One of the things I look forward to most is getting the first crop of potatoes out of the ground. Some time ago Magoo appointed herself as chief-potato waterer. She has done a sterling job and takes full ownership of the crop. She wants to see each and every potato come out of the ground. I can't really blame her, there's something magical about putting one seed potato in a trench and then digging out a cluster of tasty new potatoes a few weeks later.
Magoo loves fishing out each potato from the soil, even the teeny tiny ones. Getting your hands in the earth is what it's all about.
Once we're home she loves to wash and prepare the vegetables we've bought home. Magoo set to work with scrubbing the potaoes ready for our evening meal. She is lucky to have the experience of seeing her food travel from ground to plate in a matter of hours.
We also picked the last of the broad beans. It's the first year we've grown them and they have been really tasty. The only problem we had was the plants became covered in black fly. My Mum used an organic spray on them which helped alot. But I've read that you can squish them off with your fingers or blast the black fly off with water. We will definitely grow them next year, but will get on top of the black fly earlier.
We need to leave the broad bean plants in the ground for a while because they perform the clever trick of fixing nitrogen into the soil. Anything that boosts soil quality without chemicals gets a thumbs up from me.
Again Magoo likes to prepare the beans. We love to pop the pods open together and pick the beans out of their fluffy jackets. One of the things I love about broad beans is the downy beds Mother Nature gives them to grow in. I think that's why broad beans are such a great crop to grow with children. The whole preparation process is so tactile.
As one crop comes to an end we can start to put in a new one. We've taken out all the garlic and planted purple sprouting in it's place. Crops on the horizon are peas, runner beans, squash and courgettes - they are getting bigger day by day. We're also growing some pumpkins for Halloween. Well, you have to plan ahead when you've got an allotment...
I'm linking up with these amazing blogs:
Country Kids #countrykids over on the www.coombemill.com blog.
"How Does Your Garden Grow" over on the beautiful mammasaurus.co.uk blog
Let Kids be Kids over on letkidsbekids.co.uk
Image of the Week over on www.trulymadlykids.co.uk
Magic Moments over on theoliversmadhouse.co.uk
15 comments:
How fabulous! It really is wonderful to grow and pick your own, and then have the pleasure of preparing and eating too :) #countrykids
Looks like you have a lovely garden and a wonderful garden helper.
Now I am seriously jealous of your allotment with the fruits of your labour showing through. There is nothing better thank little new potatoes just out of the ground, they have such a wonderful flavour. Your little waterer looks like she has done a wonderful job, happy harvesting over the summer weeks. Thank you for sharing with me on Country Kids.
it's great to see yur daughter not only taking part with the allotment, but taking ownership also, it looks like such a fab family activity to do togethero
I think there must be something so amazing about eating food that you have lovingly grown and nurtured. And such a great way of helping Magoo learn about nature and where food we eat comes from. Those potatoes look fantastic!
We gave up our allotment earlier this year as we just couldn't dedicate the time to it and I'm so gutted as we always had an amazing haul of food from it. Your food looks amazing and I am very jealous x
Awww so nice to eat your own harvest! We have some tomatoes and strawberries in potted plants and I cant wait till we cant eat them too! #countrykids
You've done so well with your growing veg. It's lovely seeing your daughter get so involved in it, all the way through from planting, to eating.
Thanks for linking #LetKidsBeKids
it is lovely to eat homegrown food...but I completely understand what lifeatcookscabin.com is saying. My heart sinks when I see how many weeds have grown each time we go down there! It is quite disheartening at times. But as long as the veg is winning over the weeds, then we'll keep going with the allotment :)
Your potatoes look wonderful - my 3 year old is also a big fan of digging them up, she loves the fact that it's a grubby job :)
How lovely that your daughter gets so involved!
Love the feeling of digging up potatoes. Like finding treasure. We had blackfly too, such a pain!
It's so nice to grow your own - it's a feeling that is hard to beat. Even better when the whole family gets involved! I am craving potatoes with salty butter on now - and it's gone 11pm!
Apologies for bot visiting sooner, it's been a mad week here - thank you for joining in and sharing x
I love these shots. The one of the broad bean is particularly brilliant. Thank you for linking them to #iotw
We have an allotment too, and are also loving the new potatoes and broadbeans... We cant wait for the sweetcorn :) Lovely pictures xx
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