22/03/2015 Early Spring Sowing.

Yesterday was cold and grey yet it was the first day of Spring.

On the positive side, thinking of the season we have just left,  it was not a very wet Winter nor a very snowy one. However it was quite frosty at time and bitterly cold.  I may have lost all my fuchsias. The last few days have been free from frost and planting outdoors has been possible and a 'touch wood' venture.

Today, I let the adventures and the dream plans run loose again. It was all about trying something new, something I was not familiar growing with in the garden.

I started with something a little crazy. It's just pure recycling in my mind, a little nutty scheme in my partner's view yet he laid an helping hand. We had a spare cat bed that we had to re-use or throw away. Our cats didn't like it at all. The unloved bed was discarded to the garden until we figured out how to recycle it properly.  As it is quite large and as the proper potting about in the garden has started in earnest, I saw in it a potential pot.  It met the retort: 'What about its door?'

Dreaming of an answer, I started to visualise the possibility of that odd container from a mini rock garden using the door of the basket as a feature to let the alpine plant cascade out to creating terraces within the pot. I went for the latter. If the idea of the rock garden is not discarded for good, it is postponed until next year providing me a year to plan it carefully with a lovely selection of plants and also to read about the subject.

So this year is not ornamental, it is all about trying my hand at cultivating different type of vegetables. Terraced in rows, the container made a perfect veg patch for experiments. I allocated the first and lower row to spring onions 'North Holland Blood Red', a red variety.  Loving a good stir fry, I tend to buy spring onions every two weeks. I am looking forward to see if I will be successful in growing some.

For the second row, I sowed leek, a variety called 'Elefant'. It's another staple veg in my shopping list, and my fridge is never devoid of leeks at any time. From stews, to soups, stocks and risottos, to letting them do all the talking on a plate, I love leeks, its great taste and versatility. It was not always so for in my childhood I hated leeks and in particular the stringy  thick potage my mum used to make out of them. But with time and adulthood, the humble leek lost totally his 'boogeyman'  aspect in my mind. Especially trying fantastic recipe like 'leeks vinaigrette' by Valentine Warner put leeks back into a big winner for my taste-buds:

http://www.valentinewarner.com/recipes/vegetables/leeks-vinaigrette/

In the third row, it is another vegetable we love to hate but that I actually like: Brussels Sprout. The variety is 'Eversham Special'.  Total novice there as well at growing them, it will be educational. During my time as an Au-Pair girl and Nanny, I spent many Christmas, helping in the kitchen, chatting away with K, sitting at the table preparing the sprout the traditional way: hard bottom off, bad leaves off, cut crossing the top then they simply went to the boiling pan. Somehow, I have fond memory of the tedious task because I associated Sprouts so much with the buzz of Christmas. It is no surprise that in my household, every Winter welcomes that veg however the way I cook with those green gems is utterly different: braised in butter, jazzed up with nuts of some sort (walnuts work well with them) and pancetta cubes equal nice side veg treat.





My final two experiments are trying to grow 'Cornichons' : 'Vert Petit de Paris' . I am fond of gherkins. I eat literally about three pots of them a week while relaxing and catching up on TV programs. So I am well excited about that plan.









Last I sowed an aubergine seed. I haven't got room for more as butternut squashes and pumpkins will occupy my larger pots this year. The variety is 'Early long Purple 3'. The aim is to make my partner appreciate them more. Seeing something grow and caring for it creates bonds between a plant and the gardener. I guess I dream that his pouting pursed lips when I ever buy an aubergine will disappear in a smile when he picks up a large one for diner from the garden. Well that's the plan which pursues into let's give that aubergine 'star treatment': A bit of mozzarella, tomatoes from the garden, Italian herbs from our UK pots on the patio and 'Voilà: we have Aubergine Parmigiana!'. One of my favourite dishes, as comforting as delicious which I want to share with Mr Aubergine Shy-Puke so he becomes Mr Aubergine Love-More. He won't be able to resist a Jamie Oliver recipe, he never have been able to...


http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/aubergine-parmigiana-melanzane-alla-parmigiana/#R0Tohr09cdVvR7K2.97

Spring is here with lots of scope to start plenty of dreams and plans and make them work out. Whatever your dream may be, it is the time to put your plans into action. 

It's growing time. 

Win or fail, there is a lot to learn from any endeavour. 

Yeehaw!