Making your own Sauerkraut.

If you're lucky enough to not have had the slugs eat all your Cabbage seedlings this year, and you've managed to grow some nice cabbages, you might consider making some Sauerkraut. I've only just discovered this amazing food stuff and was hoping to make my own as supermarket bought Sauerkraut usually comes in plastic containers which I prefer to avoid. However, unfortunately my Cabbages are still a way off from being harvested at the moment.

Did you know that two tablespoons of Sauerkraut per day provides you with similar amounts of probiotics as a store bought supplement?

I'd love to know if you have made sauerkraut yourself before and how it turned out. In the meantime I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my Cabbages to grow a bit more.

Lottie News!

It's so nice to have a bit of sunshine and it's amazing how everything has sprung up since we've finally got a bit of warmth. Long may it last.

The Sunflowers are now taller than me and perhaps the tallest I've grown to date and I only had one casualty from slug attack which is fortunate.

The Blueberries have done exceptionally well this year and I've frozen quite a few batches already. The two new bushes I put in to replace the Gooseberry bush I got rid of appear to be a late variety, but that's not so bad and they've already produced some fruit.

It was very disappointing to have the Barnes Pond Fair cancelled due to the weather as I had lots of bedding plants still left over from the last one. However, the following day I did a little impromptu sale in my front garden until it started to tip down with rain again.

My Aubergines have been a big disappointment this year, most likely because of the string of cold night temperatures we had in May and June. I have so far manage to get one tiny little Aubergine off of my tiny little plant which almost disappeared in a Ratatouille I made.

The Borlotti and Black Beans I planted have taken off and are almost over the arch and I now have the first Uchiki Kuri Squash on the other side. In the poly tunnel I've had the first of the Tumbling Tom Tomatoes ripen and the first of the Burpless Cucumbers are nearly ready to pick. This is the first time growing this variety as I usually grow Marketmore, which is a short fat variety.

The biggest surprise of the month was the Cauliflowers I had planted in my garden at home. One minute they was small plants and the next they were full size Cauliflowers. It's only taken me nine years to produce these after many disasters and disappointments of growing them on the Lottie. They obviously liked my walled garden environment.