Farming Friends » Homegrown vegetables

Spinach Beet Growing In Veg Garden & How To Use It

sara — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:01:48 +0000

I have been growing spinach beet in the veg garden this year for the very first time. The leaves have started to get big and so I asked Topveg when I could start to harvest the spinach beet leaves.

Once I knew that the leaves were ready to harvest I wasn’t sure how to use them so again an email to Topveg and this is the reply I got,

The tiny leaves are good as salad – just need washing. Better to leave them a bit bigger for cooking as they cook down to nothing. They are lovely cooked – but need draining well – squashing in a collander – excellent with poached egg (quail) on top – or v good in lasagne – Delia has it in her 4 cheese lasagne.

The beauty of it is that it keeps coming- if you take care not to spoil the growing centers of the new leaves as you pick the old. If you can’t keep up with it – you must trim it off to stop it going to seed. Once it does that it stops giving you fresh leaves.

Yesterday we used the spinach beet leaves in a salad with hard boiled guinea fowl eggs. Looking forward to a summer meals using spinach beet leaves. If you have any recupes you would like to share using spinach beet then please let me know.

How To Grow Pea Shoots

sara — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:31:17 +0000

Everyone seems to be talking about growing and eating pea shoots. Heard Holly Willoughby on This Morning this week say that she loves pea shoots.

Farming Friends & TopVeg have now collaborated to create a How To Grow Pea Shoots growing card. The TopVeg website always provide me with excellent seed sowing information.

How To Grow Pea Shoots Instructions

If you would like this document as a pdf, just contact farmingfriends and I will email you the document.

I intend to print off copies and then laminate the sheet so that I can use the growing card in the future.

Teachers, children, vegetable growers and anyone interested in growing carrots are welcome to print off this growing card for their own use.

Other growing cards we have already created;

If you have any other growing cards that you would like Farming Friends & TopVeg to create then please leave a comment and we will be happy to create it for you.

How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook For Sale Only £3.00

If you would like to grow pea shoots then Thompson and Morgan supply pea seeds.

Vegetable Gardening April 2010

sara — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 07:19:36 +0000

Today (Saturday) has been a gloriously sunny April day so I decided to get out in the veg garden. My veg garden has been abit of a disgrace so this year I am making a concerted effort to keep on top of the dreaded nettles!

A few weeks ago I planted broad beans, peas, runner beans and french beans. Shoots are coming through on the broad beans.

Today I have dug one of my raised beds and pulled out all the remaining nettle roots that were lingering!

I have managed to plant:

Radish – french breakfast and sparkler varieties.
Lettuce - all year round and little gem varieties.
Spinach beet.
Beetroot.
Cauliflower.
Cabbage.
Brussel Sprouts.
Purple Sprouting Broccolli.
Courgettes.
Carrots.

Farming Friends & TopVeg have now collaborated to create a series of vegetable growing cards instructions, so click on the links above to read the vegetable growing cards.

We have also written a set of herb growing cards.

How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook For Sale Only £3.00

How To Grow Carrots From Seed Instructions

sara — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:56:50 +0000

The TopVeg website always provide me with excellent seed sowing information.

Farming Friends & TopVeg have now collaborated to create a How To Grow Carrots growing card.

How To Grow Carrots Instructions

If you would like this document as a pdf, just contact farmingfriends and I will email you the document.

I intend to print off copies and then laminate the sheet so that I can use the growing card in the future.

Teachers, children, vegetable growers and anyone interested in growing carrots are welcome to print off this growing card for their own use.

Other growing cards we have already created;

If you have any other growing cards that you would like Farming Friends & TopVeg to create then please leave a comment and we will be happy to create it for you.

How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook For Sale Only £3.00

If you would like to grow carrots then Thompson and Morgan supply carrot seeds.

What To Do With Beetroot

sara — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:49:02 +0000

If you have a glut of beetroot and don’t know what to do with it then here are a few suggestions:

Boiled beetroot.
Roast beetroot.
Pickled Beetroot.
Jellied Beetroot.
Grated raw beetroot in a salad.
Make beetroot hummus.
Beetroot soup.
Caramelised beetroot.
Beetroot juice.
Beetroot chutney.
Thinly sliced beetroot fried to make beetroot crisps.

Let me know how you use your beetroot.

If you fancy growing beetroot then click on this link for how to grow beetroot instructions card.

Hessian Potato Sacks Available From TopVeg

sara — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:43:12 +0000

I am delighted to announce that TopVeg are now selling hessian bags or sacks for potatoes.

The sacks are:

50 x 80cm – not too heavy to lift.
ideal for storing potatoes, onions and garlic – allowing them to breathe and they do not sweat.
easy for the air to circulate through them.
each sack will hold approximately 28lb.
Introductory price for 5 sacks £5.45 plus postage & packing (UK only).

Introductory price for 10 sacks £10.75 plus postage and packing (UK only).

