Handbag Harvest

When you’re on your way home from work and you want to harvest some veg for dinner, there’s really only one option – deploy the handbag!

Runner beans or no?

I have a love-hate relationship with Runner Beans. Every year I draw up my masterplan and omit Runner Beans – this is because we can’t eat them as fast as the plant produces them and I hate to see veg go to waste. Plus I’m not wholly convinced that I like the taste of them. […]

Super Early Onions

This is a photo of my onion patch. I planted around 20 sets of the super-early onion Radar, back in December. They seem to be romping ahead and are nearly big enough for picking green. The Red Baron sets that I planted in February are still very small so it seems worth while to get […]

Asparagus and Gruyere Tart

I don’t grow Asparagus. When I first got the keys to mtp I was convinced that I wouldn’t have the plot long enough to warrant planting Asparagus. Plus I’m pretty impatient, and waiting two years before getting a crop seemed like way too much forward planning for me in my veg growing infancy. Boy do […]

Basil Seedlings

I love Basil – the taste, the smell, the lushness of its leaves. Everything about it makes me hungry. Now is the time to start off Basil seedlings. I put these in a few weeks ago and placed them in my mini-greenhouse. They were through in a couple of days and are doing well. I […]

Elderflower

My Black Lace elderflower bush is just starting to flower. Now all I need is my gooseberries to ripen and I’ll have all I need for a Gooseberry and Elderflower crumble – that should make under gardener happy – he’s a sucker for a traditional pudding dish.

When to Sow Fennel

I bought these fennel plants at the local farmers market. I paid a pound for a pot with around 5 plants in it. I’ve never grown Fennel before so when I got them home I separated them and grew them on individually ready to be planted out. I have four left (gave one to my […]

Cut & Come Salads

The best thing about this time of year is the fresh, young, salad crops that look so tasty (especially after a shower of rain). This year I’m trying some Cut & Come lettuce (a salad mix). It’s fantastic. They’re ready way before the hearting varieties and it means that we’re enjoying salads already!

Grow Your Own (the movie)

Grow Your Own (the movie) is out on June 15th. The website has just launched and they’ve used some of my recipes! It’s a very nicely designed site with a section where you can watch the trailer too. Looks like a pretty ‘true to life’ example of allotment life if you ask me.

Brassicas planted

The brassicas are all tucked up in their new home. We planted two Broccoli plants, three red cabbage plants and three cauliflower plants. Mtp has a bit of club root problem so we needed to add some lime to each hole and dig it into the soil before we planted them. Then each plant received […]