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 .......

Bean There

Last week it was time for some planting. First to go in were the cucumbers (burpless tasty green) and they are at the top of the second bed in front of the pathway that separates us from the plot above. It is sheltered by a 12" drop between plots and is a sun trap. I put 7 plants in at about 18" apart. They are not quite tall enough yet to be tied into the canes that are next to them, but with some sun, rain and a feed (3 essentials I am told that cucumbers need) hopefully they will be happy.

After having dug and re-dug the part of the bed just below the cucumbers and onions, it was ready for the French beans to be planted. I made a very deep trench and lined the bottom of it with torn up newspaper and then soaked it with water. That was the easy bit. Next I had to construct a "tent" of canes, which was quite difficult as I needed 2 pairs of hands and not just mine. The canes were 8ft high, and I'm just over 5ft tall, so I improvised by getting a huge clod of hard earth and used it as a ladder to reach the top of the canes to put the crossbar on the top and then tie them all in. It was "arm-breaking" work and I was looking into the bright sun all the time I was doing it. However, there was a great feeling of satisfaction when it was all done.

On top of my trench with newspaper and compost I put a thick layer of home-made compost and then planted 28 beans into their places next to a cane and tied them in. I gave them another good water to settle them in and will see what happens.

I also planted the last of the potatoes Bonnie which seemed to take quite a long time to "chit", but as they have been planted much later than the other two varieties (Sante and Charlotte) I am not particularly in a hurry to harvest them.

With all this digging, carrying heavy bags full of weeds, kneeling, bending and stretching, who needs to go to the gym or keep fit? Get an allotment - it's cheaper, plenty of fresh air, and loads of home grown tasty fruit and vegetables to eat that haven't clocked up hundreds or thousands of air miles.

Space Invaders

Over the past four weeks since my last blog, apart from being away for a week, we have been digging as much as we can. We have divided the plot up into 4 beds. Bed 1 is the biggest and is the potato and onion bed. It has been thoroughly dug apart from about half a square metre right at the very bottom. The tomatoes are almost ready to plant out there when the final bit of digging has been done. Bed no. 2 is half dug and we have already planted some red onions there and is now ready for some of the beans to be planted this week.

Before the rains came over the past week, the ground was so hard that the digging was very laborious, but now it has been well and truly soaked the earth is beautiful and crumbly. The only problem is that the weeds have taken over in a big way and are really invading the rest of the plot. Last Wednesday Peter spent most of the morning pulling up grass from bed no. 4 (which is the bed where the compost bin is). It was coming up very easily, but underneath we found some huge cracks in the ground, some of which were over 2cm in places.

The greenhouse looks a wonderful sight with rows of pots full of tomatoes (3 varieties), French beans, courgettes, cucumber, cauliflowers, strawberries, chillies, white onions and chitted potatoes all ready to be planted out as soon as the ground has been dug.

The potatoes and onions that we planted before Easter are growing really well. The onions have got green tops on them that are about 12 inches in height and the potatoes look lovely and bushey and are getting quite tall. I "earthed up" some of them last week for the second time. Must sign off now as there's lots more digging to be done.