Tag: Onions

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers6 Comments

Chilly day at the allotment

Reclaiming Paradise

I made a trip to the allotment today, the first for a couple of weeks. It was a bright but chilly day and I did a little weeding while checking out the various overwintering vegetables. I was pleased to see the broccoli and sprouts still providing us with some winter vitamin C. We also have kale and leeks so shouldn’t be in too much risk of scurvy. Meanwhile the onions and garlic are pushing slowly up through the soil and there are daffodils, looking ready to burst into colour in a few weeks time. Then I spotted these lovely primroses, … Continue reading Chilly day at the allotment

Why I garden, Wildlife2 Comments

Advent calendar week one – a lot of weather

Reclaiming Paradise

Here is your weekly roundup of my #wildandwonderful advent calendar, where the theme has been mostly about weather.  The week started with more of the magical frost and I chose a frosted apple leaf to celebrate the 1st of December The sun was shining on the shed behind and the ice particles were stunning. The frost melted the next day but a wander round the front garden led me to the sweetly scented viburnum: The next day was neither cold nor wet and I paid a little visit to the allotment to tackle more of the endless couch grass. I was … Continue reading Advent calendar week one – a lot of weather

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Recycling and reusing2 Comments

Autumn light

Reclaiming Paradise

It’s just after 5pm and light is leaving the sky, the inevitable effect of the clocks going back and the beginning of the dark months of winter. But we’ve been blessed with a glorious autumn day and I’ve spent most of it in the garden and allotment. I cut back my runner beans which seemed to be finished for the year, leaving the sweet peas which clamber up between the beans. They should survive until the first hard frost: I also cleared out the cucumber bed. The cucumbers have been awesome but have now stopped growing. I raked over the … Continue reading Autumn light

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden5 Comments

Apples, onions and a toad in a hole

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve been wondering again about getting a pear tree for the garden, to grow my tiny orchard. I already have three apples and a plum and there is a cherry in the front garden. The plums are all finished now but there are jars of whole plum jam to look forward to. The apples are looking great too.  The earliest, Sunset, has been dropping fruits for a few weeks and I picked the last four today. I hadn’t thought much about the name of these apples before but you can see from this picture why they are called ‘sunset’: The red … Continue reading Apples, onions and a toad in a hole

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers3 Comments

Competition time: flowers v vegetables

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve always though of myself as a vegetable grower rather than a flower grower. So it is with some irony that I seem to keep winning the flower prizes at the annual allotment show: I was rather pleased with this prize though. I do love my sweet peas but I only grow them because they can grow up alongside the runner beans, as I explained in a previous post But we also won a prize for a vase of annual flowers: What the judges didn’t know was that they were really vegetables – can you spot the radish flowers? Here … Continue reading Competition time: flowers v vegetables

Cooking and eating from the garden5 Comments

A new redcurrant recipe

Reclaiming Paradise

I harvested most of the redcurrants today. They have been fabulous this year in the garden but not at the allotment. Another of the strange differences in microclimate between my two growing spaces. I remembered making some less than successful redcurrant relish last year but couldn’t remember where I found the recipe – just checked, it was a link on the blog – here , but I didn’t think of looking on my own blog! Instead I ploughed through my various recipe books, failing to find a suitable recipe, and so decided to adapt one for red pepper relish instead. Let’s hope … Continue reading A new redcurrant recipe

Cooking and eating from the garden, Why I garden1 Comment

A garden feast

Reclaiming Paradise

I’ve spent most of today at the allotment, tackling weeds and harvesting onions. Everything is coming along nicely although the peas are still rather straggly, which is strange as the peas in the garden raised beds are in full flourish, with their beautiful butterfly wing flowers: The onions have been magnificent this year but feel a little overwhelming at the moment. I’ve also had an invasion of musical instruments, bikes, camping equipment, bags of laundry and random pairs of shoes this weekend. And that is a good thing, because it means that my lovely young people are around, filling the house … Continue reading A garden feast

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden4 Comments

Let the gluts begin

Reclaiming Paradise

Been away for a wee holiday, enjoying the great outdoors, lots of walking, wildlife and dipping my toes in water, history, art, literature and gardens. But I’ll leave writing about that for another day. The main thing is coming home to find that the cats have survived and the vegetables are flourishing The allotment is groaning in onions and strawberries and there is promise of lots more to come: These are the tomatoes and cucumbers in pots in the new seed palace. There are lots more in the ground. The cucumbers are doing beautifully in the cucumber frame, although a … Continue reading Let the gluts begin

Growing vegetables, fruit and flowers, Why I garden1 Comment

Strawberries, onions, peas, cats but no unicorns yet

Reclaiming Paradise

Lots happening in the garden and the allotment just now. The back hedge is still growing happily. You may remember that last year I promised flowers and bees, butterflies, bunnies and possibly unicorns – see here Well we have the bees and the butterflies and the flowers. I haven’t seen any bunnies or unicorns yet, but we do have flowers: and a rather a splendid cat, adorning the the space where the conifers used to be: I’m sure the unicorns will come in due course.  Meanwhile the peas are beginning to flower: Those are the Norli peas and the stunning Carouby … Continue reading Strawberries, onions, peas, cats but no unicorns yet

Cooking and eating from the garden1 Comment

Onion soup

Reclaiming Paradise

Despite being June, it’s definitely soup weather. I’ve already made several of my classic green soups, mainly using Swiss chard, herbs and assorted bought vegetables but this week I’ve also been experimenting with onion soup. I’ve got a bit of an onion glut. The autumn planted allotment onions are absolute stunners. Here they are back in early May: Since then they have grown even bigger and more beautiful and have been the subject of much admiration by passing allotmenteers. Meanwhile the overwintering red onions in the garden have also done really well, even though they were planted in the dark, … Continue reading Onion soup