Saturday 10 July 2010

More July in the Garden

The sunflower seedlings have grown in the past four weeks and need re-potting in the next few days.
Pretty nasturtiums grown in a box. Something about the place/soil doesn't seem to agree with them -- too rich? Too hot for a while? Too sunny?
These are some of the first baby carrots I've pulled out of a box. Not exactly the kind of success we had been hoping for. The thinned out and replanted ones have grown well but with very crooked roots. The ones we left alone are puny. The nasturtium blossom will provide a lovely highlight to a bowl of lovely salad, most ingredients coming from our Community Garden (of course I'm leaving a donation in the box!).
These are the ingredients for my salad: all manner of green and red leaves, including at least three different kinds of cut-and-grow again lettuce, plus rocket, spinach and red chard, and the petals of marigold and a nasturtium blossom for colour, plus the most delicate sugar snap peas you can wish and hope for. Absolutely delicious!
And this is the salad just before it is served, glistening with extra virgin olive oil and seasoned with a dash of Balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of sea salt -- the simplest dressing but so tasty!
Finally, the main vegetable in the main course this evening, a whopper of a kohlrabi (about 4 inches in diameter):
It will need trimming but most of the leaves should be lovely, provided you cut them into thin strips and toss them in hot oil for about ten minutes. Cook the thinly sliced "meat" of the kohlrabi for about fifteen minutes: when it's this big, the bottom half tends to get a bit stringy and needs a bit longer to cook. The flavour is slightly sweet, the vegetable has a crisp, clean bite and is very juicy. One of my favourites in the cabbage family.

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