Many vegetable gardeners are also keen cooks. Not me. After many years of cooking and baking for a family, I would claim to have achieved a reasonable level of competence, but beyond that, what goes on in kitchens doesn’t interest me much. That’s probably why my vegetable garden is of modest proportions. Still, there is something special about stepping outside and collecting the makings for dinner from your own vegetable plot.
This spring, I planted 4 sweet pepper plants that I purchased at a local greenhouse. I plunked them in the ground and they rewarded an almost complete lack of attention with a bumper crop of peppers! They’re a colourful lot, and I’ve enjoyed admiring them over the summer as they developed. As they began to mature, they were all deep, eggplant purple. Of course, this always put me in mind of Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers…. They have gradually changed to bright red and orange and yellow.
We’ve been eating peppers fresh from the garden for a few weeks now, but with mention of frost warnings to the north of here, I felt it was time to harvest the remaining crop. I prepared them for the freezer and now they are safely stowed away, ready to brighten a winter meal.
Willow House Chronicles 