'Growing through the Seasons' is back!

We're been eagerly awaiting the delivery of the 2025 Wall Calendar from Isla and Bryony Middleton and yet again they've created a real thing of beauty.

This year's calendar is a celebration of seasonal fruit, vegetables and flowers with a hand-carved lino-print alongside a monthly poem, gardening tips and information on what to sow and harvest. A growing chart with a sowing and harvest schedule is also included at the back of the calendar.

Isla and Bryony make such a fantastic duo and it is evident in the thoughtfulness and design of the calendar. Isla is a talented artist and printmaker and Bryony is the highly experienced Head Gardener at Sharpham Estate, managing the 19th century walled garden and grounds.

It's the perfect gift for the gardeners, allotment growers and vegetable lovers in your life or anyone keen to start growing, with fantastic guidance and inspiration to keep busy and motivated in the garden every month.

It will also appeal to anyone with a passion for botanical illustration, artisan craft and traditional printmaking techniques.

For more information and to grab one for yourself click the button below.

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Collaboration with 'The Little Cooking Pot'

We're teaming up with chef/ writer duo Sarah Cotterell and Aitana Infante to share seasonal recipes every month from their book 'A La Mesa'. They have been growing seeds from us for years and have created a beautiful collection of recipes with the varieties which you can get from Vital Seeds. The idea is that each of the recipes will call for an ingredient that you might be harvesting from your own veg patch that month.

For October they've conjured up a delicious recipe 'Squash and Sweet Ras El Hanout Cake' to pair with your harvests of 'Delicata Zeppelin' or 'Red Kuri' squash.

Here’s a recipe from the early days of The Little Cooking Pot and one of Ait’s favourites. The squash makes the cake deliciously moist, whilst the fragrant ras el hanout spice mix, chunks of ginger and crunchy pumpkin seeds make every bite exciting. We love it with a black coffee, thickly sliced and spread with salted butter. Carrots work brilliantly in the place of squash too.

Serves 8-10

170g wholemeal rye or spelt flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon powder

2 tsp sweet ras el hanout

A pinch of sea salt

115g organic salted butter, at room temperature

140g muscovado sugar

2 free-range eggs, lightly whisked

60ml organic milk

150g raw Delicata or Red Kuri squash, grated

70g crystallised ginger, roughly chopped

100g toasted pumpkin seeds or walnuts

Heat the oven to 170°C and line a 20cm loaf tin with baking paper.

Sift your flour, baking powder, spices and salt into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Using a food processor or wooden spoon, cream together the butter and sugar. Lightly fold in the eggs, followed by the milk.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and use a spatula to gently bring everything together, making sure all of the flour is incorporated. Next, fold in the grated squash, chopped ginger and seeds or walnuts.

Use the spatula to gently transfer the batter into your prepared tin. Sprinkle
a little muscovado sugar on top and pop into the oven.

Bake for around 50-60 minutes, turning half way through, until a knife comes out clean – your nose will tell you when it’s nearly ready.

Allow to cool completely before you eat, otherwise the cake will fall apart when you try to cut it.

If you like this recipe check out our socials - we shared another for 'Fermented Chilli Paste' on Monday!

'This recipe is taken from the book 'A La Mesa' which is available to buy on 'The Little Cooking Pot's website. It's a beautiful collection of recipes and stories from their travels, with gorgeous seasonal recipes structured around the wheel of the year. Follow the link below to get your copy!

Happy sowing and growing

Chloe and the rest of the team

P.S. don't forget to stock up on your broad bean seeds! October is here and with that, the opportune time to get your broad bean seeds in the ground to overwinter and produce an early harvest next year.