Stephanie's Kitchen Garden Diary

July in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden is when the main harvest begins. I have just spent a pleasant summer morning picking blackcurrants with only the birds and a radio for company. A back breaking job, but one of huge satisfaction gained from harvesting a bumper crop of fat juicy currants that will soon adorn my larder shelves in the form of jam. On the darkest of winter days the taste will transport me back to the hot sunny day when they were picked.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much and how quickly the kitchen garden changes at this time of year. Crops seem to grow at an incredible rate, whilst we gardeners are too busy with the many little jobs that need to doing, to notice. It's not until the occasional lull in activity that I stand, coffee in hand, and marvel at the wonders that nature provides.

May is always the busiest month in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden, and sometimes I have to force myself to stop and just look at how beautiful it looks. The apple blossom on the espaliers is here for such a brief time, that it's easy to miss it when you are focussed on the many jobs that need to be done. May, for me, is when the Kitchen Garden is at its most beautiful - full of lush green growth, blossom and the promise of what is to come.

April has flown by in a blur of activity in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. As always there is much to be getting on with at this time of year and the typical April weather of sunshine and showers has encouraged green shoots all around the garden. As I write this, we have just experienced two days of wintry showers and freezing winds which proves that it isn't time to cast the clout just yet.

Apart from the occasional sharp frost, the winter is now a distant memory and the growing season is in full swing in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. Everywhere you look green shoots are emerging and we are working at full speed to keep up with the sowing, pricking out and planting.

The last few days of February are at last drawing to a close and we enter my absolute favourite time of the year. The days are getting ever longer and the sun has some real warmth to it now. The promise of the growing season stretches out ahead of us as the green shoots of spring begin to emerge.

The new year has at last brought some seasonal cold and frosty weather to Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. For me these are ideal conditions for a healthy garden, as sub zero temperatures help to cleanse the garden of some overwintering pests and diseases. It also sweetens the brussel sprouts and parsnips to make them tastier than ever. Better still the blue skies and sunshine bring an added beauty to the garden that has been missing during the dark, grey days we've seen so often of late.

It has felt more like Easter than Christmas this month, as the weather has been incredibly mild. Unfortunately the sun has been conspicuous by its absence and we have lots of grey days and plenty of rain. No sign of a white Christmas in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden this year.

November in Stephanie's Kitchen Garden has been a busy and eventful one. The weather has certainly kept us on our toes. We've experienced high winds and heavy rain along and later on, the first frosts of the year. But November 2015 will probably long be remembered as the month that box blight hit the garden.