Easter Sunday: Operation potatoes

Happy Easter.

Today at the allotment was potato planting day. We have had the seed potatoes chitting in the kitchen for the past few weeks, but today we planted 5 first earlies and 5 main crop. Then in a few weeks we will plant another 5 of each so we can stagger the harvest. Earlies will be ready around June/July then the main crop in August/September. 

We had to do a fair bit of digging to get the beds ready, especially as we decided to extend the last two beds and join them together. So we now we have two big beds instead of four smaller ones, which gives us a bit more planting space.

I managed to get muddy as usual.

Leap year at the allotment

Our little allotment was the setting of a very special occasion this week.
I decorated one end with bunting, fairy lights, tea light lanterns, I had insense burning and a BBQ on the go. When the sun went down it looked great. The photos don't really do it justice. It was actually very cosy.

I left a note for David to dress warm and meet me there. I got down on one knee and asked him to marry me...

..He said yes!

😍

At last some sunshine

We finally got onto the allotment and did some much needed weeding. The herb patch is now clear, just need to redistribute the herbs a bit as they are all bunched together in the middle. It looks so much better though.

David was busy clearing one of the other beds and the ground under the cold frame. There a few strawberry plants left in there. They were a disaster last year so hopefully we'll get more fruit this year. Once the ground drys up a bit and we can dig it over properly this bed will be ready for planting.


And in the flower bed it's nice to see a bit of colour coming through. A few crocuses starting to open up showing off their lovely purple petals. Can't wait for the spring now.

Cooking with runner bean beans

Howdy all, bit late but, happy 2016!

Life at the allotment has been quiet over the winter. Beside monitoring the red onions and garlic, which are growing well, there has been little for us to do. But with the days lengthening it's time to start getting back on the land.

The manure has been rotting into the ground, so that can be dug in soon, and there is some weeding to do to prepare the other beds.

One of the first jobs we need to do is prune and stake up the apple tree. There are a lot of low laying branches where we lost a lot of fruit last year so we need to see what we can do to straighten the little tree up a bit.

Job 2: Herb patch. Some of them have gone mad, the chamomile has spread to cover half the bed, the curry plant is more of a bush and there are a lot of weeds to get rid off.

Job 3: Potatoes can start to be planted out next month so we will need to get our seeding potatoes soon to chit and then plant out once there will be no more frost. I once overheard an old gent say that you should always get your potatoes in before Good Friday. So that's the plan.

Job 3: We need to plan what we want to grow this year and get the cold frame ready for seedlings.


The jobs will be endless so I will leave it there for now and update you with progress once we get going. We just need a dry weekend.


On a side note, we had a ridiculous amount of runner beans last year and we couldn't eat them all. So, the ones that grew too big we popped all of the beans out of their pods and froze them. You can see from my last post they are pretty pink beans. Well, we got them out this week and added them to a stew and they were damn tasty.

Runner beans

As most people tend to be we have been inundated with runner beans. They always end up growing to big and therefore tough and stringy to eat. So we've decided to pop all the beans out of their pods which will then be added to stews and chilies.
The colour of them is amazing...

Allotment sort out

Things are winding down a bit at the allotment so it's time to start sorting out ready for next year.

The wild flowers are still looking great though, here's are pretty poppy.

We decided to create more growing space to join two of the beds together and extended out into the path a bit. We have gained quite a lot from doing this actually. More space for yummy veg. Have of the bed is planted with garlic, red onions and fennel. The other have has been manured ready for runners, courgette and squash next year.

Clearing the beds we harvested leeks, parsnips, a few courgettes and the lovely lady next door gave us some potatoes and a squash which looks like a mini pumpkin. Very festive

Also picked some rhubarb and some cooking apples going free for some puddings.

Courgette and Sultana Wine UPDATE

Here we go, seven bottles of Courgette and Sultana Wine. This will need to lay in the wine rack for at least 3 months before trying it.

Let's hope it tastes ok...

Garlic and onions are in

Today we planted garlic, which will hopefully turn into 12 wonderful garlic bulbs next summer and about 26 red onions which will be ready early next year through to spring. Very exciting.

That's probably it now for planting, apart from some flower bulbs which will go in in a few months time for next year.

