Tag Archives: wild garlic

Wild wild wild youth

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Cheers to Mike and Julia from near Coventry for the picture of some wild garlic growing in their village. “Free stuff from nature!” as they said. That is one brilliant clump of it (above).

We bought some bulbs off ebay a few years ago after we spotted some on a camping trip in Cornwall and didn’t really know that much about it but thought it looked like an interesting plant. It still comes up every year around by the pond.

Anyone got any good recipes for using it? Mike and Julia mentioned they’ve used it in mango chicken and lamb kebabs, sometimes sprinkled on meatballs and have made garlic butter and garlic bread with it. We’ve found a couple on BBC Food here but we’d be interested if anyone out there knows more uses for cooking with it. Sounds great. Ta for the pic Mike and Julia!

And they’re off!

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Spring may be springing or maybe not but we’ve got in and sowed some seeds in the propagator on the windowsill. We’ve done some miner’s lettuce, giant sunflowers some tomatoes and some chillies along with some rows sowed outside (we’re pushing our luck but having a try anyway, what we got to lose?)

Years ago we bought some wild garlic bulblets on ebay and they’ve popped up yet again down the shady area behind the pond and are kept safe under the watchful eye of a plastic dalek. And the second lot of the giant garlic we bought is starting to peep through the inch or two of the leaf mulch in the raised bed. We don’t know if it’s the plastic protection on the top that has helped or the the fact that one of the Weeds cats spends a lot of time sleeping on top of it! Who knows but something is working!)

And here’s some spring inspired dubs to get those plants on their way.

There’s a leek in our daff patch what are we gonna do?

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On Good Friday we received a message from our gardening mate Gerry Hectic telling us he noticed he had blossom on his apple tree and it was like it appeared almost overnight. We looked at ours straight away and there was nothing, until this morning and as if by magic (above)…Cheers Gerry!

Whilst doing the big clear up around the pond the other day we found a little clump of Wild Garlic down there. Years ago we’d found out about them on a woodland walk while on holiday and bought a couple of bulbs off ebay. We put them in and duly forgot about them until now. They smell pungent and we’ve seen them on sale at Borough Market for silly prices but never really fancied eating them. Anyone got any good recipes?

And today we stuck some peas in a grid type pattern in one of the raised beds so in a couple of weeks time, if all goes well we can have a small portion of pea shoots. Now that’s something to look forward too! As someone told us years ago (and Vertical Veg mention it in this great article here too) if you can get you hands on a box of dried peas for soaking, they’re cheap as chips and work great when it comes to getting pea shoots.

And finally there’s a leek in our daff patch what are we gonna do?

The long good Friday

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Big up joe maiden!

A few weeks ago after listening to Joe Maiden on BBC Radio Leeds’ Gardening with Tim and Joe I took the risk and bunged in some of my seed spuds and now they’re well on their way (thanks Joe, you know your stuff!) But there’s a piece of fleece at the side just in case to stick over the plants if there’s any risk of frost as you can’t take anything for granted weatherwise.

leaf and spudTalking of spuds, Good Friday is traditionally the day to plant them, but I wasn’t around. As I was off work and the weather was great (and it was a root day from 1pm, man) I stuck the remainder of my well chitted seed potatoes in today.

In the hole

As per the RHS website I stuck them in five inches deep (with the chitted end upwards), twelve inches apart in two rows (two feet between each row). Also to aid growth I stuck some ripped up Comfrey leaves under them (I was given a root of Comfrey a couple of years ago by our good mate Scarlett and boy has it grown!) When the shoots start to show through on the spuds I’ll be earthing them up. Early spuds are good stuff and well easy to grow. If you haven’t got a garden, you can stick them in a plastic dustbin, builders sacks or even carrier bags!

Garlic, you're too wild!Also while “tipping around” the garden today I found a lone wild garlic not growing too wildly around by the pond but growing all the same!