Update on the plants, a few (2) have been eaten by some bugs or overwatered? But most are doing so well and fruit & veg is growing! I am looking forward to being able to eat some of the crop however it will be a few weeks yet. 

The runner beans grew to a wonderful size whilst being indoors. They got to a point where I had no choice but to pot them up into their final containers and add the supporting wigwam. They were then put outside at the end of April and sadly I think the temperature shock killed it back significantly. They were too large for me to lift in and out to acclimatise sadly. I decided to keep them outside and came back to it today to cut the dead leaves away. I am happy to say a lot of new fresh growth and developed and the plants are now fully adjusted outside. So other than a slight knock back and potentially a little later harvest, I don't need to completely regrow them from seed.

I decided to restart with the carrots *sighs*. I checked on them hoping some were starting to form by now. However they were all just leaf, I will not try again to transplant them. I have re-sowed some carrot seed straight into the container I purchased for them today. Its nice and deep and will prevent me from disturbing the taproot again. I have placed it into the mini plastic greenhouse to keep warm and boost a quicker germination (hopefully).

The mixed salad leaf has taken off the second time around and I have already harvested a small batch which we had with one of our dinners last week. Its still fairly young so it will be interesting to see how it tastes as it ages a bit more. I have some space in the trough to start planting another batch so we keep a continuos supply for the summer. Im thinking of adding some rocket as well to mix it up a bit.

The tomato plants have finally been planted into their final positions also, I think a few cold nights got to the older bottom leaves, however they are both growing well and the new top leaves are looking lovely and healthy. I will be making a cage support for them at the weekend. I did find around 5 snails sleeping in the grow bags, so I have removed them to the front garden! Caught a cheeky one munching on one the the tomato leaves and another one munching on a runner bean leaf. I spotted some flower buds forming so soon I will start feeding with the Tomorite.

The mixed bell pepper and cayenne chilli plants are all doing really well. They are all now in their final pots. The chilli plants measure around 11" & 14" and the 3 pepper plants measure 18", 17" and 16" tall. I ended up keeping 3 pepper plants as I couldn't decide out of them which 2 I preferred.
All 3 peppers have flowered, they will still be indoors until at least the end of may however so I do not think any peppers will start to grow just yet.

I have strawberries! the 3 strawberry plants I purchased from homebase flowered almost straight away and have developed into lots of varying sized strawberries. There not yet ripe, I keep checking them as I cannot wait to try one. I purchased some netting to put over some of the crops incase birds start to steal the food.

So far most of the fruit and vegetable growing is going well, other than a few set backs and the slight error, they all seem on their way to being healthy plants that will hopefully yield some nice crops.

In other gardening updates, I repotted my beautiful Salix tree as it was almost pot bound. Its now in a much larger container where it will hopefully remain for a few years. Both the olive and bay trees are doing well also, both are producing new buds and the olive has flowered. The olive tree grew back last summer to my delight after it died indoors trying to protect it from the harsh winter we had. This year i decided to keep it outside and thankfully the winter was very mild.

I currently have my large climbing rose in bloom, the mini bush rose has grown back significantly and I think I have a small bud starting to form on my small rescue rose (climber). The rescue rose however does struggle to produce fresh healthy leaves, it have grown on since last year with new growth yet its also started to slow down in one section. I am not too sure what the reason for this is, I thought it was leaf curl however it doesn't quite look the same as other incidents online. The leaf seems slightly stunted almost and shrivelled?

I have been meaning to try out a moussaka recipe for a while now. I came across this recipe at Sainsbury's and decided to give it a try. It uses the same ingredients however it is not the usual layered moussaka that you may know.

Its a nice simple recipe that takes around 50 minutes to prepare and cook. I cooked it for only 2 people and there was plenty left over, its a hearty meal. The recipe states it serves 4,

• 2tbs vegetable oil

• 2 medium aubergines, halved lengthways,

• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1tsp cumin

• 1tsp oregano

• 250g lamb mince

• 390g chopped tomatoes

• 335g cherry tomatoes, halved

• 560g new potatoes, cut into quarters

• 40g cheese, grated

• 200g young leaf salad

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, fan oven 175ºC, gas 6. Place the 4 halved aubergines, cut side up, on a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes. Cool slightly, then scoop out the middle (reserve for later) leaving some of the skin and layer of flesh intact.

Heat 1tbsp of oil into a large pan. Add the onions and cook for around 5 minutes, stirring in the garlic, cumin & oregano for the last minute. Stir in the lamb mince and cook for 3-4 minutes and then add the chopped tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes over a medium heat and then stir in the cherry tomatoes.
Season with black pepper.

Preheat the grill to high. Chop the reserved aubergine flesh and stir into the mince mixture, with half the potatoes. Spoon the mixture into the aubergine halves and top with grated cheese.

Mix the remaining potatoes & cheese with oil and put on the tray next to the aubergines. Grill for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden. Serve with a nice crisp salad.

Enjoy x

Fudgy chocolate (not so) squares, the perfect yummy treat for this easter holiday! 

This is a straight forward recipe which takes around 25 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook. 

You will need the following ingredients:

• 250g unsalted butter

• 250g golden caster sugar

• 4 medium eggs, lightly beaten

• 250g self raising flour

• 50g cocoa powder

• 5tbsp semi skimmed milk

For the Ganache

• 200g smooth dark chocolate

• 200ml double cream

To Decorate

• 20g smooth white chocolate

• easter cake decorations (optional)

Preheat oven to 180ºC, 160ºC fan oven. Line a 20cm x 30cm x 5cm baking tray with baking paper. 

