My winter vegetables have been growing nicely over the last couple of months and have started to provide us with nutritious goodness. See my Post when it was first planted in autumn.

The weather has been fairly mild; not too cold, lots of sunshine and with enough rain to make my life easier (we could always do with more rain though!). I have however had to fend off white cabbage butterflies with Derris dust and snails with organic pellets. How dare they try to get at my nice leafy greens!

I have also sown some spring onion seeds in pots as the hubby loves eating them raw with his evening meal…I find this less than appealing and refuse to go near him…I know he does it on purpose! I’ve also planted some kifler potatoes in a large pot. Kifler potatoes are lovely and creamy. I planted them in a vegetable bed last year and I still get the occasional potato plant appearing out of nowhere. Even though it was a lot of fun trying to find them all, planting them in pots is a much better idea.

I’ve harvested some of the bok choy already and sautéed them in oyster sauce and garlic. I even discovered a naughty snail hiding while cleaning the leaves in the sink…it was just a baby and I didn’t have the heart to squish it.

I can’t wait until my broad beans (fava beans) start to flower and grow pods, though they are only around 40cm tall at the moment and they’ll grow another metre before they’re ready to produce. Broad beans are seriously delicious and I plant them every year.

I’m not sure whether the Brussel sprouts are going to be successful though. My step mother told me that they need a good frost to produce, which we definitely don’t get here…damn this Mediterranean climate! There doesn’t appear to be any budding at the moment, just lots of green foliage…I’ll reserve judgement for a little while yet.

The beetroot is flourishing. I’ll have to thin them out soon so they don’t crowd each other out while growing, though they can form some pretty amazing shapes if you leave them alone to do their thing.

I do love to potter in the garden when the weather allows it…unfortunately I’m usually on weeding duties at this time of year. Have a lovely day and if you can, get outside and get your hands dirty!