Good news and good food

Received word from the RBGE that I’ve passed the Certificate of Practical Horticulture with merit. Not only that, but because that was the first year the course was run and there were some teething problems with the course handbook etc., all the students have been offered a free place on a one-day course next year.

The course was enjoyable, the assessment day was fun and I’ve got something to show from it. However I won’t be able to make the award ceremony since I’m at Typography: thinking with type on that day.

This evening I headed to the allotment via Waitrose. I wanted to make Summer Pudding, so wanted to get some cream. The thought of the ride from Shandon to Morningside, through Craiglockhart Woods and to the allotment was also enticing. At the plot I picked redcurrants, raspberries, strawberries and blackcurrants and then headed home, getting there just before the rain came on.

Summer Pudding adapted from Nigel Slater’s Appetite

Put the fruits in a pan with enough water to cover them, then boil for a couple of minutes. This will burst the skin and release the juice. Into a suitable receptacle (I used a glass tumbler), layer sliced white bread and the fruit mixture, keeping the bread very moist. Then pop it in the fridge for an hour, turn out and serve with goat cream.

tasty Summer Pudding with cream

In other news: I’ve signed up for the four week long beginners course in Italian at IALS starting at the end of this month.

Bird ring from a racing pigeon

Last week I found some feathers and a bird ring on the plot. My theory is that a pigeon was eating brassicas, and got itself eaten by a fox.

A friend at work let me know about EURING, who coordinate bird ringing throughout Europe and provide this clearing house for ring recoveries, so I reported it. I had a nice email back saying the bird came from Bonnyrigg and that the owner will be informed.

In other news, I was at the RBGE library today (revising for tomorrow’s exam, rather than displacement activity like this). Noticed a couple of societies:

• Botanical society of Scotland includes the 2006-2010 BSS field project of community woodlands, and published the Flora of Edinburgh and the Lothians. £32 per year
• Edinburgh natural history society

Homegrown feast does not raise GDP

Felt contented last night. Went down the allotment straight after work and picked onions, broad beans and blackcurrants to bring home, and ate the first couple of raspberries (just to test!) and some alpine strawberries. Nearly a cornucopia…

Evening meal included onion tart. I’m not sure that Nigel Slater’s recipe even needs cheese when the onions are fresh and one uses the amount of butter he recommends.

The side dish: take young broad beans, podded but left in their inner skins, and blanch for a couple of minutes in boiling water. Put olive oil and a little chopped garlic in a bowl and throw in the drained beans. Grind black pepper on top and serve.

Plus carrot and tomato from the ECO box and green salad and the hardest avocado I’ve had ever tried to eat from ASDA.

I’d rather eat more self-grown food. I’m still learning about vegetable growing, but mostly it’s taking the time to grow and cook them that stops me. In a misguided attempt to help my employer, I’ve agreed to work an extra day per week. I get paid more, but I’m spending more: on childcare; on disposable nappies, because I don’t have the energy to wash and do real ones; on food, because I’m not preparing my lunch on the days I do work. It’s good for GDP but not good for me and my family.

Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) and friends

Monday 23 June, went out with the Friends of the Hermitage of Braid (fohb.org) for my first attempt at balsam bashing. I’d heard of the invasive nature of the plant but wasn’t prepared for its ecology, so spent an uncomfortable evening on the side of a hill. Himalayan balsam lives with robust friends: nettles, brambles, roses. Harry Henniker pointed out that he’s never had to weed a nettle patch before…

From a botanical point of view, it’s superb: a fleshy plant, succulent and attractive to animals, that gets in among tough plants that the animals steer clear of. It’s also shallow rooting, suitable for other inaccessible places with minimal soil cover. The seed pods explode when touched and spread a thousand seeds over a wide area; and it likes hillsides so the seeds can travel even further. The SNH report (see earlier posts) says it’s the tallest annual in Britain.

Cleared a large patch, but noticed lots more. Am wondering how viable the seeds are and how long can they remain dormant in the soil. Apparently the Ranger has many groups working in the area although it’s got to be a big job… The SNH report shows that it’s all along the 5 rivers surveyed for the report.

There are good points, though! The Hermitage of Braid is lovely and the sun was out until 9pm when we finished. Even though we were on the North side of a hill there were great views over to the Braid Hills.

One of the group had previously found Hound’s Tongue (Cynoglossum officinale) in the vicinty. Looks like comfrey and it turns out that the plant is a member of Boraginaceae. However, looking through Phillips’ Wild flowers of Britain, I also see that forget-me-nots (Myosotis sp.) are in this family, so I’ll have to look a little closer than the obvious. (I also think some scrophulariaceae leaves and habit look more like comfrey than forget-me-nots.)

Phillips reckons it’s fairly common in central and South West England, becoming rare elsewhere. Smith et al.’s Plant life of Edinburgh and the Lothians records more genuses in the family than Phillips and notes that C. officinale is rare in the Midlothian vice-county having only been recorded in Polton (near Lasswade). Its habitat is also listed as coastal scrub, dunes and meadows which surprises me seeing as it was growing on the side of a hill.

• pic from floralimages
• Boraginaceae from bioimages.org.uk
• Flora of Northern Ireland
• USDA site