Friday 20 September 2013

Tomatoes!

We have been getting food in abundance the last few weeks. When we went on Saturday, ( to pick a food parcel for Natalia and Dan,) the tomatoes were rampant, but green. With the weather this week overcast and grey, when not raining, I was looking up green tomato chutneys. But hooray! I went this morning for salad and chard and amongst the foliage, some tomatoes were ripe and bursting after all. - There's hope for the grapes outside my kitchen door.


Friday 6 September 2013

things to do with patty pan squash

So, what to do with the patty pan squashes....
well I don't like pickles so didn't try that. I tried a drop of chili oil then chopped tomato and feta, herbs then baked them and that was good. So I thought, lets use them as pie or quiche shells. (I don't eat wheat or pastry so an alternative would be a find!) So I had a go at a chevere quiche and a little apple thing..
with not bad results. Now I'm gonna be more experimental. Rub flavors in before adding the filling, try a meat filling, a custard before the apple. I could be on to a winner... if only I was a better cook! Any ideas very welcome.

Saturday 31 August 2013

sweet corn

Sweet, sweet, sweetcorn is the best. Just picked, eaten raw. What more can I say!

Saturday 17 August 2013

Yesterday we got back back from our holiday

and rushed to the allotment to find the vegetables growing with abandon.
Purple runner beans,


 Patty pan squashes
 sweetcorn
 courgettes
 and cucumbers.


 Today our daughter Natalia and her boyfriend Dan who were visiting, came with us to the plot and  helped us harvest ....
 even more blackcurrants.... (Natalia has made some of the blackcurrant cordial. )
 and raspberries and blackberries, ( and plums and apples from the secret bit,) then beans and onions and chard, and sweetcorn, and potatoes, and courgettes and marrows and all those squashes.

there were huge sunflower heads ripening.
Dan found out what to do with them... http://www.sunflowerguide.com/drying-sunflowers.html

and Natalia checked out what to do with the Patty pan squashes. We love those pickled and stuffed baby ones...we are gonna try, http://foodinjars.com/2011/08/pickled-baby-pattypan-squash/ and http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pickled-baby-pattypan-squash-50400000128162/ 
I'll tell you how they work next time.

Sunday 28 July 2013

Todays harvest

We've popped down to the plot from time to time over the last couple of weeks, to water, to hoe, to pick yet more blackcurrants and gooseberries, the first courgettes, lettuces beetroots and some potatoes.  I haven't been since about Tuesday, when I brought our youngest son; back from uni, to see how it's getting on. But today, after our week of blazing sun, the odd shower, and then last nights downpour, a transformation astounded us. The sunflowers have grown giant sized and have golden flowers.

But everything else has started to produce fabulous goodies too. Our harvest was enormous. 



 Kilos more blackcurrants, some raspberries, the last gooseberries, onions, beans, cucumbers, beetroots, lettuce, chard and a little squash.
We are going away for a couple of weeks on Thursday, you can be sure I'll be down on the plot, tending and harvesting then too. We wont be able to shut our freezer. Yum. yum.

Sunday 7 July 2013

watering very early in the morning...

As it has been boiling hot with our mini heatwave; 3 hot days constitutes a heatwave after all the grey  sky and rain. I went to the plot very early this morning.





So I fed, watered, weeded and picked.
Yet another  kilo of strawberries; I'm sure the bindweed is acting as a natural net cus the birds haven't gorged the lot.
More blackcurrants and there are hundreds more to harvest...  (blackcurrant-sorbet.)
and... the first gooseberries.


gorgeous green globes. I searched for a gooseberry sorbet recipe and found one to try. http://www.cookyourdream.com/2011/07/gooseberry-sorbet.html

From the tasting as I make it, it should be as good as the strawberry one. Mmmmm.

Wednesday 3 July 2013

Strawberry sorbet

I went to the allotment yesterday with Maya; my oldest friends lovely daughter who has been visiting us. We picked two and a half kilos of strawberries... yum, yum!



 and some black currents. So, what to do with them?
We planed to make some blackcurrant cordial, http://www.britishlarder.co.uk/home-made-blackcurrant-cordial/#axzz2YANRjAjL  (I made some lovely elderflower cordial last week. http://britishfood.about.com/od/recipeindex/r/efowercordial.htm - but without the citric acid, because everywhere had run out.) But, first the strawberry's.

 So, freeze some of them, you put them individually on a baking tray in the freezer for a bit, then put the frozen berry's into a bag and store them in the freezer.
Then the strawberry sorbet. I found a recipie at  http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/6550/strawberry-sorbet

500 grams strawberries
250 grams sugar
250 mls water
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 egg white.
It worked perfectly... yum yum

Thank goodness we went again today to picked some more and do some weeding of course.