Sorry – this offer is for UK only

To use TopVeg Hessian sacks:

fill them with dry potatoes – leave the potatoes out, spread thinly, to dry naturally before putting in the sacks
do not wash the soil off the potatoes because washed potatoes will not store well, just let the soil dry before putting the potatoes into sacks
only store healthy potatoes, any damaged, bruised or diseased potatoes will not keep
once filled, store the sacks in a cool, dark place
check the potatoes regularly to make sure there is no wetness or smell. If there is remove the offending potatoes.
keep inspecting the store for signs of rats and mice
TopVeg Hessian potato sacks are suitable for storing onions and garlic.

Caramelised Beetroot

sara — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:56:48 +0000

Made caramelised beetroot to accompany beef burgers, mash, carrots and sugar snap peas and it was delicious, so thought I would share the recipe.

Caramelised Beetroot

Ingredients

1 large beetroot

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablesppoon of balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Method

Peel and cut up the beetroot into about 8 pieces.
Boil the water.
Place beetroot in boiling water for about 5-10 minutes.
Remove beetroot from water and chop up into thin strips.
Heat olive oil in frying pan.
Add beetroot strips and fry.
Then add sugar and balsamic vinegar and fry for 10 minutes.

I poured the carmelised beetroot over the burgers and mash and it was delicious. The balsamic vinegar created a sweet sauce.

Sowing Herb Seeds In March

sara — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:05:12 +0000

As the weather brightens up many of us head into the garden to sow seeds. If you are interested in cooking, then growing your own herbs in the garden, a raised bed or containers is a good idea.

Here are a few herbs whose seeds can be sown in March, so with a lovely Spring day like today, why not head out into the garden to sow some herb seeds.

Borage
Celery
Chervil
Lemon balm

How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook

I have teamed up with Topveg and written an eBook on How To Grow Herbs For Cooking priced at £3.00 which is packed full of information about:

how to grow herbs,
sizes of herbs,
growing herbs in containers,
when to plant the herbs,
best location for planting,
suitable soil types,
when to harvest,
how to preserve herbs and
their culinary uses.

also includes a set of 21 herb growing cards which can be individually printed off and taken into the garden for easy reference.

How To Grow Mint Instructions

The eBook includes the following herb growing cards:

How To Grow Basil.
How To Grow Bay.
How To Grow Borage.
How To Grow Chervil.
How To Grow Chives.
How To Grow Coriander.
How To Grow Cress.
How To Grow Dill.
How To Grow Fennel.
How To Grow Florence Fennel.
How To Grow Horseradish.
How To Grow Lemon Balm.
How To Grow Marjoram
How To Grow Mint.
How To Grow Nasturtium.
How To Grow Oregano.
How To Grow Parsley.
How To Grow Rosemary.
How To Grow Sage.
How To Grow Tarragon.
How To Grow Thyme.

If you haven’t got any herb seeds in stock then why not head over to Thompson and Morgan and buy some.

Which herbs are you growing at the moment?

How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook For Sale

sara — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:37:17 +0000

How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook is now on sale for all you keen gardeners and cooking enthusiasts that want to produce a herb garden or grow your own herbs for cooking.

At a cost of only £3.50 the How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook will provide you with information about:

how to grow herbs,
sizes of herbs,
growing herbs in containers,
when to plant the herbs,
best location for planting,
suitable soil types,
when to harvest,
how to preserve herbs and
their culinary uses.

The How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook also includes a set of 21 herb growing cards which can be individually printed off and taken into the garden for easy reference.

How To Grow Mint Instructions

The eBook includes the following herb growing cards:

How To Grow Basil.
How To Grow Bay.
How To Grow Borage.
How To Grow Chervil.
How To Grow Chives.
How To Grow Coriander.
How To Grow Cress.
How To Grow Dill.
How To Grow Fennel.
How To Grow Florence Fennel.
How To Grow Horseradish.
How To Grow Lemon Balm.
How To Grow Marjoram
How To Grow Mint.
How To Grow Nasturtium.
How To Grow Oregano.
How To Grow Parsley.
How To Grow Rosemary.
How To Grow Sage.
How To Grow Tarragon.
How To Grow Thyme.

Buy the How To Grow Herbs For Cooking eBook for yourself or as a gift for a friend or a family member.

Buy now for £3.50

Testimonial

Sara, I just wanted to say the Herb Growing ebook is brilliant. You must have taken a lot of time over it. I would recommend it to anyone. I especially liked the growing cress in an eggshell – it seemed fun and everyone in the family could get involved. Trisha

Topveg Visits Farming Friends

sara — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:22:42 +0000

Topveg giftTowards the end of October, Sally from Topveg visited the farmingfriends farm. As some of you will already know Topveg and I have been in collaboration, making Vegetable and Herb growing cards. We got together in let October to organise putting together a Growing Cards book, so watch this space for news about this exciting collaboration.

Topveg kindly gave us a box of veg and we have thoroughly enjoyed the contents, so thanks Topveg, your veg is tops!!!