THACKLEY TRUMPIT DECEMBER 2013 JOE'S JOTTINGS

The great storm predicted at the beginning of last month came and went. The Met office got the prediction absolutely spot on. 90mph winds passing over the southern part of the country overnight and early morning. They managed to get        everyone prepared for the worst. Sadly a few people were killed and injured by falling trees and debris but on the whole, everything went to plan. Some folk were moaning about the railways preparation but then again would you like to be sat on an express train thundering toward a fallen tree or would you like to think that the engineers at Network Rail had taken the time to check the line    before opening it up to traffic. I often give the Met Office some stick over their predictions but credit where it’s due. They called this one before you could see any activity on the satellite images. They gave a range of area it was likely to pass narrowing that down as it      approached. From the initial forecast it shifted some hundred and fifty miles south. Which was good as it totally missed God’s county and caused no trouble whatsoever.

My oldest apple tree in the garden, which, has been threatening to shuffle off this mortal coil for some years now has produced a bumper crop of apples. They are classed as eaters but as we all know if they are picked too early they are guaranteed to give gut rot. I tend to leave them on the tree as long as possible as this    allows the apples to ripen to their fullest flavour. A good trick to know when they are just right is to give them a gentle twist and a pull. If they are ripe the apple will come away from the tree easily. If it clings on and refuses to part company, it is best left a bit longer. What The Kitchen Skirt and I really liked about the apples from this tree was their flavour which took us back to our childhood days and you could get some pop called Barrs Ciderapple. I think they called it this as sometimes these things are   shuffled in the memory bank. Anyhow I will call it Ciderapple. The flavour of this drink which had an alcohol content similar to bottled shandy (1/2 a percent) this gave a hint of cider, rather than just   apple juice. We used to think we were proper grown up drinking this stuff until we sampled the real cider a few years later. With such a large crop not all the apples could be eaten so The Skirt set about making some of her famous apple crumble. In my mind there are not many foodstuffs which I would describe as divine but The Skirt’s apple crumble is one of those foods. Apart from the apple she adds orange and lemon to the mix to bring out a truly remarkable dish. In a bit of a rush because she was due to be out with her drinking  cronies she forgot some of the sugar in the mix. In a flash of        inspiration she added the remaining sugar to the crumble topping and popped it in the oven. The result was spectacular as all the sugar caramelised and gave the topping extra crunchiness. It was

served with clotted cream ice cream. There is no finer food.

December is not a brilliant month for working outdoors but on good days there is still work to be done. Pruning trees and fruit plants is best done over the winter while the plant is dormant. Having no leaves allows you to see how the plant looks and where to cut. It is well worth learning how to prune trees to give the best appearance during spring summer and autumn.

As Christmas is approaching some of the cuttings can be used for decorations. Just add a bit of false snow and away you go. Holly is showing     berries if you are lucky enough to have some in the garden this always looks good above the fireplace. Christmas is a good time of year to sit back and reflect on the previous year and start to plan what you are going to do for the following spring and summer have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will be back in January with the usual start to the New Year, in the meantime there’s work to be done

Top ten jobs for this month:

1. Check your winter protection structures are still securely in place .

2. . Check that greenhouse heaters are working OK .

3. Prevent ponds and stand pipes from freezing.

4. Prune open-grown apples and pears (but not those trained against walls) .

5. Prune acers, birches and vines before Christmas to avoid bleeding.

6. Harvest leeks, parsnips, winter cabbage, sprouts and remaining root crops .

7. Deciduous trees and shrubs can still be planted and transplanted.

8. Take hardwood cuttings.

9. Keep mice away from stored produce .

10. Reduce watering of houseplants.