Archive for the 'Garden Fresh' Category
Fresh Food From Your Garden
It s been along time since the Second World War and the dig for victory campaign, but that doesn’t mean you cannot grow fresh food in even the smallest garden. It doesn’t even have to be a garden – a veranda, a balcony, a window box. My daughter has recently progressed from a tiny studio flat to a house with a garden and a yard. For her birthday we bought her a small plastic greenhouse, some seeds, trays and compost and she was away.
Strawberries are grown in boxes on the sunny patio and she has been picking them all summer. She’s not growing cabbages and potatoes – she lives within hailing distance of a high street where these can be obtained at any time. What she does grow is a wide variety of herbs and lots of leafy stuff for salads. S he has only been in the house for a few months, but is planning bigger things next year. Not that she didn’t grow stuff in her flat. It had two wide sunny window sills on which she had lots of pots with such things as chives, basil and so on. If she could do it in that tiny flat so can anyone. My sister-in-law grows chilli peppers on her windowsill.
I can still hear you saying I haven’t got room. We have a back garden of 15 foot by about 45. As well as patio, pond, lawn and flowers we have a pear tree, two cherries, gooseberries, blackcurrant, raspberries, Tay berries and herbs such as sage and bay. In the past we’ve grown beans in boxes around the garage under planted with leafy Italian mixes of salad leaves. There is no waste because you just pick as many leaves as you want so no more slimy lettuce in the bottom of the fridge.
I know that you can probably buy all these things, but imagine going out to the garden and snipping fresh chives for soup – the ones in the supermarket don’t have the flowers.
My bible for all this is the Reader’s Digest ‘Food From Your Garden ‘book, but there are others. Have a go.
Chilli Vinegar
This gives a great lift to salad dressings. When preparing chillies is the one time I use nylon gloves. Never rub your eyes and always wash your hands very thoroughly or you will really regret it. Use about 2 oz (50 g) of chillies. Split these and then steep them in a bottle of vinegar – wine, malt or cider as you like. Leave for two weeks and then strain into a clean bottle and it is ready to use.