Fresh Picks

Week 7 off the veg box shipped out yesterday!.

Bean Alley is starting to take shape nicely but more importantly started producing tasty french beans.
The other newby this season is celery which is always a good time

In the box this week was
Mixed french beans
Celery
Spuds
Lettuce
Curly Parsley
Carrots
Sprouting broccoli
Onions

Well that was a fun day!

We had our first ever event at the North Belfast market garden! It gave us the chance to meet some of the neighborhood and show the good people the tasty good vegetables we have coming at you this season!

Didn't have the chance to grab my own fresh pics (snapy snaps) as we where too caught up in the growing chats. You can at least join me in enjoying the tidyness of the whole place for the first time since we moved in.

It would of been worth it for that alone, but to meet people that are as excited as we are about doing is an absolute privilege.

Next launch we got is the sign ups for the Fresh Picks subscription Veg box starting June. That will be out this weekend then all we have to do is plant the bejesus out of crumlin and build a greenhouse for the tomatoes to live in.

Thanks to all who helped out and came to the open day. You guys are alright in my books ❤️

We are officially kicking off the 23 season for Fresh Picks and would like to welcome you all to an open day at our urban market garden basecamp in North Belfast

Call in on Saturday 13th of May between 11am - 1pm

Grab a free tea or coffee and take a dander round the veg beds/polytunnel while chatting all things urban agriculture with ourselves.

There will be a stall with baby plants for sale including some amazing tomato and chili varieties. There will also be some window boxes with fresh herbs and leaves and of course you can buy some of our tasty organically grown fresh produce that has already kicked into gear

On the day you will also be able to sign up to our veg box subscription scheme that will be starting in June (if it hasn't filled up before hand)

There is plenty of parking in the area and it is a handy joint on the No12 bus from the city centre

We are also doing a volunteer day this Saturday 8th so get in contact if you want to lend a hand putting the final touches for the season

Last box of the season has been shipped off into the trusty hands of our subscribers to cook up one last storm of sustainable goodness.

My expectations for this box where not to high il admit. I thought I might have to raid the resident squirrels hideout to get enough variety for the box (they would nic the shoes off me feet with half a chance). Luckily no escalation was needed and diplomatic relations are as solidly tenuous as have ever been. We had some beetroot come out of left field (the left side of the field) and after stripping the tomato plants from the Belfast tunnel over the weekend we had enough tom toms for the season finale.

The box included:
Beetroot
Tomato’s
Potatoes
Acorn squash
Celery
Leek
Onions
Chard
Kale
Rosemary

Mini cantaloupe! Sure why not?

Had a go at growing these guys and watermelons to keep me on me toes. Considering we are in Northern Ireland they came out pretty good.

In this weeks box we had
Cantaloupe melon
Tomatoes
Sweet corn
Cucumber
Rainbow chard
Onions
Beetroot
Kohlrabi
Potatoes

Kohlrabi is a brassica like cauliflower and broccoli and can be sliced up thin and eaten raw in salads but also works well in a stir fry or roasted.

I’d safely say the veg in this weeks box is as local as you can get when it comes to your veg needs Belfast. I didn’t have to go to crumlin for this box with 7 of the items picked right from our mini urban market garden. The other 3 items did come from from crumlin but are the onion, garlic and potatoes which I have dug the lot up and are either being stored at the North Belfast HQ

In the box we had fennel bulb, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, courgette, garlic, onions, lettuce, herb fennel & mixed basil

I wiped out the lettuce so didn’t even have any for the box pic but fear not, the new lettuce is on the up and nearly ready to pick up the slack. Also after a monumental messing around dragging their heels sessions that has been this season the tomatoes are coming at a good pace and will hopefully be in the rest of the boxes. Obviously I have just jinxed myself with that statement but I’m a luck favours the bold kinda guy……..tomatoes for life!!!!