Resident Chef - March 2008
March is a month so jam-packed with events that it is difficult to know where to begin. This month sees the Cheltenham Festival, Mother’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Crufts, The Six Nations championship and St David’s Day to name but a few and, depending on your lifestyle and interests, all of these events have the potential to influence your month to a greater or lesser extent.
So it is quite possible that this month you will have little or no time to squeeze in any additional worthwhile pursuits. However, may I personally recommend to my green-fingered friends that you find a way to put aside an hour or two this month – a time of investment now that will reap rewards come the summer months. You may be thinking what on earth is he babbling on about? Well, we have of course reached the time of year when the gardeners among us need to start preparing our flower pots/beds or gardens so that we can ensure a bumper crop when the time comes.
There are so many things you can do to help your garden along. The first crucial thing you need to be thinking about is cultivating your beds. This involves nothing more complicated than covering the bed with a clear polythene bag or even an old bit of carpet, which raises the temperature of the soil by those all important couple of degrees, so that they are warm enough for you to start sowing your seeds. Next, you need to think about which herbs, fruits or vegetables you wish to grow, which will of course depend on the amount of space you have, your personal tastes and your level of commitment to your garden. Only you will know what works best for your garden. Last year I grew tomatoes, peppers, French beans, artichokes, cucumbers, strawberries and sweet corn, as well as all of my usual herbs and the lesson I learnt is that, for my garden, sweet corn takes up too much room so I will not be growing it again this year.
Even if you have a postage stamp-sized space, as many of us Londoners do, you can still grow an amazing variety of vegetables and there are many dwarf varieties that are full of flavour and goodness and will not take up much room. You can literally buy thousands of different types of seeds and there is little in life that is more rewarding than picking your own fruit and vegetables and cooking them for dinner.
I will be buying all of my seeds this year from Suttons at www.suttons.co.uk. Here you will find all of your seed needs under one roof and not only that but you can get growing tips, seedlings and all the equipment you could possibly need. In addition to this, there are handy tips telling you what’s in season and what you should be doing each month to ensure that your cup runneth over…
Chris Staines is Head Chef at Foliage, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA www.mandarinoriental.com/london