Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden: Summer success and green bean relish recipe

This season's maturing beetroot, onions, and carrots.

Kem Ormond is a features writer for NZME community newspapers and The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s busy harvesting from her vegetable garden.

OPINION

Wow, this summer is shaping up to be a wonderful growing season.

I know that the sunshine has been rather late in arriving, but I do think that the extra rain that we have had has made a difference to my vegetable garden.

I have already picked bunches of basil and made them into pesto.

The tomatoes are in full swing, and I have made a couple of batches of pasta sauce as well as tomato relish.

Nothing beats fresh vine-ripened tomatoes picked just before you serve them up.

I have eaten some lovely mini beets when thinning out the beetroot and I am now onto bottling my beautiful plump beetroot, hoping to make some beetroot relish.

The chillies are abundant and I am patiently waiting for them to turn red.

They are great to freeze and even in the winter on a rainy day, I love to make sweet chilli sauce, not only for myself but as gifts for friends.

This certainly is the year for onions and both my red and brown onions are a sight to behold, plump and perfect to braid and hang in the kitchen.

I have been harvesting mature beetroot.

It has been a few years since I have had such bulbous onions.

My spring onions are healthy, have no rust and are a great addition to salads.

I have to be quick to pick my courgettes or they turn into marrows before my very eyes.

My tomato harvest is also under way.

The sunflowers and zinnias are making a wonderful show that the birds are really appreciating, and I can sit on my verandah and watch the yellow heads of the sunflowers bobbing away over the wall of the courtyard.

While we are enjoying some summer weather, remember to keep plenty of mulch around your fruit trees, and recycle any garden waste back onto the garden to not only mulch down but to keep the soil damp and to avoid it from drying out.

Water and harvest in the later part of the evening or early morning.

The birds love the sunflowers and zinnias.

Keep replanting brassicas, lettuces, spring onions and plenty of parsley for a continuous supply and remember if you have an overabundance of vegetables, bottle, freeze, or dry ready for the winter months.

I did a big pick of green beans and decided to make some green bean relish and have included the recipe for you to make your own in case you can’t keep up with all your beans.

I just used runner beans, and the pickle tasted fantastic.

Recipe: Green bean and onion pickle

Time: One hour plus maturing time (at least a month before eating).

Ingredients

• 900g runner beans, weighed after trimming and slicing.
• 700g onions, chopped.
• 850ml malt vinegar
• 40g (3 level tbsp) cornflour.
• 1 heaped tbsp mustard powder
• 1 rounded tbsp turmeric
• 225g soft brown sugar
• 450g raw sugar
• Salt

Method

1. Put the chopped onions into a saucepan with 275g of the vinegar. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the onions are soft.
2. Meanwhile, cook the sliced beans in boiling salted water for five minutes, then strain in a colander and add to onions.
3. Mix the cornflour, mustard, and turmeric in a small basin with a little of the remaining vinegar, to a smooth paste. Add to the onion mixture.
4. Add the rest of the vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Stir in both forms of sugar until dissolved; simmer for 15 further minutes.
6. Pot the pickle in warmed, sterilised jars, and seal. Label when cold.
7. Keep for at least a month before eating.