Berry Good

The section at the end of the allotment is a perfect place for raspberries. I have dug the part which meets the main path from top to bottom to a width of about 2 ft. Before the earth was dug it was full of trampled grass, loads of bindweed and buttercups and the ground was very compacted. It needed at least half a dozen thorough digs to get it into some reasonable state. The earth is now nice and crumbly and has about 4" of leaves on top of it which were well watered. On top of all that is a length of thick black plastic so that the leaves will "sweat" and break down and hopefully produce a good mulch/soil enhancer so that the raspberries are given a good start in life. Today I went to the local recycling centre and picked up 3 "fill a bag of compost" sacks (they are quite large and it took some effort) for £1 each. Bargain! These will be put at the bottom of the trench I shall dig so that the raspberries will be putting their roots into some good, wholesome muck.

I have ordered 2 types of raspberries - summer fruiting and autumn fruiting. Glen Ample and Glen Moy are both summer fruiting and should be ready to harvest between mid/late June and early August. Autumn Bliss is the autumn variety that I have chosen and that should be ready to harvest from late August until mid October. So hopefully there will be a steady supply of fruit for about 5 months of the year. My mind is already running away with me - raspberry jam, raspberry ice cream, fresh raspberries, raspberry jelly.....

What's in Store

Last Wednesday when I went to the allotment I met up with another allotmenteer who is a carpenter and he has offered to construct on site a lockable storage box for me. It will be 7 ft wide, 1m high and 1m deep, on 4" plinths with a small amount of decking in front so that we can sit down for a well earned rest on our green camping chairs with a little something to drink. The roof will have a layer of asphalt on top, the insides will be lined with a layer of thick waterproof plastic material and will have an assortment of hooks and a shelf or two. I'm very excited as this is the first permanent structure at the site and the rest of the allotment will work around it.

I redrew my original plan when I knew where the storage box was to be sited and the allotment is now beginning to take shape and get some structure to it.

As soon as it's in place I will photograph it so you can all see.

Cucumber Relish

Two weeks ago when I went to the allotment I was very excited to find that I had 9 cucumbers that were ready (one or two were more than ready) for picking. Although we love the cucumbers, I wanted to preserve some of that lovely taste for later in the year so decided to search for a receipe for cucumber relish.

Here it is:-

9 cucumbers (diced)

1 red pepper & 1 green pepper (diced), pith & seeds removed

8oz onions (chopped) I used our red onions from the allotment

3 celery stalks (chopped)

1 tbsp mustard seeds

10oz sugar

15fl oz white vinegar



Place diced cucumber in bowl, sprinkle with a little salt and leave overnight. Drain and rinse in cold running water. Put cucumbers into a saucepan with the remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30-40 mins or until relish is nice and thick. Pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

What could be easier? It tastes delicious and the children love it with "salad bits" as my son calls them. Now we have a winter's supply of lovely tasting relish, together with home made pickle (made from apples from my brother's tree). Luvly jubly!!

Looking Ahead

Over the past 4 weeks since my last blog a certain pattern has emerged when I go to the allotment. The first thing I do is to inspect the crops and to see what has grown (and in the case of the tomatoes what has not grown!) and then decide which to pick at the end of my time there. After that, as I am beginning to prepare for the next set of planting I am concentrating on digging certain areas so that seeds/seedlings can be planted at the optimum time. Last week I received my favourite seed catalogue (Thompson & Morgan) so I will be spending an evening or two deciding what it would be nice to try and grow.


The last month has been relatively quiet at the allotment (we've been on holiday) and apart from watering and harvesting there is not a great deal to do apart from...you've guessed it...digging!


Over the summer I took the opportunity of making myself a "wish list" of all the things I would like at the allotment and I came up with the following:-

• 4 big beds, all 4 ft wide
• herb bed
• strawberry bed
• salad bed
• 2 childrens beds
• wild flower & flower bed
• raspberries along trellis
• blackcurrant & redcurrant dividing "hedge"
• fruit tree(s)

I drew myself a plan and this helped me to realise that with a little planning it is all achievable in the next year or two. I'll keep you posted as to progress.


