Plot holders contributions

This recipe is taken from Mrs. Beeton’s “All about Cookery” with the appendage “rich”. The amount of sugar required is determined by the amount of juice obtained from the redcurrants: 1¼ lb of sugar to each pint or very conveniently, 1 Kg to each litre. A mushroom tray of redcurrants produced just over 2 pints of juice making 6 jars of jelly. Jam sugar is available in Waitrose in 1Kg bags.

Ingredients
• Redcurrants
• Jam sugar
Method
Remove the leaves and only the larger stems. Place the cleaned fruit in a preserving pan, without any water, and heat very gently until the currants are softened and well cooked (about 45 minutes). Mash, then strain through a scalded jelly bag, leaving it to drip undisturbed. Measure the juice into the cleaned pan. Add 1¼lb of sugar to each pint of juice. bring to the boil, stirring constantly, and boil, without stirring, for 1 minute. Swiftly skim the jelly and immediately pour it into warmed jars, before it has a chance to set in the pan.
Tip
This recipe produces a firm set jelly, perfect for adding sweetness and flavour to gravies, especially for lamb.

Harvest crops as they are ready, and water in dry weather. A good weekly soak is much better than little and often, except for tomatoes and cucumbers which need to be kept moist at all times. Cucumbers are the one crop that benefit from the leaves being watered over. Finish cutting back summer fruiting raspberries. Cut back blackcurrants after fruiting. Strawberry runners can be planted in pots in situ: once they have rooted they can be cut from the main plant and planted out to form new plants. Strawberry plants need to be renewed every three years to ensure fruit is maximised. Watch out for caterpillars on brassicas from now on.

Keep hoeing and keep harvesting crops as they mature. Shallots and garlic should be lifted and stored. If growing cordon tomatoes, remove side shoots that emerge between the stem and leaf stem. Cut down to ground level summer fruiting raspberries that have finished fruiting. Runner beans should flower this month, water when beans have set. Onions should be starting to die down this month: allow the stems to bend over at the neck and let them die off. Then you can lift the onions, but make sure they dry off before storing them. Sow spring cabbage and turnips, according to vendor’s instructions, for winter use. Finish pulling rhubarb