Harvest Monday - leafy greens, Eves Hill Veg Co and a coastal walk

Phew, we largely escaped the effects of Storm Doris on Thursday....a few things were blown around on the allotment but nothing major..my shed escaped unharmed. On other sites in the city, greenhouses were demolished and wheelbarrows sent flying. Two of our fence panels in the back garden were blown out of place and bent a bit too, but our neighbours popped them back in place...they'll do for now, I don't fancy replacing the panels at the moment.

 

Inbetween the gnarly weather passing through this week I've actually made quite a lot of harvests....firstly some Brussels sprouts and a self -sown cabbage (the cabbage came from a plant I let go to seed a couple of years ago)...here's some of the outer cabbage leaves plus the sprouts -

...the inner cabbage leaves plus some of the Nero kale I've picked this week -

...more Nero kale and some self-sown chard -

...self-sown corn salad -

...a few leeks (plus there was an extra one I'd already used up by the time I got round to taking a pic)

....some dwarf curly kale -

...and finally, some Brussels sprouts which had started to 'blow'...I love these as spring greens. Here I used them with some leftover cooked potatoes and nut roast (yummy nut roast made by Jan's mum, who'd been visiting over the weekend).

A touch of colour came from some stewed fruit I made with the last of our stored apples, and frozen berries - gooseberry, raspberry, blackberry, saskatoon and red currants. I still have lots of berries in the freezer too, so hopefully they'll last us through to June (when the first strawberries should be ready).

As a bit of a sweetener I added about half a jar of my homemade apple and elberberry jelly (from 2015). I'd given away most of the jars for Christmas 2015 but still have a few left.

When the fruit starts to thaw it releases quite a bit of water, but that's fine as we mainly use it up on muesli for breakfast (along with organic milk and a big dollop of yogurt, mmm).

Whilst Storm Doris was giving it her best outside I got stuck into sowing some seeds...tomatoes, peppers and a few aubergines. I was comparing how many I'd sown of each variety last year but still managed to sow too many...couldn't help myself...but I'll give away spares. I covered them all with a thin layer of (peat free) compost, filled the tray with water to let the compost soak it up from below, then after a little while moved them to a fresh dry tray, wrapped it with bubble wrap and placed nearish the radiator. Quite exciting.

These are the tom varieties...

Last Wednesday I volunteered at Eves Hill Veg Co again. Amongst various tasks we pegged out where the beds in the new polytunnel will go. Five beds with four paths. Yes that'll be a lot of veggies...awesome. Unfortunately Storm Doris struck the following day and damaged the original smaller polytunnel next door, bending one side out of shape (the side in the photo below). But from what I've heard, it's repairable and may even have been sorted by now...phew.

We had a little excursion from Norwich at the weekend, with Jan's folks who were visiting and headed up to the coast to sunny Cromer (well, it wasn't actually sunny, but it was still lovely nonetheless)

Down on the beach we were actually out of the wind too, walking a couple of miles east to Overstrand.

But on the way back along the cliff top we experienced the full brunt of the wind plus some heavy rain joined in too - it was bracing to say the least. Nice scenery though.

So that's it from me, I think the weather is meant to perk up again soon (we had lots of rain showers again today) so hopefully I'll get some more work done on the plot too. Oh, this evening I went to an interesting Norfolk Organic Group talk on stinging nettles...that's how I like to spend my evenings :D

 

Thanks for reading this week, I'm linking in as usual with Harvest Monday kindly hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.

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Harvest Monday

Phew, the harvests have started coming in quicker. We've had some really hot days and not too much rain. It would be great if we could just get the occasional shower (never happy us growers, eh). My allotment is very dry but I don't tend to water down there too much (although I did give the courgettes a bit of rainwater today).

 

Talking of courgettes, they're growing slowly but steadily (not as quickly as if there'd been lots of rain, which is probably a good thing....other wise it would be glut-o'clock.)

I've lifted most of the onions and left them drying across some suspended chickenwire in the shed. A few of them had a bit of rot so I brought them home to use up. I also lifted the rest of my early potatoes so I could plant out leek seedlings in their place (there were a couple of bags like the one below). I've had another custard marrow and the first runner bean, ooh! I have two bean wigwams on the plot which I planted up with beans grown on at home first (sown in loo roll tubes). Both have lots of beans forming, goodie. My beans at home are a bit further behind as I kept having to re-sow due to mollusc munching. Also in the photo is some Rosemary.....I've discovered Rosemary tea which is very tasty (just add hot water for a few minutes).

