A couple of months ago we were lucky enough to meet Matthew Evans, the Gourmet Farmer. He was the special guest at the main dinner of a conference I was attending in Hobart. It was fantastic to hear of his journey from the city to the country, and particularly farm life. Watching the TV series it all looks so easy, but long hours and hard work is what’s on the other side of the cameras. What a story!

I’ve got my own veggie patch but doesn’t sustain us by any means. But we love picking fresh produce straight from the backyard and eating it raw or cooking with it straight away. There’s nothing worse than when you realised you’ve forgotten something from the green grocer. Then there’s nothing better than when and you realise you have a substitute in the backyard! It’s always better from the backyard anyway.

At present the veggie patch can’t be expanded too much but I do hope that we may get a little more land and even a cow to put on it. That was the best part about hearing Matthew Evans, I got to ask a question (I also bailed him up for 15 minutes at the end of his talk for more advice, and of course a photo opportunity). I wanted to know what type of cow he would recommend for milking. It’s a Jersey. One day, just one day.

I’m trying to trick these little seeds into thinking it’s spring from the inside. It worked last year. I planted over 100 seeds to make little herb pots for table decorations at our wedding. This year I’m working on a smaller scale for our kitchen garden. Three pots, I think, will do us! We have more hardy herbs in the garden. This time I’m coaxing basil, sage & oregano along to be great things. Once they’re big and strong I can introduce them to the elements, but until then they’ll stay in the comfy environs of the central heated kitchen window sill.

Use good quality soil, such as a terracotta pot mix, and place behind a window that gets a lot of sun, preferably a north facing window. Plant the seeds according to planting instructions of the packet. Basil, coriander, sage, oregano, thyme, chives, dill and parsley should all grow well.

I can’t wait to see these little beauties come up…more than watching food I LOVE to watch seeds grow into seedlings.

This week has been all about yellow in the garden. The first daffodils have popped their pretty little faces and we have our first yellow lemon. I’m particularly excited about the lemon as we’ve only had the tree for 2 years. We were told by the man at our local nursery that it wouldn’t fruit for 3 years. It must have something to do with the acidic soil Andy has been providing it…

Shouldn’t be too long before we get some snow peas (first flower spotted today) and some more bulbs. Can’t wait to harvest the rhubarb to make some jam!

The lucky first lemon was sacrificed for delicious lemon & sugar crepes.

If you’ve enjoyed this post please “like” it on facebook, or even share it. Thanks! x

The winter garden is well under way. I planted a bunch of winter heirloom seeds about mid-May. I cleared out the last of the summer veggies a few weeks prior and carbonated the soil. All ready for the winter crop I transplanted my rhubarb crowns, they were becoming a little crowded where they were and needed breaking up. Planted from seed (from Diggers which Dad got through his subscription you bought him) is spinach, snow peas, broccoli, wombok & broad beans. Cloves of garlic went in as well as leek seedlings.

Everything seems to be taking off nicely so far. We have had some unusually warm weather over the last week, which I think has helped move things along. However, it has been very dry. The spinach is ready to pick and should keep thriving. The snow peas shouldn’t be far off flowering. The trick is going to be keeping the caterpillars off the broccoli.

I’ve just been up at Dad’s to thin out his onion and beetroot seedlings while he’s away. I tell you what, that was a tedious job. I deserve a bag of onions after doing that!

If you’ve enjoyed this post please “like” it on facebook, or even share it. Thanks! x