Sowing Sunday Week 8…. On a Monday Again!

Quite a short post this week given as all that's happened is my garden got drenched by the rain! The plants love it. I, on the other hand, do not. No pottering for me this week and you know what?  I've really missed it.  Just thinking about all the healthy plants and gorgeous food to come.

Things are looking very healthy (and smelling very.... fresh!) out there, and no plant bereavements this week - hurrah, an improvement on last at least.

My radishes began to take over and I was sick to the back teeth off nibbling on them just to get rid of them, and it was too cold for salad. But, I found a way to use my glut, enter Radish Top Soup with Tempura Radishes (click to see recipe).

All other veggies are shooting up, it won't be long before I have other types of gluts on my hands.

My courgettes are going ten to the dozen, with new flowers popping up and the bees swarming round.  I'm waiting for enough to get a courgette flower risotto going.  I've never tried them before so I'm getting impatient.

And the strawberries! I spotted my first British grown strawberries in the shop last week, and by the looks of things mine won't be far behind.  I feel an Eton Mess coming on....

As per usual, my herbs are growing crackers, it seems I can't use them fast enough, which is never a bad thing... I may have to get going on the old drying.


Until next week...

Sowing Sunday Week 6

Don't the weeks go by so fast? I can't believe I'm writing week 6.

My Radishes!

Quite a lot has happened in my garden this week. I've been eating radishes, chilli's and lettuce by the truckload, it's a good thing that they are actually good for you! I have to admit, I still get a thrill plucking a radish from the earth, rinsing it off and popping it in my mouth like a savoury peppery cherry, and comparing it to the white and long varieties I'm growing too. And then to grab salad that's not been washed in chemicals and sat in a bag under flourescent lights for a month... well you can't beat it. I did find out that if you leave radishes out for a day, they shrivel like currents - this only leaves me feeling more smug - look how natural they are, I shouted with glee, pointing happily at my shrivelled salad vegetables. Very satisfying, there's nothing quite like it.

To avoid salad and radish monotonicity, I'm going to come up with a recipe that's a little out of the ordinary this week to keep the fun of picking the salad alive and well (especially since I planted some more lettuce in my guttering and the rain and sun combo means they have started to pop through already!)

Where the radishes have come up, I've been replacing them with more carrots and beetroot.

Sadly, I had my first garden casualty this week. Bye bye cucumber. I was going to take a picture but it felt quite morbid. Perhaps it went outside too early. Perhaps it had too much water. Maybe it didnt like the wind. I don't know, but it's not there any more, but it's in a nicer place now, in the compost bin on it's way to creating a loving home for new seedlings next year.

Very exciting news. I have courgette flowers! Two to be precise but I know there are more to come. I'm hoping they will show their sunny selves by next weekend for a courgette risotto I've seen a recipe for.... watch this space.

Courgette Flower

Runner Beans
(with Broad Beans in the troughs)

In other news, the broad beans from my mystery sprouting box are 6" high, and the runner beans are spiralling 4 foot high reaching for the sun each day. Sadly, one of my dwarf bean seedlings shrivelled, but the other two are going strong. I've only had 2 come up from 10 planted, and I have no idea why - any thoughts, garden fans?

Finally, I had to resort to slug pellets around the bottom of my blueberry bush. They've worked but every time I see those baby blue pellets, I feel a horrible guilt. But I'm sure once I taste my first blueberry that'll all disappear in a flash (fickle, moi?)

Before I sign off, I've been taking pictures of my garden from the same spot each week (the view of the troughs my dad and I built).  Just look how things have changed in 5 weeks!

Week 1

Week 6 - What a difference 5 weeks makes

Until next time....

Sowing Sunday - Week 3

Well, all my little seeds have germinated and are currently basking in the glorious sunshine we have in the North West (as am I!)! My strawberries have started to develop what will soon become flowers, and there are little buds on my blueberry bush.  My teeny little radishes are a couple of inches high now, and, very excitingly, my box has started sprouting!


