Harvest and Preserving

Harvest is slow but steady this year, keeping us ticking over with veg at home.  The green beans (Blue Lake) are doing well again this year.  The onions are all picked and hanging, had a bit of rot but mostly they were excellent.  Used some of the red onions to make red onion chutney again this year as it was so nice last time.



 





 

 



 

Not doing any jam at the moment as still have so much left over from last year.  Might be tempted to make some blackberry jelly next weekend though as so many of them down at the plot.  What else is being harvested?

    Lots of green beans, turnips, kohl rabi, potatoes (Nicolas), courgettes, cabbages.  Just picking what we need at the moment and     using them while they are fresh.  Had a lovely stir fry with lots of our produce the other day, tasted great!

Simon has a blackberry wine on the go and lots of yellow plums to do some more this week, also got some ginger wine 'brewing' too, not technically from the allotment but still.....

 

 

 

 

   Our crop of onions, right by the kitchen door so very handy when cooking!

A Busy Month

Wow, can't believe we are nearly at the end of August, not sure where that month went!  Its been a month of watering cans, picking beans and cursing the caterpillars!  Keeping on top of the watering has been a challenge, the polytunnel and greenhouse are certainly needing a lot of attention and we havent had much rain either to drench the rest of the plot.  Put in some late leeks today that have been grown on in pots and the earth was as dry as a bone, more like sand really.  The caterpillars have managed to become a real problem, despite netting the brassica bed we are still overun with them.  Just like last year though, they dont seem to like curly kale very much so at least that is safe!  The cauliflowers all bolted so lost them all - not been a good year for them at all.  Luckily, the brussel sprouts seem to be coping with the crawlies and we have the first signs of sprouts already.  Ah, the challenges of allotmenting.  Would just be perfect if we had sun all day and rain all night but guess that would be too much to hope for!

Had our open day for the National Garden Scheme, was very successful and the allotment raised over £600!  Was a really nice afternoon, cookery demonstration in the communal orchard, tea and cakes in the garden room and lots of people milling around, and good weather too.  We spent the week before making sure the allotment looked as tidy as possible so glad we made an effort with it.

A few pictures - Simons chilli house looking fabulous, some of my tomatoes underway and one of my giant pumpkins.  Not quite giant yet, but working on it!







 

 

Not just Veg and Fruit

One of the things I love about the allotment is all the other lovely things we find going on down there which are nothing to do with all the fruit and veg.  Today we enjoyed the sunflowers, out in all their glory and buzzing with bees.  Got three sorts growing this year, Wah-hoo (dwarf),  Solar Eclipse (mid-sized) and Giant (obviously huge!)  All the Cosmos (Purity) are out too and again, buzzing with bees.  Sweetpeas are all over now but loads of seed pods for next year.





Also found a little lizard scurrying around the paving slabs - we see them from time to time and they are really delightful little creatures.  He was rescued and put out of harms way and away from being stood on.   Then I went into the polytunnel (which I leave the door open to as it gets so hot in there) and it sounded as though there was a bird trapped in there.  In fact, it was a huge dragonfly that couldnt find his way out.  Luckily Simon rescued him and set him free, after he had his photo taken of course!  Beautiful insect.





And so ended a nice trip down to the allotment today, headed home with loads of veg for tea and an armful of flowers to brighten up the kitchen, cosmos, marigolds and huge daisies.  All with a little help from grandson who will be getting his own raised bed and little trowel as soon as he is walking about!



 

Glad of the Rain

After endless weeks of endless sunshine it has been lovely to have some refreshing rain.  Makes weeding a whole lot easier!  And fewer trips to the tap with the watering cans.  Just the polytunnel and greenhouse needing water at the moment which is much less effort.  Cleared the broad beans today and picked the last of them, going to leave that patch fallow for the rest of the year and just enrich it as there was a large patch where nothing much grew.  Onion patch is all empty now and waiting for some purple sprouting broccoli to go in, and some more leeks.  Climbing beans and runner beans are all flowering now.  Cabbages and other brassicas are seeming to be avoiding the cabbage white butterflies thankfully but time will tell.....  Got quite a bit of bare space now but hoping to get some more things started, with the ground a bit softer and damper now it will be much better.  The beetroot seeds I put in just before the hot spell havent really done very much at all.  So, picked the last of the broad beans today for dinner - and some chard and curly kale.  Also the elephant garlic came up.  HUGE!  Really pleased with them.

All the onions are hanging now and hopefully will be enough to see us through the winter.  The freezer is heaving with beans and soft fruit which is a little unfortunate as the freezer is on the blink and we are awaiting delivery of a new one today.... hopefully it will come before everything has defrosted!

Sunny Days and Lots to Do

Well, what can I say?  It's all growing!  Picked our first two cucumbers of the year today and have our first tomato doing tomatoey type things.  Picked zillions of kale for 2 different recipes this week and brought home the first of the onions.  Sweet peas are being a constant joy to the nasal passages and the broad beans are about to produce more beans than we know what to do with.   Simon is cooking with peppers a lot, and drying a lot in his dehydrator, and hanging more to dry.  Picked the first of the blackcurrants, jostaberries and gooseberries to go in the freezer for jam making later in the year.  Lots of weeding, lots of watering, lots of getting a little bit sunburnt but worth it.   Dinner tonight is Simons risotto with everything except the rice coming from the allotment.  Heavenly!

A montage of photos from today..... a taste of plots 119 and 120!





 



 



 

 

Everything Growing Beautifully

All that hard work is now paying off with everything looking green and lovely on the plots.  Potatoes look very healthy - very few gaps, hoping we get a really good crop this year.  Fruit bushes are heavy with ripening berries.  The first of the onions are huge and just about ready to come out for hanging.  The shallots came out today, vinegar all ready for them to be pickled tomorrow.  The raised beds are heaving with chard and spinach and the seedlings are being constantly thinned out.  Cabbages, caulis and brussels are so far free from caterpillars, not sure how long that is going to last!  Picked some kale to have with our tea and some turnips for tomorrow.  Even the kohl rabi are starting to fatten up.  The polytunnel turned into a jungle again so the courgettes have moved outside and made more room for the tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines.  All seem to be doing better than last year.  Chilli greenhouse is looking very healthy too, Simon brought home more produce from there today and they are hanging up to dry - Gusto Purples, Apache F1s and Krakatoas.









And also picked our first sweet peas today, they smell absolutely glorious, the whole house smells lovely.   All in all, looking great down there, trimmed the paths a bit too today as they were getting a bit out of hand..... backbreaking with shears! Oh, and planted the two rows of beetroot FINALLY!

Another Busy Sunday

Lots to do today so made a full day of it, took lunch and headed off to the allotment.  Simon had dug over the last quarter of plot 120 and we filled it today.  More brussel sprouts - Fillbasket variety, and Greyhound cabbages.  Couple of rows of Snowball turnips, Duchess parsnips and some more Swiss Chard, Bright Lights.



Just about run out of planting space now, still have to work out where I'm going to put the beetroot..... little bit of land left in front of the polytunnel perhaps.

Simon picked up five wooden planters off Freecycle during the week which we have put to good use, pansies in one, strawberries in another and two different types of carrots in two others.  One still empty and maybe for flowers.  Not sure yet.



Picked some rhubarb today to make some rhubarb wine as well, and also a few leeks to have with our tea, nice to be able to bring something home for a change instead of planting things!