A Trip to Lincolnshire

So Matron really can't do carrots? so I decided in the Spring to plant some round shaped carrots to see what happened. These are a variety called Paris Market, they seem to have fared well in a pot full of sandy compost. My soil here in London is heavy clay, so any long rooted carrots usually fork.. as you will have seen in my 'naughty vegetables' post! The warm weather in the past couple of weeks has amazingly brought about a new crop of runner beans! I had left the vines to produce some dried pods for seed next year, but a whole new crop of baby runner beans started to grow! Even after a mild frost! A lovely, if unexpected late crop.

Yesterday I made a long car journey up to Lincolnshire. I love to sample local produce and cooking wherever possible, I just couldn't resist purchasing a supply of locally baked Lincolnshire Plum Loaf. Actually it is just dried sultanas and raisins, but this is a lovely accompaniment to a cup of tea!

Speaking of sandy soil, there are some amazing farm shops along the roads in rural Lincolnshire. It is a flat area of North East England which is mostly rich, arable farmland. Here you can see I bought a stick of Brussels Sprouts. The biggest ones on the stalk are almost as big as a tennis ball! I have never grown sprouts, but I think I might give them a try next season. Can anyone recommend a good new F1 hybrid variety that I might try?

The reason for my trip to Lincolnshire, apart from the plum loaf, was to visit the grey seal colony on the East coast. They come ashore into the sand dunes to give birth to their pups. There are miles of mud flats and miles of sand dunes here.

Along this stretch of nature reserve grows Sea Buckthorn. Here you can see a plentiful crop of bright orange berries. This plant is also known as Seaberry or Siberian Pineapple. Much too astringent to eat, but research has shown that Sea Buckthorn Oil has exceptional antioxidant and anti inflamatory properties.

Anyway, back to the baby seals... if you look closely on the horizon (click on the picture to enlarge it) you can see where the RAF fighter jets practice their bombing skills. The seals seem un-bothered by the fighter jets screaming over their heads!

They just lie on the sand, scratching their tummies, feeding their pups and staring at the passing idiots pointing cameras at them! Smile!