I've also looked into a bulk order of compost/manure from the local council being delivered to the site so that the worms can work some magic over the winter months.

Fresh 'n' tasty

The past few weeks have been so rewarding because we have been harvesting vegetables at least twice a week and eating them within a day or so. We still have lots of salad potatoes "Charlotte" to harvest and they are great for making into potato salad, or slicing into favourite receipes or cutting into wedges, drizzling with olive oil and roasting for about an hour.

The courgettes continue to grow at a fair rate of knots and it almost seems that they grow before your eyes. One of them was the size of a small marrow because it had grown so quickly. Between arriving at the allotment and leaving a few hours later I'm sure they have grown an inch or so! They are delicious with pasta and vegetable bakes and they cook so quickly and are so lovely and tender.

The French beans are still doing well and the children love searching the plants for them and then picking them off. Some of them get eaten straight from the plant -can't get fresher than that.

The cucumbers "burpless tasty green" are now romping away and although some of them are a bit curly, they taste absolutely delicious and are so crisp. The straight, glossy supermarket cucumbers are not a patch on my curly, earth covered ones.

The tomatoes "Ailsa Craig", brandywine" and "legend" are all doing well and have masses of little yellow flowers. Quite a few of the plants have already set their fruit and some of them are quite big already. The wet weather recently has made everything grow like mad, so we haven't had to do any watering for a while - which is so labour-saving.

My son was ecstatic when he went to check up on his radishes - they were ready for harvesting and they were big, red and tasty and very crunchy too. We had them straight away for lunch with our cucumbers and salad leaves (from home). My daughter was so impressed with them that she has prepared a small patch of her plot ready to plant some seeds next time we go down.

Some of the onions are almost ready to harvest - they should be ready in a week or so. The red ones seem to have done much better than the white ones, but no matter, the white ones will be just as tasty I'm sure, just not quite so big! You can't win them all!

From Plot to Plate

I've now picked our first two courgettes and made one of my favourite receipes with them. It's a very quick and easy receipe so I thought I'd share it. It only takes about 20 minutes to cook and it's delicious.

Cook tagliatelle in pan for approx 5 mins until 'al dente'

Peel thin strips of courgette with peeler and saute in pan with a drizzle of olive oil. Add 1 clove of crushed garlic, a handful of basil (fresh if available), 1 chopped chilli, juice and zest of 1 lemon, and a generous splash of white wine. Cook for a few minutes until courgettes and chillies are slightly softened. Add 5 tblsp of single cream and heat through.

Strain tagliatelle and place courgette mixture on top, served with parmesian cheese. Enjoy.

Guest Appearance

On Wednesday last week I took my first "guest" to the allotment and she absolutely loved it. She couldn't get over how much we had cultivated and planted. We spent a very happy two hours there talking (of course) while we were working. She kindly weeded amongst the onions (a big job I might add as there are quite a few rows). As "payment" for all her hard work she took home a bag of potatoes and some beans for her family. She loved it so much that she said she wanted to come back again because she wanted to finish off weeding in between the onions - I think it's because she has fallen in love with the place.

While she was weeding I continued shearing and raking the grass in preparation for laying some more of the paving slabs and last week I was almost halfway along the path. I think that there will just be enough to finish off the path which divides us from the plot above.

This week my "guest" did come back to the allotment (it was her last chance before going on holiday) and she finished off weeding in between the rows of onions while I carried on laying slabs on the path before the grass grows too long again (one or two more visits and the path should be completed).

Each time I visit the allotment now there is plenty of harvesting to be done (so exciting) - potatoes are in abundance and it's great fun to dig up a plant and then discover how many potatoes are there. To see the delight on the childrens faces was wonderful when we were digging up and counting how many potatoes were on each plant, and others around us were caught up in our enthusiasm. I have shown the children how to pick the French beans and they count how many they pick each time. Some of the courgettes are almost ready so I shall pick them next time I go as I don't want them to get too big.