How does your Garden Grow? With a Passion!

My parents have been away for a few days so it was my job to water the garden for them.  The garden looked lovely with lots of different blooms.  I love the Sweet Peas, the Petunias, Geraniums, Busy Lizzies, Mombretia, Marigolds, Cyclamen and others that I haven't got a clue about.   I should have taken more photographs really, but I was busy trying to keep my eye on Euan and counting the tomatoes he was picking and eating, he gets well in to double figures straight from the vine.  At home I don't think a single tomato has made it into the house yet.  Euan is generous though he throws the misfits to the grateful chickens.  My Dad's vegetables look much better than mine, he feeds his plants regularly, so now I have started to do that, his Sprouting Broccoli, Runner beans, Cabbages, Carrots, Lettuce, Basil, and Aubergines all look promising.  My favourite was this 'Passion Flower'.   This was the only flower on the plant in bloom so far , but the plant has many buds.  I think this flower is striking.

The Following was taken from Wikipedia;

The pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance.

"Passion" in "passion flower" refers to the passion of Jesus in Christian theology. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries adopted the unique physical structures of this plant, particularly the numbers of its various flower parts, as symbols of the last days of Jesus and especially his crucifixion:

The tendrils represent the whips used in the flagellation of Christ.

The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (excluding St. Peter the denier and Judas Iscariot the betrayer).

The flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represent the crown of thorns.

The chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail

The 3 stigmas represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance).

The blue and white colors of many species' flowers represent Heaven and Purity

Digging for Victory Update

Fathers Day Offering :)  A days Harvest and some local Beer.  I love the name of the Beer.

The Little Apple Tree Looks Promising

Potatoes are taking over!  There are Parsnips and Courgettes in there somewhere. The parsley is still going strong.

Broad Beans, I can't wait.  There are also Onions, Turnips and Beetroot in there, oh and another Courgette.

Runner Beans, Kohl Rabi and Peas.

I love raw peas in the Summer.  Not many make it to the pot.  I have to stop myself from eating them like this Mangetout.

Lettuce is interspersed among this lot, I should stop photographing it and start eating it.

Note to self:  Must try harder next year with Cougettes!

Tomatoes are coming along nicely in the Greenhouse, you can't beat a homegrown tomato.  I also love Tomato and Chilli Jam.

Some of the best things in life are happy accidents (Ask my sons!)  Isn't this self seed Poppy beautiful?  It has taken up residence with the peas and beans, it will be brilliant to attract the bees to set my runner beans.

What a lovely pair!

A lovely pair of turnips, the first two of the year!  Turnips are my accidental speciality.  With my abundance of Blackcurrants and this pair of beauties I am really 'living off the fat of the land'.

They were washed, peeled and chopped within minutes along with swede, carrots and onion.

It was all mixed thoroughly together with some minced steak and seasoned with lots of salt and black pepper.

Wrapped up in a circle of Shortcrust  Pastry and Baked until Golden Brown.

A Cornish Pasty to my mind has to contain a bit of turnip for it to be 'Proper' 

I have shown you 'Cornish Pasties with the recipe in this previous post' I just wanted to show off my turnips!  I am off to Google 'Vegetable shows', I think mine are winners!

June 1st - A taste of things to come

A lovely juicy raspberry!  I have had three already, but as I love my chickens so much I donated them to the girls, one each, they gratefully gobbled them up!  We like these in the summer with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or a big pile of squirty cream.

This blackcurrant bush moved house with me about seven years ago, it crops heavily every year and the blackcurrants make delicious jam or jelly.  They are very sour until they are perfectly ripe.  I know when they are ripe because the Blackbird raids the bush so I pick 95% of them in one day and freeze them.  I have given up on strawberries for the time being as 'something' likes them more than we do and they all get eaten.  I love summer fruits.  Hooray for June and Summer sunshine.

I have been enjoying a weeks holiday, tidying the house, ironing, tidying the house and ironing!  In between I have been cooking and hooking!  I should have some crochet to show you tomorrow.  Also I am experimenting with the slow pot and I am rather excited to see the results in the morning.  I am attempting to make Yogurt in the slow pot for the first time.

Now anyone who knows me will tell you, I rarely do things by halves. We like yogurt.  We really do, but if this works, I will have made enough for the street!  It reminds me of Peanuts when 'Lucy' and Charlie Brown have a 'Lemonade Stand'.  I may be selling yogurt tomorrow, or donating it to The Salvation Army.  If it works I will tell you how it is done.  I could be having a raspberry with yogurt for breakfast in the morning!

