Veg Patch Update...

Pea pods have begun to appear and have started to swell, since all the rain we have had, the sunflowers have had a massive growth spurt and I would say they are now taller than Jack. The pumpkins have begun to creep their way across the vegetable patch and the rhubarb are growing really well, I am so proud that I have managed to grow 5 healthy plants from seed. Little green tomatoes have begun to grow, the aubergines and butternut squashes are getting bigger, as are the parsnips and carrots, and the peppers have begun to flower. Talking of peppers, the chilli plants have an abundance of green chillies which are getting very long, and look fabulous. Friday we donated our surplus plants to Jack's school fair, two tomato plants, one butternut squash and 3 aubergine plants, I wonder if they sold?

Turnips

Something has begun to attack my turnips so I have harvested the last of the crop today, the largest one weighed 312g and the smallest 57g. I think I have found the culprit who has been nibbling away at the turnips, as I cleaned the vegetables an earwig and ants swirled down the plug hole, so I think one of these is to blame, however it doesn't explain what has stripped my broad bean plant. We have found that turnips need to be par boiled before roasting them to rid them of the bitter taste, however, they also taste delicious raw, and as part of a stew/casserole. We have also tried cooking the greens, in the same way as spinach, so nothing has been wasted. Last week our Sunday lunch was accompanied by our first crop of potatoes, they were lovely and enjoyed by everyone, next year I plan to use seed potatoes grown in the raised bed or vegetable patch for a better yield and a more cost effective approach, as using the grow pack has turned out to be quite pricey, however it has been fun and easier plus we have learnt from growing them this way.

BBC Dig In Update

The seeds we received from the BBC Dig In Campaign, have now all been planted and things are doing really well, Jack has planted up 5 tomatoes plants into their final position, and has three lovely butternut squash plants that are also ready to be planted out. The beetroot is happily growing in Al's famous raised bed, the carrots feathery foliage is lush and green (I just hope I have managed to protect them from carrot fly), and the lettuce we sowed in the Christmas chocolate tin has also begun to grow and will soon be ready to eat. Not bad for free... I wonder if the BBC will do it again next year?

From little seeds...

Like little Jack Horner eating his Christmas Pie, I stuck my hand into the tubs with the potatoes and pulled out a beautiful pink new potato (Robinta variety), it was such a lovely colour, sadly this faded when we boiled it to see how it tasted (it was delicious by the way).

This Sunday we shall be enjoying home grown new potatoes with our roast - can't wait.

My chilli plants are doing really well to, I have some really impressive green chillies hanging amongst the leaves, I wonder how long it will take for them to mature and turn red?

In fact so far my vegetable garden is looking promising, I can't wait to start harvesting my crop, we had some of my turnips the other Sunday with our roast, we boiled the green leaves, which tasted of spinach and we roasted the root, unfortunately they turned out to taste quite bitter so I need to do a spot of research on how to cook them as I normally just pop them into casseroles and stews.

Once the thunder storms have passed I shall pop out into the garden and take some photos to document just how well everything is looking.

Hello

I would like to say Hello to everyone who has taken the time to read my blog, thank you.

I would love to here your thoughts and comments, if you click on the word comment (which is green) below the post you can leave a comment or two here.

Thanks once again for taking an interest in my garden xx

8th to 15th June

I've had a busy week in my garden, I have finally finished preparing the bottom half of the garden and all the plants have been planted, it is officially a vegetable patch at long last, with sweetcorn, pumpkins, rhubarb, strawberries and sunflowers, it looks lovely and will look even better once things begin to grow and bloom.

My salad box has begun to germinate there are the first signs of lettuce, spring onions and chives, I also have a dwarfbean coming up through the soil, and my aubergines are loving their new home in my greenhouse, and the chillies' flowers have begun to take the form of little green chillies,

every day something new and exciting is happening in the garden.

On saturday we said good bye to Simon & Penny Pumpkin the last two spare plants, as our friends Penny & Simon came up and collected them for their vegetable patch, they gave me a fabulous cookbook called the great allotment cookbook, there are some delicious recipes including Beetroot and Apple Relish, Pear and Chocolate Crumble, and Raspberry and Blackberry Cordial, I'm looking forward to some making of these once my vegetables are ready to harvest.

Today I harvested my first two strawberries before birds, slugs or mice feast upon them, and I also pulled up my first turnip... over the last week the purple and white turnip tops and begun to peep through the brown soil shaded by the lush green turnip leaves, and I'm afraid I am like it with everything, christmas, pregnancy, birthdays, I get excited and can't wait to find out what I'm going to get and gardening is no different, curiosity got the better of me with my turnips I just had to pull one up to see how big they were and how well they were doing,

and yes I did get laughed at for pulling one up of that size but I have seen them that size if not smaller, labelled up as miniature turnips at a sizable price in supermarkets. Anyway, now I have fed my curiosity I shall leave the rest until they are a little larger. (my children were impressed with it and that is all that matters to me!)

Here comes the rain again...

6th & 7th June

The rain is falling again, and it is so heavy I haven't been able to get out into the garden to do the jobs I wanted to do this weekend, however, on the other hand it has given me the time to get some jobs around the house done and update my blog.

I do hope it dies down later once the kids are in bed so I can nip out and do a few odd jobs, lets hope the rest of the week is dry I have so much to do.