Clearing up and putting to bed

It's that time again !! you know the time when the plot and the garden looks untidy, with dead or dying plants and it really all needs clearing up and putting to bed for the autumn and winter months. YEAH !! I look forward to doing this as it's a time of reflection and planning for next year.
My son moved recently and in the garden there was a brilliant cold frame that I had my eye on, sadly the elderly lady had died and her family didn't want it and left it behind.   So I have it now on the allotment  plot. I just need to buy some more glass and bits and bobs for it and it will be so handy. I love it.

We worked on the plot for two half days this week, pulling up plants that had finished, weeding (lots) covering some beds, moving my strawberry bed to somewhere sunnier and planting new runners and new varieties. I also planted a Victoria Plum tree that was in the sale at our local garden centre. It's in and staked and fingers crossed there will be plums next year as it is a mature potted tree.

The plum tree

The Cape gooseberry plant in the greenhouse has been very productive and I have had quite a number of fruits off it and there are still more to ripen. I will have another go growing another next year and put it in an even bigger pot and give it more room to grow.

Cape Gooseberries.

The chillies have been amazig this year. I grew about four different varieties, one in particular is VERY hot.



This year wasn't a successful year for the Pumpkins and squashes, but I have had some and they look lovely.

The Globe artichokes surprised me by having so many fruits on for their first year, but the hearts weren't very big and that's the best part for me especially pickled in olive oil and garlic. So I decided to not harvest this year and I allowed them to produce their amazing flowers. The bees love them and so do I.

And here is a photo of the plot looking tidy and although a bit bare there is still some things to pick for instance mangetout which is the second sowing and there is an amazing amount of spinach which is still producing tasty leaves. It looks even tidier now as the grass has been cut since the photo was taken.

That's about all my news for now. I know I have been a bit neglectful of the blog and my blog reading  recently, but we have been in London quite a bit.

I hope you have all had some wonderful harvests this year and if not ! Well there is always next year.

My first Globe Artichokes

I hadn't been to the allotment since last Thursday and there wasn't a sign of an artichoke then, so today I was excited and amazed to find lot's of little artichokes popping up on the plants that only got sown and grown this year. I can't wait to cut them and cook them.

Aren't they amazing plants ? I love them and need to find a recipe to pickle the hearts in oil and herbs.

I also have lot's of fruits on the cape gooseberry.

And the chillies are doing well.

Lots more potatoes and garlic

Runner beans are forming and there seems to be two different varieties, so I must have sown the ones with the white flower by mistake. I've no idea what they are.

French beans are forming as well. I have 'Fasold' and 'Blue Lake' and another mistake that's got sown which I think a neighbour gave me seeds from her dark bean crop last year. They look beautiful I can't wait to try them.

There are loads of flowers and still more to come such as the 'Astor's' the bees and hover-flies are loving the plot at the moment and the Cosmos and Lavender are a favourite.

The 'Echinacea' grown from seed last year are doing exceptionally well. So all in all the visit today was really worthwhile as it's all looking productive and pretty.

Oh my how they've grown !!

I planted some seeds on Monday 29th Feb and popped them on the bedroom windowsill covered in plastic bags and to my amazement they are up already. The first to appear were the 'Cosmos' seeds.  I sowed 'Cosmos double click'  Cosmos brights and 'Sonata' and then the Zinnia's 'Faberge' ( fabulous colours)  were up.  Next up were the chillies and the  peppers and coriander are just starting to peep through.

Of course I am delighted, but now starts the job I dread which is pricking out and potting on. It's not so much the job as the question 'Where the heck am I going to put all these plants' ????? it's too early too put them in the cold greenhouse at the allotment, so I will have to keep them in the two mini-greenhouses (plastic covered type) that I have in the garden. These will soon fill up as I already have my broad beans and onion seeds in one of them.  Oh well that will teach me not to be so impatient !

SPEEDY SEEDS

IT'S GOT TO BE SPRING !

I think it must be as the evidence is all around us. There are beautiful Spring flowers everywhere.  The Pansies in my front garden are so lovely and were planted last Autumn and survived the freezing winter. They really are  amazing plants for value, cheerfulness and colour, I love them.

I hope you all have a lovely week-end and that we all get some sunshine.

M x

Parsnips, Chillies and Soup

I think I have whats known as a GLUT of chillies, so help ! apart from drying and storing and of course cooking with some, what do all you peeps do with your chillies, suggestions please.



Then there's the Parsnips, I know that you are supposed to wait until a frost to sweeten them and get the best taste, but honestly they are so large and the roots so far down, it took two of  us to dig them up, and it was tough going, so I think cold soil would make thing even harder.  I have left lots in the ground, but decide to dig some up now.

They wouldn't get any prizes for looks, but my goodness they are tasty, so into a soup they went. I was into one of my experimenting soup making moods. This is what I made and it is delicious. I often forget to write down my experiments in soup making, so this one has been written down and posted on my crafts and recipe blog here so if you want the recipe follow the link.

http://allotmentheavencraftsandrecipes.blogspot.com/

And here is a photo of the soup which is 'Curried Squash, parsnip and courgette' YUMMY !!!

 

Pumpkin and Ginger Curd - made at last !

Well I got around to making the curd at last. I made the pumpkin puree yesterday and put it in the fridge and then made the curd today.

