Happy 2014!

Wishing you have a peaceful and productive New Year in the garden!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Too much to eat, not enough time

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Happy Christmas!

Hoping your Christmas Day is filled with cherished memories and tasty delights!

Pictured above: Pecan pie and old fashioned apple stack cake made by Egretta Wells.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

To make or not to bake

Even though I usually burn (or over bake) the first batch of cookies I do love holiday baking! Every year I make sugar cookies from a Betty Crocker recipe book, cut them out into festive shapes and decorate with icing made from icing / confectioners sugar, a tiny drop of water and a little food colouring. Fun and yummy! They keep for weeks and are delicious with a cup of tea! They taste much better than store bought versions!

Hoping your holiday cooking and/or baking goes smoothly!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Potato Salad

Taking stock of my potato sack stored in a dark kitchen cabinet, I can see I barely have enough of the home grown ones for Christmas day. Now I'm thinking roasties or mash? And I may need to buy extra.

I think Irish and British generally have roast potatoes on Christmas day and Americans often have mashed potatoes. I love both. I haven't decided which to have. Do you have roast potatoes or mash on Christmas?

I can also see my potatoes are just starting to send up little shoots which isn't bad since they have been in storage since October.

Other areas of interest in the garden....

Above: Corn salad 'Cavallo' seems to be growing steadily and ready for some eating.

Above: Mizuna, an oriental type salad - the leaves can be harvested for long periods and look rather interesting as a garnish.

Above: This is the result of a seed pack called Salad Leaves 'Winter Blend' which contains kale, rocket, mustard and mizuna seeds; it was sown in August direct into the ground. It has been slow growing. The mizuna seems to be the strongest plant. But good to have salad this time of year.

Hope your holiday preparations are going well!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Beetroot and Kohlrabi

There are still a few veggies growing in the garden, however, I've been a bit slack in harvesting these. I'm wondering if they'll be edible as some are looking a bit 'rough'.  For example, the beetroot (left) looks a bit woody Suppose there's only one way to find out if it tastes of anything - I should pull one out and do a taste test.

Other veg growing - I've loads of kale, some Winter salad, a few spring cabbages, chard that looks past usable, tiny leeks and a few other bits and pieces.

Above: Beetroot that definitely isn't edible!

The Kohl Rabi looks a bit tough too. I harvested one, cut in in half and discovered something had eaten most of the inside of it! On the plus side, they're really pretty and I like seeing them in the veg plot.

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Cabbage 'January King'

My cabbage called 'January King' is growing nicely and I can see the heads developing. There's some pest damage on the leaves - I think this is mostly caterpillars from Aug-Sept (maybe even Oct). I'm sure slugs and snails are nibbling a bit too. However, the plants are looking good. These were grown from seed in a glasshouse in June and then planted outside.

The seed pack says,

"A very hardy variety with distinctive purple tinge to the leaves, and really solid hearts that hold for long periods in the cold weather."

I'm thinking they'll be ready to eat in March? I adore the flavour of cabbage and looking forward to eating my  own organic home grown results! Fingers crossed they turn out well.

Cabbage 'January King' 

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Still Feeling Like Autumn

It's less than 3 weeks to Christmas and apart from gales and one or two frosts, it's still feeling rather like Autumn - with leaves still falling from trees, pine cones on display and Autumn colours in the garden. 

I celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend and cooked with home grown potatoes (Maris Peer and Charlotte) dug up in October and stored in cotton sacks in a dark kitchen cabinet. I think I have just enough for Christmas and then they'll be used up. They have stored well this year.

I just love all the Autumn colours - beach trees are great for this!

Above and Below: Birds are feeding on sunflower seeds and berries in the garden. (A few bird feeders with nuts and seeds help out too!)

Above and Below: Variegated holly and red tinted leaves remind me its getting close to the Christmas holidays!

Hope your holiday planning is going well!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Herbs in December

This year I've started a little herb garden with rosemary, lavender, mint and thyme. Pictured left you can see two lavender plants and a rosemary bush (centre). I grew the lavender from seed about 2 or 3 years ago and the rosemary I bought in early Summer. Slugs and snails don't seem to bother much with herbs (thankfully). I hope to grow more herbs from seed and add them to this area each year. The wood log was washed up along the local shoreline and I thought it would add some interest along with some slate rock. A work in progress really.

Above: Some of my seed packs - I really enjoy growing things from seed.

Above and Below: Thyme grown from seed this year. It started off so very tiny (above) however,  it has ended up a decent size by the end of Summer (below).

Above: Mint has had its ups and downs over the Summer. It had some sun scorch on the leaves - I suppose from watering at the wrong time of day. I have this plant sunken into the ground in a plastic pot in the hopes that it won't be a thug and take over the bed.

The rosemary thrives even now in December. I used some of it for Thanksgiving Day cooking! I suppose it has been the star herb this year!

Happy Late Thanksgiving wishes to American bloggers!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.