Ginger And Green
0 comment Tuesday, July 15, 2014 |
A few months ago, I found a piece of ginger sequestered away in my produce basket which I'd forgotten about. At first I thought I'd dump it in the compost, and then, had a change of heart. I decided to plant it, put it on my south-facing kitchen windowsill, and see what would happen.
And it grew. A massive three foot stalk of bamboo-like leaves, growing and budding away in the pot. Huzzah! Considering I use a load of ginger on a regular basis, this was good news - I've wanted my own ginger plant but as the usual organic grower I tend to use has had crop failure two years running, I thought I'd not have a chance. Stil, things grow well. So well in fact that I just harvested my first bit of ginger today, snipping it off carefully and I've washed it and will leave it to dry. Every time I get a bit of ginger, I allow it to sprout a bit and put it back in the pot. Ginger grows quite slowly, and needs a lot of water, but by the end of summer I don't believe I'll need to buy ginger ever again.
Since we're due to get a fair bit of snow dumped on us, I went down to market today and decided to pick up my favourite bread and some fruit and carrots - locally grown was my mission. To my frustration the last of the spelt bread disappeared with another customer just as I was walking up! Argh! So I went to another local stand, purchased bread there, as well as a locally made watercress-feta quiche. Not strictly necessary but the price was right and if it saves me doing some cooking, also fab.
I then went to another local bakery and then purchased some cheese straws, and a dorset apple cake that looked lovely (I really should look up a recipe if it's good, we have all those apples in the fall and I can't ever seem to use them all). I then blew the local shopping a bit by going to Julian Graves for flapjacks. Whoops! I know sprog likes flapjacks made her just as well, but it may take me a bit to source the local oats (actually, I've been thinking I will switch back to Abel & Cole as I know that milk is local, AND they sell that lovely spelt bread now, so I can have it delivered weekly).
Now, the pressing question has been where to get my local seed potatoes so I can start chitting and growing in. It's about time, even though it doesn't FEEL like it with -3 outside. Once again, even though I intend on doing local (heirloom, even) varieties of potatoes, I may bow to homesickness in one instance and get some Yukon Golds - they're originally from Seattle but of late are being grown in the UK with good results. They're a lovely spud and a great all round sort of potato that tastes already buttered. Soon, it will be time for onion and shallot sets as well but I've got a wee bit of time; after all, I don't even had beds yet!
Still, on we go.

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