These have been doing great over the last week or so, and are happily sitting on the south-east windowsill growing away.
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Cheating Peppers (Sweet)
Not sure what's been going on this year, it might be the weird weather we've been having here, but I've tried to sow a couple of batches of Pepper (sweet) since February and I've had no luck, so much so, that I decided to give up a couple of weeks ago and buy a couple from my local garden center.
Photo: Laura Lunt Date: June 2012
These have been doing great over the last week or so, and are happily sitting on the south-east windowsill growing away.
These have been doing great over the last week or so, and are happily sitting on the south-east windowsill growing away.
Onions Almost Ready to Harvest
Last October I planted the Onion sets I bought outside on the balcony, these have been over wintered and growing ever since. I noticed over the last few months that the Onions have been developing just above the soil and they've been getting bigger and bigger every time I've popped out to check.
Photo: Laura Lunt Date: June 2012
Today I couldn't wait any longer and I harvested the first of the Onions for drying out. I carefully used a trowel to take out the six biggest just to see how they do, leaving the rest to continue to grow. I've left the lifted Onions on top of the mini-greenhouse, to dry out for the next week or so and then I'll hopefully be able to store and eat them soon.
Photo: Laura Lunt Date: June 2012
Today I couldn't wait any longer and I harvested the first of the Onions for drying out. I carefully used a trowel to take out the six biggest just to see how they do, leaving the rest to continue to grow. I've left the lifted Onions on top of the mini-greenhouse, to dry out for the next week or so and then I'll hopefully be able to store and eat them soon.
Cabbage Growing Stronger
I may have had a few down turns with the Cabbage to begin with, I lost around 6 of my batch when they were first planted out, but they seem to going from strength to strength now.
Photo: Laura Lunt Date: April 2012
I have six plants growing away at the moment in two different spots on the balcony, some in a pot near the back, which I need to constantly water and a couple in the large tub hanging over the balcony, which get a lot of water from rainy May/June months we've currently having.
Photo: Laura Lunt Date: June 2012
All doing well I'll have some great Cabbage to share with the family soon.
I have six plants growing away at the moment in two different spots on the balcony, some in a pot near the back, which I need to constantly water and a couple in the large tub hanging over the balcony, which get a lot of water from rainy May/June months we've currently having.
All doing well I'll have some great Cabbage to share with the family soon.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Linguine & Chargrilled Veg in a Passata Sauce
1 Pepper (sweet)
1 Courgette - sliced with a potato peeler
1 tbsp of Chili Oil
1 Jar of Roasted Passata Sauce (see Recipe)
1 Large handful of Linguine Pasta
Salt & Pepper to season
Heat a griddle and add the Chili Oil, cut the pepper into large slices and grate the Courgette lengthways, to create large slices. Add these to the oil once smoking and cook till they are tender and brown. Remove and place to kitchen towel to drain excess oil and leave to cool.
I've used Linguine pasta, but any pasta will do. Place the pasta into a pot of salty water and cook as directed, for the Linguine I tend to snap this in half, as I don't like the pasta too long. Once cooked drain and run through cold water.
Add the Roasted Passata Sauce to a large pan and heat slowly over a medium heat, after a few minutes and when the sauce beings to bubble, add the Courgettes and Peppers (sweet) which can cut into smaller pieces, to the sauce, warm for a few minutes and then add the pasta, season with salt and pepper as required. Once everything is boiling away and heated through, pour into a large bowl and enjoy.
As a side dish, why not try my Homemade Chili and Garlic Bread:
Slices of French bread
Butter
Chopped Garlic
Chopped Chili
Dried or Fresh chopped Mixed Herbs
Salt & Pepper to season
This is very simple to make and you can make as much or as little as you like, mix the butter, garlic, chili and mixed herbs together to make a paste, then season as required and then spread onto the French bread, which has been cut into circular slices. Place on a baking tray and cook in the oven until brown.
Another great recipe for the Cook Book.
1 Courgette - sliced with a potato peeler
1 tbsp of Chili Oil
1 Jar of Roasted Passata Sauce (see Recipe)
1 Large handful of Linguine Pasta
Salt & Pepper to season
Heat a griddle and add the Chili Oil, cut the pepper into large slices and grate the Courgette lengthways, to create large slices. Add these to the oil once smoking and cook till they are tender and brown. Remove and place to kitchen towel to drain excess oil and leave to cool.
I've used Linguine pasta, but any pasta will do. Place the pasta into a pot of salty water and cook as directed, for the Linguine I tend to snap this in half, as I don't like the pasta too long. Once cooked drain and run through cold water.
Add the Roasted Passata Sauce to a large pan and heat slowly over a medium heat, after a few minutes and when the sauce beings to bubble, add the Courgettes and Peppers (sweet) which can cut into smaller pieces, to the sauce, warm for a few minutes and then add the pasta, season with salt and pepper as required. Once everything is boiling away and heated through, pour into a large bowl and enjoy.
As a side dish, why not try my Homemade Chili and Garlic Bread:
Slices of French bread
Butter
Chopped Garlic
Chopped Chili
Dried or Fresh chopped Mixed Herbs
Salt & Pepper to season
This is very simple to make and you can make as much or as little as you like, mix the butter, garlic, chili and mixed herbs together to make a paste, then season as required and then spread onto the French bread, which has been cut into circular slices. Place on a baking tray and cook in the oven until brown.
