Fresh seed

 All our saved seed (with the exception of our winter squash) has come to an end.  So we have been online and ordered for this coming season. We've done this before.  We once had the leisure and liberty to stand before the enticing carousels in garden centres, rotating them, and asking each other should we try this, or this.  In the absence of physical inspection we decided to ignore the new or exotic and go for what we know does well in our wet and windy climate: kale, runner beans, perpetual beet spinach, carrots, tomatoes (under glass), rocket and Little Gem lettuce.  Our one innovation will be dwarf french beans grown in a sheltered spot.

Reluctantly I said no to broad beans as they take up so much space for such a limited period and to summer cabbage, an open invitation to caterpillars.  

When our local garden centre re-opens after refurbishment in mid-March we will be getting seed compost and before long, as the days lengthen, tomatoes Ailsa Craig and Gardeners Delight will be germinating indoors.

 

Cookery Challenge

 In January our microwave developed a small technical fault.  After some 'marital discussion' we concluded that it was destined for the electricals recycling at the tip.  It is now in the garage, plug-less, awaiting its fate.  So there is more room on our kitchen worktop where the microwave used to be.  

I am enjoying this additional space, a place for pans, plates and cookery books.  So now I am wondering if and not when we should replace the microwave.  It is obvious that the current layout of our annexe kitchen, dating from the 1990s or possibly the 1980s, was not designed with it in mind.  The black box blocked the light and took up space.  

The speed and convenience that microwaves bring to cooking are without doubt.  However, in this period of retirement and lock-down, are these as necessary?  Porage can be cooked on the hob, meals cooked the day before can be reheated in the oven (as long as I remember to heat them right through until they bubble).  Stuff from the freezer can be defrosted the old-fashioned way overnight on a plate.

I will leave it to the campaigners to debate whether or not microwaves are of benefit to our environment.  I know that in our own lock-down microcosm, as with so many other things, it is not an automatic conclusion.