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La Huerta de Casa Ricardo

Casa
España
Villamarchante
La Huerta de Casa Ricardo

La Huerta, kitchen garden of Restaurante Casa Ricardo. Weekly updates

La Huerta de Casa Ricardo es la Huerta del Restaurante Casa Ricardo.

Jardinería orgánica de temporada que proporciona productos frescos desde el suelo hasta la mesa.

24/08/2023

We’ve been digging potato’s since 15 May. This is tonight’s harvest, 3.5kg from 2 plants. These are the first from the second planting so hopefully we will be cropping for a while yet!

The chili plant continues to provide good sized crops.

Two plants which haven’t done well are the okra (which is just starting to produce) and the garrofos.

July and August have been far too hot for the latter, the plants have a massive amount of growth covering the ‘baraca’ , there have been plenty of the correct pollinators but the heat has been too much for the setting to happen for the ‘Pintat’ variety.

The white clusters of the ‘flamenco’ are now coming and we’ll see if they fare better. Fortunately both can produce flowers and pods until Xmas so there is still time for for a crop from both🙏.

Interestingly friends who grow these Valencian beans used in paella and rice dishes are telling me the same. It is probably the reason the varieties started to disappear and be replaced by Lima beans.

No such problem with figs. We have enough jam for a couple of years so now we are drying them to make ‘pan de higos’ to go with cheese boards over Xmas and New Year

15/08/2023

First harvest of butternut squash this season. 22 squashes averaging a kg each ( a bit smaller this year) but no splits. They will go into the cellar now to ripen further before roast butternut squash soup appears on the menu with some destined for buñuelos!

Now we will wait see if a second crop emerges, at the moment there are only male flowers on the plants.

18/06/2023

This week the first flower appeared on a butternut squash and was duly pollinated.

The melons are swelling slowly and the sweetcorn strengthening.

All three tomato varieties are producing fruit and some are up to the seventh truss with fruit set on them.

The pole beans, artichokes, peppers, dwarf beans, aubergines and cucumbers are providing healthy crops.

The kohlrabi seedlings will be thinned out this week .

🧑‍🌾🧑‍🍳Happy gardening and happy cooking

10/06/2023

A tale of ‘two trugs’ this weekend as the garden starts to take off!

The kohlrabi seedlings are growing away and the sweetcorn is about 8cm tall .

The carrots and okra were sown on the last moon calendar planting day (Monday 5th) so that’s everything in now until the 19th .

The baby melons (4) put in an appearance during this week so there are plenty of pollinators around.

The watering system goes on for around 35 minutes each evening now unless we have had a good shower of rain.

And at last the traditional garrofo plants (pintat and flamenco) are spiralling up the poles of the ‘barraca’ -hopefully in time for some pollination before it gets too hot.

Happy gardening 🧑‍🌾 and cooking 🧑‍🍳 everyone!

03/06/2023

Another week in the Huerta. Potatos are ready for lifting with a nice mix of sizes. The leeks which did nothing all winter are now growing very big and fat.

The Kohlrabi and sweetcorn have both taken with the seedlings clearly visible.

There are even a couple of self seeded cherry tomatos and this years planted crop of all varieties are starting to turn red.

This weeks harvest included the first cucumber.

27/05/2023

The rain has certainly brought the garden on this week! Cooking over the next few days will be fun!

20/05/2023

After a quiet, cold, dry and somewhat slow growing winter La Huerta is back! A quick spin around this morning shows the potato bed (reds and whites in full flower), a trug of onions (3 jars already pickled) , the green garlic lifted, Rocheta,Bobby and Broad beans flowering and producing, courgettes, leeks and aubergines, cherry, Valencia and pera tomatos, bell and padrón peppers, cucumbers and artichokes and lettuces all looking good!

The cleared ground is ready for sweetcorn to be sown this week and Kohlrabi and okra will go in elsewhere. Only the melons, honeynut squash and garrofos are yet to fruit.

05/11/2022

Another three weeks into Autumn and the harvesting continues, the next set of planting has almost been completed and the transition from Summer is over!

The first collage shows the paella bean harvests, with the different types of bean, (Pintat, Rocheta and Flamenco.) Whilst harvesting the Pintat we have discovered examples of Cesta and Ull de Perdiu ( Eyebrow and Partridge eye) and kept some of all of them for seeds.

The last Padrón peppers and aubergines have been harvested, together with the butternut squashes and the ground they were in will be rotovated, manured and covered with plastic this week.

The green garlics are through, (well, 13 of the 16 planted so far,) this year in three weeks, not the seven they took last year. Testament to the much warmer weather I think!

The leeks and onions have gone in in the last few days but the ground was very claggy with a concrete surface. This is one reason why all the ground will be covered with plastic to maintain humidity and keep the worst of the sun off it. Red onions will go in when they become available.

