Ten years later ... back.

And I'm a solo act once more. But one with a new allotment and this time the only drag on my enthusiasm is me. I will be ably assisted by my young son, who is now 11.

Our last place was being run as a charity by an undischarged bankrupt called Anette who'd made all sorts of allegations against all sorts of people (sexual harassment was the one that would be funny if it wasn't so serious for the accused (not us.))  Not a British national, but an old school South African come to run away from the end of apartheid.  Probably for good reason. Anyway.  She orchestrated the removal of my ex because they didn't get on. Could have fought it, couldn't be bothered.  Getting away from people  like that is its own reward.

Happily my new allotment suffers no such deficits yet.  

Does anyone read blogs any more?

April 2011 Not much going on here then!

Not a good year so far

We've done very little in 2010, the allotment has got overgrown despite a couple of efforts to get up there and sort it.  Just too much else to do to give it the time it needs. But we've started tidying up and cutting down the meadow it had become again.

Birds

We're very lucky where we are at the allotment, we are close to a major migration hotspot, backing onto a school playing field with lots of trees and traditional hedgerow around, so we get plenty of birds.

For the past couple of days we've had a fieldfare hanging around with the local blackbirds, chomping on local berries.  it's been many years since I saw one of those in these parts (though that might have more to do with my changing habits rather than any scarcity).

This year I've seen Hobby, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Whitethroat, lapwing, Lesser whitethroat, Chiff Chaff, Willow Warbler and common crane.  We also have thriving populations of blue, great and long tailed tits, dozens of house sparrows, tame blackbirds, wrens, dunnocks and song thrushes. 

Some pics from today

Another useful link

I’ve found the forums at Allotments UK to be invaluable.  Lots of really good people there doing what we’re doing and tons of knowledge, so I’m giving them a ‘heads-up’.

First of November

Well, things aren’t all that bad.  Collected 10 lovely bright red Apache Peppers today and herbs are still in full effect. Collected parsley, sage, rosemary and mint today and all the plants are looking healthy.  In fact, the only things that are actually ‘done’ for the year are applemint and the French Tarragon is looking quite sad.

All good though.

stuff

I am posting these mainly to remind myself how far we have come since May.

This is what was there when I arrived after the winter with a remit to do what I liked.  For those that do not know we had a baby in December and the months leading up to it saw no work on the allotment after not really doing enough during 2008.

Which turned into this after a month or so of graft.

And now I have beds like this.

Useful Link

The BBC has a decent gardening design sub-site, which I thought might be useful if you haven’t seen it.  I couldn’t get shockwave working on the designer software though.

Click here for it.

Progress Report – Winter Preparations

I’ve been quite busy doing some large and cumbersome tasks.  I’ve enlarged the beds and got next year’s rotation underway.

We now have two 22x8.5 foot beds, and two 20x

Technorati Tags: Winter,planting,digging

8.5 beds all dug and turned over.  Our onions are in, as are garlic, leeks and carrots.

I’ve got the new brassica bed dug and planted with cauliflower, curly cale and purple sprouting.  The leeks and beans that are still in there will be out soon, and that can be left to over winter and will plant some summer varieties in there once the frosts have done their job.

Next year’s legume bed is dug, it’s an odd shape because I’ve left the blackcurrant bushes in situ, but I’ve also planted in this year’s potato bed 3xgooseberry, redcurrant and blackcurrant giving us another 9 fruit bushes maybe in 2011.  Should be good.  Need to build a net for them at some point. 

Had a tidy up and a mow around, and things, apart from the nettles and tatty front fence are looking quite good.  As usual, a weeding and a trip to the dump are required but otherwise I’m quite optimistic about next year.

One downer, we’ve got leek moth caterpillars in our mature leeks.  We are eating them anyway :)  The creatures are about a centimetre long and pretty much featureless, and they don’t appear to affect the flavour.

Two for one recipe - Lowestoft Smoked Haddock and allotment vegetable soup and pie

Sorry for turning this into a cookery blog lately, but there's not a whole lot going on at the allotment as we are moving house. However, we continue eating at the normal rate and are still using our veggies. Here's our latest culinary invention*

The Soup

One needs:

• 1 Onion
• 1/2 a bulb of garlic
• 1 smoked haddock, purchased from a traditional smoker.
• 10 small potatoes
• 2 or 3 sticks of celery
• 3 or 4 leeks (use the whole edible bit of the leek)
• Marigold Stock (about 6 teaspoons)
• Creme Fraiche (half a small tub)

One does:

• Chop things up into about 1" slices (really no measuring required here, it's very rough indeed)

EXCEPT

• Finely chop the onion, garlic and celery

Boil up 1.25 litres of water, add everything except the creme fraiche
Gently Boil until the potatoes are done
Turn off the heat and using a hand-blender (or jug blender, or masher, or fork) blend up until you have a slightly lumpy soup.

Add the creme fresh, garnish if you wish. Stir. Serve. Do NOT add salt until it's at the table (if at all). The celery and smokey fish does all that. A little white pepper is good, but should be the eater's choice. A little sprinkle of chopped dill would be nice.

That's the soup


So now you are left with half a saucepan of soup. So ...

One will need:
Another Lowestoft Smoked Haddock
Frozen Peas
200g Cheese


Boil up a pound of spuds and mash them with butter and milk. Skin on is fine (and good for you!)
Meanwhile reheat the soup, quite high heat (220, gas 6) you want it to reduce a bit. Put the peas in it.
Chop up the smoked haddock and add to the soup. Make sure it's only gently bubbling as it needs to spread it's flavour this time, but not disintegrate. 
Grate 200g of cheese of your choice.
Mash the spuds when ready.

Now get a pyrex or suitable pie dish, put in the soup, cover with mashed potato, cover that with cheese.

