Redcurrant Jelly

I went away for a few days and when I came back virtually ‘all’ the redcurrants are ready for picking. There are probably another four or five basket-loads left on the bushes. I read in The Cook and The Gardener that if you use fresh redcurrants to make Redcurrant Jelly then you don’t need to […]

Peas in a pod

The peas that I planted in the guttering at the end of March are ready for harvesting. They are super-sweet and taste great right out of the pod. I made a lovely conconction of braised peas, broadbeans, green garlic and New Zealand spinach – all freshly picked from mtp. I threw in a few pine […]

Weeding again

Do you ever look at your garden and think, what’s the point? I did the other day. I was quite shocked that such a thought could enter my mind since I’ve been so obsessed with growing vegetables on my tiny plot for the last year now. I had quite a busy day on Sunday. I […]

First Strawberries

I picked the first of the strawberries last night and ate half of them with some ice cream. Boy were they sweet! Last year, the strawberry harvest was poor – mainly due to my neglect. The birds had most of them and what they left behind the slugs cleared up. This year I made a […]

Off to the plot

I’m off to the plot to plant my pumpkin seedlings. The one at the top is Uchiki Kuri and the one below is Futsu. I’m very excited about growing pumpkins this year as we didn’t grow any last year. I have left two good sized beds (around 2 metres each) for them so they’ll have […]

Winter Leeks

I planted some leeks to be harvested through the winter. I borrowed my neighbour’s long steel rod for making deep holes. As he put it, ‘the bigger the hole the longer the white bit of the leek’. It was very heavy though so my tiny girl-arms couldn’t make holes as big as the ones he […]

Time to water potatoes

My early potatoes (Robinta) are flowering. It’s time to start watering them to ensure a healthy crop of decent sized potatoes, as apposed to mini marbles. We haven’t had any rain here (South West) for over a week and yesterday was so hot I had to wait until 6pm to do any work whatsoever. Watering […]

Seedlings die in hot propogators

Oh no! I went away for a few days leaving my propogator full of lettuce seedlings in the garden. I watered them well before I went hoping that they would be okay. I left the lid on which was my mistake because when I came back they were all dead. They were brown and shrivelled […]

Strawberry Sweetcorn Seedlings

The strawberry sweetcorn seeds that I planted on May 31st have shot up. Virtually every single one germinated and they’ve been growing like mad ever since. The Northern Sweet variety that I sowed alongside them didn’t fair so well. Around half of them didn’t germinate, so it’s a good job I put two in each […]