Self-picking heaven

Yesterday me and my bf's mother went on a little trip. We had made plans to go blueberry-picking in the mountains, and I was quite doubtful as to whether there would be any blueberries to pick at all this late in the season. As it turned out I didn't have to worry, there were plenty of berries to pick. On our way up into the hills we passed a sign announcing self-picking of potatoes, onions and carrots. I instantly knew we'd have to postpone our blueberry picking for at least an hour or two, I just had to pick some of the goodies advertised!

I love self-picking places and secretly, well not so secretly any more, dream of running my own self-picking farm in the future. I love that you get to see where the vegetables come from, you even get to pick them straight from the dirt yourself, instead of just seeing them in bag at the supermarket. I love searching for, and finding all the quirky looking vegetables. Like a three-legged carrot, or a huge knot of intertwined potatoes. It's charming!

They had two different kinds of potatoes to pick, almond potatoes and Beate potatoes. I only picked almond potatoes thinking I'd be back today for some Beate. (The weather today was not potato-picking friendly so I will have to return another day). Well, I got quite a few delicious almond potatoes and can't wait to cook some for dinner this week. Recipes anyone?

Picking onions was rather tedious work. The larger onions had been picked by someone else, not that I minded, the smaller onions taste much better, and a great number of small onions had been trampled. But I found a good kilo of small red- and white onions. I was happy!

Look at these funny-looking carrots. Aren't they just simply charming? Some carrots had been picked and tossed out by other people, but further down the field you could, with a pitchfork, dig for your own, fresh as can be, carrots. I dug for some but then went back to digging for small carrots in the dirt, carrots discarded by others but still left in the dirt instead of on top of it.

After spending, I was about to say a small fortune but that would have been a lie since the prices were really great, a little bit of money at the self-picking place we headed up into the mountains for some blueberry picking. We spent about 2 hours picking and came away with somewhere between 3-4 litres of delicious blueberries. I also picked a small handful of lingonberries, but quite honestly I don't know why I bothered. I don't like lingonberries and there isn't a whole lot one can do with only a small handful of berries anyhow.

Harvesting the garden

Not much is ready to be eaten yet in my miniature garden, except for the occasional Arugula leaf, and these bright red jewels. Aren't they just beautiful?

Garden visit # 3

Sugar snap plant.

Wild strawberries. I picked these plants in the forest the other week. Some seem to be coping really well with being relocated, while some are taking it rather badly, and I am afraid to admit it, but I don't think all of them will survive.

Radishes, soon ready to be enjoyed in salads and as a snack. Can't wait!

Flat leaf parsley, looking good!

My "garden"- revisited

My garden has morphed into... a garden. Might sound a bit strange, but with the poor excuse of a garden I had to work with, I must say I am happy with how it turned out. Now I just wish I had some grass to relax on in the sunshine. I only have the cement patio, which my landlord tells me will be paved sometime soon..., and some ugly plastic garden furniture that came with the apartment.

The garden part is great though, I love my pots filled with herbs and veggies. Maybe I should stop calling it a garden, when all it really is is a herb garden?

Check out the photo. I have arugula, flat leaf parsley, basil, radishes, coriander (planted the roots that came with the coriander twigs I bought at my local Asian shop), sugar snaps, spring onion, and wild strawberries (I found the w.s plants wild in the forest on Saturday).


I do not just grow things in my herb garden, I also grow things on my kitchen counter. And no, it's not mould, but garden cress. It so easy, and so very tasty. I also tried growing bean sprouts, or actually I tried growing lentil sprouts, and it worked out well, however it wasn't what I was aiming for, I was aiming for bean sprouts... Does anyone know which beans are used for bean sprouts? The garden cress on the other hand is all I I could ever ask her. I sat in the sun the other day, on my ugly patio, and had a snack made from crisp bread and garden cress, read a book, and enjoyed the sunshine.

My "garden"

I love growing my own veggies, and I would love to have an entire garden and a green house at my disposal, but unfortunately I have to make due with what I've been give; which is a cement patio... Not much to work with there. However, I was also given a flower box and a bunch of flower pots in which to plant the seeds I have accumulated over the past winter. So far I have planted seeds for arugula/rocket/rucola, spring onion, basil and flat leaf parsley. I am also planning on planting dill, coriander/cilantro, radish and carrots.

After about one week and two days the only vegetable making an appearance is the rocket. But that's not much of a surprise seeing how the seeds are covered by only 0.2 cm of soil. I can't wait to have all my herbs and vegetables growing in their pots on my patio this summer!