some sort of net structure so that the air can get to the drying bulbs - see:
      http://plot7marshlane.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/yay-jetstream-has-shifted.html

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  4. I love the pictures layout for the soups. It`s clever.

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    1. Thank you - it's very easy using Picasa and sums things up nicely

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Belinda