Somerset Garden Day

The days are warmer, the sun is out for longer and there is plenty of fun to be had in the garden. Today is Somerset Garden Day, the first garden celebration day of its kind in the UK. Whether you’re the proud owner of a window box, a terrace or a full-blown garden, today is the day for putting your feet up and enjoying the space that you own. In celebration of the day itself, myself and fellow blogger and Incredible Edible Bristol community gardener, Man vs Allotment took time out of our busy schedules to throw a little party.

I’m ashamed to say that I don’t have many visitors to my plot. Although the plot itself is huge, it’s been under development for quite some time. However, with Somerset Garden Day dawning, it provided me with the perfect excuse to get some of my allotment neighbours and housemates over to the plot for some relaxing and unwinding.

By allowing yourself the time to unwind in these places of nature, or by sitting in your terrace garden with friends, you really do feel the stresses of the week fall away. It’s been proven that spending time around plants and trees and nurturing your own garden helps with anxiety and depression, and as someone who suffers from the former, I can confirm that it really does work.

Not only did we take some time out to immerse ourselves in the allotment, I also learnt more about my allotment neighbours. Ross (Man vs Allotment) is famous on the site for featuring with his innovative pub-shed idea in Big Dreams, Small Spaces presented by Monty Don. Naturally, I had to see it and we wandered up to enjoy a beer and talk about a range of different plans and ideas. Through inviting people into your garden or allotment, you can exchange great new ideas and inspiration, and I came away exactly having achieved it.

What was also brilliant to see was the diversity between the five of us. My two housemates own a colourful terrace garden right in the noisy centre of Bristol. Yet, they surround the space with lots of different plants to create a tranquil space. Tim, one of my allotment neighbours who writes for a local community newspaper has just taken on his second half-plot on the site and we exchanged lots of ideas about gardening and garden writing. Ross, again, has some great ideas for using his space, growing hops over his pub-shed so that he can start making his own brew, as well as lots of other little quirks on his plot. Together, we were all a hive of different ideas and the whole day was a refreshing change from the norm.

Across the county, let’s escape the stresses of the week and immerse ourselves in our slices of paradise. If you haven’t got enough plants, why not pick some fresh new colour, edibles and more from a local garden centre today?

Don’t forget to follow Somerset Garden Day on Twitter and on Instagram and tweet/take lot of photos of your garden spaces!

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Make Your Own Vegan Burger – The Kidney Bean Supreme

As vegans and vegetarians, we have our own little culture. It might be spreading fast, but we still find ourselves in a difficult position when we venture out of our little cultures and find ourselves presented with a choice between kebab shop or a greasy takeaway. Often, things are better when they’re homemade, and this burger is no exception. Smashed kidney beans, delicious garlic and a spicy edge created by chilli flakes and paprika make this recipe the perfect batch meal ready for heating up after a night out or for work lunches the next day.

With too much meat being proven to be a bad thing both for your health and for the environment, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying this meal as a meat-eater either. Students and those of us on a budget, four of these vegan patties cost me under £2.50 to make and I enjoyed them over two days (mainly because I’m greedy). They will certainly fill you up though.

I’ve added Tesco‘s own brand vegan cheese as a topping to this recipe. However, you can skip this to keep things cheaper or add cheddar instead. A little yoghurt would work a treat (vegan option also available).

The Kidney Bean Supreme

Ingredients

• A tin of kidney beans
• 1 onion, chopped thinly
• 1 clove of garlic
• Three handfuls of spinach, chopped
• 4 mushrooms, chopped into small chunks
• A tsp of paprika/ A tsp of chilli flakes
• 50g of breadcrumbs

Step One – Frying

Take a large saucepan and heat a tablespoon of oil. Drop in your sliced onion and mushroom chunks and fry until they begin to brown. Once they do remove from the pan and place into a large metallic or plastic mixing bowl.

Step Two – Mashing

Into the mixing bowl, add your drained tin of kidney beans, along with the other ingredients and smash them into the onions and mushrooms. You want to make sure that the kidney beans are mashed enough that they stick the other ingredients together, whilst retaining some of the shell for a good texture.

Step Three – Patties

This bit is messy. Turn the hob back on and heat your saucepan up again with a little more oil. Taking your hands, form your mixture into several patties and place them onto the saucepan, making sure you give yourself enough space between each to flip them over.

Step Four – The Finale

As the patties cook, take a spatula or a turner and flip them over every 4-5 minutes to ensure that both sides cook evenly. Once the patties have been cooking for half an hour or so, remove them from the heat and serve up in buns. Add vegan cheese, normal cheese, yoghurt or salsa, as well as a tomato slice extra spinach or gherkins for the ultimate burger experience.

Why not double or triple the recipe and keep the patties in the fridge for a supply of burgers throughout the week? You’ll be enjoying delicious food every day and save money too.

Small Space Garden | Episode 1 – Building A Small Raised Bed

I’m 27 and I have a great passion for growing food. For five years I’ve been on a journey to learn about how I can get more colour, flavour and excitement into my meals. From allotments to balconies and windowsills, I’ve grown in a variety of spaces. Now, I want to share what I’ve learnt with you.

