My first ever vegetable harvest!

The time finally arrived for me to get my little trug out (no innuendo intended), stroll up the garden and pick my first lot of vegetables! And lookie, lookie here!

I’ve pulled the occasional few radish, but nothing like this, so I was over the moon. Although, I am still a bit disappointed because I had sown some beetroot seedlings a week ago and the stupid (I still love them) birds have eaten them all. Also, my kale and spinach have not survived the slugs – as I want to grow my vegetables organically I don’t want to use slug pellets, but come on slugs, give me a break! I’ve just ordered some plastic windmills (10 of them), to stake in the ground, which I’m hoping will deter the gorgeous, little flying monsters but I’m not sure it’ll have any effect on the slugs. Any ideas?

Over the weekend, I cooked  a tasty little dish using my homegrown  broad beans and some gorgeous french cheese that I picked up from The Cotswold Cheese shop in Moreton-in-Marsh. I finally chopped up a couple of anchovy fillets, squeezed half a lemon, added a splash of olive oil, salt & pepper and stirred this in with the broad beans and served it on slices of fresh bread (that I picked up at the cheese shop) topped with the cheese. It tasted incredible and went down well with the family and even my Dad, who can be a fussy eater!

I also picked some red gooseberries, which looked gorgeous and tasted even better after I cooked them with a couple of tablespoons of organic golden caster sugar, let that cool and then mixed them with some local, lightly whipped double cream.

Now it might not look like the prettiest of dishes, but let me tell you it tasted absolutely incredible.

As you can also see, I have a bit of a thing for blue and white patterns! I picked up these plates and saucers from vintage / charity shops, and I’m always on the lookout for more.

Hopefully not long to go now before I can start picking my tomatoes! Being a little heavy handed when I sowed the seeds, I wasn’t sure what types I was growing as they were all mixed up, however I know for sure I’ve got black opal tomatoes from the colour of the tomato below and yellow plum tomatoes, as for the rest, we’ll soon find out.

I’m still sowing seeds for continued produce throughout the summer, but we shall see who wins; me or the birds. Wish me luck!

A xx