Autumn planting

I don't mind digging in the rain but if the ground gets too wet then you damage it by trampling over it. Please let it stop raining for a while. I still have my onions, garlic and broad beans to put in. Japanese onions can be put in now as they can cope with winter, other onions can't.
Also I've decided not to grow runner beans next year as I really don't like them. That frees up some ground for other stuff. My strawberries didn't do so well - too little rain and I didn't water enough and too much competition from weeds. I may grow them in pots in trays next year or not bother. My carrots did well though some of them were dug up and eaten but at least they left me most of them. At the allotment we have deer, badgers, pheasants, moles and lots of squirrels. I've started some digging but I should really have tried to get more done before the weather gets worse. Crop rotation is doing my head in as some group of plants take up sore space than others or stay in the ground longer. Just need to suss out where carrots are going next year and make sure I don't manure it as they hate it and it makes them fork.
I have some broccolli (well it's calabrese really) coming and have had some nice bits. My butternut squashes are colouring nicely and my Ukrainian pumpkins are enormous- will have to wheelbarrow them home. First year for my Autumn Bliss raspberries- v nice but not loads- possibly because it's the first year.
Still have one row of potatoes to dig up. Had quite a bit of scab again this year- it does affect the flavour. Think it means the ground is too limey and needs to be more acidic.

Harvest and writing updates.

CORRECTION- redcurrants don't need the fruiting branches cut right off. Will update tomorrow.



First cucumber - it was delicious!

Oh and we've had courgettes- I really miss them when their season is over and can't bear to buy them as it feels so disloyal. I haven't managed to use the flowers yet.


My parsnip thinnings looking rather sexy I think.

Any recipes for courgettes gratefully received. I tend to fry them in butter (especially baby ones) or make ratatouille. Or any recipes as I keep cooking the same stuff.

When it gets busy at the allotment I don't really feel like writing about it so all my posts end up being a bit after the event. I've dug up a row of my Charlotte potatoes which are delicious but the crop is not as abundant this year I guess because of the lack of rain. My neighbour watered his but got even less potatoes so I guess you just can't beat rain. I'm putting my leeks where the potatoes were but due to long winter they are going in late. Last year I harvested my Charlottes on the 18th June. The loganberries (at least I think that what they are- I really should post a picture)I need to finish picking my redcurrants - someone recommended lopping off the fruiting branch then picking off the currants which sounds like a good idea as you need to prune the branches that have fruited and once you pick it gets harder to work out what's what.

I am forcing myself to write 1000 words a day of my novel - some days more successful than others and when I get fed up I look at a poem I've been writing that shimmers in places and trips me up in others. Once I'm in the swing of it I feel happy but always seem to subject myself to hours of prevarication and what's the meaning of it all. The meaning is to enjoy! Some days easier to say than do but I will plod on regardless. Happy plodding or maybe even skipping!!

Allotment and front garden-too hot 4 fancy title

My first globe artichoke. Not sure is I should harvest it now or wait a little longer. Once they flower you can't eat them.







As a child I ate redcurrants from the bushes in a friends garden. The sourness takes your breath away. They look like gems I think.










The potatoes are flowering beautifully and as soon as the flowers die I will be harvesting them. Due to the long winter these are going to be ready much later than last year. A fellow allotmenteer has said to plant the leeks where the potaotes were as the area has been well manured so I'll give that a go this year.









My front garden - Phlomis, Valerian and Aliums with a bit of Salvia thrown in at the back.

A late allotment post

Here's the structure I build every year for my beans. At each corner I drive in strong posts of wood to which I attach the canes and then build up the frame. I like this shape as you can easily access beans in and out. Also you get a gorgeous green shady tunnel. I am growing runner beans and climbing french beans up it - I put string acrosss the top so they can carry on climbing across the top and form a roof.

This picture of the potatoes was taken about a month ago and it's amazing how much they have grown since. They are also flowering.

I'm having one of those days. Do you get them? It feels like you've been turned inside out and any sad news you hear feels like it is drawing blood. I know you can find reasons for wars but when you break it down to what it is, it seems so incredible that we behave in this way. I honestly hope they'll be a day when it will un-understandable.

My produce

This tomato (yes it is just one tomato sliced up!) grew outside in my garden. It's called Big Boy and I will definately grow it again next year as it's so tasty. The onion's from my allotment. I put a few golden marjoram (yes from the garden-oh dear sounds like I'm showing off.) leaves on it and drizzled some olive oil over it all.

Sexy photos of my borlotti beans. Can eat pods lightly boiled when young or when get to this stage can shell and put beans in soup casserole etc. Or dry them and store. If you want to cook them from dry you need to soak them overnight covered with an inch of water. The next day boil till tender.