The Brussels sprouts are in and the first peas are through, although the success rate is not high. We may have to accept peas just don’t grow here!

By complete contrast the winter lettuces and tomatos are looking very strong with the first fruits set and swelling.

The artichokes are producing good sized heads and the chili’s are doing what chili’s do here very successfully!

Finally during a birthday celebration the ‘salmueras’ of green tomatos, guindillas and dill pickled cucumbers, all from the Huerta, accompanied foie de pato and pate de campaña, all bottled during the Summer.

Happy harvesting, planting, preserving and cooking! 👨‍🌾👨‍🍳

15/10/2022

Three weeks since the last update and in that time the broad beans have gone in and they, and the brassicas, winter lettuce and tomatos are well on their way.

The first artichoke of the new season has appeared.

The summer tomatos are long finished and garlic has been planted where they were. The cucumbers have also finished and peas will be sown where they were this afternoon. (Taking advantage of this unseasonably warm weather!) There were enough green tomatos to bottle for almuerzos in due course.

On the other hand the bell and padrón peppers are still producing fruits.

The aubergines have lasted longer this year too, but the big croppers now are the paella beans.

The rocheta have been good all Summer and are coming to an end but the garrofones (Pintat) didn’t start to set until September. Now we are harvesting those, the first picking saved for seeds for next years plants but there are going to be loads for Valencian paella 🥘 .

The new garrofones (flamenco) which look like a big sugar snap pea have also produced well and there are several large examples awaiting picking, also for seeds. The remainder have the advantage that you can freeze them without blanching and then just be added to your rice dish.

The barraca needs a careful picking over every morning now to ensure collecting them at their best.

Next for planting will be Brussels sprouts, onions and leeks, and if they can be found calcots.

The last eight butternut squash’s are ripening in-situ before that bed is rotovated, manured and prepared for next Spring’s crops.

Happy gardening 👨‍🌾, harvesting and cooking👨‍🍳!

25/09/2022

The first harvest of butternut squash yielded 13 examples, three small ones but the rest all around 1.5kg. The second flush will produce another dozen but I’ve noticed the latest have all yellowed and fallen off the plants before setting. I guess they are coming to an end.

The brassicas, winter lettuce and and tomato’s have been planted. You can clearly see the very.dry thin soil from the second collage but it is well enriched before plants are committed into it!

The bean barraca did its job in the high winds, you can see from the third collage just how much growth it has to support! The new garrafón flamenco is producing daily and there are nearly a kilo of the pods in the freezer. Further down there are pictures of the garrafón Pintat which are forming quickly at last. There is still a steady crop of rocheta which is a great substitute for runner beans. The Bobby beans have finished.

As you can see there is a steady supply of figs , another 5 jars are now in the larder, padrón and bell peppers, and the cherry tomatos, cucumbers and aubergines still have fruit setting.

The courgettes have finished and the plants will come out this week as will the summer tomatos to create space for new crops of broad beans, onions (red and white) and leeks to go in.

Watering has now reduced and natural rain water will play its part over the next few months.

Happy gardening and harvesting everyone! 👨‍🌾👨‍🍳

10/09/2022

Today is world agriculture day!

In this weeks update we can report positive progress with the butternut squash plants and the pole beans.

I had counted about 16 butternut squashes, most of them around 1.5-2kg each although the first three just reached that between them! This week I have hand pollinated another 16 which seem to have taken well.

The three pole beans, Rocheta, Garrofon (pintat) and garrofon (flamenco) have welcomed the cooler nights. The growth has been phenomenal, the barraca is a solid wall of intertwined beanplants and their three different flowers and pollination continues. Now however the Pintat are starting to set and the first pods are coming. By contrast we have harvested a handful of the ‘new’ variety flamenco and look forward to trying them in an arroz, possibly with secreto and foie. The Rocheta are swelling.

Red peppers are now ripening well and two bags of strips and cubes have gone into the freezer for stirfries, arroces and chilis con carne over the winter.

There are a handful of pera tomatos still to ripen, the cherry toms are coming everyday.

There are still plenty of aubergines, padrón peppers and cucumbers.

The first fig jam was produced last week, there are enough for a second batch to make on a rainy day next week!

The corn cobs are sweet and earthy, a self indulgent treat awash with butter and fresh black pepper!

The carob tree has gifted us a ‘chicken of the woods’ mushroom in the last few days (seta de algarrobo) so we’ll have to search out a recipe for that bit of natures bounty.

All in all a very satisfying two weeks.

The garden centres now have repollo (green cabbage) brócoli and coliflor plugs ready to plant out. This weekend will hopefully see them go in before the rain starts together with some winter tomatos and lettuce (roble).

Happy harvesting 👨‍🌾🫐🌶🫑🌽🥒 happy gardening ahead of the winter crops and happy preserving of jams and chutneys! 👨‍🍳

Dirección

Camino Santa Teresa
Villamarchante
46191

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