The kitchen garden may look like it’s been ransacked right now but we’ve still got a wide range of winter vegetables to bring to the table every day. I’ve been taken aback by how we can create a veritable feast from what looks like a humble pile of vegetables. I’m loving the culinary challenge of finding tasty things to make with what’s ready for harvest – like the roasted fennel and mushroom lasagna which on the face of it sounded like an unlikely combination but turned out to be really tasty and has been added to our must cook again list.
Admittedly I had to buy the mushrooms but I grabbed two juicy fennel bulbs from the garden before they went to seed. It’s still a thrill to skip through most of the vegetable section in the supermarket and ultimately we’d like to get to a point where I could almost leap frog it altogether by relying entirely on seasonal produce from our very own backyard pantry instead.
With the flurry of rotten weather and a heap of work, I was a bit late planting out my garlic which is traditionally planted on the shortest day with a view to harvesting on the longest day. I was only a few days late so hopefully it hasn’t set us back too much. The bassets were supervising planting and not at all sure that my planting in a block approach rather than rows was entirely to their liking. After all rows of vegetables can be wandered through and planting in blocks is a lot trickier. I have no doubts that little basset will find a way to step amongst the plants in time.
The garlic was not a huge success last year. The cloves hardly turned into bulbs so fingers crossed that the better soil will give them a better chance of success.
If you were ever in doubt that you can grow a variety of vegetables during winter, take a look at this pallet of inspiration.
I never imagined that the kitchen garden would be so productive so this winter has been a real experiment to see what’s possible to grow. Next year I will be a lot more systematic about what to plant and when. The beauty of having such a large kitchen garden means we can have lots of variety of vegetables which makes cooking exploits much more fun and the eating more enjoyable. After all life would not be that much fun it you had to live on a diet of cabbages and carrots.
Another parcel of seeds has just arrived in readiness for Spring planting. As well as setting up the seedling operation in the barn I have plans for a wallchart of what’s been propagated and planted and when. That way I’ll be able to have better succession of food stock. I’ll be growing to order for the neighbours this year too as they have yet to establish their vegetable garden so it only seems fair they should benefit from what we have to offer. It’s a great swop – I grow vegetables for them and they water them and feed the chickens when we go away. Also, they supply us with wood from their harvested trees so all in all it’s a win win.
I like the idea of being able to grow seedlings and vegetables for others. I’m not sure my ambitions stretch to commercial market gardening but to make the most of the land we have and the growing possibilities is an exciting thought. I’m planning and plotting this winter for what’s to come in our backyard pantry – the perfect pastime in front of the roaring fire!