More on foraging...

Well, as is often the case, I have been thinking more about my last post on foraging and again, I have noticed just how much I have written this from a Western European viewpoint.  Having the luxury of foraging edible things as a little hobby is nothing in comparison to having to live daily on what you find.  It is very easy to talk about how lovely it is to find food in the wild when you have supermarkets etc on your doorstep.  Who knows how we'd fare if we had to go out and find our dinner...not very well, I reckon.  So, I just wanted to add this to my previous post - not to take away from the fun it is to get a few little edible things outside but to appreciate that life could be very different indeed if foraging was a necessity.

Foraging...

Foraged food...

It's raining heavily this morning, so I am very glad I went out yesterday to collect wild garlic leaves to make pesto.  I have always wanted to try this and found a good recipe online on the River Cottage forum that involved said leaves, walnuts, olive oil, hard cheese and a bit of seasoning.  Whizzed up and put into a sterilised jar it should keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks if it's lucky :-)

There is something quite magical about foraging for food - I haven't done much of it apart from the odd occasion when I have picked "wild" food such as blackberries but I'd like to learn more about it.  It feels basic and natural to go out there and finding something to eat.  The lives most of us lead here in Western Europe are much removed from the original sources of food but when you do go and collect something edible, it seems to resonate with something deep inside.  Since I am no expert, I would definitely not recommend just picking anything that looks tasty - that would be a recipe for disaster - but with the right knowledge, it must be very rewarding indeed.

Bunnies and beans...

Bunny invasion...

Whether or not you celebrate Easter, here is to a happy Sunday!

I have just been outside to check on the crops and have found that the potatoes are already beginning to poke through the soil again, so more earthing up will be needed soon!  Other exciting news is that two of the broad bean seeds have germinated already!  I am hoping the other ones will make it as well but this is definitely a very good start!  Onions and garlic are also doing well, so I am - well - a happy bunny, I suppose ;-)

I think sometime over the next couple of weeks will be a good time to get the lettuce seeds into the ground as well.

Easter

Hot cross buns

It's the Easter weekend and Good Friday at that, so what better excuse to make hot cross buns?  I did exactly that today with the help of my River Cottage Handbook Bread.  I amended the recipe slightly to increase the amount of dried fruit as last year we had to play "spot the raisin", so double the amount went in this year.  The photo shows the result - not too bad, I reckon and they taste rather lovely :-)

Vegetable nursery...

Yesterday, I potted on the tomato plants and given that they are still looking ok today, I guess I didn't do them too much damage in the process.         

I also put a few pepper and pumpkin seeds into pots and then the propagator, so hopefully they will germinate in a week or so and then grow into strong plants.  I should have enough room in the raised bed for the pumpkins as I am planning on putting the lettuce amongst the garlic and onions.  The peppers if successful at all should be best kept indoors on the window sill.  Can't wait to see how many will make it :-)

Rain at last

The plants are there...honestly!

Rain - finally!  We have only had a few light showers today, interspersed with sunshine but at least the ground is getting some much needed moisture.  It's not that I don't prefer sunshine - I have just been worried about the prospect of a hosepipe ban coming to Wales.

My raised bed and grow bags will also enjoy this weather - things are growing nicely which might not be too apparent from the photo but the plants are definitely there! :-)  I will have to check when I have to start earthing up the spuds - I can't remember what I did last year.  Garlic and onions are doing well and I think I will plant some lettuce amongst those to make best use of the somewhat limited space.

Lovely seeds...

The trip to my favourite garden centre Fforest Mill resulted in a number of small plastic pots for planting on the tomato plants and several packets of seeds ;-)  I could have easily bought so much more but I have to be realistic in terms of space available etc.  No point also in growing stuff we are not likely to eat, so I have restricted myself to buying lettuce, two types of peppers and a mini pumpkin.  I really don't know what it is with me an pumpkins but I'd just love to grow some.  Each to their own, I suppose :-))  I was saying earlier today that buying vegetable seeds gets me as excited as some women get buying shoes.  Which I guess gives you an insight into a) what is important to me and b) the state of my shoe rack.

Bloomin' marvellous...

It's been a stunning weekend full of sunshine, relaxing with friends and having good food!  We made ice cream - one was vanilla with millionaire shortbread chunks, the other was kiwi sorbet and both were very yummy indeed!  Can you think of anything better than sitting on the lawn with friends and indulging in a homemade treat? :-) 

More and more flowers and bushes are coming into bloom and the garden looks beautiful as does the park across the road.  It is supposed to be getting cooler over the next few days, so I hope the blossoms won't suffer too much.

