Garden harvests of 2025

 I realise that I didn't ever total up everything I grew and picked in the garden at home in 2025 which was a shame as it's lovely to have a record of this.  Some things in the garden were very successful and others were not to successful! 

Alpine Strawberries:  47.  Not a great sum from my 2 plants compared to my mum who had hundreds or even thousands from her many plants but much loved despite their small number. They are incredibly sweet!

Strawberries:  190.

This isn't as many as some years but better than last year I think!

Blueberries: 445

I'm quite surprised as I didn't think they were doing as well as other years but not bad from 2 plants! Many went in the freezer so I have yet to enjoys some!

Rocket:  9 handfuls.

This was disappointing! I need to plant more rocket as it is is usually prolific!

Cherries:  44

The birds got some but these were juicy and wonderful! I did also get freebies from the tree in the carpark down the road!

Raspberries:  83.

This was pathetic!!!I remember the year of 2000 and I am most annoyed at the badger or whatever killed my Autumn Bliss plants. These new varieties are not as good!

Loganberries: 1

This plant is GOING if it doesn't do something soon! So, so, so much foliage and nothing else!

Cucumbers: 9

I'm not very good at clipping these in. I think they'd have done better if I had done!

Tomatoes:  176.

This was quite successful. They did not get blight this year!

Courgettes:  14

I was pleased with these from one plant!

Runner beans:   273.

I paid 50p a piece for 2 bean plants from the yellow bungalow and their honesty box down the road and I consider this an absolute bargain! I keep meaning to pop a note through the door to thank them for their amazing plants! Next year, I will buy more! They were really good ones too! These were one of the star crops for 2025!

Rhubarb:  20 stalks:

Most of this went in the freezer and into fruit amber! I would like to plant more!

Dwarf French beans: 30

A small amount from about 6 plants but appreciated!

Everlasting onion scapes: 23. 

Considering these were free from Mum, I'm happy with this.

Peppers: 8

From One plant!  I was very happy with this!

Aztec Broccoli: 4 takeaway tubs full.

I think I messed this one up! I let it grow too much and it was too tough to eat! It grew well but I didn't know how to harvest it.

Apples: 11

The most apples we've ever had from the tree!

Nasturtium seeds:  87

I picked most of these in Vinegar and saved a few for growing next year.  These were brilliant plants and came from seeds I liberated in Madeira from the many Nasturtiums growing like weeds!

Chard: 2 handfuls

This is usually prolific so this was disappointing!

Butternut squashes:  2

Again, these would have been a lot more successful if I had planted these in the ground instead of a pot and clipped them in better! I'm not very good with climbing plants! Still, I'm proud of these two tiny babies!

Sorrell: 8 leaves

This needs new compost!

Blackcurrants: 963

The absolute star of the crops this year!  Mum gave me a titchy plant which had come from hers 2 years ago.  It grew majestic this year and kept producing! Many are in the freezer!

So there were some pleasing successes and other disappointments!  I hope we will be able to grow some exciting things this year!

Garden update

Ah, the joy of home-grown produce really is huge!

The season is starting to kick off!

Today, I picked this beautiful little haul!

It's my 2nd cucumber of the year so far.  I bought one plant and my sister germinated the other one.

The first pickings of Rhubarb.  The strawberries have been coming fast and I'm well over a hundred already.  Today included the first raspberries.  Annoyingly, the blueberries aren't so good this year or are taking a while but theese are the first few!   The rocket has been munched to shreds by wee beasties but I'm still going to eat it!  It feels very early for tomatoes but I am not complaining! I think I picked the courgette too early- it is only tiny but I thought it was restricting the others around it!

Here was last week's haul.  The cherries are delicious!  Sweeter than the ones I have been scrumping from the carpark down the road.

One of my cucumbers is absolutely determined to resist growing up its canes!

Here was another haul.  I have to say that fresh chopped mint is the best accompaniment for strawberries!

My loganberries suddenly flopped all over the lawn and knocked a whole load of blackcurrants from the plant (it's bountiful this year...but not ripe yet!)

It amazes me how a tiny stem holds a large cucumber growing!

The birds some some of the cherries but not all!

The Lavender seems very early.  The bees are cherishing it!

My Myrtle bush was looking really sick about a month or so ago. I pruned off all the dead wood and now it is thriving!

