Here at Stephanie’s Kitchen Garden this week we will be getting an early start on our pest control. The warm spring weather hasn’t only given us an early start for our crops – the pests are benefitting too. We’ve already seen our first cabbage white butterfly!
We will be checking the butterfly netting and insect mesh protecting our spring cabbages and calabrese. We will also be adding a new framesaver net to our vegetable cage ready for this year’s crops to be safely planted out. The strawberry bed will be covered in bird netting too.
This is the ideal time to be giving our soil its first application of nemaslug to take control early. Prevention is always better than cure!
This week we will be harvesting chard and kale - Stephanie has a great recipe for the Kale...
Braised Kale with Smoked Bacon and Shallots
- Lightly steam Kale for a few minutes and set aside
- Finely chop shallots and garlic and smoked bacon
- Sauté shallots, garlic and bacon until crisp in a large frying pan in a dash of olive oil and a knob of butter
- Add the steamed Kale to the bacon and onions stir and heat through for a few minutes
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
Enjoy!!
