As we live in a agricultural environment, with many sun hours and fantastic soil, it's logical that I started to grow my own.
Own what ?
Well, almost everything I think of and we like to eat.
Still not growing my grapes to make my own wine, but time given that will come too.
Beans, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, melons, strawberries, herbs, and a lot more, as everything grows like hell and tastes like heaven !
Not experienced in growing my own (at all), of course I started to check the internet first, and one moment had the luck to find this encyclopedia called Groente & Fruit encyclopedie(Vegetables and Fruit).
It's written by two fantastic Belgian experts, who love to share their experience too !!!
Thanks to those two friendly writers (Luc Dedeene and Guy de Kinder) I recently harvested my very first so called witlof (chicory), a vegetable rather unknown in Dalmatia, but very popular in at least Holland and Belgium (and elsewhere ??).
Either cooked, in a salad, from the oven with cheese and ham, or fresh leaves stuffed with smoked salmon or blue cheese, with a large variety of recipes it's possible to create a delicious vegetable companion to your dinner.
I started to seed them last year, next took out the carrots after winter, cut the leaves of and put the carrots in some soil in a (it must be) dark box.
As it was the first time, I checked regularly, but today, after two weeks, I have my very first own witlof !!!!
The encyclopedia helps with with a lot of information, so today I made a plan to grow some more fruits, specially figs, as those are as common here as cars in the city or fish in the sea.
And as with cars and fish, the variety of types is amazing.
Two tips I would like to give you:
numero uno: get yourself some growing information.
numero duo: start, whatever small, to grow something yourself, but dó start !!!
You can't imagine how rewarding it is to grow something yourself, and no doubt it will taste better than anything from some store or shop.
All you need is a bit of sunlight, some soil in a pot (or bigger), some seeds or plants, and you'll eat your own parsley, strawberries or garlic.
Or if your lucky like us, your own chicory, figs, melons, cherries, tomatoes, onions, salad and a lot more.
But than you'll have to move to Dalmatia, not a bad idea at all, even for sun loving lazy seaside tourists :-).
So, go for it, or come and get it overhere.
ps.
Even after you harvested your "witloof", don't (DON'T) put those carrots in the garbage or compost, but try a second time in some fresh soil under a dark cover.
No, you won'' t grow quality witloof crops again, but after some time you'll see small leaves grow out of it, still a delight to add to a salad or dish.
ps 2.
Since I see a lot of visitors to this page (great !!!), anybody who wants to mail me, look at the header of my blog (daar staat m'n mailadres, met uiteraard X=@).
Aan iedereen die dit leest: kóóp dat boek, en begin met eigen teelt, desnoods op uw balkon in een potje of een, twee, drie !!!!
En onthoud: begin simpel, hóu het simpel, maar vooral: BEGIN, want het is écht leuk en écht lekker !
