Inspiration to Create a Kitchen Garden this Spring

Delicate snowdrops herald the start of spring

Spring feels finally like it has finally sprung after what has been a long and hard winter. The snowdrops are braving their beautiful heads into the brighter and brighter sun. I love the spring, the light after the dark, everything is fresh and green, full of hope & possibility. It also could be the time to create something rather special – your very own beautiful and productive kitchen garden.

Spring has sprung

Although much has been written on the practicality of growing your own, the reality of a kitchen garden can be overwhelming. I believe this is why many would love the idea of a beautiful kitchen garden but very few act. So here are a few useful pointers to guide your way, with more to follow as the season progresses. Of course, this creation takes time and patience but March and April is the time  to take action!

Environmentally friendly Pots for nurturing your seedlings

Growing seeds has a few simple but critical requirements. Warmth and water of course but essential is sufficient light to ensure the first shoots are not etiolated (all pale, yellow and elongated).  Get that first stage right and the rest is pretty much plain sailing. I love these gorgeous wooden paper pot makers from Cox & Cox, a creative, practical, beautiful, and totally environmentally friendly way of potting up your new and precious seedlings.

Beautiful and practical paper pot maker

Inspiration for growing your very own fresh edible favourite vegetables

Salad is another easy and great crop to grow.  Last year, I used my beautiful Victorian cloche from Crocus, an inspiring gardeners web site. This allowed me to start crops early in the season and effectively monitor the slug situation, as I’m a total organic aficionado. Once you have  had the joy of stepping outside and cutting your lettuce that is minutes later served on your plate, you’ll never be able to taste another leaf without reference to that freshness. Yes, you are utterly spoilt after that experience but the economics of doing it this way are also pretty compelling. All that’s needed is a small area, even a window box, and you can have fresh salad all summer for next to nothing.  You’ll be able to buy seed from many garden centers but my choice this year is from the excellent Sarah Raven with her wonderful vegetable seed collections, and really great practical advise on what to do.

Growing your own can be both wonderfully aesthetic as well as producing a fresh crop of gorgeous vegetables

Beautiful and practical Victorian Cloche

Connecting to the knowledge of the past – your own Kitchen Garden is your own small haven of tranquility

I remember being asked to sign for my allotment in which I planned and created my kitchen garden. When the book was produced, it looked really rather scruffy. The pages were creased and a bit worn, the front of the book a little threadbare. I then  put my signature at the bottom of a long list for plot 14, and noticed that the first signature was dated 14th May 1895. After that, I revised my opinion of the book – it had been kept and cherished in that village parish for over a 100 years. It was wonderful to be part of that.

I confess that it took quire a bit of work to clear the site. I decided that raised beds would be the way forward for optimum production and minimal management. Start small, with a few simple crops. Keep your enthusiasm going by imagining  just stepping outside your door to your very own favourite fruit and vegetables, into a kitchen garden of your own. It’s actually quite like being on holiday, a day out, with a flask of hot water to make tea and a picnic basket full of wholesome goodies to keep you going while you are digging and planting. My advice is to grow what you love to eat, as you’ll have plenty of it from even a little plot.

My wonderful kitchen garden

Growing your own food allows you to witness the time and skill that it takes to produce it.

My wish for this blog is that you are inspired to start your own kitchen garden, even on a small scale. Feeling the earth in your hands and looking out for the weather takes you beyond yourself to ensure your latest plantings will survive. Nurturing a garden connects you to the world in a way that is unique and inspiring. The fresh air, the physical enterprise, and community, especially of the allotment, are wonderfully connecting and healing. Give yourself the time to watch things grow. The slower pace of the garden takes you with it and you are the better for it.

Sean and Mary Kate debate whether it is potatoes or roses

Read Full Post »

Idea’s to Inspire this Easter with Tea with Mary Kate

Tea with Mary Kate dares you to take action to create a wonderful, connecting Easter experience this year.

Easter is all about connecting with the celebration that is Spring

First of all, I’m all for bringing spring indoors (it’s still a little chilly after all!), and fresh spring flowers are such an easy way to enhance the aesthetic & connecting experience of Easter. A very easy trick is to lay freshly picked ivy from the garden all around the cutlery too – it makes you feel like you are having your lunch in the freshly sprung leafy & green spring. I adore daffodils, displayed in a simple vase, it’s impossible for them to fail to cheer. I also love this basket with its green satin ribbons & imaginary spring forest floor to showcase the very edible chocolate bunny, inspiration for creating your own centre piece for your special Easter celebration.

There’s nothing more welcoming than a beautifully decorated Easter Table…..gorgeous ribbons and chocolate filled buckets

For a beautiful Easter table, you could tie your cutlery with beautiful Easter ribbons, gingham’s & polka dots are my favourites which I order from Crafty Ribbons. They are passionate about ribbons & I have found this company to provide a great product of excellent quality, at good value for money, with a great service. Their web site also provides really lovely ribbon seasonal ideas. I also use their ribbon to wrap all my presents. It is such a simple thing but makes all the difference – there is such pleasure given by wrapping gifts in lovely ribbons. There was even an Easter Ribbon challenge. Although too late for this year, I’m hoping this will be an annual event! I love their chicks & eggs from their Easter treat ribbon range.

Another idea is to use children’s miniature buckets as a take home present for everyone. These can be filled to the brim with Easter goodies like Cadbury mini eggs & placed on everyone’s table setting. I did this last year and it instantly transported everyone back to their childhood, thrilled to indulge child like in sweets & chocolate as a total treat at the end of Easter gathering. It’s a simple but lovely way of getting into the Easter vibe and getting the Easter proceedings underway.

Personalised name place setting with an Easter theme to delight this Easter……

Alongside the Easter ribbons & miniature Easter buckets, I lay the table with an Easter card for everyone. Each is personalised with their name, its first purpose being as a seat planner, but it provides a beautiful theme for the table, at very little cost & it gives everyone a beautiful momento of Easter lunch.

One theme I have used is the very cute and engaging Chick & Easter Egg cards from Rachel Ellen Designs. For our table, the girls were “chicks” & the boys were “Eggs”, but of course there were desires to be the other one on both sides!

Rachel Ellen Easter chick & egg place cards

I have also found a very stylish Easter bunny card from BellyButton designs. This is an inspiring company too, initially funded by a grant from the Prince’s Trust, ideas’ from fashion & art are the inspiration that has now led to a shop in Didsbury & a thriving business. I also applaud the fact that BellyButton are being nice to trees, an occupational hazard when you manufacture cards, however, it’s good to hear they are working to be more environmentally friendly, very encouraging news for those of us who still like to send & receive cards.

BellyButton Bunny

Another really wonderfully inspiring Easter theme I’ve found is from  Belle & Boo, a collection of artworks from the imagination of illustrator Mandy Sutcliffe. Belle & Boo are two of Mandy’s favourite characters, Belle with her bobbed hair, bright eyes and vintage clothing, is insistently curious about the world  around her. Boo is Belle’s adorable bunny rabbit companion and confidant. I think these designs are amazing & so evocative of Easter, they could not fail to provide an inspiring table place setting.

Beautiful image for Easter from Belle & Boo

For those with a talent for serviette folding, go for a bunny inspired fold for each of your guests.

Creative Idea’s for a very special Easter

The world is your Easter oyster! Even if you get half way down the page & think, oh, gosh, I’m never going to do all this, just choose one thing – lay a beautiful tablecloth if you don’t normally, use your lovely crockery, light a few candles and find some cards you love to make everyone feel especially invited. My wish though is that this has inspired you to unleash your creativeness and connect with those that you love – have a wonderful Easter!

Read Full Post »