It's all about harvesting our homegrown produce now. Today we picked some corn on the cob, the last of the tomatoes, a few chillies, lettuce, a marrow and a pumpkin. Unfortunately the pumpkin plant has died and all bar 2 of the pumpkins split and rotted. But we have 2 which are ok and will become soup later in the week.

Carrot and Parsnip Soup

Before we got our allotment a friend very kindly let us plant in his. The only crop we had left growing there were parsnips which have had to come up. They could have done with more time as they are little small but they are a fine looking bunch and damn tasty too.

Along with some of our carrot crop I've made a creamy carrot and parsnip soup for lunch today. Really simple recipe, so here it us for you to try.

Creamy carrot and parsnip soup recipe

Ingredients:
A knob of butter
1large onion, peeled and chopped
450g carrots, peeled and chopped
2large parsnips, peeled and chopped
Thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp of grated orange rind
600ml/1 pint of veg stock
125ml single cream
Salt and pepper, to season
Fresh coriander, to garnish

How to make it:
In a large saucepan melt the butter over a low heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes to soften.
Add the carrots and parsnips. Cover with the lid and cook until the vegetables have softened.
Stir in the ginger, orange rind and stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for half an hour. Allow to cool a little and then blend until smooth.
Stir through the cream and season.
Bowl up and garnish with the coriander.

Enjoy with a nice fresh crusty loaf.

Original recipe can be found here

Tips from Cheltenham

We're enjoying a long weekend in lovely Cheltenham, in a gorgeous apartment in an Edwardian house rented out by the owners who live in the main house. It's like staying at your friends house, it's great. There are books everywhere and among them I found this beauty, 'allotment gardening', so I have been reading up.

Something we didn't know about was earthing up round your leeks. This is essential to blanch the stems. It might be too late for ours but we are going to start doing it. We know for next time.

Also read up on planting garlic. Garlic bulbs are available to buy from the allotment shop now so we will be planting them out soon. We were going to manure the soil but having read this we've found out not to and that they like quite sandy, free draining soil.

So much to learn. 

Classic Apple Pie

If you've got an apple tree and, like us, you have hundreds of apples laying around, you need to use them. Now you could make some chutney perhaps, in fact I have a delicious sweet apple chutney recipe I can share with you, or you could make a crumble or experiment a bit or press some juice or cider.

Why not do as I have done? I've just gone for a classic Apple Pie. You just can't go wrong.

Classic Apple Pie Recipe

Ingredients: 
For the Pastry-
350g plain flour
Pinch of salt
170g butter
6 tbsp cold water
1 egg, beaten for glaze

For the filling-
750g apples, peeled, cored and sliced
150g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
Sprinkling of ground cinnamon or ginger

How to make it:
Sieve your flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
Add the water and bring together into a dough.
Wrap in cling film and stick in the fridge for half an hour

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C.

Prepare your apples one at a time and place in a bowl of cold water to stop then from discolouring.
Add the sugar and mix.
Roll out 2/3 of your pastry to line your dish, covering the bottom and sides.

Add your filing and sprinkle over about a tsp of the cinnamon or ginger, or both.

Roll out the remainder of the pastry for your lid.
Crimp round the edges and trim excess pastry. You can use this for decorations.
Beat one egg and glaze the top of your pie. Make a few slits in the top for steam to escape.
Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes, of until golden brown.
Sprinkle the top with sugar.

Enjoy!

The Usual Suspects

I love weird shaped fruit and veg, it's so silly that supermarkets have to reject these poor little guys. They are so full of character and taste every bit as good as their regular shaped counterparts.

Here's to weird shaped produce.

More giant veg

Things have been quiet at the allotment recently while veg has just been growing. Plus it's been a pretty wet few weeks.

But, today was harvest day. And very good it was too. The carrots finally came up. With a gentle tease of the folk up came some enormous carrots. There were a few ludicrously big and a few diddy ones.

We pulled up a few leeks and up-turned a monster of a potato. I did notice a few beastie holes in the potatoes so I think I need to read up on spud pests. Only one carrot had been attacked so that was ok.

