Get gardening with Gillie: Back to childhood with her grandma steamed suet pudding

When I was a little girl in the late 1940s and early 50s my grandma used to make steamed suet puddings ­— both savoury and sweet ones.

They were real rib sticking ones! The only trouble was they took 2½ hours to steam on the top of the gas stove.

The other day I made a modern version of one.

Instead of suet I used margarine and used a shortcrust pastry recipe but with self-raising flour.

The filling was leeks, celery, mushrooms and Quorn pieces (a chicken substitute) all cooked for three minutes in the microwave before putting into the pastry lined basin. Pastry lid on the top and microwaved for seven minutes.

I looked up microwaving puddings on the internet and there are several recipes. It tasted very good and so much quicker than making a pie in the oven.

Steamed sponge puddings with jam, apple or syrup on the bottom only take four minutes. A far cry from grandma’s day!

Our naughty dog has wriggled under the door of the tunnel and dug up a lot of our spring cabbages. They have been replanted and a wire cage put over them.

It is now time for the garlic and broad beans to be planted if you haven’t already done so.

I have planted some outside and some in the tunnel. All have had wire cages put over the top to stop the dog digging them up.

My Welsh onions are doing very well. Mother used to grow them and lift a clump, pull off what she needed and replant the rest. I’ve replanted a few in the tunnel to see how they perform in there.

The chives are doing nicely but I’ve lifted them and put them in a different place. They were right in the middle of where I want to plant some more soft fruit.

The leaves in the back garden are swept up every week and put in the leaf cage. It will be at least a year before its ready to use as a mulch on the garden.

We have got two more containers full of compost to spread on the garden now though.

The front garden border is looking very tatty and overgrown with self-seeded plants. The soil is very poor and we have finally decided to dig the whole lot out and start again.

There are a few well-established plants that will have to stay and the bulbs will stay, but the rest will come out. One of the containers of compost will be spread on to the ground and then the best of the plants will go back in.

There are a few perennials in the back garden that I can move to the front and lots of bulbs that have been in containers.

In the house the Christmas cacti have been outside most of the summer and are now back on the landing window and are full of bud ­— a sure sign winter is really coming!