Thrive – the benefits of gardening

Thrive is the leading charity in the UK that uses gardening to bring about positive changes in the lives of people who are living with disabilities or ill health, or are isolated, disadvantaged or vulnerable.

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One allotment, two children and a caravan

Hello. I’m Urvashi and I have an allotment in Enfield. I waited a while for it and had almost given up hope when the phone rang and the ever so lovely membership chap said I had three plots to choose from.

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Green tomato and chilli chutney

Do you have a glut of green tomatoes? Then why not have a go at this simple recipe and make a delicious Green tomato and chilli chutney that will go perfect alongside cold Christmas meats. Recipe kindly provided by our pumpkin expert and e-commerce marketing assistant Jon.

Ingredients:

820g Green tomatoes – quartered
2 Large onions – finely chopped
9 (green) Heatwave Chillies – sliced. This can be changed according to taste, but 9 gives it a nice kick!
1 Bulb Christo Wight garlic – finely chopped
8 Table spoons garam masala
260g Cane sugar
6 Table spoons of red wine vinegar
75g Sultanas
Olive oil

Method:

1.    Fry the onions, garlic and chilli together in the oil until the onions are golden brown.
2.    Add the garam masala and fry gently for about a minute.
3.    Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.
4.    Cook until a thick consistency is achieved, stirring occasionally.  45-75 mins approx.
5.    Sterilise the jars while the ingredients are reducing.
6.    I personally spoon the finished mixture hot straight into the jars (carefully!) and seal straight away.
7.    Eat when cool or keep for a few weeks to let the flavours mature. Excellent with the Christmas cold meats!

No children or animals were hurt in the preparation of this preserve (not until it was eaten though)!

 

Head over to our chillies and sweet peppers hub page to find chilli growing advice and variety recommendations, and more tasty ways to enjoy your harvest!

All is growing in the garden

Because March was so mild everything in the garden is moving on at long last, but because the soil is still quite wet and cold below, night frosts are still around so it is important to take great care.

So far on my allotment I have direct sowed onion sets, making sure I sow them into the driest soil. I followed with a sowing of radish seed. The radish germinated after 14 days, showing some warmth is finally getting into the soil. Other vegetable sowings will be made from April when the soil is warmer; sowing seeds into cold soil is pointless as germination will be erratic and poor. The first things sown will be parsnips, carrots, beetroot, peas and broad beans.

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Wet start to the year – unruley weather

Despite the wet start to this year I have still managed to finish my winter digging. Despite the allotment site being clay soil, my plots have had so much organic matter added to it over the years that it makes digging easy. I hardly have to put my foot on the spade to get it into the soil.

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