The Fruits of our labour

It's all or nothing with some crops and our strawberries are certainly proving that. So, it is now a healthy breakfast with strawberries and yoghurt. As well as strawberries and cream with dinner, well it would be rude not to! It's amazing how a few runners from our older plants could produce such a crop. They have been left to grow a little wild, and are spreading like wildfire, so will have to be thinned out at the end of their season. Although Mrs TK  has plenty of plans for jams and desserts with this year's crop.

There is nothing I like better when pottering in the garden, than having the odd nibble. Radish are perfect for a savoury snack, but today's little harvest are destined for a fruit and savoury salad. Just sow a small row and up they come; one of the easiest salad crops to grow. The secret is to sow little and often, something I do not always get right.

Asparagus on the other hand is not always as easy and patience is a virtue that you need in bucket loads, as the crop takes three years before you can start harvesting from planting a crown. Luckily, our three years are up, so it is all downhill from now on, for many many years.

With all this lovely fresh produce Mrs TK decided to make a salad, but not just any salad, a salade de delice. Along with our own asparagus, radish, lettuce and strawberries, are kiwi fruit, peaches, tomatoes, prawns, smoked salmon, fresh goats cheese, and   scallops in white wine cream sauce and dill. The platter would not be complete without a nice baguette, all washed down with a nice glass of Chardonnay, or two!

In a few weeks we will be able to add our own tomatoes, as we have decided to have this dish at least once a week for the summer. I think I will plump for Thursdays, as that is supposed to be the day  that I prepare the evening meal. I just need to hone my presentation skills to Mrs TK's level.

Spending some of the day tying up my plants, weeding the poly-tunnel, tending to my outdoor crops and trying to run two websites in between, I did feel that I had earned my tasty dinner, so there was not a hint of guilt as I tucked into it. Even forgetting that Mrs TK had also been out all day working and still had to prepare the dinner!