Let me clarify.


As mentioned in my last post, my folks gave me a mystery box of seeds for Christmas that you plant 4" deep and wait for little veggies to appear... and appear they have!  I'd really appreciate it if you could comment and let me know what you think they are.  I think I spy a little lettuce (bottom left) and yet another radish (top right), but other than that, I'm stumped.  Help!

My random box of seeds - but what's sprouted?

Yet again I have garlic breath (the reason for which will become clear in a following post!), but it seems my little veggie babies like the smell of garlic as I continue to breath on them (Ta Anna!), especially the lettuce - look at it go!  




My oregano is starting to look like a bad afro from a 70's porn film, but I kinda like it.  Clearly I need to think up some oregano recipes - my thyme and rosemary is quickly being used up, but this is out of control!

Oregano Afro

To top off my garden adventures for this week, I've planted some dwarf beans in a little bag.  Nothing exciting to report here just yet, but watch this space.


No post next week, this green fingered girly will be on her holidays!  I'm sure my garden will miss me.


Until next time....

Sowing Sunday

It's been a gorgeous weekend here in England, so pleasantly surprising for April.  I've seen my friends, eaten fabulous food, drank far too much wine and vodka (I didn't even realise you could get a magnum of vodka!) and have just spent the last few hours pootling around my garden, breathing on my veg (my German friend, Anna, who came for the weekend, is convinced that breathing on your plants encourages growth; I'm not sure the radishes and lettuce appreciated my garlic breath, but it's worth a try).

I love the summer and the fresh, local produce it brings. How fresh and local can you get than from your own back garden? I don't have a large garden, but my lovely dad made me a 'trough' for my baby seedlings to grow in. I blogged about this trough when it was built two weeks ago, here, and I'm going to document the progress of my veg garden on a Sunday, Sowing Sunday, ending with some dazzling recipes when it all comes to fruition.

So, to us start this off, here is a definitive list of how my garden grows:

• Oregano
• Thyme
• Mint (perfect for those Pimms afternoons)
• Coriander
• Parsley
• Basil
• Bay
• Chives
• Sage
• Tarragon
• Rosemary
• 4 types of lettuce
• Rocket
• Spinach
• Radishes
• Onions
• Spring onions
• Beetroot (this is especially exciting as it's a stripy variety!)
• Carrots
• Runner beans
• Dwarf Beans
• Strawberries (where would the English be without strawberries in our fields and gardens?)
• Blueberries (should be the first year these babies fruit. Very exciting).

Phew, that's quite a list, add to this the tomatoes and cucumber plants that are currently being kept warm in my Uncle John's greenhouse and you have a complete list of my summer garden, and I can't wait. I also have a 'surprise' box of seeds, I have no idea what will come from that, so watch this space.

Please let me know if there is anything else you think I should be planting, and what your recipe ideas are. I may have a veg gardening giveaway coming up and I'm really looking forward to hearing from you all.

So let me give today's update with photographic evidence of my growing success to date. My radishes are coming along at quite a pace, already nearly 2 inches high - not bad for two weeks work!

Radishes - growing at a pace, from a seed only two weeks ago.

The beetroot are on their way up and the carrots and onions are peeking through the cracks of the soil to reach that delicious sunshine. The lettuces and spinach are bursting through and the strawberries and blueberries are beginning to reveal their bright flowers. The herbs are springing back to life, making the most of the gorgeous weather.

I've got a bit of a thing for herbs, the way they can transform something relatively basic, normal and even bland, into something that is a feast for the senses. The same can, and should, be said of spices, but then the fragment leaves in my garden are just begging to be picked, I can't help but bring a few into the kitchen and let my creative side take force. The orange and rosemary cake worked a treat, and I have an idea for a savoury, salty shortbread that would work wonders sprinkled with thyme.... More to follow, as I hope you will follow me on my culinary, green fingered journey.

Until next week....