In towns and cities, space is becoming increasingly hard to come by. If you’re interested in growing your own food, but you rent a home, you don’t have a garden or you just don’t have the hours to commit, the idea of growing your own food might seem impossible.

I have great news for you though: you only need a windowsill, a balcony or a small raised bed to grow some delicious crops. In my new series, I’m going to show you exactly how you can get the most out of growing your own food in a small space.

In the first episode of the Small Space Garden, I’m building the small raised bed that I’ll be using for the project. All you need is some thick material to keep the bed together, compost, food scraps, woodchip or dead leaves and you can turn your small or paved garden into a fresh food feast.

Check out Episode One, below:

younggroundsound – #1: Paul Matson Interview

Are you interested in gardening but don’t have the first idea about how to get started?

In my first younggroundsound podcast I talk to Paul Matson, co-creator of Sow How, about his book and about just how important growing your own food is for your health. Check it out below:

Growing your own food couldn’t be easier with Sow How. You can find more information about the book here. You can also follow Sow How on Twitter, here.

 

How to Start a Windowsill Veg Patch

Windowsills can often be awkward spaces in homes. Just what do you do with them? Do you keep them free, or do you pack them with nice-looking ornaments?

How about a pot, some soil and some salad seeds?

It might not be the prettiest sight you’ve ever seen on your windowsill, but a container full of crunchy salad leaves or delicious herbs is a fantastic investment. How many of us have gone to the supermarket to pick up a £1 bag of “fresh” herbs and found ourselves only using half of the bag, whilst the other turns into disgusting slush?

By growing your own tasty basil, you can have a constant supply of leaves to add to money-saving recipes and to add an extra bit of flavour to meals. In addition to this, if you keep your supply of salad leaves or herbs going, you can also start saving money. I’ve been running a little experiment on my own windowsill to see just how successful windowsill salads could be. You can see my first blog post about the project here.

And, after a couple of months, this is what my mini veg patch looks like now:

What a fantastic little production line this salad pot is. Whether you’re keen to bring fresh leaves to your work sandwiches or herbs to your pasta pots, a windowsill salad patch is definitely worth a go!

How to Grow Chillies Without a Lot of Space

Whenever I get into a conversation about growing food with one of my friends the most common reason for them not attempting to have a go is because of a lack of space. Now, as many of you are aware, my mission in life is to prove to everyone, no matter what you do or how much time you can spare, that growing your own food is actually very achievable.

So I started the Grow Your Own Food Challenge. The aim of the challenge is to show you all from seed through to meal that, garden, balcony or windowsill, there are still plenty of options available to you.

I’ll be posting videos and hashtagging #seedsaturday and #seedsunday every time I sow a new plants or share an update on the plants I’ll be growing this year.

Last weekend, I started my first batch of chilli seedlings. You can see the video below. Remember, if you’re new to this or you know someone who wants to grow their own food, make sure you follow my Facebook page for more information.

4 Benefits of Growing Your Own Edible Plants

As most of you already know, I’m on a mission. It’s quite a small mission; to get all of you growing your own. This isn’t a blog about how to get the biggest pumpkin or how to neaten your flower beds. No. This blog is about growing nice and easy food, cooking that food into delicious recipes and then making you realise that by doing so, you’re suddenly part of your own revolution.

This year, I’m running a Grow Your Own Food Challenge for all of you to get involved in.  All you need is one happy plant and you can benefit in so many fantastic ways.

See my blog on getting started in the Grow Your Own Food Challenge, here.

In anticipation for the new growing season and my challenge, here are 4 Benefits of Growing Your Own Edible Plant.

1 – The Environment

You don’t really think about it when you go into your local supermarket, but because pretty much all of our food is imported from Europe and further away it’s all making an impact on global warming. Whilst we all love a banana, by growing a chilli plant, tomato plant or a fruit tree – you’ll be cutting that mileage and lowering your carbon footprint in the process. By growing your own, you’ll also be helping these guys out, too:

2 – Health

If you grow your own you’ll be living a healthier lifestyle. From experience, fruits and vegetables are better picked fresh and not sold to you after several days of travel. As well as tasting richer, home-grown tomatoes and other vegetables are jam-packed with more nutrients. In addition to this, by introducing fresh tomatoes, peppers and salads into your diet you will find that you’re shopping less (meaning less temptation to buy sweets and other naughty things) and you’re cooking your own delicious meals more often too.

3 – Variety

Variety is a huge benefit to growing your own. Why should we let supermarkets dictate what we can and can’t have on our plates? From black tomatoes to knobbly pumpkins – there are a huge range of exciting, quirky and flavour-bursting vegetables out there. There’s nothing better than the smug feeling you get when you cook and create with vegetables unknown to most people.

4 – Money

Of course, by growing chillies, tomatoes or peppers you can save money too. One tomato plant could give you £5 back, and you may find even more savings by growing your own chillies and garlic through the year. The savings do vary; yet, with rising food prices, doing the growing yourself makes so much sense.

The Grow Your Own Food Challenge starts in February, so stay tuned. What are you looking forward to growing this year? Is this your first go? I’d love to hear from you – why not connect with me on Facebook or Twitter

Why Allotments Are Great for Your Health

Do you struggle to make yourself go to the gym every week? Perhaps you suffer from bad anxiety, stress and you need a break. I have one answer for you:

Get an allotment.