Becoming gardener

Helen, Bonnie and I recently moved into our new House in Hanworth Park and with the new house I inherited a substantial vegetable plot (the estate agent called it an orchard but given there’s only one tree in it that’s rather grandiose) that the previous owner has clearly put lots and lots of work into as you can see:

Check out my PhotoSynth of it here: http://bit.ly/jtveggiepatch.

When we bought the house I resolved that I would try and maintain this in the same way and hopefully we could become slightly more self-sufficient in the process; anyone who knows me knows that I am not in the slightest bit green-fingered so this is actually a rather daunting task. Undeterred I ventured down to the veggie patch this morning to make my first harvest of some beetroot that the previous owner had kindly left for us. Here is my first crop:

Not exactly a bumper crop but I am hoping I can get a good few jars of pickled beetroot outta this little lot and perhaps keep some aside to be roasted with our christmas lunch. I have a recipe for pickling beetroot from Miles Collins (see: How to Pickle Beetroot) and I ventured out today to get all the ingredients. Tomorrow is pickling day – check back later to see how I get on!

@Jamiet