I noticed a few days ago that the potato plants are slowly beginning to come through the soil in the grow bags, so they will need earthing up soon.  No sign yet of the broad beans germinating but apparently that takes a little while (several weeks if I am not mistaken).  Off to the garden centre tomorrow to get more seeds...lettuce and peppers if I can restrain myself from buying any others... 

The little tomato plants are coming along leaps and bounds and I will have to replant them shortly into bigger pots.  Can't believe how much growing they have done in such a short space of time!  I really do hope that they will bear some lovely tomatoes for us in a couple of months.

More growing...

It is still absolutely glorious here and all the plants are busy producing buds, leaves and in some cases even blossoms.  How lovely it looks when everything is coming back to life after winter!

The tomato seeds are germinating nicely.  No signs yet of the pepper seeds germinating but I only put those in a couple of days ago, so no surprise there.  Outside the garlic and onions are continuing to make good progress and I can't wait for the first sign of the potato plants appearing - then it will be a busy time with earthing them up and keeping fingers crossed for a good crop :-)  Not too long now until I can start sowing lettuce seeds into the raised bed - we will go for lambs lettuce again as that worked really well last year but this time I need to remember to sow every couple of weeks for ongoing supplies.  I might also try gem lettuce but with extra slug protection (ie plastic covers).  I am still thinking about what else I could give a go... This time of year is just so exciting and I don't want to miss out on the chance to grow produce. :-)

I also can't wait for jam making time!  We will go strawberry picking then and I will make jam for the larder - the blackberry & apple jelly I made last year was very tasty indeed but we'll have to wait until autumn to replenish our supplies.  Still have a few jars left...

No news on the cooking/baking front - I have been making more rolls and bread but haven't bothered mentioning it here or posting photos.  Thanks to the River Cottage Bread book they are pretty much fool-proof...famous last words! :-)

Little miracles

Tomato seed germinating...

Now, I don't know about you but I never cease to be amazed at what nature does! 

It's only been a few days since I put the tomato seeds into compost and under the propagator and look what happened: the first little fella appeared yesterday late afternoon!  Not only that but by this morning he not only had straightened himself out but another one did exactly the same thing as did a couple more in another pot!  Amazing to think that (hopefully) these little chaps will grow into tomato-bearing plants in just a few months! I find it all rather humbling!

I am checking every day as to what progress the rest of my crops is making.  So far, nothing else has come up but at least I can see that the garlic is growing nicely. 

Ta-da...two little seeds have germinated!

I am experimenting with yellow pepper seeds as well - just took a few seeds from a shop-bought bell pepper and put it into compost & into the propagator in a sunny spot.  I shall report on any progress ... if there is any...

It is still really sunny here, so running by the sea this morning was beautiful - well, the view was...the running was rather hard but enjoyable nonetheless.  The weather is forecast to last until at least the weekend, so I will definitely have to remember to water the crops! 

Springtime

Springtime in our park

It is an absolutely gorgeous day here today with the sun shining, the sky a perfect blue and the birds singing in the garden!  I love Spring!  Everything is waking up from its winter sleep - lots of buds on the trees, the camelia in full bloom and tadpoles wriggling in the pond.  I seem to have more energy now as well, so I went for a run first thing - it was stunning down by the sea (unfortunately I didn't have my camera/phone to take a photo).

Afterwards I took the dog for a walk and he loved being out in the sunshine - the photo is of the park during our walk.  How lucky are we to have such a stunning place right opposite our house! 

The sunshine is supposed to be staying with us until at least the middle of next week which is great but I do hope there will be some rain at some point soon to help the crops, plants and wildlife.  What we really don't want is a hosepipe ban like the one in England.

Planting...

Ready to grow...

I am very pleased to say that I have finally got round to planting the first lot of this year's potatoes!  They'd been busy chitting on the window ledge but I decided that now was a good time to get them into their grow bags.  There are some more still chitting which I will plant in a couple of weeks.
The garlic that I planted in the far top of the raised bed is growing and little green shoots are now visible, although unfortunately not all the cloves made it.  The ones that have are now joined by a couple of rows of onions as well as another couple of rows of dwarf broad beans.  That leaves me enough space in the raised bed to plant some lettuce and similar...

The tomato seeds are in a propagator and I am waiting for these to germinate - hopefully, at least some will make it into plants and they will then go out into hanging baskets when the time is right (which probably means around May).  I am also thinking about growing peppers...we'll see!  For now there is enough going on and I still have to sort out the herb garden.  I find it all terribly exciting! ;-)