Allium Harvest

All the alliums (except the leeks obviously) have now been pulled and are drying in the greenhouse or on slabs outside.

Some things have done better than others. 

Lots of shallots! I think I should just grow these!

 The shallots did really well this year and we've a good amount to use in the coming months and enough to save to plant again next year. I roasted some with a roast the other day and I'd forgotten how good they taste, slightly caramelised on the outside and meltingly gooey in the middle - delicious!

All the onions, a bit small but they should keep us in onions for a while

 My onions weren't so good. The rust from my chives did spread but it didn't do too much damage, but I'm not sure how well they would have done with out it.

The red onions didn't amount to much. A lot of them tried to bolt and didn't really bulb up much and some have gone soft already, I'm ready to give up on red onions and just plant more shallots next year.

The brown onions were slightly better, none of them are going to win any awards for biggest veg but most reached a usable size and look healthy so should keep well.

Garlic drying in the greenhouse

 The garlic was a big success. I managed to harvest thirty two good sized bulbs with a handful of smaller ones that we'll use straight away. I was worried that I'd planted them too close together (my usual trick) but I fed them quite often and this has paid off. 

Thirty two good sized garlic bulbs with a handful of smaller ones

I'll save the biggest bulbs to plant again next season, leaving us a good amount to use. I'm not sure it's a years supply but it won't be far off. 

How has everyone else's alliums done this year? 

How are you going to be storing them?

First Tomato This Season

I know we're far behind many other British bloggers, but I'm still pleased that yesterday we've had our first ripe tomato this season.

 I say "we" had, but I think Ev beat us all to it really. 

She's really not been a fan of supermarket tomatoes over the winter and spring and quite often turns them down, but this one she kept saying how nice it was and "thanks Dad" the whole time! I think it was a success!

I wonder how good they are? The only trouble I've got now is keeping her out of the greenhouse! 

Jurassic Plants & More Unusual Plants

It was no good, once I'd ordered that Blue Sausage Fruit I knew I'd have to have more unusual edibles growing here. 

I bought it from Jurassic plants and I dropped them an email to say it arrive in good condition (I believe in writing to praise as well as complain to companies - otherwise how do they know they're doing something right?) and they decide to send me a free tree, a Dawn Recdwood, which will go great in an area I'm planning to plant up with a few different conifers. This is a tree I would have got if I'd ordered through their website rather than eBay.

Superbly Packaged

I decided to have another look at what else they'd got for sale. I picked out the "Chinese Prickly Ash" or "Szechuan Pepper" it's more likely to be know as. This will produce seeds that can be used like traditional black pepper, so should be good for our self sufficient goals! Also on there (pointed out by Sandie's Patch) is a plant called a "Japanese Bitter Orange". Not a true citrus but it's meant to have a strong scent, a fruit you can make maralade with, and it is completely frost tolerant. Worth a shot!When they sent the plants they also sent me two more free trees! A couple of Chinese Crab Apples (different Latin name to our common ones so I'll be interested to see what they produce). I've potted all these trees up and they're growing really well, situated between my greenhouses. I just need to plan where to plant them in the future.I've been really impressed with Jurassic Plants and if you're interested in something a little different it might be worth having a look, plants come well packaged, good instructions and some plant food to keep them going and it's always nice to support a small nursery.

Edible Daylilies

In my quest to find and try more and more unusual edibles I decided to make the most of what we've got here on the homestead and make sure I know which plants are edible and which aren't 

Outside our front door we've got two large clumps of day lilies. They always put on a great display at this time of year although I have to keep them trimmed back otherwise they engulf the path and we can't get in! 

Turns out the best thing is they're edible! And they actually taste good! So far I've only eaten the pods raw and they taste like mange tout and are lovely and crisp.

Apparently they've been used in Asian cooking for hundreds of years and every bit of the plant is edible. The pods and the flowers are great in stir fries, the roots are nice roasted and the spent flowers are dried and used to thicken soups and stews. Even the young shoots are meant to taste amazing. 

It's a plant I want to experiment with more and try to use in our cooking a little bit. It's also one that looks amazing! 

Anyone have something growing in their yard or garden that they didn't know was edible?

"Grown Up" Potatoes

My sliced, roast, rosemary and garlic potatoes have become one of the staples of my weekly cooking lately, but the other night I thought I should try and make them a bit more child friendly. Not by cutting back on the flavour though!

Cookie cutters with potatoes (in fact these are from her play-doh set!)

 I raided my little girls play-doh set and found some of the different shaped cutters in there and used these on slices of potatoes. So simple I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before! 

Both parts of the potato add a bit of interest and give more crispy edges!

Plenty of rosemary and garlic to be cut up fine and mixed with a cold pressed rapeseed oil

The finished thing

When I brought them out I got a "Wow Dad" which is always nice (even if she sometimes says the same thing when I get her a cup of water!), but I thought this idea is a fun way to get kids to eat home made cooking and, although simple, I thought I'd put it on here. 

Anyone else do something similar?