Parcel delivery and Purple Sprouts

The postman brought me a very welcome parcel on Thursday, it was from Stephen at Victoriana Nurseries  the Tayberry arrived and also the two Lemon Grass plants. There were also the Parsnip seeds 'Hollow Crown' and my tomato seeds as well.  The Globe Artichoke plants wont be delivered until April/May ready for planting out. This gives me time to choose and prepare the area that they will be planted in. I have to plan this wisely as they are perennial and will be there for some time (hopefully) Having only ever eaten Artichokes already prepared in jars from the shop I thought I had better buy some to experiment in preparing and cooking them. A friend kindly bought me and herself a couple each. We didn't have a clue what to do with them, so I turned to good old Google and found lot's of useful links and even video's on YouTube.

After chopping the stem off and taking off the sharp tips and removing the lower leaves, I them boiled them, I will steam them next time as I always steam all my vegetables.  When soft I then let them cool, cut out the heart and scraped the flesh from the leaves and then sauteed it all  in a little butter with garlic. I ate them cold the next day with a salad, delicious !! the only drawback was they were very small and didn't have much of a heart which is the part |I love the most.

The parcel which was well wrapped in straw and heavy polythene (which I then up-cycled and used to cover one of my raised beds.) the polythene that is !

As you can see the Tayberry is a really good size, I can't wait to get some fruit from it.  It also has loads of healthy buds.   I am so pleased with the quality of the plant.



The Lemon Grass, lovely for stir fries and so expensive to buy in the supermarket, so I'm hoping to get lot's of my own later on .

Purple Brussel Sprouts, at last a small harvest !

Just look at these beauties,they were more purple than this but I had to remove a lot of the outer leaves, so here they are ready to be steamed.  They were delicious and kept their unusual colour and well worth the wait. I would have had some before if  they  hadn't  been so badly infested with white fly. I had to reluctantly

spray them and just wait and see if they grew some more which they did and I have a good few more small harvests to pick yet and will be growing this variety again (Rubine)

The Allotment is still giving me treats.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas ! we had a fabulous time, it was fun and we had some lovely presents, good company, and the best bit was being with the family. But I am always glad when it's over ( I whispered that !) I long for my normal routine and also can't wait to see what the new year will bring. I love the start of a New Year, and I just want to get sowing and growing again.

I went up to the allotment yesterday, the first time in weeks and I harvested some curly Kale, a very large and a small parsnip some green regular sprouts, and some of a friends purple sprouts that she asked me to help myself to as she couldn't manage to eat them all.
The purple sprouts were so delicious that they are on my 'Must Sow in 2010' list, I just have to ask her what the variety was. The purple sprouting broccoli is just starting to sprout and I hope to be picking some in a few weeks. The perpetual spinach is still going, I must cut down on the amount next year. The garlic sown in late Autumn is up and growing well, and the autumn planted cabbages haven't really grown a lot as yet. It all looked a bit bleak and mucky up there and Rosie the scarecrow will need a complete overhaul next year, so Lot's of planning to do.

Monday's harvest

New Years Eve is only a couple of days away, so I will wish you all a lovely evening however you intend to celebrate it, and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all as well.