This year's allotment season

As I'm busily harvesting produce from the allotment, I've been reflecting on how this year's allotment season has been. It's has been a funny old year for growing. The season began well enough in March with shallot planting and the garlic, which had been in all winter, beginning to grow well...

But then the snow came... in April! Somehow the shallots survived the bitter cold and went on to grow well with a reasonable harvest. The garlic however was mediocre with generally small bulbs. That may have been down to the variety, as I'm constantly changing which I grow!

The cold spring meant that I was late sowing my seeds in the greenhouse. Tomatoes and cucumbers were sown very late but they started off well and I was optimistic they would catch up.

The boys (apart from 'the teen', who rarely comes to the allotment any more!) enjoy seed sowing time and love trying to grow some crops of their own, particuarly son #2 who likes to grow extra long runner beans, round courgettes and red carrots - anything a bit different! A frequent past time in the allotment is to make soup and various other concoctions from leaves, flowers and mud...

Over the years I have refined the amount of different things I grow and now concentrate on tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse; courgettes, parsnip, garlic, and runner beans, with a few other little things if there's time and space, such as peas, leeks, carrots and lettuce.
I grow more and more beans each year and this year, as well as runner beans, I have grown borlotti and purple climbing French beans. They have been a fantastic success this year and have the most beautiful purple flowers.

After the tomatoes and cucumbers germinated they promptly stopped growing, it was most bizarre. They ended up on the compost heap as no matter how much I fed and watered them they just refused to grow. So the green house this year has been a complete fail.
However, the courgettes have been producing really well, enough to make courgette chutney and to be in almost every meal for the past two months!

 

The fruit trees are heavy with fruit, which is a stark contrast to last year, when we only had 2 apples! The small plum tree has been incredible with branches snapping under the weight of all of it's fruit. It's such a delight to feast on plums freshly picked from the tree and the cupboards have been well stocked with plum jam.

 

 

There are a lot of 'wild' areas in the allotment (i.e. where I just don't have the time to do anything about!) and these are great for birds, butterflies and bees. I really enjoy spotting these as I'm working. This summer has been fantastic for butterflies and the allotment has attracted Holly Blue, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, the three Whites and much to my delight a Small Copper.

Looking back it has been a season of extremes... bitterly cold, baking hot... plants not growing at all, others producing a bountiful harvest. 

It is hard to make time for the allotment, but it is worth it when I do. Having at least something home grown each day, even if it's just a clove of garlic, or a spoonful of chutney is rather satisfying!

Once I plant next years garlic, in a few weeks time and have a bit of a tidy up, my allotment season will be over. The Allotment gets no direct sunlight during the winter months, so I don't grow any winter crops. But the break is very welcome, with just the occasional trip to the compost heap!

Turning a glut into chutney

 

The courgette glut has begun... I love courgettes and they are one of my favourite vegetables to grow. I always sow too many seeds, thinking they may not germinate or get munched when they do. But there were minor losses this year, and now nine plants are fruiting well.
I've grown Defender and Romanesco and Son #2  is growing Picollo, which are round almost like baby marrows.
It was the courgette and marrow glut a few years ago, that prompted me to try making chutney, and I loved the process so much that I've made it ever since. Courgette chutney remains my favourite too.

 

To make courgette chutney you need:

2lb courgettes, cut up into small chunks

12oz chopped onion

1lb demerera sugar

juice of 1 lemon

1 tbs ground corriander

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp mustard seeds

a sprinkle of dried crushed chillies

1 tsp salt

500ml white wine vinegar

Put everything into a heavy based saucepan. 

Bring gently to the boil.

Simmer for 2 hours or so, until it starts to thicken up, stirring occasionally.

Pour into warm, sterile jars and seal.

Label when cool.

Leave for a couple of months to mature before eating.

Lovely with bread and cheese.

 

I'm afraid I can't remember the original source of this recipe... however I have tweaked it a bit!

Our little butterfly meadow

On our way to the allotment, we pass an overgrown gate that leads into a steep grassy field. Last week we had a little explore over the gate as I noticed lots of wildflowers growing on the other side. The grasses and thistles had grown really long, in places taller than the boys which was a wonderful sensation for them!

We had a wonderful sense of discovery as we spotted lots of butterflies enjoying this wild bit of the edge of town. The field leads down to a main road and is opposite a busy garage. The garage customers must have wondered what on earth we were up to as we were weaving our way through the thistles joyfully exclaiming 'wow... look at that!' as we saw yet another wildflower or butterfly.

Enjoying the birdsfoot-trefoil, harebells, thistles, docks and grasses, were Small Skippers, Ringlets, Silver Y, Large Whites, Commas, Six-spott Burnets, Meadow Browns and I think a Common Blue. Son #2 enjoyed taking part in the Big Butterfly Count using the handy app on my phone!

Small Skipper

Six-spot Burnet Moth

Comma

It's been a fantastic discovery, and I'm looking forward to spending more delightful afternoons there sitting amongst the grasses with the sun beating down on our faces...

Rhubarb Cordial

 

My first harvest this year from the allotment is Rhubarb. I'm not a great fan of Rhubarb Crumble or Pie so I'm always looking out for something else to do with it it...

So I tried Sarah Raven's recipe for Rhubarb Cordial as K and the boys are great cordial drinkers.

 

It was delightfully easy to make and the kitchen smelt wonderful as it was simmering.

After leaving it overnight to strain through a jelly bag, and adding some sugar, it was ready to bottle. I used some old glass mineral water bottles, to store in the fridge. I also put some in plastic 'squash' bottles to freeze.

 

The colour is just incredible and I love looking at it every time I open the fridge. 

The taste is good too, diluted with sparkling water. A very refreshing drink especially on a sunny day like the ones we've had this week.

I'll be making this again next year, perhaps holding back on using quite so many Star Anise (I put a whole packet in which I think was too many).

Now waiting for the Elder trees to flower. As with everything else this year, they are rather late, so I'm even more grateful for this Rhubarb Cordial.

Cheers!

First planting of the season

 

 

My planting season always starts with shallots. The weather has been beautiful over the past few days, and this prompted me to buy some 'Golden Gourmet' shallots from the hardware shop in town. They have them outside the shop in a bucket on the pavement and I love being able to pick my own out.

My little helper, V, left playing at his sandpit to amble over and help me plant them out. Always keen to join in... lovely.

I love to grow shallots as they seem a little more exotic than the humble onion, and for some unknown reason, they seem to grow better than onions in my allotment. I also love how you plant one shallot and harvest a cluster of them. Magical.

Beginning of my allotment year

Welcome to my allotment! It is long and narrow and on a north facing slope, shaded by neighbouring tall trees, but it is somewhere to attempt to grow some of our fruit and vegetables and I love it.

 

 

We must have had the allotment for about 8 years now and it was a neglected overgrown tip when we acquired it.
Over the years I have discovered that this shady bit of ground is good for beans and courgettes, but not so good for cabbages, onions and (the supposedly easy to grow) beetroot. Now I know what works well here, I can try different varieties that aren't so readily available in the shops. It's such a precious space to me as I love sowing seeds in the greenhouse and growing what I can to supplement our dinner table with some tasty organic produce. The boys love it too and have their own little patch.

This weekend it was good to start cutting back and clearing in preparation for the season to come. It felt good too to be outside for a few hours with sons #1 and #3 working alongside me... and with the birds singing. Spring doesn't seem too far away, especially seeing things beginning to grow.

 

The garlic I planted last October, is starting to show itself  ...thank goodness as I was beginning to worry that nothing was happening
.

 

 

These early signs of growth are quite beautiful. 

Natalie