These Instagrammers provide plenty of new serving suggestions for homegrown produce
Image: Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Food delivered straight from plot to plate is the freshest, healthiest and most delicious food you’ll ever eat. With an allotment, veg patch, or even just a couple of window boxes, you can grow your own meals and live your version of the good life.
Whether you’re just starting out, or a seasoned plot-to-plater, here are eleven excellent Instagrammers you’ll want to follow.
@the_seasonal_table
Make your own aromatic garden herb seasoning salt
Image: @the_seasonal_table
Radishes thrive anywhere from your window sill to planters and vegetable beds. But did you know you can also eat radish seed pods? Tom and Kathy of @the_seasonal_table say: “Picked while they are green and not yet beginning to dry and harden, the pods add a crisp, slightly peppery bite to salads or stir-fries.”
A herb garden is a wonderful way to start gardening, and it’s something you can do even if you have no garden at all. Here Tom and Kathy have come up with an excellent way to preserve your herb harvest to use later – make it into a garden herb seasoning salt for all year round use. Hmm, you can almost smell the aroma.
@locallyseasonal
@locallyseasonal shares how you can grow your own oyster mushrooms
Image: Africa_Studio/Shutterstock
Have you ever wished you could grow your own delicious oyster mushrooms? It’s 18 months since GB, the allotmenteer behind @locallyseasonal hammered some spore-impregnated dowels into some logs. She says, “It’s been an impatient wait ever since. So very worth it though!” We think you’ll agree, they look scrumptious.
@locallyseasonal is, as her Instagram tag suggests, all about growing and eating seasonal produce. Ready to try your hand at jam making? GB’s raspberry glut has been put to excellent use: “It’ll be worth the effort in winter when I can open one of these jars and taste summer.”
@agentsoffield
Anyone for aubergine parmigiana?
Image: @agentsoffield
An aubergine harvest calls for a garden-inspired aubergine parmigiana – it’s the perfect way to use onions, garlic, tomatoes and homegrown herbs. As Ade of @agentsoffield says, “I would like to take this moment to thank the kitchen garden for providing most of the ingredients. Without you, it would have simply been hot cheese.”
Ade and Sophie, the couple behind @agentsoffield, say they’re veggie adventurers in their own kitchen garden and love to share images of their produce, cooking and more via their Instagram feed. More shallots than you can eat right now? Pickle them.
@rivercottagehq
This scrummy seasonal pudding will get your taste buds tingling
Image: abimages/Shutterstock
Straight from the kitchen at @rivercottagehq, their Apple & Blackberry Pie features in the Gluten-Free cookbook and is the perfect way to get the best from your autumn harvest of garden apples and hedgerow blackberries.
Home of the legendary Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, this is the place to find all the latest pics of produce and wonderfully creative recipe ideas from Hugh and the team. Fantastic tomatoes? Try making this awesome pizza.
@lavenderandleeks
The ‘Autumn Bliss’ raspberries have done well this year
Image: @lavenderandleeks
What better way to enjoy a juicy topping on your muesli than by picking your own succulent raspberries to sprinkle on top? Join Katie of @lavenderandleeks on her allotment where she grows a wonderful selection of fruit, vegetables and beautiful flowers.
In fact, as allotments go this must be one of the most picturesque we’ve ever seen. From the loveliest purple sprouting broccoli to bunches of the most dazzling dahlias, if there’s one thing Katie knows how to do, it’s to wow your senses with images of the fruit, veg and blooms she grows herself.
@a_countrylife
Try this delicious warming soup for autumn
Image: @a_countrylife
Imagine the tang of piccalilli fused with the warmth of a winter soup and you’re on your way to imagining just how tasty Kate’s cauliflower and mustard soup is. Add a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and we think you’ll agree this is a great way to put your garnered produce to the best of uses.
@a_countrylife is curated by “gardener, cook, writer, hobby farmer and lover of the great outdoors” – Kate from Norfolk. Here you’ll discover awesome pics of big Norfolk skies, fabulous produce and, for those with a sweet tooth, some of the most innovative flavours for home made ice cream that we’ve ever come across…
@the_hairy_horticulturist
Sam from Cornwall displaying a horned melon
Image: @the_hairy_horticulturist
“They’ve got some decent girth and a few more flowers are still appearing,” says Sam @the_hairy_horticulturist! He’s talking about his horned melons – incredible fruits that look like something from a Harry Potter film.
Sam says he’s all about fruit, veg and herbs, providing info and education which sometimes involves filming wildlife – and beard growing of course. Wondering how to make your watermelons sweeter? Slow down the watering in the final weeks, says Sam.
@themarmaladeteapot
Katie’s no-bake fig, honey and walnut tarts make great use of these delicious fruits
Image: @themarmaladeteapot
What better way to use up windfall pears than by baking a delicious pear tarte tatin? With this easy-to-follow demonstration courtesy of grower and cook, Katie at @themarmaladeteapot, you’ll be sitting down to enjoy this wonderful French pudding with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream in no time.
For those who lack a sweet tooth, we recommend you try this tasty looking courgette galette. Katie says it combines “fresh flavours of lemon & courgette cut through with pungent garlic & chive, all held together with a smooth, creamy cheese filling & crumbly wholemeal crust.” Does it get any better than that?
@a_little_garden
Comfort food – stuffed squashes
Image: @a_little_garden
“Nothing complicated,” says Italian-Yorkshire grower, Kuki at @a_little_garden. “I basically stuffed the squash with leftovers: at the bottom mashed potatoes, followed by a layer of risotto and topped with mozzarella.”
This instagram feed charts the gardening and cooking adventures of Kuki and Fedu who started out with a lawned back garden, and transformed it into a grow-your-own paradise. Here you’ll find loads of fine produce which finds an Italian flavour once it makes it to the kitchen. Fried sage leaves anyone? They’re an Italian delicacy.
@gardenplot.57
Add summer zest to your mixed herbs with a sprinkling of calendula
Image: @gardenplot.57
Calendula is easy to grow and is busting with antioxidant compounds, says organic gardener Carla of @gardenplot.57. To use it fresh, just pluck the petals from the flower base and sprinkle them over scrambled eggs, salads, frittatas and salsas. For a taste of sunshine all year round, Carla says “try drying the flowers and adding the petals to a homegrown herb mix.”
From her plot in Cornwall, Carla brings you fresh produce plus wonderfully fragrant homemade herbal lotions and potions. You’ll love her lavender and dandelion salves – they’re simple and satisfying to make, and far better than shop-bought alternatives.
@monikabrzoza
Don’t just freeze it – preserve it
Image: @monikabrzoza
With a glut of seasonal produce, it’s tempting to simply bag it and freeze it. But making traditional conserves, preserves, piccalillis, and chutneys is well worth the effort. Wondering what to do with all those cherry tomatoes? Capture their intense flavour by drying them, says Monika at @monikabrzoza.
From her Essex allotment, Monika’s posts celebrate the sheer colour of harvest time. Check out the greens, oranges and golden yellows of this year’s squash harvest. This Instagrammer offers a virtual feast for the eyes, as well as the taste buds.
We hope you’ve been inspired to get more from your plot onto your plate. If you post any of your homegrown meals on Instagram, we’d love you to share them with us.