Sow, Grow, Harvest.

Hello!

Well what a weekend of weather we've had, bewtiful (in my best Welsh accent).

There is still some sowing and definitely some growing happening here. On Saturday I decided to take up most of the strawberry plants as there is just nothing happening there;I think the cold frame is in the wrong place for them. I have put two of them in planters so I can move them around in the sunshine to see if this helps at all.

In place of the strawberry plants I have sown some pak choi. I really hope this works out as I failed with it last year. At the same time I sown some more Swiss Chard Lights to add to the ones already growing quite well.

I'm chuffed that the courgettes are coming on because I have been buying a couple each week and so this hopefully will be covered by the two plants I have if I look after them well.

I am continuing to sow spring onions alongside the lettuces; hopefully I have my timings right now as I do NOT wish to be buying anymore through the summer! I have sown red lettuce leaves but can't remember the variety just now. 

Tomatoes are coming along; lots of flowers and quite a few fruit so feeding them once a week to spur them on.

Some things are getting close to harvesting, in fact we have a few lbs of new spuds, which have been great, but the onions are not far behind; they'll probably be taken up at the end of the week so they can dry out whilst we are away.

The beetroot looks like a success this year and as they've been sown in three intervals I should have plenty this year.

Finally the climbing peas have quite a few fat pods on them; really hope we can have our own, shelled peas very soon. Eeek, definitely have been on my grow your own bucket list!

Now aren't these pretty? My first home grown sweet peas and they smell just lovely.

It has to be said that Jon and I don't often get chance to sit down and enjoy the garden very often but today we did, just for a little while. This is the view our Airbnb guests have from the verandah outside  their room just now.

As we sat chatting I thought that I rarely take photos of the back of the house so here it was today with a view of the conservatory. We have plans coming together to replace three of the windows and then the rest will be cladded as we want it just to be an additional room and not a hot house! The boys can't play pool in the daytime in summer and we have to keep the door to the kitchen shut or the kitchen isn't kept cool as we like it.

The dehydrator has been in use again over the weekend, this time for bananas. I like them but can't currently eat them so I'm going to keep them in an air tight jar until I can or use them in some baking. Just proves it does the job on them, too, as with the other things we have tried.

Finally, some cooking I have been doing lately. I tried to make wraps instead of using bought ones. They came out well but next time I need to cook them as they are needed or very close to eating as they tasted great but went a little hard when exposed to the air. Good effort though and my three thought they were ok. 

I have wanted to make stuffed aubergines for ages and I was spurred on my a recipe in the Slimming world magazine.

I cut one in half and scooped out the flesh then chopped it up along with onions, mushrooms and peppers.

I cooked some lentils...

and after I had fried off the vegetables I added the lentils to the pan.

 

Once combined I spooned the mixture into the aubergines and put a couple of strips of cheese then put them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

I have to say they were very yummy!

Right, that's the end of today's ramble; hope you've had a good weekend and I look forward to seeing what you have all been up to.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx