The new season

We finished up last year's blog on August 11th. The tomato season had been a good one; plenty of sun on the balcony and a bumper crop throughout August and September supplying us with plenty of salads and roasted tomato soup. With all of the green tomatoes I had left over, and with the wintry nights drawing in, I decided to make Delia Smith's green tomato chutney. Pans, sourcing vinegar and a food processor caused a few problems, but we prevailed and ended up with 6 litres of chutney. 6 months on and the maturation process has done it's job. Delicious.

It's been a long hard winter here in Hamburg, but with the first glimpses of summer showing through, veg started to re-enter my thoughts. Phil's parents had very kindly bought me Vegetable Growing Month by Month for Christmas, so yesterday I browsed through and picked out some veg suitable for the balcony. We came up with chard, lettuce, salad leaves, rocket, courgette, peppers, tomatoes, peas and carrots. Although the limited garden centre didn't have everything, we found most seeds. Just potatoes and peas to source next weekend, and the peas have some time yet before they can go in.

So, 3 seed trays are sitting under the protective warm of the radiator. The carrots were planted direct into a new big pot. And as for the salad and lettuce: back in those trusty long boxes you saw last year. It's going to be a big gardening season...

2 pots - peppers

1 big pot - chard

2 pots - climbing courgettes

1 big pot - carrots

2-4 pots - tomatoes

2 long pots - salad and lettuce

1 medium pot - peas