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.

First Fruits

Last Wednesday was a very exciting day at the allotment because it was the first time that anything was harvested. I dug up 2 potato plants "Charlotte" and was amazed to see how many potatoes were hanging off one plant. When I brought them home I weighed them and saw that I had harvested 5.5lbs. They smelt beautifully earthy and were a fair size too. That evening I made a potato salad and drizzled some butter over them. Perfect. They don't take as long to cook as shop bought ones, and there is no comparison for taste.

On Monday I picked some French beans and they tasted delicious raw straight from the plant. Lightly steamed for a few minutes is all they needed.

Although all the digging and watering was hard work, you seem to forget about it when you see your labours on a plate and there is a great sense of achivement when you realise "I grew this from seed".

On a more serious note - there is potato blight at the allotment site so we have had to spray the potatoes and tomatoes. Some of our potatoes have been affected, but hopefully we have caught most of them in time.

I now need to look at my cookery books and check out some new receipes.

Step by Step

Great news! One of the dads at the children's school is having his front garden revamped and is getting rid of all the paving slabs that are laid there. He has said that we can have them all if we are prepared to take them away. Are we? Of course we are - they will be perfect for creating a pathway between our allotment and the one above. If there are any left over, we will lay some paths between the different beds that we have marked out. So far we have collected 17 slabs with many more to come. They are about 2ft square which is just a little narrower than the pathway between us and the allotment above, so with a little spadework straightening up the edge of the pathway we will have a lovely path to walk on, and best of all no more strimming or mowing there which will leave more time for .....digging. Must get back to it!

Greenhouse Growth

It's very satisfying to see the main greenhouse being emptied of its small(ish) plants and for them to be put in the patio greenhouse and then hardened off outside before being planted at the allotment. Over the past 4 weeks I have planted 24 beefsteak tomatoes "Brandywine" and after a slightly hesitant start they are now "putting on weight" and looking good. 23 "Ailsa Craig" tomato plants have also gone in and are beginning to perk up. I have also planted 4 courgettes "Defender". At the moment they look a little floppy as they were quite pot-bound, but with some TLC I am hoping they will perk up. Waiting in the wings are the cauliflowers and the 5 different varieties of chillies. We know that we are a little late in planting out most of our vegetables, but are suffering from lack of cultivated space. With each bit that we dig, however, we are planting as fast as we can. We reckon that even if we get small amounts of produce it will all have been worth it and we are learning all the time.

Before planting out we dig a patch at least 3-4 times to get it to as good a standard as we can in the time available to us. Well over half the plot has now been cultivated, and it really has been worth it as our plants are thriving in their planted positions.

I'm already thinking ahead as to what I might like to grow next year .......