The two edible things that I successfully grow in my garden

I always try to make an effort with planting fruit and vegetables, and I've had a few successes over the years as well as quite a few misses. But there are two things that I've consistently been able to grow, use and enjoy.

Firstly we have a lovely apple tree in our front garden which must have been planted when the house was built about twenty years ago. I don't know what type of apple they are but they are cooking apples, and I'm guessing Bramley apples. Every couple of years I prune the tree back quite a bit in the Autumn and we don't get many apples the following year. Then every other year we get a bumper crop, and this year is one of them!

I offer bags to visitors and I use as many as I can for my own baking. I particularly love making apple crumble, even though I'm the only one that really eats it. I use a super simple recipe from BBC Good Food - Easy Apple Crumble although I halve the quantities because it makes loads. Delicious!

Then the second thing that I can grow successfully is tomatoes. Historically this part of the country has been good for growing tomatoes because apparently we get quite a lot of sunlight. I grow the plants directly in my main vegetable patch and also in large pots and I am quite lax about their care - I do  remove the side shoots and I keep them from getting overgrown but I always forget to fertilise them. They also often get neglected if we go away. But in spite of this they usually do quite well!

They are a little behind this year because we were away over Easter and I waited until we got back before I planted the seeds. There's a chance we may be going away in a few weeks time, and I'm really hoping that I don't miss the harvest!

Walking in the frost

Recently it has been frostier than I can remember for a long time. For days we have woken to a thick layer of frost on cars, on the grass and even on our front hedge. I haven't been out for a run in almost a week. Because the children are at home all day I need to go out when it's dark, and I don't trust the pavements not to be slippery. 

It did cause us some problems last week when we needed to film a video for school. Mia was supposed to be lost in the Amazon rainforest, but unfortunately the frost on the grass in the garden, even in the late afternoon, rather took away from the authenticity of the location.

It has made it easier to get the children out for some fresh air though. They love walking down an unpaved road near us where the water has collected in large puddles and frozen over. You'd think they'd never seen ice before! In fact when we got home we even put water in containers in the garden so that it would freeze overnight and they could play with it the next day. A simple home school science lesson!

I don't mind the cold weather so much when I don't need to go out and do the school run. I don't miss hanging around in the cold playground in the gap between finishing times. And I've not had to deal with a frozen car yet this winter as we aren't going anywhere!