Saturday 22 June 2013

blimey, can't stop popping there.

Yesterday, I just had to water the new plants, and do a bit of weeding.  Ken the lawnmower man was there and showed me the mower I could use for the back bit by the shed, so I had a little mow. Picked some radishes, some rhubarb, a couple of the little cauliflowers, some onions and some lettuce, for Alex...(oldest son, who has no dosh, so I thought a food parcel was in order.) Got home and the heavens opened. But it was sort of dry rain, so that was OK. 
The french beans are being a little slow in showing themselves... or I am being impatient? But the seeds are old. So, this afternoon, I bought a row to supplement them. Went to the plot to plant them and notice a bean just sprouting... hooray! Well, there will be lots to put in for Alex's future food parcels, that's all I can say.

Thursday 20 June 2013

Yesterday was too hot to plant,

So I went very early today and planted the butternut squash plants Paul had given me.. and the tomatoes and sweet peppers that I have been growing in the greenhouse, plus two ridge cucumbers I bought yesterday to go with the one"burpless" one that had actually grown from the whole packet of seeds I sowed.

I've been getting on with the weeding, little and often, I am now a dab hand with that onion hoe!

After planting, although the sky looked grey, I thought I'd give everything a good water anyway. We had our hot day of summer yesterday. But the hose attachment that goes on the tap was missing, and the bit on the end of the hose had snapped off too... or been sabotaged by a competitive, secret assailant...so I had to use my very tiny watering can.
The other plots looked lovely with their flowers to attract the bees; that wild flower mix we sowed earlier just hadn't taken, or we had pulled them all up in our weeding frenzy the other day.
So, this afternoon I checked out my favourite nursery's and bought some perennials, (Salvia x sylvestris Blue queen and rose queen, and Campanula ) and some marigolds. ( Picking up the hose attatchment as well.) I dug up some geraniums, catmint, lavender and speedwell from the garden and put them in the plot. Now it looks much better.


I also found some Scorzoneras and Salsify seeds to plant. It says on the packets, sow in May but everything has been delayed so I put them in any way. They were both long, thin seeds like bit of straw. Well, we will see.
I thought you might like to see how the little cherry tree is getting on... not bad eh! The apricot isn't so good, so I haven't taken a pic of that.


Tuesday 11 June 2013

so heres an update

I went in the week, the weather was hot. I weeded the strawberries, grrrrr lots of bind weed amongst other nasties, I pulled it, then hoed it.


Till it looked much better, then weeded and earthed up the potatoes

and generally hoed. I met the lovely old guy from next door. He comes very early so we hadn't met before. He had brought his wife to see the plot. (I think she is very ill, ) she enjoyed looking at his beautiful spot. He had lots of good tips.
 
Sunday afternoon we went again for hours, the weather was a bit chilly but the hard work soon had the jumpers off. 

I had bought some seedlings from a local nursery. I have got some tomatoes and peppers growing in the green house to plant out later. (I did sow some cucumber but only one has grown so i might go and get some of those.
Hudge planted the leeks in deep round holes which he filled with water, a la instructions.


and a couple of rows of parsnips.  We planted climbing french beans around the poles, and sugar snap peas one side and french beans the other, sowed some more carrots, radish, lettuce and chard. we will have a feast. 
The allotments are looking lush now. next year I plan to make a little film of the walk over the year t see the seasons change and the plants come and go. Should be fun.




Tuesday 4 June 2013

how the weeds have grown

Haven't been to the plot for a couple of weeks as I have been away.
The asparagus crowns have grown... hurrah!
But the weeds had almost hidden the emerging potatoes.
 until Hudge set to work and soon...

 The strawberry patch is overrun with bindweed so I have the laborious job of going there every evening this week to try to eradicate it. You don't want daily updates I'm sure, I'll do a before and after for the record... I put 'I have bindweed in my strawberry plot' into google for some help and got....'the battle against bindweed begins' so I'm gonna try out the advice. I'll report how I get on.
Right, I'm off to the fray.


Friday 10 May 2013

The asparagus crowns arrived

This morning my 10 Gijnlim crowns arrived from New Park Farm, in Tunbridge Wells in a lovely white box complete with planting guidelines.
 So.. this evening I rushed to the plot.


so I popped them into  a bucket of water to soak

and got to work digging the trench, 8 inches deep and 12 inches wide. (mine was approximate) They call it a furrow but my back thinks I dug a trench... What are you supposed to do with all the soil that comes out of it?

