Things. Are. Happening. In the garden. It's food. And I'm growing it.
This has been my best year so far for growing my own, and I'm really seeing the potential for being able to grow loads more as the garden progresses over the next couple of years. My new raised bed in the back garden has been amazing and I want more!
I have so much lettuce, and so many peas. The yellow mange tout I planted has been prolific. Unfortunately they're not as tasty as the less prolific purple mange tout I planted last year, but happily the purple ones have self seeded so I have some of those too!
My favourite lettuce is this one, I'm not entirely sure what it is because I mixed some lettuce seed together without noting down what I was using, but it's huge and delicious.
I've had far too many mange tout to eat, so I've been blanching it in boiling water (about a minute - minute and a half is right for mange tout, it's probably not right, but I've just been doing odd handfuls in a mug of boiling water!), then drying and popping into a sterilised jar in the freezer to use in stir fries in the winter.
I've been enjoying garlic scapes, wet garlic and some unsuccessful elephant garlic (won't bother with that one again, I've included my finger in the photo for scale! It wasn't strong tasting enough for me either!)
It's been my best year for strawberries. I'm so happy!
We've been picking home grown herbs all spring and summer too, rosemary, thyme and sage are our favourites and Joe makes amazing herby roast potatoes.
How are your gardens? Are you harvesting anything exciting?
How are your gardens? Are you harvesting anything exciting?
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That's so exciting! You're doing brilliantly.
ReplyDeleteSo far we've harvested crops of lettuce, rocket, spinach, sugar snap peas, redcurrants, rhubarb and we had our first two courgettes with our tea last night, griddled and served with wild blackberry balsamic (I made a couple of years ago). A long way away from self sufficiency but it's a decent start! xxx
Oh yeah, that's excellent! I've just picked my first courgettes, and neither of them have any slug damage! This has never happened before!
Deletethis looks amazing! we've been eating lettuce at every meal I planted way too much in my first sowing, slugs ate every single seedling of my second so now we're waiting on a third batch. I'm about to start harvesting spring onions, they've grown really well and I'm so excited to try them. I also have cucamelons that are about to flower - James Wong Homegrown Revolution seeds, a mix of cucumber and melons, about the size of a large grape. My husband is unimpressed but I can't wait to see how they turn out! Next year I have plans to plant more things. It's addictive!
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by cucamelons, I've seen them before and they look super cute, but I don't like cucumber or melons, so I'm not sure if they'd be wasted on me!
DeleteLovely to see how well you're doing. Pick-your-own-at-home is such a great feeling.
ReplyDeleteA couple of little tips for anyone here who's just starting out on their growing journey, that I wish someone had told me years ago (apologies to those who've heard it before)
- Despite the lovely tempting pics on the seed packets, butternuts, pumpkins and various other squashes are v hard to do well with in this country - too little sun, too short a growing season etc. They'll break your heart, just a little, if you let them ;) The exception to this is courgettes, bless them.
- Perennial herbs- as soon as they're well established, take cuttings from them so that when they get old, woody & straggly, you'll have decent sized replacements ready without needing to go to the garden centres for their overpriced offerings.
Anyone else got any tips to share - if it's OK with Susie, that is?
Thanks for the tips (of course I don't mind :) I've found lovely big tomatoes will break your heart in the same manner as pumpkins - I can grow cherry tomatoes but anything bigger just doesn't get enough sun in my garden to ripen! I've given up - I'll stick with my cherry toms and my courgettes! :)
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