And the best of the rest - The whole haul included: carrots, potatoes, a pumpkin, corn on the cob, leeks, tomatoes and lettuce.

Courgette and Sultana Wine

My brother bought me a book, Booze for Free, years ago and I came across this recipe whilst flicking through. We Still had a fair amount of courgettes to use up so why not hey? Let's try something different.

Courgette and Sultana Wine Recipe

Ingredients:
3kg fresh courgettes
1kg sugar
2 overripe bananas
500 g sultana
4 litres/7 pints water
1 tsp citric acid
a thumb sized piece of bruised ginger (that just means gentry squashed, but not broken. Use the side of the blade of a knife)
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 Campden tablet (optional)
Champagne yeast

Equipment:
Small saucepan
Fermentation bin
4.5 litre /1 gallon demijohn
Airlock and bung
Mincer (or sharp knife)
Siphoning tube

How to make it:
Chop the courgettes into 3cm pieces and put in the freezer overnight.
Allow to thaw (the courgette will be softened).
Bring 500ml/1 pint of water to the boil and stir in the sugar.
Mince the sultanas (or chop finely) and add these to the water too. Leave to one side.
Mash the bananas and mix it with all the other ingredients (except the yeast) in the fermentation bin.
Cover and allow to cool to hand-hot. If using a Campden tablet, add it now. Leave overnight.

Add the yeast and leave for four days loosely covered before straining the liquid into a demijohn and attaching an airlock and bung.
Rack* after a month and then again if needed. Allow to ferment out (the airlock will stop bubbling) then bottle.

This wine will benefit from at least three month's ageing.

*Rack(ing): siphoning the partially fermented wort into another vessel so it isn't fermenting on yeast sediment. Be careful to not disturb the layer of sediment at the bottom, stop siphoning before you reach it.

Original recipe from Andy Hamilton's,  'Booze for Free' 

National Allotment Week 10-16 Aug

So we just found out that this week has been National Allotment Week.

The theme this year focused on the benefits that allotments bring to everyone of all ages. Also to highlight that we should really value the plots we have and preserve them for future generations to enjoy.

Getting our allotment has been the best. If you are interested in gardening and being a little more self-sufficient, I would highly recommend contacting your local council to enquire about having an allotment of your own.

A trip to the garden centre

We had a lovely trip to the garden centre in Ware today. It's a massive place with a mini zoo there too. We saw the usual rabbits, chickens, goats but they also have raccoons which a beautiful, tortoises, meerkats, marmosets. It's was really cool.

Anyway, back to business. We got a few pretty perennials to go in the flowers bed, which the bees will hopefully like. David picked a monarda pink lace and a coreopsis early sunrise.

We also got a few different types of lettuce to go, and some broccoli, Chinese cabbage and curly red kale. These like nice fertile soil so we got a bag of smelly organic farmyard manure to dig into the soil. Not for the faint hearted. 

BBQ lunch at the allotment

A sunny Sunday calls for a BBQ. We had a nice healthy fish lunch cooked on the BBQ at the allotment. We did our weeding duties, of course, while the coals heated up.

Here is the view of the allotment while we ate and an update on progress: The corn is very nearly ready for picking, the butternut squash are getting bigger, pumpkins are looking good, the wild flower bed looks delightful and today's picks included loads of runner beans, shallots and a big courgette.

Herb garden completed at last

I had the afternoon off work so today I finished off the herb garden at last. Weeded and edging put in, it looks really neat and tidy now and the plants are all doing well.

The butternut squash are getting bigger. I'm looking forward to them being ready to pick.

Today's harvest consisted of four big courgettes, you could class two as marrows probably, some runner beans and some French beans.

Courgette and Cheddar Soda Bread

To go with the risotto, which was pumpkin, chilli and sage (from the allotment), I have made a rather hansome looking loaf of courgette and cheddar soda bread.

Pumpkin for the risotto

Picked the first of the pumpkins today. I don't think it was quite ready actually, but I wanted to make a bit of space for all the others growing. The variety is Summer Ball, which you can apparently pick early like courgettes or leave to grow bigger to around 1kg. This one weighed in at about 800g, but it hadn't hollowed out and ripened yet.
Also dug up one lot of shallots and hung them up to dry.