My crusade for the new year is get everyone growing their own fruit and veg. I know that everyone is not lucky enough to have an allotment, a garden or even a patio. However, you can still grow your own food in even the smallest space, which is why I came up with the idea for my campaign – “Grow One Pot.” I want everyone to make a pledge to grow one thing this year and tell me what it is by leaving a comment below, and tweeting about it using the hashtag ‘#growonepot’

“Grow One Pot” came from the idea that you can using one pot or one container can produce a lot more fruit or veg than most people think.

Common things that people use are:
- A window box to grow herbs, or ‘cut and come again’ salads.

- A hanging basket to grow tumbling tomatoes

- A dustbin to grow your own potatoes

- Three canes to form a wigwam shape which can be used for all climbing plants such as peas, beans, etc to scramble up.

There are many wonderful reasons to garden partially or exclusively in containers. Growing crops in containers also gives you much more control over your plants. You can usually move them indoors if you are faced with an unexpected frost, or move them to another position if they do not appear happy where they are, perhaps getting too much sunlight? You can even grow some vegetables indoors if you have a suitable sunny or bright area where you can sit some pots. So it can be easy to have a fresh, year round supply of flowers, vegetables and herbs.

The great thing about container vegetable gardening is that, apart from buying a few essentials, like good quality compost, it can be done on a low budget and is extremely versatile. You can grow plants in virtually anything that holds some soil and has holes in the bottom for drainage. It’s only bounded by your imagination – a chance for some really creative recycling! I’ve used old bathtubs, 20-litre plastic containers with the tops cut off, baskets of various sizes lined with bin bags to hold the water in, milk cartons for seedlings, anything that comes to hand. I almost used some dumped toilet bowl …..only I didn’t like the colour as they were pink.

Using containers makes it possible to grow food in areas where it would otherwise be impossible, and by employing some simple and innovative methods covered in more detail in future blog posts, such as vertical gardening, raised bed gardening, and square foot gardening, you can extract some excellent, and money-saving crop yields from just a tiny amount of space.

I’ll also be resurrecting my monthly blog post of what to do in your garden each month, and include tips on what to grow in your ‘container garden’ that month.

So, start the new year by making a pledge to get your fingernails dirty and growing at least one crop this year. Don’t forget to tell me what it is by leaving a comment below, and by tweeting me (@wegrowourown) on Twitter, and using the hashtag #growonepot. I’ll retweet every one I see!

Happy gardening!

I should really think up some better puns for the titles for my blogs as one of my New Year’s Resolutions …!

As you know, I’m always looking to show people how you can create great food with great local ingredients.

With that in mind, I have huge pleasure in introducing …

Andy from “Andy’s Kitchen.”

I’d chatted to Andy for a long time on Twitter, but we had never met, until we both went on a foraging course with Mark Lloyd, and we then got chatting, and decided to collaborate on certain projects.

To tell you more about Andy in his own words, “I am a very keen home cook, who now enjoys running one of the most popular UK Food Blogs, the blog which can be found at www.andyskitchen.co.uk includes recipes, reviews, competitions, foodie news and lots more. I also have an allotment so enjoy growing as much produce as possible, and last year I purchased a classic VW Campervan, so Im looking forward to creating many culinary camping recipes, and blogging about our camping trips.”

With Andy on board we can offer you some fantastic recipes, and great features, and we can offer you the producers some great recipe creations with your fantastic produce.

More to come soon ….!

Looking back at my 2011 New Year’s Resolutions post, I was pleased to see that I had accomplished some of my ‘resolutions’ for last year, although lack of time and job hunting made sure that I never had the time to get round to doing all of them.

This year, I’m going to take more of a relaxed approach to things, and if they happen, they happen. More ‘plans’ than ‘resolutions!’

One of my goals for this year is to do more writing. I’m about to see one of my articles in print for the first time in Great Food Magazine, which will hopefully become a regular column. I’m also still writing my cookbook, but have still to find that elusive publisher!

I’m also going to be doing some guest blogging, and I have some plans to expand and revamp my own blog. More details about that soon!

Also, now that we have a larger allotment, it will give me more space to expand my chilli empire, although the freezer and larder are groaning under the weight of last year’s harvest, both frozen and pickled. Even though our growing space has been tripled, I’m still going to have to scale back my current seed order for 2012, as otherwise I’ll run out of space in April, never mind by the summer!

You must have all been busy doing your Christmas shopping this month, as there was only one entrant that complied with all the rules!

So, for the final time this year, I am pleased to announce that the winner of this month’s competition is …

Vicky’s “Lottie Sushi”

In Vicky’s own words, “This may seem unlikely, but I believe these sushi work well, and achieve the same balance of flavours sought by the Japanese. I’ve substituted nearly EVERY ingredient!

