Helt uventet #timingWIN

For to uger siden såede vi græs i den nye have - og nu spirer det!!!

@ N ~ this is a rare case of perfect timing. We sowed grass a couple of weeks ago - and look, look, it germinated!  Hooray!

Seeds sown on 09 September

This photo taken on 20 September

Jeg har også gjort et forsøg - jeg har efterårs-sået. Både nogle blomsterfrø (denne gang fra mine engelske venner hos The Higgledy Garden; min normale frø-pusher hedder Albertine ) og hestebønner af egen avl.

Jeg glæder mig som et lille barn til jeg skal til at lave "rigtig" have. Foreløbig er der sået græs over det hele - og når jeg så har bestemt mig for, hvor der skal være bede, kan jeg grave græstørvene op.

Jeg skal have roser, for dem elsker jeg.  Jeg skal også have georginer, for de gør mig i godt humør. Jeg skal have æbletræer, så jeg har lidt at smide efter lægerne (og noget at lave æbletærter af). Og jeg skal have en køkkenhave, med de ting jeg bedst kan lide. 

Det med en køkkenhave, og hvad der skal være i den, kan være lidt en udfordring. På den måde, at det er uhyre svært at sætte grænser for sig selv. Jeg spiser fx ikke vanvittig meget salat, men har alligevel gennem tiden sået flere meter med forskellige salattyper, som troligt gik i stok når selv marsvinene ikke kunne følge med mere. Jeg har også sået masser af gulerødder, som -fordi jeg ikke nænnede at tynde ud i dem- for evigt blev stående på mini-gulerods-stadiet.

Klog er jeg ikke blevet, men klogere. Og jeg ved nu, at der er visse ting, min køkkenhave SKAL have plads til. Alle andre fancy idéer om, hvad jeg nu tror jeg skal spise, må komme i anden række.

Der skal være et kæmpe bed med hestebønner. For de er svære at skaffe friske, og de er en af hovedrollerne i en iransk ret som hedder baghali polow, som jeg bare elsker.

Og dild. Fordi det er den anden hovedrolle i baghali polow, og fordi frisk dild bare er lykken, og så fordi hvis nu Signe kigger forbi en dag - så kan hun lige få en kvist dild at sniffe, og så er hun glad.

Der skal være jordbær. For hvad er en sommer uden jordbær?  Af samme grund skal der være ærter.

I krydderurtebedet skal der også bo bukkehorn. Og hvis du ikke synes, du har hørt om det før, kender du også grunden til, at det skal bo i min køkkenhave. Man kan überhaupt ikke opdrive det i frisk tilstand her i Danmark; heller ikke i Bazar Vest. (Kender du et sted hvor man kan få det? Så SKRIV) Det bruges naturligvis til diverse iranske ting.  Du kender det i øvrigt godt - frøene, altså. Det er dem, der får karry til at dufte af karry.

... Jeg bliver ikke færdig med min have i hverken 2013 eller 2014. Det bliver "gardening on a shoestring", men det gør ikke noget. Det skønne ved haver er jo, at de altid bliver endnu dejligere til næste år :-)

Hvad skal der gro i DIN køkkenhave?

@ N ~ I'm trying something new this year: autumn sowing. Not just the grass.  I have a tiny flowerbed against the wall (some day, I hope there will be a wall greenhouse here), and I have now sown flower seeds from The Higgledy Garden (any readers in Britain? order your flower seeds here). I also sowed some broad beans, saved from my last crop in my old garden.

I have no idea if it will be a success or not, we'll have to wait and see. But it sort of makes sense, with the hardy annuals. I mean, flowers set seed  in autum, and they germinate next spring. So with a bit of luck....

I'm thinking a lot about my new garden. Although the house is old, the garden was completely bare when I moved in (save for a gazillion weeds, painfully pulled out one by one by yours truly...).   I sowed grass all over - then, when I know where I want the flower beds, I can dig up the turf.

I want a flower bed full of roses. Pink and cream coloured. Because I love them. I also want dahlias - because they'll cheer anyone up. And I want climbers. Roses and clematis. Maybe even wisteria?  

Apple trees and raspberry bushes. Blackcurrant. Asparagus!!!  And rhubarb, which I've already got.

As for my kitchen garden, I learned a few lessons in my old garden. One of them is that no matter how much I like to see myself as a healthy person who eats lots of lettuce, it really only makes it onto the table if I'm entertaining guests. I never eat it myself.  The other one is that thinning is actually a good thing, even though pulling up every other seedling feels like murder. I grew carrots, and they never made it beyond the baby-stage because they were fighting for space.

Instead of growing stuff I think I should be eating, I want to grow stuff that a) I love eating and b) is hard (or expensive) to buy from the shops.

Broad beans is a big favourite, and in DK it's virtually impossible to buy fresh. They're one of the main ingredients in one of my favourite Iranian dishes, baghali polow, and generally, they're just delicious. If I can't eat all of them fresh, I'll freeze them.

Dill - the other leading part in baghali polow. One of my favourite herbs, and one I like to have in vast, almost indecent amounts. You can buy it fresh in every shop, but only in small pots. We want lots and lots of dill! :-)

Another favourite herb, and one that is absolutely impossible to source here, is fenugreek. Used fresh or dried, it is one of the staples in Iranian cuisine (yes, we detect a pattern here. I no longer live with an Iranian, but I still crave the food).  The seeds of fenugreek are what gives curry powder its characteristic smell.

Of course, there will be strawberries and peas in my kitchen garden. Because they are the taste of early summer!

The best thing about gardening is that the garden will always be even lovelier next year :-)