Tag: Broad beans

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden10 Comments

The joys of home – six on Saturday

Reclaiming Paradise

Earlier in the week I blogged about the joys of tomatoes and my envy at my friends’ ability to grow them so easily in the south of France. Today’s #SixOnSaturday celebrates what’s growing in my Scottish garden today. Peas – these are Prussian Blue – or at least I think they are. They are from saved seed and I seem to have got the varieties mixed up a bit. Anyway, they taste great. 2. Overwintered broad beans – Aquadulce Claudia I think . They’ve been superb this year. These are the last of a massive crop. I’ve also had a … Continue reading The joys of home – six on Saturday

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers13 Comments

A handful of beans

Reclaiming Paradise

My runner beans have been really rubbish at germinating this year. Every year I grow them in in small pots or cardboard tubes in the grow house and then plant out once they are past the slug vulnerability stage. But this year only about half of them have germinated. I don’t know whether it’s been the very up and down weather – cold at night, hot during the day, or the beans themselves, or the compost I’ve been using. Whatever the cause, the effect is that I have much fewer plants than usual, either in the garden or in the … Continue reading A handful of beans

Cooking and eating from the garden, Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers6 Comments

Summer harvest begins

Reclaiming Paradise

As we pass midsummer the harvest in the garden and allotment is really getting into full flow. The soft fruits are appearing: raspberries, redcurrants, strawberries and even some cherries this year, rescued from the tree before the blackbirds got to them. All this bounty is helping me towards my target of sixty different harvestable fruits, vegetables, herbs and weeds to celebrate my sixtieth birthday. I’ve now passed the half way point and am reasonably optimistic that I’ll meet my target – for an update see here As well as all the summer fruits, the overwintered broad beans are producing great … Continue reading Summer harvest begins

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden3 Comments

Welcome harvest

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve been away for a little while, catching up with family, swimming in lakes and stretching my legs rather more than I intended. It was nice to get away from some of the everyday stresses but it was also nice to get home to see what was happening in the garden. Here are some of the joys I came back to: peas – green and purple, broad beans, raspberries and a few strawberries, lettuce and the last of the redcurrants. Quite a feast. The red currants have been a bit of a disappointment this year as the best of them … Continue reading Welcome harvest

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden8 Comments

Garden joys

Reclaiming Paradise

Two months ago I started my main seed sowing of the season: tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies, peas and some flowers. I said I was ‘sowing seeds of hope‘. I didn’t know then that we would still all be in lockdown two months later, but I looked forward to a summer of vegetables. Today, I’ve sowed some more seeds but mainly I’ve been planting things out in the garden and being thankful for all that grows there. I posted six of my favourite flowers for #SixOnSaturday on Twitter Clockwise from top left: The roses are starting to come out in the garden, … Continue reading Garden joys

Why I garden18 Comments

Joining the six on Saturday crew

Reclaiming Paradise

My Saturdays are usually taken up with ‘stuff’ so I don’t usually do #SixOnSaturday , the weekly garden bloggers’ ritual – for more see here – But we are living in unusual times, and I’ve got the Easter public holiday weekend away from the day job for the first time in living memory. The reason for this is very boring but it means I woke up this morning without the usual Saturday list of stuff and have time instead just to enjoy the flowers, so here they are. Here’s a camellia in full bloom. This plant was a gift from … Continue reading Joining the six on Saturday crew

Cooking and eating from the garden, Why I garden2 Comments

Hardy Watercress

Reclaiming Paradise

I was out in the garden, doing some tidying up after this week’s sharp frosts. the temperature dropped to -3 degrees during the week, leaving beautiful patterns on the broccoli and sparkles on the wild rose hips Unfortunately it also killed off the last of the nasturtiums so today’s task was to clear them up. While I was outside I spotted broad beans coming cheerfully up despite the cold: tiny saladings under a cloche: and sweet peas thriving in the seed palace: Signs of spring indeed. The cold earlier in the week had also brought ice to the pond: and … Continue reading Hardy Watercress

Why I garden9 Comments

Autumn tidying

Reclaiming Paradise

Today was a tidying up in the garden sort of day. I cleared all the tomato plants from the raised beds . The tomatoes have been pretty good this year but some had succumbed to blight. The green ones should ripen indoors and I’ve left a few in the seed house as well These are all Tigerella which are very beautiful when they are still green. I sowed broad beans and phacelia in the tomato beds in the hope that it isn’t too late. I also sowed some late lettuce, replacing the seeds that I’d sown about a month ago … Continue reading Autumn tidying

Why I garden4 Comments

Lawnmower holiday

Reclaiming Paradise

There are tons of peas and beans in the garden so I made a classic green soup for lunch, with some added watercress from the pond: Earlier in the week I made a classic summer pudding: It was duly guzzled by my various visiting young people. It’s lovely to have all this wonderful fruit and vegetables but all these gluts are causing a bit of crisis at the allotment. The warm wet weather of the last few weeks has caused a massive growth spurt among the onions, strawberries, peas, beans and courgettes, which is great. But is has also caused … Continue reading Lawnmower holiday