The only essential ‘exotic ingredients’ are soy sauce and pickled sushi ginger. Everything else is from the allotment, or Torbay supermarkets! (They’re not big on ‘World’ ingredients round ‘ere, unfortunately.)

Firstly, the ‘nori’ substitute – Cavolo Nero (henceforth known as ‘cavolo nori!’).

Ingredients

Cavolo ‘nori’ (a couple of dozen leaves)
Dill pickled cucumber – a few slices
1 small pickled beetroot
1 small parsnip
1 small carrot
0.25 pint cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
salt
200 g pudding rice
2 eggs
soy sauce
sesame oil
sesame seeds
You will need a rolling mat. (You may be able to work with a clingfilm and a tea towel, to support the rice as you roll, but I haven’t tried it.)

Method

Cut the central veins from the cavolo leaves. Salt the strips quite heavily, to try to emulate a seaweed flavour, and steam until tender. They need to be very tender – no ‘al dente’ here! Set aside to drain and cool.

Cook the rice. The ‘absorption method’ is very good: weigh 200 g of pudding, (or risotto or sushi rice but NOT long grain) into a bowl, add salt, then – still on the scales – top up with just under 500 g of water. Cover with a plate and microwave for 3 minutes. Give it a good stir and allow it to stand while you get on with the rest.

Cut all the vegetables into 2mm x 2mm sticks. You need to cook the parsnip and carrot sticks. Simmer them gently in the cider vinegar and 1 tbsp sugar until tender.

Check the rice. Give it a further vigorous stir to bring out the starch and make it good and sticky, and micowave for a further 2 or 3 minutes to finish absorbing all the water. Allow to cool.

Make a thin omelette by beating the egg with a dash of soy sauce and frying in a little sesame oil. Allow to cool, blot the surplus fat from the omelette with kitchen roll and trim it down to a square.

Now, all ingredients prepared, you’re ready to roll! You’ve got enough rice here to make three different sorts of sushi – the ‘nori’ rolled one, one wrapped in an omelette and one rolled in sesame.

Arrange the nori on the rolling mat to make a square sheet. Pat a third of the rice onto the bottom third of the nori. It’s important to get the rice even, and I use a teaspoon dipped in water to trowel it into shape!

Arrange the vegetable sticks along the rice, just slightly below centre. Roll up, firmly squeezing the rice as you go. Wrap in cling film and chill for several hours.

Make the other two rolls the same way. The sesame coated one doesn’t have a supporting sheet of nori or omelette for the rice, so you may like to lay it on cling film (without rolling it into the body of the sushi!). I tried assembling it straight onto the naked mat and it worked very well.

The real treat of this recipe is that you can make it well in advance, then cut it into neat sections just prior to serving. It should last a couple of days in the fridge.

Serve the sushi with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi, if you’ve got it and you like it. They also go well with a chilli dipping sauce.”

Fantastic idea Vicky! Send me your address through the contact form, or by email, and I’ll get your prize of a sausage making kit from the lovely people at ‘Design A Sausage’ in the post. I can’t promise you’ll have it for Christmas though!

Vicky runs her blog “High And Tight In Brixham,” and is well worth a read.

Keep your eyes peeled as there will be another Cultivate, Cook & Click competition every month in 2012!

After a break ladies and gentlemen I am pleased to announce the return of the Cultivate, Cook & Click Competition!

So, here is a reminder of the rules …

Each month around this time, I will pick four or five vegetables or fruit that are in season, and you then have to devise a dish that uses at least one of those ingredients.

There are no restrictions on the style of cooking, so it can be a recipe plucked from anywhere in the world, but it has to be one that you have cooked yourself!


Each entry has to include:

• A picture of the vegetables or fruit that you are using in the recipe. This has to be ones that you use in the recipe, and not some random picture from Google! Extra points will be awarded when I shortlist the entries if you have grown it yourself.
• A copy of the recipe
• A picture of the finished dish that you have cooked yourself

You can upload your entries by going to the contact form of my blog or by clicking on this link.

I’ll then shortlist the best five, and then publish those on my blog. I’ll then open it up to the public vote, who will choose the winner each month.

The prizes for this month’s winner include a sausage making kit from the lovely people at ‘Design A Sausage.’

I’ll also be throwing in some prizes for this month’s competition too. Well it is nearly Christmas, and what’s Christmas without presents?!

So, for December, the vegetables or fruit that you can choose from are:

• Celeriac
• Kale
• Endive
• Parsnips
• Cauliflowers

You have until 12 noon on 18th December to get your entries to me, and I’ll be publishing the five finalists that night, and giving details on how you can vote.

