Hacking back the jungle

I suspect the test of a totally obsessed gardener is his/her refusal to go away on holiday at least between April and September.  I've just got back from a week away and the garden looks like Miss Havisham's.  I also managed to arrive back complete with gammy foot and drizzly weather so am doubly frustrated staring out at it rather than tackling it.  I did manage a pirouette (a one-footed balancing act)  in a raincoat and gathered the veg which needed picking.  I know the photo looks remarkably like one I did earlier but the observant amongst you will notice the addition of runner beans and four (!) baby beetroots. I roasted the baby beets (cut in half) and discovered I liked beetroot!  It was sweet and delicious.  I've always hated boiled beetroots as they are either totally tasteless or fusty.  So if there's a beetroot hater out there I'd recommend trying growing your own, picking, cleaning, cutting to reasonable size, rolling in a little oil (I also dusted mine with smoked paprika as they were being roasted alongside some haddock steaks) and roasting for about 30 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade.


This leads me to the real purpose of this note - I thought I might add recipes as I go along.  They will be filed as a page rather than a post and can be found by clicking 'Recipes' on the tab at the top of the page.