The Rhubarb amazes me. It looks so dead in the Winter and then it comes back!

The honeysuckle on the shed is beautifully fragrant.

And provides a nice platform for the birds.

The Toadflax returns with vengeance.

We thought the Campanula had gone forever but it has come back!

My neighbour gave me a different type of strawberry plant to add to my soft fruit bed. I love the red flowers.

Our Clematis as usual, defies all attempts to train it up a trellis or obelisk and climbs up the cherry tree.

 I'm delighted with the garden produce so far!

Homecoming Dinner

 CBC and I got home this afternoon, around 5.30pm after 6 days in Girona, Italy.

We had a lovely time. Couldn't believe we came home to glorious sun and some warmth!

We didn't have a huge amount of fresh food in the house but I went out into the garden and 

discovered the chard has boomed! I cut a veritable bouquet of it. It's quite expensive to buy in the supermarket (when you can get it) so I'm gleeful this is self-seeded from last year's also self-seeded.

The kale plants are really trying hard to flower and go to seed but I've discovered the small flower buds look and taste rather like tender stem broccoli. I also still managed to pick lots of kale.

In the right flower bed,the three-cornered leek (self-seeded) is surrounded by Forget-me-nots but is still growing so I picked lots of that.

The Lemon Balm has started growing again so I picked some of that too.

Wasn't sure what to make for dinner.  We struggle to get back into the swing of cooking after being on holiday.

I had a brainwave.

I got two blocks of noodles (from the Refill shop) and put them into a saucepan along with the kale-occoli plus lots of Chard stalks. I added hot water and set it to medium heat.

I then made up some Miso paste into a thick liquid with about 100ml of hot water which I added into the saucepan.  Once it had been going for a bit, I added in a bit of vegetable stock (from a sadly,now closed Refill store) and the chopped up Chard leaves. I also discovered a third of an old courgette lurking in the fridge from a week ago and chopped that into small pieces and added it in.

I then beat an egg in the old miso jug and threw it into a small saucepan along with lots of chopped up 3-cornered leek and pepper and left it to cook. 

I served up the noodles, broth and veg into a bowl and added some more chopped 3 cornered leek plus I poured some Sesame oil on top.

Finally, I cut up the leek omelette into pieces and added on top.

Very pleased that it ended up being delicious and was very little effort to make plus quite healthy with 4 types of green veg plus the veg.  Plus it was pretty cheap to make!

I served it with Lemon Balm tea!

Garden joy

 It seems a bit late sharing this now but I was enjoying some of the late flowers and colours in early October and I thought it would be nice to share them, particularly as it is now all yucky and rainy/dark!

I love the way Verbena Bonariensis defies gravity!  It leans at all sorts of awkward angles but is a delight to all the polinators.

I think this one is Nandina Domestica.  It looks so jolly and red in the Autumn and dons berries for jewellery

The cosmos hasn't been particularly successful this year but this self-seeded set has appeared out of the lawn!

The fuscias are still blooming- delicate ballerinas caught mid-jete.

The lemon tree has thrived this Summer after CBC kept treating it with anti-scale insect treatment, the advice he was given on GQT after a roasting!

Amusingly, a line of Nigella has grown at the edge of the lawn, in the drain grating!

The Blueberry plants always don their red robes at the end of the season.

I've still been picking these 5 edibles up to this week! I wonder what I will find outside tomorrow morning?

I relocated a Nasturtium to the soft fruit bed and it's finally growing!

Let's see the Cosmos again!

Here's another Autumn harvest.

A healthy-looking Lemon Balm plant has begun to grow in the lawn to which I have no objections- free tea!

Ah, there's another of the Nigella!

The warmer months always show their love by the bounty they share! I've enjoyed the feast.

xx

Leon Lewis foraging walk

The week of my birthday,  decided I would really like to do a foraging walk with Vegetarian chef, Leon Lewis.  I met him around 4 years ago at a village show where he was selling his wonderful cuisine which included some foraged ingredients.  We then came back across him in Lockdown when we had to go to the town where he lives and operates.  He sold Vegetarian readymeals from his Garage sale. We bought some from him in March 2021 and he was the wonderful person who told me where to find Wild Garlic in Essex.

We met him at his house and we all piled into his car to reach our first location.

He taught us about some common Spring greens that we needed to avoid as they can be confused with edibles. Things like Lords and Ladies and Dog Mercury.