Voting will then close at 12 noon on 31st December, and the winner will be announced later that night!

This will now definitely be a monthly competition, so don’t get downhearted if your recipe doesn’t get shortlisted, as there will be many more chances to win. In the meantime though, get your thinking caps on, and get those entries in!

A mixture of many things over the last two months has meant that my blog has been neglected of late.

However, I’m pleased to report that it is all systems go again! Over the next few weeks you will see all the old favourites, such as handy hints for growing your veg, but also a lot more recipes, and also some new sections of the blog too!

Welcome back, and keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks …!

Thanks again for all of the entries and votes in this month’s competiton.

Voting was close right until the end, and then there was one person pulled slightly ahead with just over 50% of the vote. So, this month’s winner is …

Emma’s Tomato & Chilli Chutney

Congratulations Emma! Please send me your address either through the contact me page on here, or by email, so that I can send your prizes onto you.

Well done to everyone, and there will be another Cultivate, Cook & Click competition next month!

Thank you for all of the entries for this month’s competition.

Remember that you choose the winner of this month’s competition, so once you have chosen your favourite, continue down to the bottom of the blog, and complete the form to register your vote. You might want to cook some of these recipes too to help you decide which one is your favourite.

The vote closes at 12 noon on 31st August, so get voting!

Here are this month’s finalists …

Melanie’s Mixed Vegetable Balti

Ingredients:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large white onion, diced
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
4 heaped tbsp Balti curry paste
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
500g potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large cauliflower, stalked and cut into small florets
1 tin chopped tomatoes
600ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped roughly
150g green beans, diced
1 tsp sugar
Salt and black pepper to taste
Extra chopped fresh coriander and natural yoghurt for garnish

Method:
1. Sautee the onion and garlic in the oil for five minutes, covered, to soften.
2. Remove the lid and cook for a further couple of minutes, or until beginning to brown.
3. Add the curry paste and stir in the onions, cooking for 1 minute. Stir in the diced potato and carrots, and cook covered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the cauliflower, tinned tomatoes and vegetable stock, and cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the green beans, coriander, and sugar and cook for further 15 minutes
6. Season to taste. Check that the vegetables are all fully cooked, and serve.

Have a look at Melanie’s blog for more of her recipes!

Emma’s Tomato & Chilli Chutney

Ingredients:
1 kg ripe tomatoes, quartered
2-3 chillies, roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 onion, cut into wedges
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
100g brown sugar
Olive oil

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200c
2. Put the tomatoes, chilli, garlic, onion, vinegar and sugar into a large, shallow roasting dish. Pour on a large glug of olive oil and mix everything together with your hands.
3. Roast in the oven for around an hour until everything is soft and the onions have caramelised.
4. Allow to cool a little and transfer to sterilised storage jars.

Emma has her own blog “Mummy Musings” where she details juggling motherhood and a career.

Vicky’s Greek Beans

In Vicky’s own words, this dish is called ‘Greek Beans’ – “because they are based on beans I remember eating in Corfu on one of my first holidays abroad. They were meltingly tender, heavy with garlic and oil, and some tomato. This is one of those recipes that probably tastes nothing like the original, but has been filtered through my memory and has popped out like this.

This is my way of dealing with the French bean glut from our allotment every August (and probably Greece’s way of dealing with the same situation). These are bottled in recycled cook-in sauce jars, because they are cheap and because I can get 3 of them at a time in my pressure cooker; Kilner jars are just too wide.

They MUST be pressure cooked for 40 minutes, to kill dangerous enzymes that may cause spoilage and worse. Once sealed they keep for at least a year.”

Ingredients:
French beans, 3 big handfuls, topped and tailed
Creamed tomatoes, 2 x 500gms packs (Smooth, thick, sieved tomatoes. Good, cheap passata!)
Garlic cloves, to taste (I’d use 5 or 6)
Generous splash olive oil (4-5tbsps. Virgin recommended)
Salt
Sugar (1 dessertspoon approx – again, keep checking to get the taste you want)
3 cook-in sauce jars

Method:
1. Make tomato sauce by crushing garlic and salt, frying in lots of olive oil, without colouring. Add creamed tomatoes, salt and sugar and bring all to the boil. You only need to bring it to the boil at this point, as it will undergo further cooking during the processing time.

2. Thoroughly wash jars and lids (which must have safety buttons). Sterilise jars by putting in an oven at 100C for 10 minutes. Put lids in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. The pressure cooker will need a trivet in the bottom; the jars shouldn’t touch the bottom of the pan, or each other. Get boiling water ready. The key to success with this process is to make sure everything is as clean and hot as possible, and that the process isn’t interrupted at all.