Digging For Victory

I thought I would give you a tour of my garden in this post.  I have been busy and have lots to show you.  I use 'Deep Raised Beds' to grow vegetables in a small space.  These have several advantages.  They are easy to maintain, easy weeding and no digging and the soil warms up a little quicker to give the plants a headstart.  I read a book 'Square Foot Gardening' and follow some of these ideas, as plants are finished more get poked in.  I get a reasonable amount of produce from a small space although it does become haphazard.

I rotate what it is them each year as vegetables do not like to grow in the same space year after year.  The Potatoes are taking over here but there are also Parsnips and Courgettes.

This bed is home to Spinach, Onion, Turnips, Beetroot, Broad Beans, one or two Lettuce, and a Tomatillo.  It also has the Cold Frame that I use for salad crops, Rocket, Radish and Chives.

 The last one has Runner Beans, Peas and Kohlrabi.

 I also have ten Tomato plants in gowbags, in the Greenhouse.

A couple of Cucumber plants.  I am not very good at growing cucumbers but I try every year.

And five Chilli plants.  The Greenhouse is long overdue a clean and tidy up.  It is on my list of things to do.

I have this little Fig Tree that hated the harsh Winter, even the leaves aren't enough to cover your modesty!

The little Apple tree however, promises a bumper crop.

I have one blackcurrant bush and it is a really heavy 'cropper' I will get 5-6 pound of fruit from it. 

I also grow a few herbs, this lovely Sage bush attracts all the pollinators, the bees love it (so do the chickens!)   

Radishes

This is a beautiful picture of Peter Rabbit eating radishes from Mr Mcgregor's garden.  This Beatrix Potter story was one of my favourites as a child and I loved reading it to my children.  I am a bit of dreamer and for me the humble home grown radish conjurs this delightful image.  My son loves picking things from the garden and eating it, he nibbles on Parsley and Chives when there is not much else growing.  He also eats a stick of rhubarb dipping it into sugar.  We are truly living off the fat of the land! 

Yesterday he had his first crunchy radish of the season and he likes them as much as Peter Rabbit did.  He would eat them for breakfast if I would let him.  I am a spoil sport.  I have a small patch of rocket I have been picking and mixing it with baby spinach leaves for salad,  it will be delicious with a few sliced radishes tossed in.  After a quick Google search I have discovered I have been throwing the most nutritious part of the Radish away, the greens.  I have found a recipe for Radish 'Greens' Soup.  In fact I have found hundreds of Radish recipes.  I could write a book as a follow on from last years '101 ways with a Turnip', '101 Ways with a Radish.'  I will have to be quick though before they all disappear!

Here is a Radish Recipe I have adapted to try:

Radish Butter

Ingredients:
1 Bunch Radishes, finely sliced (save the greens for soup!)
2 tablespoons chopped Parsley
25g softened Butter
1 tablespoon of Mayonnaise

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.  Spread on fresh crusty bread or crispbread and enjoy!
This recipe belongs to the 'Cucumber Sandwich' brigade, it gives you the fresh taste of the Summer and would make good picnic food.

Spinach - Garden Harvest

Here is some Homegrown Spinach.  This spinach was actually planted last year and it survived the harsh winter!  This Spinach is very Hardy.  I think it is 'Matador' variety.  I try to use what I grow rather than waste it.  Popeye would be proud of me.

I put some in this Chicken and Chick Pea Curry.

I also made a Spinach and Feta Quiche.  I just made a shortcrust pastry case, blind baked it for about ten minutes then crumbled about 300g of Feta into the base, with all of the wilted chopped spinach I could gather.  I beat three eggs with 150ml of milk, poured it over the Feta and Spinach and baked it until golden and set.

I have lots of vegetables threatening to put in an appearance this year so I am looking forward to more concoctions.  Last year I had a large glut of Turnips...I was going to write a book '101 ways with the Humble Turnip!'  I wonder what this year will bring...

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb...

My Garden is providing, we are living off the 'Fat of the land'.  Ok I may be exaggerating but I do have Parsley and Rhubarb ready for harvesting.  I have yet to find a recipe using both so we settled for a good old 'Rhubarb Crumble'.  First pick your Rhubarb.

Trim it,  wash it and chop it into pieces.  Here is my top tip for cooking Rhubarb, I do not add any water or 'Sugar' but I mix it with two or three good tablespoons of Golden Syrup.  (If you are trying to cut down on sugar - no sugar fizzy lemonade or ginger beer is good.)  I then put it in a medium oven for about twenty minutes.  It still keeps its shape rather than stewing down to a puree. 

For the crumble topping:

175g/6oz Flour

75g/3oz Butter or margarine
75g/3oz Sugar

I rub the flour and fat together until it resembles breadcrumbs and then add the sugar.  Place the crumble topping over the fruit and bake in a medium oven for a further twenty minutes, until golden brown.  This crumble has been consumed with 'Toffee Ice-cream' or but my youngest stuck to his usual...  'Squirty Cream'.