We looked out for some fungus and saw some King Alfred's cakes. Can you see the little face?  These are not edible but can be cut into slices and used for Fire Lighters/Starters.

We spied some Wood Ears which are used in Chinese Cuisine.  These were a bit dried up now but we did pick a bit of them as they can be rehydrated

We  also spied some Bird Polypore. Not edible but good to know! This one looked like  bun from underneath!

Leon introduced us to a great Spring green called Hairy Bittercress.  He set us the task of looking for some and picking it.  It is useful for a Spring salad.  We managed to grab quite a few chunks.  Don't ever take too much when you forage. Always make sure you leave enough behind. Remember, animals share these resources and other people and they need to grow back.

It was lovely to see some blossom as we walked.

We found a patch of Wild Garlic a little off the main path. Although it was quite early for Wild Garlic and it isn't as dense as it will be,there was a surprisingly large amount.  We gathered lots and it didn't look like we had taken any!

Next, we headed to a new location to go and seek some 3-cornered leek.  This patch were more oniony than leeky.  You have to look for the distinctive triangular stem down the bottom.

We also looked for Violets- tiny little purple flowers which are edible with a distinct floral taste.

We moved on to another area and found some wild Sorrel.  This was just growing in the grass and has a lovely lemony taste.

We also found and looked for some Cow Parsley which, in its young stage, as you might expect, makes a great wild parsley.

We also looked for some Common Hogsweed as when it is early Spring, when the new shoots are coming through, they can be picked. They look a furry white/green shade and are unfurled.

We also picked a large amount of Nettle tops and Goose grass.

We headed back to Leon's Garage where he had prepared some wonderful veggie dishes for us to eat. But before we did that, we were going to prepare some of our finds. 

As it wasn't a huge Mushroom time, Leon got some Chanterelles and Morrels out of the freezer for us.

Using Leon's Deep fat fryer, he supervised us deepfrying the nettletops for around 12 seconds.  These then turned into something delicious that tasted like Crispy seaweed. It was SO delicious!

He had mixed up some tempura batter for us with gram flour so we then deepfried the Hogsweed shoots in the batter.

Again, these tasted delicious.

He set me the task of deep frying the Chanterelle mushrooms in the tempura batter whilst he was frying.

You might just be aware that I LOATHE eating regular mushrooms.

Leon had said to me once that other types of fungus taste differently.  Thus, I decided I would try the mushrooms he cooked.

To the utter amazement of my family, I absolutely adored the tempura Chanterelles and ate lots of them!

 Leon also cooked the Morrels in cream and brandy with red onions.  I liked the taste of the mushrooms but wasn't so keen on the brandy flavour.

CBC was set the task of adding the sorrel, hairy bittercress, some wild garlic and the violets to a Greek Salad Leon had made.  This was delicious and had excellent olives as well as wonderful Vegan Feta (nicer than regular feta) and some Vegan sushi rolls Leon had made. It looked so pretty.

Here were the Woodears mushrooms rehydrating.

Leon opened some excellent wine (for him and CBC) and some homemade Apple Juice for me.

And now it was time to eat all the veggie goodness.

He had made a wonderful loaf of bread.  Then there was a delicious Caponata with olives, tomatoes. 

A great Tabbouli salad, Siny'et Bedingal (Egyptian marinated aubergines).  Mushroom pate, a Wild-garlic pate, a great Apple crumble, the Greek Salad and then the fried goods.

It was all delicious.

We were allowed to take all the left overs we foraged and we had some of the dishes. Leon also sold us some of his ready meals half-price (absolute bargains).

We came back with various curries, pickles, a Cucumber Raitha and all manner of goodies which kept us stocked for a week.

Leon is knowledgeable, friendly, generous and great fun. Both CBC and I were really buoyed by our wonderful time with him. What you find will vary at different times of the year and yes, I do want to go again as I am now keen to try Chicken of the Woods fungus!

It cost us £30 per head to do the foraging course, with food and wine which was incredibly good value. I am not sure if prices change at different times of the year.

If you go to Glastonbury, you might have spotted his stall as he is there and he has cooked for Fairport convention on quite a few locations.

Have you ever been on a foraging course?  Ever eaten something and enjoyed it which you didn't expect?

xx
 

P.S.Check out the Mushroom comments on my Insta!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kezzie (@kezziesquirrel)