I decided to freeze the onions so chopped them up and froze in a few small jars. There was actually quite a bit of onion once I'd got rid of the manky parts, so it was worth bringing them home.

After my first runner bean earlier in the week I've collected a few more too, which made a reasonable harvest altogether. I quite like looking out for runner beans on the wigwams...it's a bit like a findy game (unless I'm in a rush, in which case it's 'argh, where are they, have I missed any that are going to get too big').

I can't get down the plot for a few days so today I went through and picked all the bigger courgettes and chard. Tomorrow I think I'll cook them together and freeze them. Oh, you may spot a cucumber on the left aswell, I forgot about that, plus a teeny crystal lemon cuke too.

This week's been great for soft fruit...I haven't taken photos of it all but here's a selection

I took a fruit salad along to a friend's little boy's birthday picnic and made a potato salad too (drizzled with olive oil and Rosemary instead of mayo as it was a scorching hot day and I thought the mayo might go a bit funny). I love the raspberries so much, mmmm.

 

The other day I noticed that some of the apples on my dwarf trees had codling moth damage..it's the first time I've seen it. I didn't want to just compost the apples as the moths would presumably carry on their lifecycle within the apples and be worse next year, so I had a brainwave, picking them off and freezing them for a few days. I hope it worked to kill them as they're in the compost bin now!

In the back garden my sweet peas have just started to blossom so I brought a few in to the house...they're the perennial unscented variety which means they look rather pretty but don't set off our hayfever.

And I nearly forgot that earlier today I picked a load of basil and made another pesto

Well, I'm just in from a gig by the awesome American band Belly, who have just reformed after about 20 years...they are still incredible..I think I first saw them around 1993...time flies! So anyway, sorry if this is a bit rushed but thanks for reading :)

 

I'm linking in with Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres

 

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Harvest Monday - where'd the summer go?

So it seems autumn has decided to pay us a visit in the middle of summer, cold and wet. I'm pleased with the rain though, the allotment was so dry....but it's a tad strange having to wear a scarf, warm jumper and hoody!

The wet weather has brought out all the slugs n snails, so I've been sweeping through each time I've been down, and dealing with them before they do too much damage. I just cannot believe the size of some of these slugs though, absolutely massive. I shall not put you off your dinner with photos.

And on to the harvests...

The toms are still coming along but have slowed down since the gloomy weather started. This was earlier in the week before summer decided to go away

A day or so later these ripened together, he hee I thought they were cute

And a couple of stubby cukes from the allotment. Ah, I can feel funny faces coming along again soon

The courgettes went into scrambled egg. I think I added a couple of toms too (plus onion / garlic etc)

I like taking cukes as lunchtime snacks, here with the infamous squashage roll from the Norwich Providore market stall, mmmm. The lettuce wasn't mine unfortunately (I have absolutely no lettuce!) but there's a sneaky tomato or two in there as well.

I've picked a load more basil and rocket

Which Jan made into a Walnut pesto,

It's great in sarnies (She puts more cheese in than me!)

Friday was when the weather really started to get autumny so we needed comfort food. Queue fried egg with potato, courgette and chard. A home grown meal except the egg (no chickens yet, but one day...) There was enough to go with tea the next day too, an added bonus

There's been more berries to pick - here gooseberries and raspberries

This is one way I like to have them, on my breakfast, Mmm (it doesn't look quite so nice once you've added the yogurt and milk, especially as I leave them all to soak up for 10 or 20 mins into a big mush!)

Sunday was my best pick in one day. It wasn't raining when I first went down but then it started drizzling and settled in, but I thought, sod it and just stayed out. It's always easier to stay out once it's started rather than go out into the rain for some reason. I should've changed into my wellies though, as I ended up with soggy two-tone jeans from the ground upwards. Very fashionable I gather.

Some more comfort food yesterday - grated courgette soup with potato, Garlic, chard, basil and blue cheese. We both demolished two bowlfuls! You cook the potato then add into the same pan the grated courgette and any other vegetables to cook for a bit longer. I loosely based it on a recipe from The Readers Digest Allotment Gardeners Cookbook. It's nice and easy and uses one pan.Ooh, apart from the cheese this was all homegrown too. I'm a bit of a way off making my own cheese but another thing to aspire to.