I spread the compost from the old chicken coop on the bottom and mixed it in, then made the small ridge down the centre,




over which I draped the crowns 1 foot apart as the guideline's suggested.
then I replaced the three inches of soil over them...et voila!
 I hope I got enough, if not there is room for another trench beside it. Mmmmm only three years to wait.



Tuesday 7 May 2013

Seedlings!

Sunday evening we dug, watered, sowed sweetcorn, courgette, lettuce, radishes and saw some purple sprouting broccoli seedlings that had produced two tiny leaves....
This evening I watered, sowed more sweetcorn, beetroot and some cucumbers, and wished  we had planted more onion sets. Saw Ken, who became my fairy godmother and opened the shed, where there was a sack of onion sets. I planted them, then chatted to a new person called Sharon, who said she had put in her asparagus only  a few weeks ago. So when I got home, I searched on line and hopefully 10 asparagus crowns (Gijnlim) will arrive soon from Asparagus in Kent. (I hope that's enough but I can always get more next year.) We still need to net those little plants ...the birds have been nibbling.

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Sunday evening digging

Somehow, the weekend filled up fast and digging had to be postponed until Sunday evening.
We saw a Munjac deer scurrying through the undergrowth then dart up, over and away across the railway that borders the Allotments.
More soil was raked, more weeds removed and more earth turned over.

Today I am going to Hyde Hall (a RHS garden) to meet my mum for lunch and inspiration. I want to get some asparagus crowns, hopefully its not too late to plant them. I have been looking around for weeks but haven't found any nice ones nearby. 


Friday 26 April 2013

saw a couple of butterflys

at the allotment yesterday.
This comma, and  a small tortoiseshell. (Who wouldn't stay still enough for a portrait.)

I sowed some leeks and parsnips, weeded a bit, painted some wooden labels ready for later, and generally enjoyed the afternoon sun. mmmmm lovely. Ivan was there and he gave me some rhubarb.
While weeding I found some of this...
hmmmmm! not good... horsetail methinks! But I might wait till its a bit bigger so I can have a good go at it.



Monday 22 April 2013

Digging and sowing

What beautiful weekend weather!
We couldn't get to the plot until Sunday afternoon so we were really looking forward to getting stuck in.
We don't really know much about vegetable growing. I have been reading about what to do for years; my 1970's, hessian covered Readers Digest is well thumbed. The wealth of information is overwhelming. After trying it out in the garden in the past, with inadequate soil, shade, and space, I know the only way to learn is by trial and error.
So softly, softly does it.
This year we have divided the plot into three for crop rotation, we knew where the potatoes had been last year, so started from there, with another large area after the raspberry bushes for catch crops and other stuff. There must be a least a million strawberry plants on one side of it, and we plan an asparagus bed on the other side.
We don't know what, "sow in a prepared seed bed then transplant into permanent places," actually means in practice, so we have sowed the purple sprouting broccoli in situ and will move some of them to the spare beds, if and when we need too and find out that way. I'm sure next year we will have a seed bed all ready.
Some photos for your delight...
I lifted the last of the parsnips, one more bowl of curried parsnip soup for lunch tommorow... I'm going to freeze the rest of them.

The garlic is already sprouting... wey  hey!
A woman from another plot gave us some cauliflowers and red cabbage,
Heres Hudge planting them...
- Now we have to net them...

and here is a picture of Hudge looking cool in the blinding rays of the afternoon sun with the giant parsnips.




Wednesday 3 April 2013

Got thoese fruit trees in the ground.

I gave the tree roots a good soaking over night as the label recommended, then planted them with lots of lovely, old chicken poop amongst the soil...I hope not too much, well we shall see.

 The apricot,

 and the cherry.

I brought some old fencing panels for the sides of the compost bin, so now that's cosy and secure,


and an old bit of green house staging for in the shed. So I have some useful shelves... I love useful shelves.

 
I sowed some carrots, (Nantes 2) but the seeds are a bit old so I don't expect much. We will begin the sowing proper in a couple of weeks when the soil has warmed up. I'll put some more carrots besides them and see what happens. I sprinkled that box of wild flowers I bought the other day around the perimeter of the plot. It looked more sawdust than seeds..I'm doubtful anything will grow. I know it was budget, but I did expect something more than handfuls of dust. Now I'm in a pickle because I can't add to it because I wont know whats what...Well, if nothing has sprouted by the end of the month, I'll sow some more anyway. I do want wild flowers to encourage pollinators and to look pretty. I met Ray the chicken keeper from across the path, and learnt all about red mite and the struggle to keep that in check in the hot months. so a very informative as well as productive afternoon.