If the soup is loose, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to the pie dish, and lose some liquor. We used the left over soup as a kind of gravy and it was absolutely lovely.

That's it.  Two dinners from one, no salt pepper gluten preservatives additives nuts dogs red meat or anything.  Just lovely stuff.

*I'm well aware that somewhere in geography and history, some other million people have invented this.

Wild Plum Jam Recipe

As you may remember I collected a couple of kilos of wild plums from our local park in September.  They were very ripe and we’ve been moving house, so I opted to freeze them and come back to them later.

Here’s the final recipe we settled on:

Ripe wild plum jam recipe:
Ingredients:
1kg/2lb of ripe wild plums
1kg/2lb of white jam sugar
½ pint/275ml of water
Method:

1. Wash (and discard any dodgy fruits) then simmer gently in a heavy bottomed or preserving pan.
2. Add the sugar and stir gently till dissolved. 
3. Constantly stir with a slotted spoon on a rolling boil for 10 minutes, and observe your kitchen becoming a sticky mess as you remove the stones as you go.
4. Test for a firm set
5. Continue to boil rapidly and test at five minute intervals.
6. Put into sterilised jars and follow the normal rules.

Green Tomato Chutney Recipe

It's that time of year and this recipe addresses the problems of a glut of green tomatoes and the need to provide some sunshine in the winter time. It's my take on a basic theme, reflecting my preference for a little more spice than most. The brand names given reflect my preference, you can use what you like, I only bother where they taste a little different or add a little something.

1 whole garlic bulb. Peeled and chopped.
2 tsp celery salt
2 tsp ground cayenne
2 tsp smoked paprika (optional, Rachael won't have it in here)
250g raisins (optional)
2kg Green toms
500g Billingtons Unrefined Sugar
500g cooking apples, cored and chopped finely.
50g grated fresh ginger
6 Red Chillis. Not seeded. Chopped fairly finely.
600ml of Aspall's Cider Vinegar
750g chopped onions (not too fine)

Put the vinegar, tomatoes, onions and apples in a preserving pan ideally, I just use a big pot though, and simmer to soften for about half an hour.

While this is happening, use a pestle and mortar (or blender) to make a rough paste of the chopped chilis, garlic and ginger. You can use a little salt or oil to help the process if you can't get it "pasty" any other way.

Add the paste and everything else to the pan, keep the heat low (still on a gentle simmer) for ten minutes and stir gently and constantly.

Increase the heat to a more vigourous simmer and let the mixture thicken for a further 35 minutes or so.

Pour into sterilised jars, cover with vinegar proof lids and store in a cool, dark place.

Note, if you have ripe toms to use up, you can add them too. There's nothing magic about the green ones.

Weather Analysis

I thought it might be interesting to find out about our local microclimate, and I include it here in case anyone else does.

Climate Description: Changeable, temperate climate
Location: Northern Hemisphere, England
Annual High / Low Daytime Temperatures: 22°C / 7°C (72°F / 45°F)
Average Daily January Temperature: 7ºC / 45ºF
Average Daily June Temperature: 19ºC / 66ºF
Annual Rainfall / Precipication: 658 mm / 26 inches

I have gone fully pikey.

Despite the flurry of posts today, I didn't get to the allotment. I took the family to the local petting zoo instead. But now that I'm a fully paid up member of the semi-self-sufficient underclass I couldn't pass up the opportunity to avail myself of the wild plums growing on the trees in the local park. Ripe, sweet, absolutely delicious and the only price you pay is the comments from people who just don't get it. Bugger em. Enough for a couple of jars of jam, I think :)

Aubergine alert!

We've finally got one, and it's a beaut!

I know this falls way below the criteria and standard of a proper blog entry, but I'm excited!

Time please, ladies and gentlemen

I have called time on the tomato season. Not because we were running out, but because frankly I was just sick of watering every day. An Indian summer is a nice thing, but needing to go the greenhouse regardless of whatever else is happening has been a pleasureable and rewarding thing for the last six months, but enough is enough.

We have about 5 lbs of green tomatoes for making chutney and about 2 pounds of lovely yellow, red, black and cherry tomatoes for eating up. Excellent. I've composted the plants and used the contents of the grow bags to fill the old wheelbarrow I found (along with some bricks and some new drainage holes) and this will be full of Nigella, marigolds and nasturtiums next year.

Leeks, Beans and Fencing

Most importantly, our new neighbours have built us a fence. Decent posts and pallet wood. Really very nice of them and something we've been trying to find a way to do for months.

Picked a couple of leeks today. Very nice too.

The bean harvest is in full swing and going very well indeed. Couldn't be happier with yields.

I have some new plants to go in, caulis, carrots, kale and some very small leaks. Now preparing the beds for them. More on that later.

RIP Walnut Orb Weaver

Sorry for the rubbish phone pics.

I got my gloves out of the conservatory to do a bit of weeding, had a quick look, put them on and got on with my jobs. Five minutes in and I feel a nasty little spike in my little finger. Sadly, my reaction was to whip the glove off and crush whatever was in there. I was pretty sure what it was before I had my hand free, though.

Eventually I managed to turn the little finger inside out and there was a slightly emptied spider. What a shame. Oddly, it had dragged all sorts of bits of grass and tiny twigs in there with it.

The actual bite was pretty innocuous, it felt like a minor splinter except for an odd feeling of force. The aftermath wasn't so pleasant, minor lightheadedness and nausea for a couple of hours. Minor. Totally unsure whether any of that was envenomation or more likely latent arachnophobia and injured pride :)

Mostly gutted that I killed something.

Rat-tail maggots

Have finally managed to identify the long tailed creatures living in the comfrey/urine fertilizer. Rat-tailed maggots apparently, the offspring of hoverflies. Quite pleased about that, hoverflies are good things.

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