We harvested the last of our red cabbage yesterday - four decent heads which have survived the frost and ice. I was looking for something interesting to do with them (apart from coleslaw!) and came across this recipe from Delia Smith that used up all four heads! It’s nice and sweet and goes well with a baked spud or some chops. It freezes and re-heats well which means it’s a good way to “store” them too.

2 lb (1 kg) red cabbage
1 lb (450 g) cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped small
1 lb (450 g) onions, chopped small
1 clove garlic, chopped very small
1/4 whole nutmeg, freshly grated
1/4 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 level teaspoon ground cloves
3 level tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
1/2 oz (15 g) butter
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Pre-heat the oven

First discard the tough outer leaves of the cabbage, cut it into quarters and remove the hard stalk. Then shred the rest of the cabbage finely, using your sharpest knife (although you can shred it in a food processor, I prefer to do it by hand: it doesn’t come out so uniform).

Next, in a fairly large casserole, arrange a layer of shredded cabbage seasoned with salt and pepper, then a layer of chopped onions and apples with a sprinkling of garlic, spices and sugar.

Continue with these alternate layers until everything is in. Now pour in the wine vinegar, lastly add dots of butter on the top.

Put a tight lid on the casserole and let it cook very slowly in the oven for 2 to 2½ hours, stirring everything around once or twice during the cooking.

Red cabbage, once cooked, will keep warm without coming to any harm, and it will also re-heat very successfully. 

Finally, got a good load of seeds sown today!!  Nothing direct in to the ground yet, but making a start on seeds indoors which will be planted out in the polytunnel when they are seedlings.  Have a garage outside which we converted in to an office a few years back and it has now been annexed as a potting shed!  Have a large bench in there where the spuds are chitting and a heating mat on which we put seedlings.  Everyone has their own methos of seed sowing - here’s mine.  Sieve compost in to trays, water well, then sow the seed and then add more sieved compost.  I then cover with cling film which keeps moisture locked in, but remove this when the seeds germinate.  So for what it’s worth here’s what was sown today:

In seed trays: aubergine (enorma), tom (brandywine, gardener’s delight and moneymaker), chillipepper (early jalepeno)

In a 150-cell plug tray (each row 10 cells):

2 row lettuce webs wonder

1 row red salad

1 row perp spinach

1 row salad stir fry mix

2 or 3 cells chard

2 row beetroot (bolivar)

2 row radish (french breakfast)

1 row spring onions (white lisbon)

1 row rocket

1 row salad leaf (niche mix)

1 row scarlett kale

2 row celeriac (monarch)

The other notable event this weekend is that we got to harvest the first of our purple sprouting broccoli - and very tasty it was too.  Roll on the spring!

1) Plant dill in with your brassicas as the cabbage white butterfly doesn’t like the smell and will be less inclined to lay its eggs on the cabbage leaves. Dill is great herb to have growing in the garden - beautiful with fish and also great in salads.

2) Marigolds and nasturtiums will deter white and greenfly - so plant them in around your tomato plants. Nasturtium flowers are also very good to eat. Marigolds are also useful near raspberry and strawberries to prevent green-fly.

3) Sow Summer savoury in among beans and peas - deters blackfly.

4) Borage attracts pollinators and is therefore useful planted among courgettes, pumpkins and squashes.

5) Sow chives around your apple trees to prevent scab and wallflowers to attract bumble bees.

6) grow carrots with spring onions or onions to deter carrot fly - but does this REALLY work??!
The idea of companion planting is typically to reduce the impact of pests and diseases on your GIYing. In some cases plants just like being planted next to each other and will fare better than they would do so otherwise. Here are some examples - let us know if you have tried other ones.

1) Plant dill in with your brassicas as the cabbage white butterfly doesn’t like the smell and will be less inclined to lay its eggs on the cabbage leaves. Dill is great herb to have growing in the garden - beautiful with fish and also great in salads.

2) Marigolds and nasturtiums will deter white and greenfly - so plant them in around your tomato plants. Nasturtium flowers are also very good to eat. Marigolds are also useful near raspberry and strawberries to prevent green-fly.

3) Sow Summer savoury in among beans and peas - deters blackfly.

4) Borage attracts pollinators and is therefore useful planted among courgettes, pumpkins and squashes.

5) Sow chives around your apple trees to prevent scab and wallflowers to attract bumble bees.

6) grow carrots with spring onions or onions to deter carrot fly - but does this REALLY work??!