Wednesday 8 May 2013

Tudor Kitchen Garden (A Miniature Heatwave)

So it looks like we have bypassed Spring and gone straight to Summer over the last few days, with temperatures reaching around 25 degrees Celsius (which, given the summer we had last year, is hot!). As a result Dominic (my three year old) and I have been busily watering the vegetables twice a day to make sure that they stay healthy. It's great to get Dominic involved since, in Tudor times, food production would have been a family affair. He's particularly looking forward to trying his first purple carrot!

At the weekend I thinned out the radishes to ensure that they have space to grow. I'm expecting a crop of these and the salad leaves in a few weeks, which is exciting. The salad leaves in particular are doing well. In Tudor times such early crops would have been particularly welcomed - allowing the family to eat fresh food again after winter.

I've also now planted the beans which were the last seeds to go into the ground. Again, I have used a heritage variety: Selma Zebra Climbing Bean. They are an old variety that was first reintroduced thirty years ago and should be very eye-catching with purple speckled and striped pods. In the summer the garden should be looking very colourful!

Finally, I have also been given some strawberry plants, a fruit which was popular in Tudor England. I need to get some netting in place before the berries grow to ensure that they are saved from the birds.

I'll keep you posted and will be uploading some photos shortly.

No comments:

Post a Comment