a kitchen garden

Perhaps one of the only things I've managed to juggle alongside preparing for our wedding was keeping on top of my fledging kitchen garden. We're lucky to have a small patio at our London flat and the farmer's daughter in me was keen to really give vegetable gardening a go this year. Back in January I invested in two lovely woven wicker vegetable planters and prepared the soil before deciding what I'd like to grow. We're trying to reduce our plastic consumption so alongside signing up to our local milkman (who is a bit hit and miss with deliveries..) I thought growing some of our own vegetables would be a nice and easy way to support the cause. 

We've started small this year as there is only so much I can do in our small space so this year we have grown spring onions, cherry tomatoes, courgettes, runner beans, carrots and herbs. My lettuces were all picked out by birds, which is a shame as we eat lettuce like it's going out of style. Everything has been grown from seed, which has proved a little stressful at times as I have been so desperate for them to germinate and it takes a while for some of them to do this - the runner beans took WEEKS for this to happen and I was so worried they wouldn't come through. However, with a lot of love, determination and will power, this is what it looked like in June.

After lovely sunshine in June and early July, this is what the plants looked like just before we left London for our wedding. 

And thankfully, we had friends to stay in the flat whilst we were away so we came back to an abundance of runner bean flowers and the courgettes overflowing. Ian had also set up an elaborate sprinkler system which seems to have saved the day this year. 

Our runner beans are probably the hero of the year. Our courgettes are huge but only seem to produce baby courgettes and tend to rot at the ends very quickly. So I think next year we need to give them a lot more space and perhaps keep them away from a  raised tub. I'm not sure they like their little homes. The carrots are coming along nicely, having thinned them out a few weeks ago. I'm looking forward to eating those later on when they're fat and sweet. 

My little tomatoes are in desperate need of sun. There's plenty of little green tomatoes on there but we need some sun if I am to have anything red. I've never made green tomato chutney before and in all honesty, I'd rather eat red tomatoes in a salad or puttanesca pasta! 

The garden has brought me so much joy and I'm already thinking about how we can do things differently next year and that I should have thought ahead for growing autumn and winter vegetables. But I suppose this is only the first year and surely we'll only go from strength to strength?!

If you're looking for me, you're likely to find me crouched over the planters tidying things up and wistfully hoping everything comes to fruition. 




L. 

whitstable

Hello again, it's been a while. It turns out weddings take up a lot of your time and most weekends are spent frantically making decorations, doing admin and writing lists. It doesn't leave a lot of time for doing nice things, like visiting markets or trying out new restaurants, so my apologies for leaving you in the lurch for a little while. It was all worth it though! Four weeks ago yesterday I married my best friend, surrounded by family and friends. It was the best day and we just wish we could do it all again. 

Now that the wedding and honeymoon whirlwind has left us behind, we've been able to get back to normal - the first time in many months! And yesterday, to celebrate four weeks of marriage, we went to Whitstable to spend the day by the sea. 

I'm not very well acquainted with the east of England having grown up in the west and more towards Wales however, from London we're only a short train journey away from exploring a new area. I'm a water baby and love the sea so after a friend told me about her weekend in Whitstable I bought us a day return ticket. Pulling up just before 10am we made a bee-line for coffee and cakes. The local bakery served us very well with fat bread pudding and apple doughnuts whilst Garage Coffee armed us with the perfect morning fuel. The weather was a little unsettled to begin with so we whiled away the time taking a good walk along the beach, chatting away about moving to the country and perhaps a holiday home by the sea might be a nice idea too! I loved all the beach huts dotting the beach - I'd have loved one as a teenager, I think I would have spent hours painting it and making curtains for the windows and finding knick-knacks. 

With the skies clearing and the sun peeping through we stopped off at The Old Neptune for a local beer on the beach. I'm currently watching Poldark and I couldn't help but let my imagination run away with me and imagine what this seaside town was like in the 18th century, with its very busy fishing and oyster business. Anyway, I digress.. On our walk we had spotted where we'd go for lunch and oysters were on the cards. It would have been rude not to when the beaches are covered in discarded oyster shells! 

I've only had oysters once before now. This is how it panned out...

The pro ^^

Not so pro ^^

Despite appearances, I actually really enjoyed them. But they must be joined by red wine vinegar and shallots and a quick glug of tabasco! 

We rewarded ourselves with fresh lobster and chips, which was deliciously sweet and a real treat! 

Whitstable is such a pretty spot which I wasn't expecting since you do go past a lot of very industrial areas on the train out from London Victoria. But we were pleasantly surprised and have vowed to return to Whitstable again soon. Perhaps a nice crisp winter's day where a longer walk is on the cards followed by a cosy lunch in a pub. 

L.