Embracing my space

Last year I bought three wooden planter boxes after getting inspired by Janet Luke's gardening book, Embrace Your Space. The boxes grew me a lovely assortment of vegetables for many months, but when I tried to replace the dead plants with new ones, my wee boy thought it was so he would have something to dig up with his nifty green space.

I planted more seedlings, and he raced to dig them out too. What a fun game. (I was crying on the inside.)

I gave up and left the boxes sitting empty for several months.

Then a couple of months back I found some King Seeds packets in my garage that I had bought at the same time as the planter boxes. I already had them so I though I may as well sprinkle them into the boxes and see if any plants would take hold before the boy pulled them out.

And now I have this... the best crop of coriander I've ever grown, with some carrots coming through underneath.

I've been enjoying the most beautiful salads this week, with freshly picked coriander packing a flavour punch. And tonight we had a gorgeous Thai Beef Stir-fry featuring more coriander from my garden. It might not seem like much of a garden, but it has helped me reconnect with my earthy side, which has been sadly neglected this past year. And it's reminded me just how much I love growing and eating my own food.

In one of the other planter boxes I've got a thriving self-seeded Italian parsley, which was just such a lovely surprise.

The parsley featured in a recent Moroccan Chickpea Salad I made, following the divine Revive Cafe recipe. I am so addicted to this salad. I also threw some coriander into it, just because I could.

How are your gardens growing?