So little time

Well, we've been super busy recently and haven't had much time for allotmenting apart from picking all the things that're ready (courgettes, dwarf french beans, runner beans and purple climbing french beans...bean-tastic!, masses of lettuce, peas, beetroot. pounds and pounds of red and black currants, raspberries and more..phew!)

Hope to spend some time up there on Sunday...so much weeding and grass cutting to do!

Home made...

borscht.....

From these beauties

Yum

Improvised jelly straining set-up.

We now have many jars of redcurrant jelly (with a hint of cinnamon). Really easy recipe from Deila Smith's website originally I think. Basically, equivalant amount of berries and sugar, cook the berries first, add the sugar and disolve, (at this point I also added in cinnamon) then boil for 8-10 mins .....except I forgot the boiling bit and hence they are a bit runny but I have decided to call it redcurrant syrup ;o)

bird's eye view


How colorful is that? Loverly rainbow chard.

Redcurrants...

....now total 12lbs! With still more to pick.
Started on the blackcurrants too - 4.5lbs, having only picked about a quarter so far. Our little freezer is almost full. Will have to start on the jam/jelly making soon.....mmmm

Harvest Time!

Yay we had a good afternoon down at the plot on Sunday and got stuck in to some serious weeding (though of course there's still lots more to do) and also....harvesting! The autumn onions were just about ready and had started going a little bit mouldy on their bums so Sunday was the day for them to come out. Same goes for the garlic. Plus we need the room to put other stuff in. Don't think either of them will keep very well but am drying them out as much as possible in the lean-to at home.

Here is our stash from Sunday. In the back garden we've also got some peas that are ready (sooooo tasty) and a few raspberries and wild strawberries, on top of masses of lettuce (not literally of course).
Potatoes, broad beans, onions, garlic, strawbs, beetroot, carrots and a couple of radishes. Oh and I nearly forgot we also picked over 5lbs of red currants, with loads more still to pick.

Our main onion crop (Jetset)

Our first teeny courgette (Nero) of the year (this is one of those I accidentally planted instead of a pumpkin. Seems to like it in the compost heap)

Rainbow chard!

Sweetcorn - varied success, some doing better than others. Undersown with dwarf french beans.


PS - whoop I have my own log in so now you know if it's me or JB (Ms Idler)

Great idea to share land for veg growing

Just a quick post to flag up a great new website designed to help people share land for growing your own - http://landshare.channel4.com/ - offer part of your plot for a share if you can't manage it all, or sign up to find land or as a helper if you just want to get stuck in.

We've been away on holiday for a week in Dorset, and came back to a rather weed-infested plot at the weekend. Luckily we timed it so that nothing was over whilst we were away and the strawberries, red currants, potatoes, onions and garlic are ready for eating! We'll post some photos shortly...

Our first potatoes of the year!

We thought we'd take a chance and dig up some potatoes to see how they were doing. They'd flowered and were looking ready, and so out came the fork...


Luckily all wasn't in vain - there were a few decent sized potatoes and some wee 'uns also:


But, the ultimate test has to be how they taste, and it's fair to say that these were the most delicious, melt-in-the-mouth potatoes we've both ever tasted! They were earlies - Colleen variety - make sure you buy them next year!

Simply boil in a little bit of water with a few sprigs of mint, drain, add a little pepper and a knob of butter, and enjoy!

Compost

Mmmm this is our lovely home made compost. It's gone on our two raised beds in the back garden. Hope the sprouts/cucumbers/courgette/cabbages/lettuces like it!

ooops...

...have possibly planted out four courgettes instead of two courgettes and 2 pumpkins. The pumpkins were meant to go in the non-active compost heaps. Will have to have a really close look at the plants to check (labeling had gone awry) and possibly swap some over before they get too settled. Oopsie!

Flowers 'n all that

Some pics of the flowers on our plot at the moment...

Sage

Borage

Comfrey

Shepherd's purse

Potato! Soon we eat!

Progress

Alas, no time spent at the plot this weekend due to a fantastically fun trip to see friends in Sheffield, but managed to finish work a bit early today to get down there.....earthed up the potatoes, cut back some brambles a bit and did some weeding.......not enough, but it's a start!

Autumn onions in the front, which are starting to bulb-up a bit, yippee! With some early potatoes behind.

Sweetcorn - mixed success, some are doing ok but 3 have pretty much died off so today stuck some seeds in the ground as a last ditch attempt! On Thurs sowed some dwarf french beans in between the corn. Not sure how long they'll take to germinate.

Broad beans - look closely and you'll actually see some bean pods! And little lettuces too.

Wildflower area (this is borage) but has quite a few other species too. Help look after the bees!

More onions!

Poorly peas....the ones at home on loo rolls have started germinating though.


The rest of the early potatoes :0)