Strawberries, Tomatoes, Chilli & Peas

 I love love love the taste of home grown strawberries - even the Wexford strawberries for sale at the side of the road have nothing on these - they are taste sensations! I picked all that were ripe last night so there aren't as many in the photos - but there are plenty more coming that will be picked very soon!! Slugs got to a few where I had them in last years bed, but (so far!!) there hasn't been any slug damage to the ones in my raised bed - I am still believing that the loose stones around the raised bed is really helping - along with the beer slug trap that I have installed just beside them!

Close up view

Just have to be a bit more patient!

 

They are all hiding under the dense foliage. The runners have just started, so will be watching these for new free plants for next year!

My first tomato bunch

I have been watching and waiting patiently for my first tomatoes to appear - its lovely to watch as they grow. So far I have a good few flowers and tresses on the different tomato plants. I am feeding them every second day with tomato feed and today I also tried a bit of my nettle feed (as the weather was decent, I had the greenhouse door open - the nettle feed stinks otherwise!).  This is my first time trying the nettle feed on tomatoes, but saw it on another blog and had to give it a go!

The Greenhouse tomatoes

Old Greenhouse tomatoes - growing well

Bush tomato planted outside - not the healthiest but still has a few toms growing!

 

Chilli plant in greenhouse - still very small

 The chilli plant was bought as a small plant this year - I have in the past grown them straight from seed before. So far I have a good few flowers on the plant, but no sign as yet of chillis developing - I may have to pimp my chilli!

My first Mangetout peas!

I was up at a friends at the weekend and discovered his first peas - (a few of them found a pleasant home in my belly!) - was delighted to discover my own first peas. They didn't survive for much longer after this photo was taken!

Update around the site

This is an update of photos from around the site this morning. I have been away from it the past few days so was good to get back to it - back achingly good! :-)

Tomatoes in the greenhouse are growing well - plenty of flowers - waiting on the fruit to start forming next.

Chilli plant in the greenhouse - flowering nicely too - probably needs potting up soon

Spuds are growing well - some damage from the rain last week, but coming back nicely

Leeks closest and onions growing well

Spuds in raised bed - growing well - had a look at some of the earlies, but only pebbles yet but they were planted late

Lettuce on the left, bush tomato and basil under the cloche and strawberry plants with plenty of fruit that just needs to ripen

 

4 rows of carrots - all planted at different times. The ones in the toilet rolls are looking a lot healthier now

Beetroot - 2 rows

Onions in bed with leeks on the right

Parsnips - looking very healthy

Broccoli nearly ready to pick, Brussels sprouts and cabbage/cauliflower on the left

Rock garden - flowering nicely

Strawberry pot - again waiting to ripen!

Bed beside the rock garden - various shrubs and bedding plants in there, Also a family sunflower competition!

Potatoes in pot - very small

View back looking towards the house from the beds

Fruit trees and wildflower garden which has been a bit of a disappointment this year compared to last year - grass has taken over

Peas - mangetout to the front of the row and then petit pois - seem to be a bit behind most peoples

Our gift to the kids arrived today - bought a wooden playhouse - will update with photos once we get it together, hopefully over the weekend if its dry! Its a thanks to them for losing their parents most evenings to the garden.

Picked my first head of Broccoli this evening - couldn't wait - on the menu for dinner tomorrow!

Coriander

Coriander is a wonderful herb mainly used in Asian and Indian dishes ( that I am aware of). There are also a lot of old herbal remedies that use the Coriander herb. For more info have a look at the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriander

To keep a ready supply of Coriander, it is best to make succession sowings every few weeks. For instance at the moment, I have some seeds just planted and in the hot press to germinate. I also have seeds that have germinated about two weeks.

And some ready for use. I plan to keep this up over the summer to have a ready supply of Coriander.

Coriander Chilli Chicken Noodle 
One of the simplest ways we sometimes use coriander is for a quick late night snack or quick bite to eat - takes all of 5 mins. For this we use chicken flavoured noodles (i.e. Maggi noodles), up to you if you prefer other varieties - chop half a chilli and add to the boiling water with the noodles and the chicken flavoured sachet. While thats cooking - cut and chop a couple of sprigs of Coriander - strain noodles and chilli, add Coriander and you suddenly have a lovely tasting quick snack with a taste of the Orient for only a few cents. Not necessarily the healthiest snack, but definitely a very flavoursome one.

Seeds
The seed from the Coriander plant can also be used in recipes and stored easily for the winter months or can be stored as your seeds for next year. It is best to plan to save seed from early summer sowings, to allow plenty of time for the seed to mature and dry on the plant. Harvest as soon as the seed is brown and dry, as it does tend to drop from the seed heads. Rub the heads together in your hands over a bucket to free the seed.


Nutritional values:
http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/cilantro.html
If these are true - its a pretty amazing plant!!

Yum Yum - cous cous recipe

My lovely fresh coriander didn't last long. Hadn't been shopping so had to do a search of the store cupboard to see what was available. As I had only cooked Couscous once before I was amazed at how well this all turned out. Unfortunately, the finished product was gobbled up before I had a chance to take a photo - will try and upload one when I repeat this dish.

Servings: 2 people 
Preparation time: 5mins
Cooking time: 5mins

Full chilli ( small red - depends on how much heat you like)
an inch of grated ginger
2 shallots
2 small garlic cloves

Peas
Couscous
Chopped coriander
Squeeze of fresh lime juice

First 4 fried off together - then cook peas - couscous for last minute
Empty lot into a bowl - add chopped coriander and squeeze of lime over the top fluffing the whole lot together with a fork

You can easily add whatever meat you like on the side.We had some pork steak that I marinated with a mix of 1ts of soy sauce, 1tbs of balsamic vinegar, about 3 tbs of ketchup, 2tbs of brown sugar - all mixed together and over trimmed 1/2inch cuts of pork steak. That was then put in the oven for about 30mins on 180C. Melt in the mouth! Yum Yum!!

This was a really quick meal to put together, definitely on of my better experiments from the store cupboard!

Although a coriander was hurt in the making of this dish, I have more coming along from seed as I had planted a few sowings of it a few weeks apart. I have also done this with the basil - but the basil is nowhere near eating stage ( think it would like a lot more sunshine than we have gotten in Ireland so far this year!).

I would love to hear what other people thought of this recipe when they try it! Or any feedback for improvements!