More of the good life

by Ally Hunt on 28 July 2009  |  8 comments
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The vegetable patch is doing well and it'll soon be time to think about preserves - but will making jams save any money?

Well I thought it was about time I blogged about the veggie patch again. And the news is good - it's continuing to serve us very well. So far it's pretty much supplied us with all the broad beans, peas and courgettes and salad we've needed, which we've found pretty amazing.

Our children, who have been known to fuss about eating the veggies on their plates race down the garden every day to see if any peas are ready and like to eat them straight from the pod (although sadly the peas are now coming to an end).

We've sown more rocket and planted Chinese cabbage and butternut squash, to add to the mix. The courgette plant is slightly alarming in its effort to take over the whole patch - as my husband says it 'takes no prisoners' but at least it's produced loads of courgettes.

And it has definitely saved us quite a lot of money. Plus we still have celeriac, carrots, and butternut squash to look forward to.

What's more, our apples will be ready soon, which means it'll be time to think about preserves.

But in the meantime I need to learn how to make jam as we have a couple of kilos of plums that we picked at a local farm at the weekend. Bearing in mind how much sugar jam takes I'm not sure making jam will be much cheaper than buying it, but there won't be any preservatives in it. But I really know nothing about jam making. Do plums need extra pectin or do they have enough? I'd better start some research!