I HAVE had the first meal of the year entirely sourced from the land. It all started on a trip back to Natures World in Middlesbrough to visit my old place of work. I went to say hello to my colleagues, catch up on the gossip and see how the place had progressed since I left. I left with a bag full of edible goodies.

As soon as I entered the gates, I was offered two plump, freshly caught rainbow trout. Jackie, the retail manageress had been given them by her next-door neighbour in exchange for some fruit that she had picked for him.

Unfortunately her freezer was full, and she had the evening meals already bought and planned for the next few days.

On inspection, the fish seemed in far too good a condition to be placed in deep freeze. They would need eating that night. I carefully wrapped them back up, popped them in the boot of the car, and went in search of some lemon balm to stuff them with.

On my travels, I passed by the Radio Cleveland Tyre Allotment. I hadn't been down to tend to it for a little while and couldn't resist undertaking some therapeutic weeding. Well, you know what gardening is like. You start one thing and it leads to 20 more. Before you know it, the hour has flown by.

The benefit of growing vegetables in tyres is that the black rubber absorbs heat and gets them growing at a much faster rate than soil-sown ones. The downside, though, is that the weeds grow just as fast, but they are easily pulled out.

As reward for my work I managed to harvest a good few handfuls of broad beans (one of my favourite summer vegetables), one fist-sized beetroot (they needed thinning out anyway) and five early sown potatoes (it would free the tyres for planting up with something else, a late crop of peas perhaps). The chives had finished flowering and needed a bit of a trim. I saved all the off-cuts to put in with the potatoes.

One pile of tyres was absolutely full to bursting with crimson red sweet peas in full flower. I guess these had been sown in the greenhouse earlier in the year and labelled 'peas'. The young plants are quite similar in appearance, and it is quite an easy mistake to make. They certainly brightened up the allotment, mind, and would have been influential in attracting the pollinators to the plot. I love fragrance in the house, so I carefully cut myself off a few stems.

As I was leaving the vegetable gardens, I noticed that the leeks in the polytunnels had gone to seed. The extra heat generated by the insulation often sends vegetables into early flowering.

Cauliflowers in particular do horrendously badly under cover. Broad beans, on the other hand, flourish, and the beans themselves usually have a much sweeter taste.

Someone had started harvesting the blown leeks, and had left the heads on the compost heap. I carefully picked out half a dozen of the large pink flowers, trimmed them up and added them to my collection. I would pop them in a tall vase when I got home and they would give me visual pleasure for a good few weeks. If I was lucky, I could always collect the seed that would fall from them, and use it for sowing later in the year.

So I left Natures World completely sorted out for the evening. I would have baked fish stuffed with lemon balm, boiled potatoes with chives, steamed broad beans and a few slices of juicy young beetroot. To top it off, my dining table would be adorned with a vase of stunningly scented sweet peas. A very satisfying and self-sufficient way to round off the day.

READER'S QUESTION

JEAN Simpson wants to know when is the best time to prune mahonia and also when to pot up her acer palmatum.

THE mahonia is an evergreen shrub that is grown for its attractive, but very spiky, foliage and its yellow, often fragrant, bellshaped winter flowers. It also produces small purple fruits that attract the birds, and are, in fact, quite edible.

Pruning isn't a necessity, unless it starts to outgrow its space, and this can be done in early spring, around April time. It can be cut back quite hard, but be wary of the sharp leaves and wear lots of heavy protection.

The acer is a deciduous tree grown for its ornamental delicacy. The best time to plant or re-pot the tree is during the dormant season, i. e. from October to March. Make sure to use an acid-based soil or compost, and site the specimen out of cold winds.

JOBS THIS WEEK

Pick blackcurrants as they ripen, before the birds get to them. They freeze really well, so you can pick little and often until you have enough to do something with.

Trim back mature rosemary plants after flowering. Save some of the off-cuts and take cuttings from them.

Summer pruning of wisteria will ensure a good display of flowers next year. Take the side shoots back to five or six buds.

POSTSCRIPT

Brigid works for Easington Primary Care Trust as an Eat Well Grow Well Facilitator and can be contacted at Wingate & Station Town Family Centre, Partridge Terrace, Wingate, County Durham, TS28 5BD, or on e-mail at brigidpress@hotmail. com

Published: 17/07/2004