The tall plant on the right is a dill that just grew there (self seeded from a plant last year). We used some of the leaves, but now the plant is covered in drying seeds - does anyone have any tips for using dill seeds? The garden bed on the left wasn't supposed to be so jungle like, but a heap of tomatoes and potatoes self seeded from last year and we just left them to grow. (Most of our 40kg potato harvest last year came from that bed so I guess it was inevitable that some strays would come up this year!).
The elderflower is still flowering. We used some of the flowers a few weeks ago to make elderflower champagne, we used the River Cottage recipe. We drank some on New Years Eve, what can I say - it wasn't bad, but I think I prefer the cordial we made last year!
Interesting lantern like tomatillo fruit. Apparently you wait until the 'lanterns' turn brown and dry and then you pick the fruit..?! Has anyone else grown these before?
We call the lanterns ground cherries over here in the states. They have a delightful, unusual flavor that is refreshing raw and also good in pies. They will reseed themselves if you allow them to drop to the ground, so keep an eye out next year. They are very abundant. We also have a variety here that tastes somewhat like pineapple and are a bit more orange in color. At any rate, they are a perennial food, if you will, and a good substitute for fruit if you don't have an orchard or berries.
ReplyDeleteHello! So lovely to hear from you, it has been a while since you blogged. We originally bought the tomatillos for use in cooking Mexican food, but it sounds like there are lots of ways we can use them. The plants are very hard to find here so it is good to know they should grow again next year.
DeleteOh, Michelle! Tomatillos and ground cherries are related, but taste SO different. We use tomatillos in salsa and mexican dishes. Ground cherries are more fruit-like. Both will reseed... Hard to find time for blogging, even though I have OOOOOODLES of idea. P.S. Your sewing is AMAZING!
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