beans | Five a Day Market Garden

We’ve sown an early crop of broad beans. Anyone sowing anything else this time of year?

Welcome to the garden

Autumn winds have blown leaves off our beautiful willow to reveal the magnificent golds, reds, bronzes and greens of the young willow stems – perfect for weaving!

We are using these to make willow rings, hearts and stars for Christmas decorations, all for sale at our produce table in Englefield Garden Centre from 28th November.

Subject to the Covid-19 restrictions after 2nd December, we are planning our Christmas wreath-making workshops across several dates in December – see the poster image on our home page.

When Five a Day is open, usually on Wednesday to Friday mornings, we can serve customers visiting the garden.

Read about our work in the latest Take Five newsletter

Big ‘Thank You’ to all the volunteers who are enjoying the Five a Day garden, and abiding by the careful health and safety guidelines, including social distancing.

Tips from our head gardener

Keep cutting flowers, especially sweet peas and roses. The more you cut, the more flowers the plant will produce!

Stake up plants like dahlias which have heavy flower-heads. The rain and wind can damage these unless you weave supports made from willow and hazel around the plants.

We have plenty of willow if you would like to try making your own plant supports.

Weeding around the vegetable plants as they’re growing is essential to remove competitors for the valuable water.

Monthly Seasonal Recipe

Summer Squash Recipe

Ingredients
2 pounds summer squash (courgettes, pattypan squash, yellow crookneck squash)
1/ 4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon flaked salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the stem ends and slice the squash cross-wise in 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Toss with the olive oil.
2. In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Arrange the squash rounds in a 9 x 12 inch rectangular baking dish, or 10 inch pie plate. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over.
3. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another five minutes until the top is bubbling and crispy.

Tag: beans

Seed sowing