3. Loosely pack the hot jars with the beans. Put in half the sauce, then squeeze in a few more beans until the jar is tightly packed. Top up with hot sauce. Give it a good shake, or poke around with chopstick, or similar, to make sure there are no air pockets. Fill it right to the top and apply lid, screwing on tightly.

4. Make sure the water is boiling in the pressure cooker and position jars as in pic below – not touching each other. Put on the lid and bring up to pressure. Pressure cook for 40 minutes. The pressure should be gentle, but not allowed to drop at any time. After 40 minutes, turn off and carefully remove from heat. Allow the pressure to drop in its own time. I leave it for half an hour or so before removing the pressure cooker lid. Forcing things at this point can cause a pressure difference that makes the sauce squirt out! Undesirable.

5. Sit back with a cool drink and await the delightful ‘pop’ from each jar as it seals. Any jars that don’t ‘pop’ and suck the safety button down should be refrigerated and used within a week. In truth, they’d probably last much longer than that – everything is sterile, after all – but, just to be on the safe side.

To serve:
1. Straight from the jar, in a salad, or
2. The Greek way, lukewarm with some crusty bread. You could crumble some feta cheese on top.

Vicky has her own blog called “High & Tight In Brixham.”

So now it’s over to you to vote and to pick your winner. Remember that voting closes at 12 noon on 31st August.

Take Our Poll

After a short break last month, here is this month’s Cultivate, Cook & Click Competition.

So, here is a reminder of the rules …

Each month around this time, I will pick four or five vegetables or fruit that are in season, and you then have to devise a dish that uses at least one of those ingredients.

There are no restrictions on the style of cooking, so it can be a recipe plucked from anywhere in the world, but it has to be one that you have cooked yourself!


Each entry has to include:

• A picture of the vegetables or fruit that you are using in the recipe. This has to be ones that you use in the recipe, and not some random picture from Google! Extra points will be awarded when I shortlist the entries if you have grown it yourself.
• A copy of the recipe
• A picture of the finished dish that you have cooked yourself

You can upload your entries by going to the contact form of my blog or by clicking on this link.

I’ll then shortlist the best five, and then publish those on my blog. I’ll then open it up to the public vote, who will choose the winner each month.

The prizes for this month’s winner have been supplied by the lovely Phil & Kay at Dartmoor Chilli Farm, who grow their chilli plants naturally and holistically without any pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. They are a very eco friendly business and run our nursery using wind and solar power. The majority of the ingredients in their sauces and other products are either grown on their farm or very close to it.

The prizes for this month are Beast Of Dartmoor Chilli Sauce, Dartmoor Dynamite Chilli Sauce – which I helped to name , Dartmoor Chilli Jam, Fireball Pickled Onions, Sweet Chilli Sauce, Extreme Apple Chutney and five bars of chilli chocolate.

This will be a fabulous prize whether you like your chillies mild, blisteringly hot, or in between!

So, for August, the vegetables or fruit that you can choose from are:

• Chillies
• Carrots
• French Beans
• Blackberries
• Sweetcorn

You have until 12 noon on 17th August to get your entries to me, and I’ll be publishing the five finalists that night, and giving details on how you can vote.

Voting will then close at 12 noon on 31st August, and the winner will be announced later that night!

As I’ve mentioned before, apart from the short break last month, this will be a monthly competition, so don’t get downhearted if your recipe doesn’t get shortlisted, as there will be many more chances to win. In the meantime though, get your thinking caps on, and get those entries in!

I’ve just been given a sneak preview of the top 20 gardening blogs by the nice people at Wikio ahead of their official release on 5th August.

You can imagine how chuffed I was to find I had managed to sneak up another place to eighth this month. Thanks to everyone who reads my blog, as it never ceases to amaze me how many people read my ramblings sometimes!

Here is the full list of the top 20 gardening blogs for August 2011, and if you click on their link, it takes you to their blog. Congratulations to everyone else for getting into the top 20 as well!

1	Life And Style: Allotment blog | guardian.co.uk
2	The Patient Gardener’s Weblog
3	Tales From The Village
4	The Sea of Immeasurable Gravy
5	Veg Plotting
6	Plantpassion
7	Otter Farm Blog
8	We Grow Our Own
9	Esther’s Boring Garden Blog
10	Victoria’s Backyard
11	Coopette.com – blog
12	Ryan’s Garden
13	Silvertreedaze
14	Tim Matcham Garden Design
15	Real Men Sow
16	Hurtling Towards 60 and Beyond
17	Mark’s Veg Plot
18	Dobbies.com Gardening Blog
19	An Artist’s Garden
20	The Smallest Smallholding

Ranking made by Wikio