We transplanted 1,000s of plants on Saturday 27 June and have been hoping for a decent amount of rain since then so we can stop irrigating (a slow job, 2 rows of trickle tape at a time) but the showers we did get didn't add up to much, and the ground was soon dust dry again. Then, we can transplant 1,000s more later this week (leeks mostly). Fingers crossed! Thursday morning update – still hoping for more rain, maybe we’ll get one of today’s forecast thundershowers!!
Courgettes will be in our veggie boxes most weeks in July and we will have plenty to sell at markets too. There really are a lot of ways to cook a courgette, grilled, fried, baked, in ratatouille, in a curry, stir-fried and in a cake. I’ve already had my first courgetti this year – once spiralised or grated the courgette hardly needs any cooking and is great flavoured with garlic, lemon and chilli. This courgette fritters recipe looks good
https://www.growingcommunities.org/recipes/mucver-turkish-fritters
Cos lettuce – This lettuce (also known as Romaine) is probably my favourite, great to give crunch to a salad or a sandwich, and it can even be cooked! Cooking the scruffy outer leaves is a good way of getting extra value from them. I usually add shredded leaves to a stir fry but there are plenty of recipes using Cos/Romaine in other ways.
Bunching beetroot gives twice, steam, boil or roast the tender roots with a bit of stem left on and steam or stir fry the leaves. Any leftover beetroot is great in a sandwich (if you don’t mind pink bread) and you could also try making pesto with the leaves.
