Sprouting a Leek

The leeks are growing steadily and are thickening up nicely. The sprouts are also growing up and filling out nicely, and I am hopeful that by Christmas time they will be ready to harvest and we can have them for Christmas dinner - that's the plan anyway.

The vegetables on the additional plot that we gained in April this year have been harvested (except the potatoes which should be ready at the beginning of December), and I am now methodically digging it over. Towards the bottom of the plot just before you get to the newly dug potato bed, mentioned above, the earth strongly resembles a field. The earth is very hard and is covered by very thick couch grass. The only thing to do is to dig up each clod and put them into the recycling. The digging has been relatively easy as the earth is quite moist, the difficult thing is wheeling the wheelbarrow with a whole bag full of the heavy clods, however, it is a good exercise for the arm muscles.

No need to go to the gym this week!

Walk on By

It's great when going to the supermarket at the moment because I can bypass most of the vegetables, because I don't need what they're selling - I've got my own supply.

Walking down the aisle with my trolley I went past onions (don't need them as I've got about 250 of my own), courgettes (still have two in the greenhouse waiting to be eaten and two on the plant waiting to get a little bigger), runner beans (gave up weighing them after reaching 20lb), red onions (OK they haven't been greatly successful, but we still have about a dozen left), cucumbers (still picking them), tomatoes (have eaten all the ones that we saved from the allotment, but still have at least 20 at home that are ready to eat), and potatoes (still eating the Charlotte variety that were dug up last week). Not bad eh?

This afternoon I picked the first green pepper that I have ever grown (there is another on the plant that needs to get a bit bigger), and I shall take great pleasure tomorrow in making a salad from pepper, tomato and cucumber that is completely "home grown".

Eat your heart out Tesco.

Gathering In

Good news and bad news! Good news first. The white onions have been superb this year. I am still harvesting and drying large amounts of onions. Some I have placed into net bags and some I have plaited French-style and hung in bunches from the greenhouse roof.

The runner beans have also been very successful and ideally need to be picked every other day as they are so prolific. I counted at least 20 beans hanging from one stem, and their weight was so heavy that the bean stem they were hanging from was bent right over. I am told that if I keep picking them on a regular basis they will be cropping into November. Will have to wait and see.

I think we have come to the end of the courgettes. They have been very successful and I still have some in the greenhouse that I have managed to successfully store for a few weeks, but probably will not store for much longer.

I am still harvesting potatoes, but this year they have been a bit disappointing in size and number compared to last year, but nevertheless are very tasty and as one allotmenteer said to me "you've harvested more than you put in", so that is a comforting thought.

Now for the bad news. The cauliflower and broccoli - they were doing so well up until about 2 weeks ago, and then with the space of a few days have been eaten - probably by slugs - and I think they will have to be consigned to the compost heap.

There has been a similar case with the sweetcorn, except this time I suspect it's squirrels. 2 sweetcorn cobs have been stripped and eaten, but as they weren't ripe maybe the squirrels got tummyache and won't come back for the rest!

The tomatoes all but succumbed to blight which has ravaged most people's plots this year due to such a wet summer. The ones that I grew at home (same variety) have been delicious, so next year will probably grow most of the tomato plants at home and not at the allotment.

The cucumbers although small in number are there, so hopefully will be ready to harvest next week.

The other thing that is growing really well are the weeds, but as the earth has been so wet recently it's fairly easy to pull them out.

Waiting in the Wings

Having been harvesting like mad for the past few weeks, I am very encouraged that there is more to come!

Each time I visit there are masses of runner beans, peas, courgettes and onions to harvest, but there are other crops that are maturing nicely.

The sweetcorn cobs are swelling, but are not quite ready. I peeled back some of the skin and tested the top of one, but they are not ripe enough yet. The shallots are nearly ready and the tomato crop is huge, but none are red just yet. It is tempting to pick a few of them and ripen them at home (especially as I was told today that there are a few cases of blight around).

The perpetual spinach is doing well and we have already had 2 meals from what we have picked, but there are more leaves coming. The broccoli and cauliflower are getting nicely packed heads on them but are probably a month or two away from being ready.

Everything is growing like mad (including the weeds), but we did manage today to weed the entire strawberry bed and there are lots of runners which will provide extra plants next year.

But for now, most of the time is spent harvesting and there is nothing more satisfying that pulling produce from plants that you have grown from seed.

Piling on the Pounds

I have been given a whole trayload (4lbs) of blackcurrants and redcurrants by one of my friends from further down the allotment. He had a huge harvest and asked if I could use them. Could I?!

When I got home I looked up receipes and within a day or so I had made some redcurrant jelly, some blackcurrant ice cream and some redcurrant & blackcurrant jam. Delicious. The jam and the jelly will see us through the winter and the ice cream will be a treat on hot days.

The cupboard where I keep such preserves is now completely full, so I will have to find another storage space for the pickles and other jams that are "waiting in the wings" to be made.

I have also been given some Bramley cooking apples and they have been lightly stewed in a little water and frozen in convenient portions.

The runner beans, onions, courgettes and beetroot are all doing very well. We have loads of courgettes (so many that I have given away more than I can count)and I regularly look on the BBC Good Food website for inspiration on how to cook them in new ways and trying out different receipes.

The runner beans are prolific and we have already harvested 7lbs. I have prepared and frozen about 10 portions already and we have either eaten the rest or ....you've guessed it - given them away.

The white onions are huge and some have been harvested already and are drying out in the greenhouse. I managed to plait some of them and hang them up from the ceiling of the greenhouse, and it looks quite "French".

The beetroots that are ready have been harvested and cooked and preserved in vinegar. There are many more to come as I did some successional sowing throughout the spring and early summer.

Spuds Out, Leeks In

The first batch of potatoes (Ulstre Sceptre) have now been dug up and we have eaten most of them. They tasted delicious, but I was a bit disappointed in the yield from each plant. There were only 7-8 spuds per plant and they were not as big as I had hoped, but still I harvested more than I actually put in, so I guess that's the way to look at it. Even though the yield was relatively small they were not attacked by blight and there was no evidence of any eelworm or slug damage, so on that count they were excellent.

No sooner were they dug up and the ground well forked over, some leeks (Musselburgh) were planted in their space. Leeks need to be planted in a special way. Make a deep narrow hole with a dibber (I borrowed one) about 6" deep and plop the leek to be transplanted into the hole and fill with water. Most of them are thriving, despite the exceptionally hot and dry weather we've been having, and the stems are now about as thick as a pencil. They won't be ready to harvest for some months yet, but come the winter hopefully there will be plenty.

Berry Good Fruit

The strawberries I planted in the spring have been excellent - although we haven't had very many they have been big, sweet and juicy. The children have picked them and put them straight into their mouths, so some of them haven't even made it home!

I did rescue a few and made some shortbread biscuits for dessert and put a large juicy strawberry on top of each biscuit (see picture). They were delicious.

It was Peter's birthday earlier this month and as he likes desserts I made a plain cheesecake and topped it with fruits (blackcurrants, raspberries and strawberries). It was a good combination for a topping as the blackcurrants were quite sharp and went well with the sweet raspberries and strawberries.

Both receipes have been very successful and will have to be repeated when more fruit arrives next year - hopefully in greater quantities!