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

Gradually beat in the egg, until well combined. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and gently fold into the mixture with the milk. 

Spread the mixture evenly into the baking tray for around 25 minutes and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the tin and leave to cool.

To make the ganache, melt the dark chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once melted remove the bowl from the pan and add the 200ml of double cream. Beat until smooth and glossy.

Spoon and spread the ganache evenly over the cake (make sure the cake is cool) and leave to set for a few minutes.

For the decoration melt the 20g of white chocolate in a bowl in the microwave for around 20 seconds. Spoon the melted chocolate into a piping bag and pipe lines over the cake. You can then decorate with extra cake decorations if you want to add extra touches. 

I decided not to add any extra decorations as the cake is already very heavy and sweet. I also substituted the white chocolate for some silver glitter writing icing.

Enjoy x

Its been around 6 weeks now since I planted the tomato, runner bean & chilli seeds and 7 for the pepper and carrots. Although the pepper seeds took the longest to germinate, they are looking incredibly healthy. I have taken them out of the trough this week and potted them up into their own bigger containers until end of may when i will pot them into their final pots for outdoors this summer.

I am now down to my final 4 runner bean plants (I decided to only pot on 4) - they are huge! Ok not as huge as Jack and the giant beanstalk, I don't think I will be climbing them any time soon, but they are big! Larger than I expected them to grow in such a short space of time. I have them in the kitchen climbing up bamboo canes, waiting patiently for the end of april to arrive, so I can pot them into their final positions outdoors. Next year I will not sow these seeds as early, I will wait until end of march/early april. I have noticed what i think are there first truss of flowers, exciting! So I may need to start feeding these 4 with some tomorite soon. Im hoping they will not grow much more in the next 3 weeks as I would like to be able to walk into my kitchen.

The carrots are a different story. They were in a trough which was not deep enough for them, so I tried to transplant them. However I have read that they do not transplant well as there roots often get damaged and this results in the lack of carrots growing. Today I saw them wilted and they looked fairly unhappy, I hope it wasn't one of the cats laying on them to catch the sun! Andy thinks this is the case :( I may have to cut my losses with these and sow some fresh seeds.

The mixed salad leaves got off to a good start, however I think I placed them into my tiny plastic greenhouse to early and so they died off. I sowed another batch of seeds straight into the container i'm using and placed them into the greenhouse. They germinated quickly and are growing well. With the bonus of already being use to the outdoor conditions, hopefully they will harden off quicker.

The chilli plants are a bit slower growing, however since I have swapped them around with the beans they appear to be growing well. They are on a south facing window in the kitchen. I think out of the two south facing windows the bathroom is actually better. So I do tend to keep swapping them around. Are these plants going to get as large as the peppers? They are nearly identical to the peppers and I don't know why this surprises me as they are from the same family. I think I was expecting some difference in appearance - nothing yet!

I keep thinking of trying to grow some butternut squash, however I'm unsure to how they would cope in a large container. I probably do not have the room to grow them this time around, so I will most likely just wait for next year and see how I get on with these easier plants.

In other gardening updates my Lillies have started to appear, some are more advanced than others. They have been placed onto my etagere, as they are poisonous to the cats and I do not want them munching on them, I'm looking forward to a beautiful display in the summer.

I also have my Peony making an appearance. It is my first time growing Peonies and I suspect it was a young bulb so I am not expecting any flowers from it this year. However I am willing to wait as it will be worth it.

My three Roses are growing well, the small shrub Rose which Andy bought me for valentines day has new growth and so I am hoping to get some more flowers from it this summer. Both my climbing roses had flowers last year - the smaller rescue Rose only had one large bright pink flower so I am hoping it may have a few more this year. The large Rose had a very large bloom last summer from may - september, I am looking forward to seeing how well it will do here in its new location. It looks promising as I have already spotted some small buds.

I planted a few other summer bulbs including 2 dahlias which I am looking forward to and also I purchased a Carnation plant for one of my empty containers. Some of the Bulbs were dug up over night - Im guessing from the pesky city foxes. However I planted them again and it hasn't been disturbed since. I think I will need to get some fox repellent this summer otherwise I think they may ruin my vegetable crops, any recommendations?

This is a quick & simple take on the spanish dish. You can include chicken or seafood, however I cook this recipe without as a cheaper alternative. For a vegetarian paella simply use a vegetable stock instead of chicken. It only takes around 40 minutes to prepare & cook, so its a great recipe for a midweek dinner. You will need the following:

• 2tbs olive oil

• 2 medium onions, sliced

• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

• 3 peppers, chopped

• 1 cup of peas

• 3 tomatoes, chopped into quarters

• 1tsp Paprika

• 800ml of Chicken or Vegetable stock

• 300g Paella rice

Prepare the ingredients listed above. Poor 2 tbs olive oil into a large saucepan or frying pan - preferably one with a lid. On a medium heat, fry the onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes. 

Add the chopped peppers and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the peas and cook with the lid on for a further 5 minutes, stirring the vegetables occasionally.

Make sure you stir occasionally whilst simmering to
prevent any ingredients burning at the bottom of the pan.
Test the rice is cooked, if it still needs a bit longer but the stock has been absorbed, add a little bit more stock.Before serving season well with salt and pepper.Enjoy and let me know your thoughts or if you added anything else!