When I was a child a comedy show used to be on tv on Sunday afternoons.  It was called 'Rhubarb, Rhubarb'.  The only words spoken for the whole show was 'Rhubarb'.  I used to find it fascinating.

Rhubarb, Rhubarb - British Comedy from the 1980s Dialogue consists only of the word Rhubarb.

Apple Blossom and Chicken Coop

The warm sunshine has brought out the Apple Blossom, it will look beautiful for a few days until it falls like confetti.  This little tree is in it's third year the Garden.  My Mom and Dad got it for me for a Birthday present.  The variety is 'Greensleeves', my Mom used to sing that to me and my children as a lullaby, it is one of my favourite tunes.  The apples are green, crisp, very fresh and juicy.  I will have to be patient.

I have been doing some dirty jobs in the garden, I have planted lots of vegetable seeds over the past couple of weeks but today was the 'turn' of the compost bins.  Not the most pleasant of tasks.  Good job my Dad came to help empty and turn them.  My Raspberry, blackcurrant and blackberry have all had a nice top dressing of 'Black Gold', rich black compost.  My garden is always very haphazard but it has its little gems.  These Spring Tulips are really cheery;

 The flowers are not the only thing enjoying the sunshine in the garden.  I have popped the Chickens outside in their Brooder with the heat lamp off.  It has been so warm.  They are growing fast and are looking quite scruffy and gawky, in between soft yellow downy feathers and stubby little ginger ones coming through.  They seemed mesmerised to be outside listening to all the sounds, the blackbirds and the pigeons.  Chickens are supposed to have fantastic full colour vision and one of the babies looked in awe as a pigeon flew over.  The first time they saw the concept of birds flying.  I chicken looks in awe when it stretches it's neck to five time its normal size, stands stock still and stares!  lol.

Scruffy Babies, very very cute tail feathers!

The chicken coop arrived today, I have been excited waiting for it to arrive.  It arrived in 'Flat pack' form.  I bought it for a good price from good old e-bay.  It also has a set of waterproof covers that I thought may come in handy if we have another really cold winter like the last.  I pride myself  on my flatpack expertese and have many a cupboard and wardrobe door on the wonk to prove it!  I built this by myself with my six year old supervising.  The hardest part was when I lost a tiny nut and bolt in the grass but after sitting and searching I did eventually find it.


My six year old son said he wishes he was a chicken, he wants to live in there!  It could be arranged.



Look what I pulled today!

I couldn't help it.  I am so proud of them.  I am sure they will look even nicer roasted for Sunday Lunch tomorrow.  :)

Showing off my Parsnips!

Dig for Victory

Today there was some long awaited sunshine.  I have been thinking about the garden a great deal, but the time is not right to do anything about it yet.  This week I have been buying vegetable seeds in anticipation to start the growing year again but the ground has been frozen solid.  I did manage to get out and mooch about and see what is going on out there.  It looks sorry for itself but already there are signs of life and rejuvenation.  The first plant to bud each year is my big old blackcurrant bush, I only have one and it grows enough currants for at least 5lbs of jam each year.  I wait for optimum ripeness then I have to race the Blackbird to get them all picked.


Big Old Blackcurrant Bush - Always the first plant to bud

 I also have Raspberry canes, they are rather intrusive and love my garden so now my neighbour has lots too, wether he wants them or not!


Somewhat invasive Raspberry canes

 Last Year for my Birthday I had three large raised beds put in to the garden, they do not look great at this time of year but there is still plenty going on in there and in the summer when they a brimming with fresh green peas, courgettes, tomatoes, broad beans, turnips, beetroot, lettuce, chillis, rocket, herbs, spinach, onions, potatoes and runner beans they look alot more inviting. 
Please note Percy Pigeon observing the goings on.  We rescued a baby pigeon last year and nursed him for about a week until he left.  We worried about him like you would a pet.  We kept releasing him and then finding him wondering down the path at night in the dark, looking little and vulnerable.  He would bed down in a wicker basket with a Digestive biscuit soaked in  milk for supper, then go about his business again during the day.  One day he was strong enough to leave the garden and now four regularly feed here.  I am sure one is Percy, he has that look about him.

On closer inspection today there are still small tasty offerings to be had, that have proven their resilience against the extreme winter weather.

Kohl Rabi

Lovely Leeks

Curly Kale

Jerusalem Artichokes

Parsnips

Amazing Sage will soon be covered in flowers and Bumble Bees

'Greensleeves' Apple Tree and Percy Plum Tree

I will find it interesting to Blog the garden and its produce as the year evolves, It doesn't look much now but in the Spring and Summer it is my favourite place.