I used two medium squashes to make the puree, the recipe calls for butternut squash, but says any pumpkin or squash can be used. I cut the squashes into halves, removed the seeds and surrounding seed flesh then put the halves cut side down on the tray and baked them for
35-40 Min's until the flesh was soft. I then let them cool enough to handle and scooped the flesh out , put it in a blender and pureed it until thick and smooth. I made enough to make the curd and have some to make a pumpkin pie as well.

The finished Puree

The bottled Pumpkin and Ginger Curd
( it looks a bit like 'piccalilli' doesn't it ? )

I didn't like the texture of the curd, it has a curdled look, but it could be that you have to add the zest of a whole lemon and a whole orange and I may not have grated it finely enough, so maybe that's what has caused the texture.

However, I thought I had better taste and test it before posting details of it, and I have to say it is lovely. I added it to some plain yogurt and the ginger and the citrus flavours went really well with it.

When mixed with the yogurt it took on a custard colour, Mmmmm

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Small chillies which are very hot, that I grew lot's of and I'm now drying them. They are very small that's a small saucer they are on, just to give you an idea of the size.

Chillies (Pyramid) hot little devils !

This photo is of the Delphinium in my garden it has amazingly decided to grow and flower again after I had cut it right back to the ground a month or so ago, it's a lot smaller than it was earlier in the year, but still a welcome sight. It just shows how mild the weather is at the moment.

Delphinium defying the weather.

Lovely Free leaf mould.

Well the weather here wasn't too bad today, we had some drizzly rainy spells but they didn't last long so I was able to get up to the allotment to do a couple of jobs .

I looked on our local 'Freecycle' website and someone was offering 30 box plants that they had pulled up from their front garden which once formed a hedge. I went along and collected only six as they were larger than I imagined, some up to 2 feet wide and 2-3 feet high. We (Austin helped me) planted them along our boundary border on the allotment, so I now have a full grown box hedge, some parts are a bit bare but hopefully will grown again. The roots are very good and I added blood, fish and bone, plus manure to the planting holes, which should help them settle in and grow in their new home.

We then emptied the leaf mould bins that we had put all the leaves in from last Autumn and it was the most amazing lovely black crumbly stuff you have ever seen. It has made an enormous green garden bag of the lovely leaf mould. It should have been watered a bit more often during the summer, as there were some leaves that hadn't rotted enough nearer to the top, so I will leave it all in the bag for a bit longer. I also have two sackfuls at home in the garden which are doing well.

I collected two more bagfuls of leaves the other day and intend to collect more over then next few weeks. There are masses of leaves all over to housing estate which the allotment backs onto, lovely free leaf compost.

It's hard to imagine that this pile of leaves will turn into the lovely stuff below.

Lovely free leaf mould.

The curd that never got made !!

I was very disappointed this evening as I had gathered everything I needed to make some pumpkin and ginger curd, but although the pumpkin (pictured) looks ripe enough and sounded hollow when tapped (supposedly a sure sign it's ripe !!) when I cut it open to roast it it was quite green looking near the skin. I de-seeded it and got the pumpkin cut into quarters anyway, and proceeded to bake it until the flesh was soft, but it really didn't look good and had a greenish tinge, SO into the bin it went and no curd got made today. I'm hoping the other pumpkins are ripe enough. I would love to know why this one wasn't.



Some chillies have dried for winter use. I have lots more drying, they look so colourful.

Busy Busy Busy, I need a holiday !!!

I have spent many hours on the lottie since Saturday, generally doing jobs like turning the compost bins, weeding, raking beds and putting horse manure on the rhubarb and raspberry plants. A very kind allotment neighbour cut our grass borders with his petrol mower ( we have a manual push one) so Austin trimmed the edges for me, so it's all looking really tidy.

Yesterday I dug my runner and french bean trench. I dug it fairly deep and lined it with wads of newspaper and then put in a lot of horse manure that I had rotting from last year, then covered it all in with the soil again. I was so tired that I went to bed early- 11pm and really for me that is early! only trouble is I was awake again by 5am, so had a cup of tea and went back to bed again. I also put in my potatoes. - Nicola, Swift and Desiree.

Today I went up again and planted my parsnips that I had chitted ( yes chitted !) I am doing my own parsnip trial. The parsnips are Gladiator F1

Trial No 1 is 5 x pot sown and grown seedlings which I transplanted into the bed. Apparently parsnips don't like this ! but we shall see.

Trial No 2 is the chitted parsnip seeds. I dug some trenches filled them with multi purpose compost, carefully put in the chitted parsnip seeds, covered them with more M/P/compost and a scattering of earth.

Trial No 3 was parsnip seeds sown straight into the ground with a little mix of compost added to the planting area. I will update you as to which does the best.

I also sowed 5 short rows of Carrot's - Early Nantes 5. I then harvested some of my purple sprouting broccoli for dinner. I have waited nearly a year for this, I also dug up a couple of large leeks.

I TOLD YOU I WAS BUSY DIDN'T I ????
I've also been sowing more white onions as the first lot don't seem to be doing so well. I think I sowed them too early as this second sowing look so strong in comparison (see photo below) and the lemongrass that I sowed a couple of weeks ago is coming on now.

We are going to help look after the grandchildren on Friday and Saturday so wont return until Sunday, we are so looking forward to it, but I have to get someone to look in on my seedlings, it's a wrench to leave them in the hands of someone else at this crucial stage, I'm sure you all know what I mean !!

Photo's below are - from the top Chilli seedlings ready to pot on. next one is the Lemongrass, then it's my second onion attempt, much better seedling this time ! then it's the chitted parsnips, they look like little tadpoles !

Kale - Tosca De Nero on the right and short green curly on the left