The polytunnel fared pretty well with me being away for the weekend. By watering heavily before I left and moving all the pots into trays without drainage holes I seemed to have managed to keep everything alive.
I was over there for a couple of hours yesterday evening, tending, weeding, watering and generally checking that everything had survived without me, while I was there I ate the four luscious strawberries that beckoned to me from the hanging basket and rather than eat a full blown meal in nibbly form I decided to pick a selection of things for tea.
The choice is still limited at the moment of course, but what is there is so delicious I really could just eat this everyday, after all eating what's available with the seasons is what growing your own is all about.
My trusty salad spinner is back in action on the work top.
I've just checked to see when I got this as I remembered looking at the photograph that it was a product I was asked to review ... it turns out it was in August 2010 (see HERE) ... wow ... where has the time gone!!
Oh and all three items are still going strong :-)
Once rinsed, washed and spun I picked out the things I wanted for tea, radish, mixed leaves, pea shoots and spring onion thinnings, and wow are those getting a powerful onion taste to them.
Then I put the excess leaves on kitchen paper in a stayfresh bag. An poly ordinary bag works almost as well, but I still have some of these. I wash them after each use and leave to dry and then they get used over and over. The same three are possibly almost as old as the salad spinner come to think of it. (They were from Lakeland.)
With a peg to keep out the air the leaves will stay fresh for a week or more, but I somehow doubt they will last that long, with a few more radishes and pea shoots from the polytunnel they will most likely disappear into tonight's tea.
Last nights simple meal, with a dollop of my favourite mayonnaise.
Mother Goose and her babies.
She was teaching them to scratch in the grass to find food, fascinating to watch, just four days old and they are already getting the hang of feeding themselves ... just like Mummy does.
Oh and that's not Mother Goose making all the noise in the video clip, it was Poppy, the Lavender Pekin telling me to come over for a selfie .... only I don't think she's quite got the hang of it yet!!
Sue xx
It's certainly the time for salad. I wish the weather would warm up though. It's distinctly cold for June!
ReplyDeleteOne shy bird there :)
Here it;s very warm in the sun, but the breeze is pretty chilly so when the sun disappears the temperature plummets :-(
DeleteI have a salad spinner thinghy but always forget to use it, I am picking a salad for my dinner this evening wit some eggs, has the chook now left the other eggs she was sitting on. It has been a disappointing year for hatching all round I think from what I have been reading else where
ReplyDeleteI've just been over to Chicken World and she had left them unattended for so long they were cold, so I decided to take them away and break them open .... they weren't fertile unfortunately (so at least no dead little body in there). Two live chicks out of six eggs is the poorest hatching we've ever had.
DeleteFresh from the garden veggies, yum. Our salad spinner works overtime all summer, too.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny it was a kitchen gadget I did without for so long, thinking it was pretty unnecessary, but once you have one you realise what a difference it makes to washed leaves. I'd never be without one again.
DeleteSue, your vegetables all look wonderful and fresh. So funny that your chicken is named Mother Goose. Her chicks are so cute.
ReplyDeleteThe photo on yesterdays post with her last babies explains why :-)
DeleteOnly a couple of strawberries and rhubarb from our patch but anything that the land gives us is always appreciated and made into something! I am interested in a salad spinner... if only to save my teatowels from getting soggy.
ReplyDeleteThey really are a brilliant thing to have during the summer, leaves are so crisp when they've been spun, and you only have to rinse it out afterwards ready for action again :-)
DeleteI used to hate soggy tea towels and I always felt lazy and guilty if I used loads of kitchen roll to save on washing.
Your salad looks so healthy & fresh - enjoy !
ReplyDeleteThe cake on your blog post today looks slightly less healthy but equally fresh and luscious..... and I bet you enjoyed that :-)
DeleteWhat am I?
ReplyDeleteHaha ...... I won't answer that one!!
Delete(A post published ahead of its time, I had to revert it to draft. You can answer that question later today.)