Saturday 7 April 2012

Growing things and vegetables at Easter



Easter is definitely a time of new life.  I know we can buy daffodils in the shops from early January these days, but it is around Easter time that they really feel appropriate.  My lovely team at work presented me with these beautiful mini daffodils for my birthday before I went away, and over the 6 days that we were on holiday they have bloomed and add wonderful Easterly colour to our sitting room.

Now we have a garden I am keen to make the most of it. My courgettes which I wrote about here are blossoming... 

My father kindly watered them whilst we were away, and I am just waiting for Mr W to finish digging in the garden to make a bed for them.

Our garden is if I'm honest, a bit of a mess.  I had hoped that it would be our project for 2012, but we just don't have the time needed to throw at it (or money, which buys other people's time).  We will plod on slowly with it, and in the meantime, I'm focussing on container gardening (courgettes aside).  We have a lovely sunny concrete "patio" which was just perfect for the tomatoes last year, so I'm going to extend the number of things that I'll try to grow.

I've already got my tomatoes going, this year I'm doing them from scratch which is quite exciting.  Last year my colleague kindly gave me two plants and I hope she has got some spares on standby this year as these look so very fragile.  I had to thin them out before we went away and I nearly cried at having to kill some of the baby plants that I'd germinated.


The parsley at the back of this picture is doing rather well too - I think I need to thin it out or put it into a bigger pot?

Mr W took me to the garden centre today.  (He must have had some post-birthday-guilt as he took me to the one next to Lakeland and Hobbycraft which proved a little heavy on the credit cards).  We bought a strawberry planter - I have grand plans for a strawberry patch like the one that we had in my garden as a child but the ground is not yet ready - it's pink, and it holds 9 strawberry plants (which were conveniently on 3 for 2) and we planted them this morning.  We'll need some netting to keep the birds off in due course.


Whilst we were there, I spotted this cute planter of beetroots!  I have no idea about beetroots and the instructions that came with it are a bit basic, but I'll keep watering them, keep it in a sunny and sheltered spot and hope for the best (when do you know how to pick them?)



In other, related news, I am very excited to have ordered my first vegetable box from Abel and Cole which will arrive on Tuesday.  I know I am very behind the times with this as schemes to have a weekly box of seasonal vegetables delivered must have existed for over a decade now.  Mr W and I found trying to eat more healthily on Lent A Good Thing and want to continue if we can.  I'm a bit unadventurous in both my cooking and eating and I am hoping that having a random assortment of vegetables each week will inspire me!  (Actually, if I'm honest, the reason I chose Abel and Cole rather than a local scheme was partly the midweek delivery day, but mainly the fact that you could specify things which you didn't want included (onions and fennel in my case), but also the fact that they tell you in advance what you will get which appeals to my control and planning side).  I absolutely can't wait for my first box to arrive - I may even make a blog feature of it and post about what I get and what I plan to make (and to seek advice from my more seasoned readers who know what to do with a broad bean (because seriously, I don't, at the moment, all I eat is spinach, asparagus, tinned tomatoes and the occasional courgette or bit of brocolli...).  Watch this space.






9 comments:

  1. Looking forward to hearing all about your produce both home grown and delivered.

    But do not ask me what to do with Broad Beans! I did make a nice Potato and Spinach bake today for my tea. Always like new ideas for vegetables. Other than soup which I make litres off anyway!

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    1. I think risotto and possibly hummus depending how many beans I get are on the menu. Hopefully we'll all be able to share ideas!

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  2. I do hope your vegetable box becomes a regular feature. I can use some inspiration, too!

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  3. That sounds amazing, and I empathise with the pain of thining out carefully tended seedlings. Can I also recommend mint for pot growing (it seems to be anything proof, and you can add it to loads of things or just hot water).

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    1. Yes, have been meaning to get some mint started - needs to be in a pot so it doesn't take over the garden!

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  4. Verity, have never grown beetroot myself, but have found what are hopefully 2 useful websites for you.

    http://www.growingyourownveg.com/beetroot.php

    http://vegbox-recipes.co.uk/ingredients/beetroot.php

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    1. Those look helpful Geraldine - thank you! I think the veg-box recipes site could be more widely useful too. x

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  5. So exciting! I think slow-and-steady with the garden sounds like the best approach anyway, that way you can ease into it and you're more likely to have more success.

    With regards to your lovely beetroot, may I suggest some seriously tear-jerking thinning? It looks like you've 20 or so seedlings in there and they'll soon start to crowd one another out. If you can imagine the size you want the beets to end up, that's the amount of space you need to allow between the plants. They'll be ready to pick when the stalks start to look really thick and you can brush the soil away from them and feel that they're quite broad-shouldered.

    If you've simply got half a dozen really happy beets in there, please do ignore my well-meaning 'advice'.

    And as to the veg delivery, I am utterly filled with envy. So looking forward to hearing what you do with them!

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