Some of my desiree potatoes harvested from the allotment. My father-in-law planted them as my arm was in plaster. They have a bit of scab due to dry weather. It's not serious - you can just peel it off and cook as normal.

sunshine and rain

It's so exciting going to the allotment this time of year as things grow so quickly. Spring you spend time waiting for seeds to germinate then protecting the seedlings- everything seems slow then bam in the summer it all takes off. The courgettes are growing on the tails of their flowers, coming quicker than you can eat them. I have lovely cucumbers -variety Passandra that my friend recommended - they never go bitter. I picked some of the beetroot as they are growing too close together. I will boil them in their skins for an hour or two till soft and then eat them. Dug up some more potatoes and garlic too. I need to sow some more carrot as half a row did not germinate. The other row of carrots looks great but not big enough to harvest yet. I started to dig up my broad beans as between the black fly and the squirrels there's nothing left. I am going to put in some more dwarf french beans instead as I love them and that means I'll be able to harvest some later. There's loads of black fly this year (dry weather) but on the plus side less slugs. The ladybird larvae are starting to eat their way through the flies. So nice to see so many ladybirds. The rain held out while I was at the allotment then drenched me completely on the way home. Me and the plants were well watered. (I like the rain)
My friend T came over on Monday and let me take some photos on her camera and emailed them to me. What a treat! After she's gone I realised I'd taken pics of the plants but none of my child but she'd taken some.

Chilean potato climber still flowering months later along with second flush of roses.

Tomatoes yipee!!!

Cosmos

Clematis has turned into wonderful fluffy seed heads

White lavender.

allotment

I've had to accept partial defeat with my tomatoes so I've been and bought some from my favourite local nursery. I've put some of my sickly ones in bigger pots and they do seem to have perked up but I can't risk a relapse so needed to get back up plants. I love eating tomatoes straight off the plant -they taste so delicious especially when the sun has warmed them so I don't want to end up with none. My courgettes and cucumbers are looking well - in fact I need to plant them out in the allotment soon as they are rampant. I keep the tomatoes at home as it's nice for the kids to be able to step outside and pick them whenever they fancy. Also blight often sweeps through the allotment destroying the tomatoes. It spreads between potatoes and tomatoes really easily. You can spray the potatoes to stop it. Alternatively you can twist the stem and leaves off the potato plant and burn them (or put it in the rubbish bin) and that stops the blight from travelling down the stem to the potaoes and turning them into mush. Blight travels by spores so is easily blown around. Tomorrow I will try and bring you photos of the currants forming at the allotment. We have black, red and white currants.

allotment fix

Our allotments run a small shop open on Sundays between 10am and 11.30am. I usually remember that I want to buy something from there after it has shut but today I made it! I bought half kilo of red onions called Red Baron and half kilo white onions(Must look up name). Along with your purchases you can get free advice from the retailer (allotmenteer volunteers). He told me that the onions I bought will store well and should last me till spring next year. The japanese varieties I planted in autumn can be used as soon as they grow to a reasonable size as they will not store. The general feeling of spring in the air galvanised me to sort out the potaoes I had harvested last year. We harvested them in July - Mid August and are still eating them. However quite a lot of them have sprouted and gone rubbery. So I dragged the sacks out and chucked the ones that were too far gone into the recycling(no point putting them on my compost heap as will start growing there) and took the sprouts off the ones still relatively firm and kept them. If the potatoes have turned green beware -never eat green potatoes as the green is poisonous. Sometimes I just cut out the green but not sure if that's what you are meant to do so can't advise you to do that. After the shop I popped into the allotments - dug up three leeks for tea, chatted a bit and felt dejected that I couldn't dig yet like everyone else is doing. Still it was lovely to be there in the fresh air. Going to hospital on Wednesday to have plaster off and to check bone has healed so fingers crossed....

3rd February

The two things I love best(not counting my family or dancing) are gardening and writing. As I've broken my wrist ice skating at gorgeous Somerset House I am reduced to writing about gardening while I heal. I am one of those sadists that love digging. It fills me with calm and sweeps out all those annoying conversations that swill round my head endlessly. Writing is another way of dealing with them but is harder work.

Anyway vegetable growers -this is what I've got round to so far.

1/Have ordered seeds.

2/Started some peas off inside lean-to in toilet rolls filled with soil.

3/ Have started chitting potatoes in readiness for planting in allotment in March/April.



Chitting potatoes.

Incase you've never heard of this(I hadn't before I got the allotment) it's when you put potatoes in egg boxes in a light frost free place and leave them to sprout. They need to be rose side up so just look at either end and see which side has most eyes (like dots) and put these at top. If you've got loads of potatoes ask at butchers for egg trays. Chit them starting January or February. The jury is still out on whether potatoes do better chitted or not so don't stress if you don't get round to doing it. Will try and post picture of this tomorrow.