My edible repertoire tends to consist of cabbage, sugar snaps, mangold (chard) and lettuce. Occasionally carrots, courgettes and some kind of bean. However, since I don’t have very much space for a vegetable garden it does not become more than that.  It has been a long time since I planted beets, but last summer I tried ‘Bulls Blood’. An enchantingly beautiful veriety with properly dark leaves and tasty beets. My crop yielded enough for one dinner. Even the stalks got used in a vegetable stir fry on another day. This year I’m going to try a different veriety and perhaps a yellow beet as well if I have the space. To save time I pre-sow all vegetables in the greenhouse. At the beginning of May I tend to sow the plants that will be put outside later. With a few weeks headstart a lot of time is gained.

‘Bulls Blood’ is an old variety that can be traced back to the early 19th century. It is suitable for winter storage. My little crop was consumed straight away. The small leaves are excellent and beautiful in a sallad. Organic seeds for the ‘Bulls Blood’ are sold at Runebergs fröer.

The foliage of the ‘Bulls Blood’ is stunning.
It is flavoursome too.

Broad beans

I tried growing broad beans for the first time last year. I got completely hooked. So easy to grow. I am definitely prioritising space for them this year as well. Just because you might not have space for a big vegetable garden does not need to mean that there is no point in growing a small amount. You could even spare a small sunny spot in your flowerbed. I tend to grow cabbage and mangold in my flowerbed. Flowers have always been most important to me and they still are but I am wishing more and more that I had a big vegetable garden too. The space exists but in the wrong location. The sunny spots are generally occupied by other things. I would also like to have a place for cut flowers. This would need sun as well. This will have to become this year’s challenge, to simply figure out what needs to be changed, moved or adjusted to get the appropriate sunny locations for both vegetables and cut flowers.