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How to Pickle Gherkins – The quick & easy way
You won’t believe how good these are! This is only my second year growing gherkins, but now having discovered how gorgeous homegrown pickled gherkins are, whilst I’m lucky enough to have a garden, I’ll be growing them! I’ve always enjoyed bought pickled gherkins on a burger and I also use them to make tartar sauce, but these homegrown ones are in a different league of scrumptiousness! It helps that they are so easy to grow. The seeds are large, making them easy to handle. They germinate quickly and once they start growing, you’d better make sure you’ve got something for them to grow up, as they romp away. Little yellow…
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Our Cherry Tree – It’s the cherry on the cake!
It was the garden apprentice that chose this cherry tree. It must be around ten years ago now, and it spent the first few years of its life in a pot. It was one of those spontaneous buys at the garden centre. It was April and as a result it was covered in blossom, making it look magnificent and irresistible! It’s full name is Prunus avium ‘Stella’ and it is a sweet desert cherry. Dark red fruits that can be eaten straight from the tree. Unlike the sour cherry trees which are more commonly grown for their ornamental qualities. I’d always thought that I didn’t like cherries, but it turns…
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Cherry and Courgette Cake
As the cherries on our cherry tree tend to ripen within a short space of time, we bake with them. Turning them into the best Cherry Bakewell you’ve ever tasted, or today a Cherry and Courgette cake. If you grow your own courgettes, you will know that once the plant starts producing fruits, you can hardly keep up! Over the years we’ve come up with no end of uses for them, both raw and cooked. In recent years we have been making cakes with them, as they coincide with our soft fruit harvests. They add bulk, fibre and extra vitamins to our cakes. Rather than eating these delicious confectionaries the…
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Longest Day, Midsummer’s Day & Summer Solstice
As we left all of the Summer Solstice celebrations behind last week, we appear to have left the mini heatwave behind too. It has been lovely having some proper summer weather, allowing us to get outside more. As usual it broke before the weekend which is a shame for all the workers. Although as a gardener I’ve almost been doing a rain-dance, as the garden’s got drier and drier! It’s been crying out for a drink and watering had become a daily job. Even plants in the border were wilting and in need of an occasional soaking. The pond was also getting really low and as I’d put two new…
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Now for something completely different – The Purple Potato Project
My first early purple potatoes are ready! I wasn’t going to grow potatoes this year, as we really don’t eat very many, but when I saw the Purple Potato Project, I couldn’t resist! As I’ve said before, I am drawn to something a bit different, and I already grow so many other purple veg. They don’t actually taste any different, but they are better for you, with antioxidants in. The particular antioxidant they have is anthocyanin – known for its positive health benefits. It is purported to reduce inflammation and protect you from conditions like cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Anthocyanin is also found in red cabbage…
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The Madness of May!
May is the month when the garden seems to explode. Not only do new flowers appear everyday, but more appear during the day! When I go and open the greenhouse every morning, I have a mooch around. By the time I’m out there at lunchtime, more flowers have opened. The growing rate at this time of year is incredible! I keep toying with putting a time-lapse camera on the tomato plants. They seem to grow from hour to hour! The Edible Garden Crops we are already eating Breakfast has been zinged up now with the start of the rhubarb harvest. We simply stew it in it’s own juices, then eat…
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What’s growing in the kitchen garden
Time to catch up with the kitchen garden and what’s growing in the raised beds. Firstly the four that are rotated each year. The Roots Bed Back in the autumn I planted up half of the root bed with onion sets. I’m growing red onions for the first time this year. I do love them roasted. The other half of the bed has now been sown with the three varieties of beetroot we grow every year. Red Ace, Golden Globe and Choiggia. The Brassica Bed Two small Italian kale plants, sown last year and overwintered in the greenhouse have now gone in. With this warm weather they’ll soon be growing…
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Growing Tomatoes from seed – Now is the time!
The best thing about growing your own tomatoes, is choice. There is such a wide variety of tomatoes to choose from when you grow your own. The sizes range from, tiny cherry tomatoes, pointed plum tomatoes, right the way up to large beefsteak varieties. And don’t be thinking that all tomatoes are red. They can be yellow, orange, different shades of red and even purple. Growing a variety of colours, looks great in a salad. How to choose your tomatoes The most important thing, when you are growing for yourself is flavour! This is obviously personal preference. So experiment, growing different varieties, but remember to keep records. You’ll soon build…
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Growing Potatoes
If you fancy growing potatoes, especially earlies. Then January is the month to buy your seed potatoes, and get them chitting. This involves putting them in a light, cool place to start them chitting – which is basically sprouting. The best container for this job is an egg box. It holds the potatoes in an upright position, and won’t sweat. Look at each potato and decide which side has the most ‘eyes’ on it, put this side facing upwards. Put them into your coolest room, where they will get plenty of light, but not direct sunlight. You’ll see the little chits start to develop. They are ready to be planted…
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Making Compost
Before we moved here eight years ago. We hadn’t got space for a large composting area so we bought a worm hotel. They were all the rage at the time, and we actually got on very well with it. It was remarkable how quickly the worms broke down the material. There was also an added benefit of liquid fertiliser that you drained off, it was fabulously potent stuff! We brought the worm hotel with us when we moved, and set it up straight away. We throw almost no food away, but we do like to compost all of our vegetable peelings. It served this purpose well for the first three…
