I’ve been away on holiday for two weeks and was eager to get back to see how the edible garden was looking. I was very pleased to find the volunteers harvesting all sorts of goodies on Monday morning. The garden is overflowing with carrots, lettuce, mange tout peas, broad beans, parsley and kohl rabi to name but a few.

We harvested the garlic much to everyone’s delight. Even the most seasoned gardener must surely feel a sense of anticipation as they dig gently into the soil. Will the garlic have produced reasonable bulbs?

The vegetables are not the only thing to have grown. The weeds have gone mad and are flourishing in the damp conditions. Work this week has mostly involved harvesting and weeding leaving little time for anything else!

Finally, I thought I’d share a few of my holiday snaps. I was missing the garden produce, so the husband and I explored the hedgerows for something green to add to our meals. We tried cleavers in our omelettes, elderflower fritters and nettle porridge (much nicer than it sounds!).

The porridge is very easy to make; oatmeal, milk, butter, salt and wilted nettles all simmered together to make a tasty breakfast.

Elderflower fritters were just as simple. We made the batter from the recipe found here. Milk, eggs and sparkling water whisked together for the batter with fresh elderflower heads dipped in. We fried the flowers in 3cm of hot oil for a few minutes until crispy and  sprinkled lightly with sugar. (We left out the other ingredients on account of cooking on a boat with a limited store cupboard). Very tasty fare.