Kitchen Garden Forum

I've put two rows of earlie tatties in, just the PFA's to go in once the soil warms up a bit.

Just put 2 rows of first earlies in ,hope they do as well as the ones i put in tubs in the polytunnel about three and half week ago,i've earthed them up twice, the tubs are full and they are through the top already, happy days!

Got the brassica's in the ground & netted as they were too big & taking up too much bench space in the Greenhouse. Generally mooched after that & played with my new little gas camping stove & kettle. Way to much coffee consumed & way to far to the porta loo with your legs crossed as well.

All the winter stuff left in is trying to bolt now, so I took a big harvest to share with my neighbour. Mooched around the last cauliflowers that were doing nothing & I found this whooper hiding!


3 1/2 pounds is the giant but 2 others also taken of normal size for me, neighbour got one of those & the smaller one in the pic will be for cauliflower cheese for the freezer. Will be online looking for recipes for a while as no room left in the freezer!

I have a recipe for Cauli, you put a pan of water on to boil, get some Broad Beans, chop the Cauli up really finely, then put the Beans in the pot and the Cauli on the compost...………………..(you might deduce I am not a fan of the minging stuff, though the green Romanesc is almost edible).

My wife used to do the best cauliflower cheese sauce I've ever tasted unfortunately it's a thing of the past with her she cannot remember her recipe even if she could she is not safe near a cooker with her memory problems ,but my eldest daughter douse a good one so not all is lost

Here's my cauliflower recipe I posted on here about seven and a half years ago.

Cavolfiore fritto

I learned this half a century ago from my Italian landlady, hence the Italian name. Just Fried cauliflower. She, by the way was called Imperatrice (Empress), but allowed her English friends to call her Maria; how boring!


Divide cauliflower into florets. Steam till nearly cooked but still a little crunchy. Dip in beaten egg. Shallow fry until golden brown.

Goes very well with a simple sauce of minced beef, onion, garlic and tomato.

I might have been prematurely pessimistic about my damsons, quite a lot of open flowers and visiting insects in the sunshine the last two days.



I like my fritillarias surrounded by celandines, pity you have to crawl on the ground to really appreciate them.

I have some nice Snakesheads this year, I shall plant a lot more as soil seems to suit them.

I grew our snakehead fritillaries from free RHS seeds many years ago and they have spread beautifully - very numerous this year!

Geoff, that is so lovely!

My Mum is very pleased, she planted a few last year and has one flower....

It's feeling like winter (nearly so) with really chilly wind, I was painting outside earlier and had to stop just to warm my hands.

Wall to wall sunshine the last few days (seems to have gone on forever), but the easterly wind - grrrrr! Had to put the sprinkler on the vegetables today because the ground is bone dry and the poor blackbirds are digging deep to find some food for their offspring.

All the potatoes are planted now (all in very large pots) but covered with double fleece overnight. It was -1C last night and colder to come, they say.

Dear Monika, how are you getting on with your veg growing at home?

Fine, thank you, OH. The broadbeans, garlic and shallots are shooting up in their beds, beetroot and tenderstem broccoli are waiting to be planted out from roottrrainers, the rest are still in the greenhouse. Not having the allotment to tend this spring has been odd but quite liberating especially as we have given up the car and would have had to carry everything to and fro - only about 30 minutes to walk but rather up and down!
We also had some bad news about our grandson about four weeks ago: his sarcoma cannot be cured and he is likely not to make it to his 31st birthday next year ..... Luckily, he is very pragmatic about it, wants to make the most of his time with his wife and little lad and says he does not want "whining and wailing people" around him! So we are taking our lead from him and remain as cheerful as we can!