Sprouts!

We have had our first frosts so my youngest daughter is itching to go and pick some sprouts. "Have we got some?" enquired Him Indoors. Clearly he wasn't there when they were planted, weeded and watered all through spring and summer! It did not feel like sprout season last weekend as I really do associate them with winter. I'm not sure I will be able to deflect her much longer though!

It would be a shame not to indulge her on this one: she is genuinely excited about the prospect of the first sprouts for dinner and it makes a nice change from being pestered for sweets and chewing gum. It can be a half-term activity to go and pick some.

 # ends

Self-sufficient. For a while at least

We are at that happy time of year when we are briefly self-sufficient in fruit and veg. It feels good and I feel that I made the right choice in keeping the lottie. There have been lots of times when I have struggled to keep up with things but I guess anything worthwhile requires a bit of effort.
Over the course of the year we have enjoyed lots of lovely things to eat. I'm sorry if this seems self-satisfied, but I couldn't resist a tally:

Grown in the garden:
Not just in the little patch shown in the photo here, but also in pots, in the back garden, in the ground and up trees and trellises too...
Apples - from our two traditional Lincolnshire heritage trees
Victoria Plums
Tomatoes - took ages to ripen but finally abundant
Beetroot
Courgettes
Spring onions - still going strong
Radishes
Salad leaves
Blackcurrants - just a few as I have just one young plant
Red cabbage
Chives
Strawberries - those the dog didn't eat!
Sugar-snap peas - grown in pots. A great success.
Herbs: mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme and basil.

From the lottie:
Potatoes
Onions - now all plaited and hanging in the garage
Garlic - ditto
Purple sprouting broccoli - just starting
White cabbage
Spinach
Raspberries
Fine green beans
Broad beans
Runner beans
Almost ripe: pumkins
And coming soon...sprouts.

Practical as well as beautiful?

As mentioned in a previous post I have been attempting to incorporate veg in my garden at home - particularly those which benefit from more regular watering than is possible down at the plot. I have French Beans climing up a tree, and  my favourite red poppies sharing a large pot with some beautiful purple leaved Brussel Sprout plants kindly given to me by a friend.

There were some early wins and unexpected benefits from this approach. My initial attempts to grow strawberries in large pots in the back garden looked as though they were going to be disastrous when the dog developed a taste for the fruit. However, moving the pots into the front garden got over that problem and meant that the regular patrols by next door's cats kept the birds away. No need for a fruit cage there!

My garden is a reasonable size but not huge, so a regular veg plot was out of the question. It has been much more a case of thinking about what I can squeeze into the existing beds and borders - including the front garden. I hope my neighbours have been won around by my choice of cabbages in the front. I'm hopeless at marking and/or remembering exactly what I have planted but the cabbages in question have a beautiful grey-green leaf tinged with a deep pink. Delicately fringed with a row of spring onions which have done really well, and with two lovely pink roses behind (see the photo below) I think it has looked really pretty. If the neighbours still have doubts I will bring them round with gifts of the surplus cabbages which are now ready to lift.

Summer recipies for cabbage?

So keen was I to experiment with what would grow that I didn’t really stop to consider when they would mature, and what we would do with 12 enormous cabbages in the height of summer. But of course there is a limit to the amount of cabbage you want to eat in July and August. I have come up with a few summery recipies. It was lovely flash fried with olive oil then dressed with lemon juice and mint. And given the colour of this particular cabbage it makes a really pretty pink coleslaw. With two little girls what could be better? However, additional recipes for cabbage in summer would be gratefully received as I have another 10 cabbages to go!