Thursday 24 April 2014

My Garden: 24th April 2014

I massacred my brassica seedlings. I planted a mix of purple sprouting broccoli, calabrese and cabbage indoors in early March and they were looking well for a while:







Unfortunately even though indoor sowing is great for sprouting seeds, it is quite difficult to maintain seedling health as the soil dries out quickly. The only window sill I had available was the sitting room, and it was still stove lighting weather so my seedlings perished in the dry heat:




Doh.

But there is still time! Not deterred by my failures, I planted a new batch of seedlings, even better than the first! They remain outside in boxes that I can cover at night. I am making an effort to shade them when the sun is strong. Honestly sometimes I think it works better when seeds are sown outside and you just leave the rain and sun do their work. In the words of Queen, too much love will kill you[r brassica seedlings].






In other news I took a shovel to the compost bin and what started off as disgusting bits of rotting food, egg cartons, toilet rolls and leaves, is now more attractive and usable:




My comfrey plant which had died back for the winter is full of growth so I've started a batch of fertiliser:




My broad beans have gone out to the big bad world, and I've planted mange tout around them, plus some sweet pea flowers to attract the pollinators.





Wednesday 16 April 2014

Make Your Own Marinara Sauce

Ideally my homemade marinara sauce would be made in season from a glut of home grown tomatoes but we just do not get the climate to encourage a bumper tomato crop so cheap Lidl cherry tomatoes it is.

First I drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar over a head of garlic split into cloves, a large onion and 1.5 kg of cherry tomatoes. I added a pinch of sea salt, sugar and dried oregano plus some fresh basil and oven roasted the whole lot at gas 4 for about 45 minutes.




The roasted veg were blended until liquid, but still lumpy, and married with meatballs and spaghetti for a hearty meal.


This sauce will freeze well. I just cooled and poured into a zip lock freezer bag.

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Eat Your Weeds!

We all have those tiny ambitions, little dreams that would be easy to fulfill but other things keep getting in the way. For some it might be to complete in a triathlon...for me, it's to eat nettles. I have no excuse, they grow in my back garden, but it's taken years of thinking about it for me to finally do it. And today was that day. As per foraging guidelines, I snipped the young tips from the plants. Nettles should be eaten young, and definitely before the plant flowers as growth at this stage can be damaging to the kidneys.




The nutritional benefits of nettles include iron and vitamin C.
I washed the nettles and gently sweated in a pot with some butter. 




To compliment the dish, I pulled a very young garlic plant and chopped it into the pot. Even though I was full sure that cooking removes the sting, that first taste was nerve racking! I was rewarded with a delicious spinach tasting, textured but soft mouthful. It's not a great photo, sorry.




So I can confirm that nettle eating is not just foraging play but a viable side dish to complete with any other green leaf you might buy in a shop.