And tonight, some more warming food was needed

I made a not-to-spicy curry with quinoa, using my usual onion, garlic, curry powder, tinned toms, coconut block plus veggies. And yes, leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, hurrah.

After tea, it was a bit drizzly but we fancied a little walk so wandered down to the plot (jan's been feeling a bit better the last few days and managing to walk more). And, lo! After dealing with a hoard of slugs and snails intent on eating my veggies, I spied another courgette that needed picking and a cucumber that I'm sure was nowhere to be seen yesterday...it must've been hiding.

I wanted to end on something nice but I've run out of photos, so instead here's a slightly damp shot of the back garden from the weekend, I've tidied it up a little bit. Looking forward to the red flowers turning into beans, that's if there's any left on after all the winds! Facebook showed me a photo from this time last year when I'd picked two big tubs of blackberries plus loads of dwarf beans from the allotment. No chance this year, it'll be a while longer yet.

Linking in with Harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions

Oh hey if anyone's on Instagram, let me know - jan's set me up on it though not sure how much I'll use it yet.

 

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Harvest Monday - berry bonanza featuring raw raspberry tart

Woah, I didn't realise how much I'd picked this week until looking back at the photos, here's a quick run down:

 

The first tomatoes! Earlier in the week my two pots of tumblers started ripening, they turned out to be yellow, cool.

And just today the first red 'uns too (I got all my varieties mixed up, can't remember this one)

Sarnies with my own purple basil

And some more (I'm not very original with the sandwich fillings!)

There were enough yellows to also take some as a snack for lunch on a day out at the weekend too. Although Jan thought they were all for her and I had to rescue some for myself! Hehe. She must have been distracted by the SPOONBILLS (yes!), avocets and marsh harriers we were watching from the hide at NWT Cley Marshes, we'd got the bus there with the wheelchair.

Also the first cucumbers this week (marketmore) from the plot

The courgettes have started to gain apace plus this first patty pan style squash (And another cuke, it will be a little while before there's more cukes though, only just getting more flowers, it's been very dry again and any rain just dries up in the sun or wind)

I love the shape of the patty pans when they're cut up

I went through and picked all of my spring-sown broad beans (Eleanora express), they'd done ok-ish despite the blackfly attack

Yes, I made broad bean and egg stew again...twice! And a pasta thing too. The skins were a little tough, I should really have popped the green innards out but it was too much to faff with at the moment.

Chard...

With quinoa

I had a big bag of pumpkin in the freezer that needed using up. It was from a huge pumpkin that jan's work had carved for an event. The pumpkin itself was a bit flavourless but I made a sort of curry soup with it.

More courgettes, including a round one, first time I've grown these. I've lifted all my onions and have them in the shed on the allotment, but am just bringing a few home every now and then that need using up first.

And yes, the berries through the week have been rather abundant!

Raspberries and saskatoons. The raspberries take ages to pick

And some more. I think I spent an hour and a half just on the raspberries

And some more

And some more (gooseberries) - excuse the bad pic!

And some more

And some more

And for a bit of variety, here's tonight's tea, with courgettes, more pumpkin and my own onions and garlic - we had friends over to pick fruit from the plot beforehand

Quite the haul between us, it's much quicker picking with three people for sure (hi Jen and Phil). I dug up some early potatoes too.

So I thought I'd make Shaheen's raw raspberry mousse tart (I made it last year too) for our pudding. I did make a bit of a boo boo, I wasn't thinking and put the bananas in the freezer with their skins still on. So when I got them out the freezer, of course the skins were frozen on. But I broke them in half (weird experience breaking a frozen banana in half ) and after a little thawing they just popped out the skins, phew.

The finished product! Decorated with redcurrants and blackberries picked tonight, as my raspberries don't look nice enough for a posh topping. Although I think this looks a bit like a spiders face?

And on that note (imagining eating a tasty giant red spider face), I'll link in with Harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions. Or alternatively you can imagine me spiking myself in the bottom and ripping my trousers whilst accidentally crouching down on a cane this evening. Ow! Luckily I had a shirt to tie around my waist to hide my modesty!

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