Another great recipe for the Cook Book.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Blooming Hot Sauce
As mentioned on my TLB facebook page recently, I've started to put a plan together for selling a few jars of the preserves I've been making, such as Chili Jam, Tomato Chutney and even the Passata Sauce and to my surprise my boyfriend, Zac, suddenly decided he wanted to make and sell Hot Sauce.
For those of you who have read about the Chili plants I bought for him last year, we ended up growing quiet a large amount of chilies and we found it really hard to decide what to do with them. But making Hot Sauce now seems like a great idea, Zac found a really easy recipe online and from this he adapted the recipe to fit the types of chilies he bought (at the moment our plants are very small), for his tester batch. He used x3 medium green chilies and x4 small Caribbean scotch bonnet Chilies.
I left him alone with the ingredients in the kitchen one Saturday afternoon and a couple of hours later we had a large amount of Hot Sauce, all bottles up and ready to test. Which we did the following day and I must say it was surprisingly tasty and really not that over powering in hotness, we love it so much we've been using it with everything.
Photo: Laura Lunt Date: 29 April 2012
This can only mean that test no.1 was very successful and once we've finished off this batch, it'll be onto the making of the next one.
For those of you who have read about the Chili plants I bought for him last year, we ended up growing quiet a large amount of chilies and we found it really hard to decide what to do with them. But making Hot Sauce now seems like a great idea, Zac found a really easy recipe online and from this he adapted the recipe to fit the types of chilies he bought (at the moment our plants are very small), for his tester batch. He used x3 medium green chilies and x4 small Caribbean scotch bonnet Chilies.
I left him alone with the ingredients in the kitchen one Saturday afternoon and a couple of hours later we had a large amount of Hot Sauce, all bottles up and ready to test. Which we did the following day and I must say it was surprisingly tasty and really not that over powering in hotness, we love it so much we've been using it with everything.
This can only mean that test no.1 was very successful and once we've finished off this batch, it'll be onto the making of the next one.
Friday, 27 April 2012
Strawberry Runners into Plants
Not wanting to buy any new Strawberry plants this year, last year I decided to pot up some Runners from the 'Alice' Strawberry plants I bought. Luckily all four plants grew really well and were eventually individually potted up for over wintering, during our colder months in my little greenhouse.
Photo: Laura Lunt Date: 15 April 2012
Winter is now over and the runners have established into great new plants with health leaves, so a couple of weeks ago (late April) these were potted up into their final growing places, two hanging baskets with two plants in each. The baskets were lined with new moss and new vegetables compost was added, with a few water crystals to help with watering.
Photo: Laura Lunt Date: 15 April 2012
These already a few flowers showing, so hopefully I'll have some Strawberries in early summer, ready to pick and eat.
Winter is now over and the runners have established into great new plants with health leaves, so a couple of weeks ago (late April) these were potted up into their final growing places, two hanging baskets with two plants in each. The baskets were lined with new moss and new vegetables compost was added, with a few water crystals to help with watering.
These already a few flowers showing, so hopefully I'll have some Strawberries in early summer, ready to pick and eat.
Spring Tidy Up - April
A few weeks ago I managed to get out onto the Balcony, the sun was even shining, and do my spring tidy up after the mild winter we've had. I wanted to create a lot more space, as it seems the balcony has been taken over by a lot of garden waste, so I started with this first. I've been collecting a couple of bags of waste, old soil, leaves, so these were the first to go.
Next was the greenhouse. I've had this for a few years now and you can tell as its looking a little old, but its still handy to have. Its plastic cover was ripped to pieces, this has gone, so now it can be made better use of, by using it as shelves for the smaller potted plants. The inside of the greenhouse was cleared out, so old pots and canes were sorted out, stacked and generally tidied up into a smaller area.
For the Balcony itself, this had a good brush and clean, as lots of dead leaves and debris had managed to cover the balcony floor. Pots were then moved around to create more space and I also came up with an inventive way to help with watering some of the larger pots, by creating some homemade water holders out of all plastic bottles, these were added to the Onion and Garlic large grow bags.
Vegetable wise, the netting on the Garlic and Onions was removed and packed away, to give the vegetables a chance to grow naturally and continue to flourish in their final months. I also noticed that I've managed to lose quiet a lot of the cabbage plants I had re-potted, I'm down to just 6 now, which does come in handy for space, as the Brussels Sprouts are really to be placed outside, but it is a shame as I may have planted them out too early.
Next was the greenhouse. I've had this for a few years now and you can tell as its looking a little old, but its still handy to have. Its plastic cover was ripped to pieces, this has gone, so now it can be made better use of, by using it as shelves for the smaller potted plants. The inside of the greenhouse was cleared out, so old pots and canes were sorted out, stacked and generally tidied up into a smaller area.
For the Balcony itself, this had a good brush and clean, as lots of dead leaves and debris had managed to cover the balcony floor. Pots were then moved around to create more space and I also came up with an inventive way to help with watering some of the larger pots, by creating some homemade water holders out of all plastic bottles, these were added to the Onion and Garlic large grow bags.
Vegetable wise, the netting on the Garlic and Onions was removed and packed away, to give the vegetables a chance to grow naturally and continue to flourish in their final months. I also noticed that I've managed to lose quiet a lot of the cabbage plants I had re-potted, I'm down to just 6 now, which does come in handy for space, as the Brussels Sprouts are really to be placed outside, but it is a shame as I may have planted them out too early.
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