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| View from the bottom corner of our plot. |
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| Our plot seen from the trough. |
Mrs. M.
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Water
On days like today and all the other boiling hot summer days we've had, it's nice not to have to lug a watering can for miles. We're not allowed to use hoses on our allotments so carrying a watering can is the only way to provide our precious plants with liquid. We're very lucky to have the trough right near our plot.
Even though it's near, we still have to lug the can quite a few times as with the heat we've been having lately, each bed requires about two full cans. Lots of muscle workout in other words. Thank goodness we don't have very far to go!
Mrs. M.
Mrs. M.
Sunday 22 June 2014
Potatoes and rhubarb
What a weekend! Scorching hot weather and completely still evenings. Gorgeous summer weather!
Mrs. G. and I met up on Friday afternoon to check whether the new potatoes were ready to go. And they were! There wasn't a whole lot underneath each one of them so we had to dig up half of the plants to gather enough for a traditional midsummer meal. Never mind.
We celebrated midsummer at Mr. and Mrs. G.'s house on Saturday evening and enjoyed these delicious, home grown potatoes. What a feast!
I had found some more courgette plants and some Brussels sprouts at the local farm shop yesterday so I took a trip to the allotment today and planted the lot. It's very dry now so I had to water everything and then really soak the newly planted plants. I put the sprouts where the new potatoes had been and hope that they'll be ok there. They'll be at the end of the plot, just next to the shed and so a little bit protected. The plan is that we'll dig over the beds this autumn and not leave it until next spring.
The rhubarb isn't doing as well as last year but there is still enough to pick now and then. I have a few stalks in the fridge and fancied a bit of baking today. I decided to make rhubarb muffins. Well, muffins with rhubarb bits in that is. I found a plain muffin recipe in an old cookbook:
2 eggs
2 dl sugar
3 dl flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g butter
1 dl milk
I mixed it all, put it in muffin cases and added chopped up rhubarb. I then sprinkled sugar on top, put them in the oven at 225 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes.
Mr. M., older Master M. and moi then had some tea and muffins in the sun. Lovely!
Needless to say, there aren't any left after younger Master M. and Little Miss M. and friend came back from the beach and raided the tin...
Mrs. M.
Mrs. G. and I met up on Friday afternoon to check whether the new potatoes were ready to go. And they were! There wasn't a whole lot underneath each one of them so we had to dig up half of the plants to gather enough for a traditional midsummer meal. Never mind.
We celebrated midsummer at Mr. and Mrs. G.'s house on Saturday evening and enjoyed these delicious, home grown potatoes. What a feast!
I had found some more courgette plants and some Brussels sprouts at the local farm shop yesterday so I took a trip to the allotment today and planted the lot. It's very dry now so I had to water everything and then really soak the newly planted plants. I put the sprouts where the new potatoes had been and hope that they'll be ok there. They'll be at the end of the plot, just next to the shed and so a little bit protected. The plan is that we'll dig over the beds this autumn and not leave it until next spring.
The rhubarb isn't doing as well as last year but there is still enough to pick now and then. I have a few stalks in the fridge and fancied a bit of baking today. I decided to make rhubarb muffins. Well, muffins with rhubarb bits in that is. I found a plain muffin recipe in an old cookbook:
2 eggs
2 dl sugar
3 dl flour
2 tsp baking powder
50g butter
1 dl milk
I mixed it all, put it in muffin cases and added chopped up rhubarb. I then sprinkled sugar on top, put them in the oven at 225 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes.
Mr. M., older Master M. and moi then had some tea and muffins in the sun. Lovely!
Needless to say, there aren't any left after younger Master M. and Little Miss M. and friend came back from the beach and raided the tin...
Mrs. M.
Tuesday 17 June 2014
Tomatoes? I don't think so.
I love tomatoes! Especially home grown tomatoes. Therefore it's quite natural to plant tomato plants at the allotment, n'est-ce pas? I bought 5 plants a while ago and planted 3 at the allotment and 2 in pots in my garden. This is what's happened on our plot:
A rather sad collection if you ask me. I guess they might be too exposed up there and they don't like wind that much. The ones in my garden look quite different.
A rather sad collection if you ask me. I guess they might be too exposed up there and they don't like wind that much. The ones in my garden look quite different.
I have a feeling I know where I'll be picking tasty tomatoes later on this summer. And I have a feeling that we won't be growing tomatoes at the allotment next year.
Mrs. M.
Sunday 8 June 2014
Harvesting
Today was a day for allotment work. I met up with Mrs. G. in the afternoon for some serious weeding and planting. The sun shone and the sky was blue. Wonderful!
The soil was easy to work and the weed came out easily. I tackled a bed and then planted onions. The onions we planted last autumn will soon be ready to harvest and the garlic was actually sitting there waiting to be dug up. So that's what we did.
Last week when I went to water I thought that Mrs. G. had planted something new and she said today that she thought I had planted these plants:
It took me a while to remember that I had actually planted them and that they are shallots. Hm, this had totally slipped my mind... We didn't plant shallots last year so I had no idea what they look like. Apparently they grow in clumps. We had a peek at another allotment and they looked exactly the same, though obviously much bigger!
The rhubarb isn't doing as well as last year which is slightly disappointing. Most of the strawberries have also been "picked on" by either slugs or birds. The harvest wasn't very impressive so there was no point in sharing it. It was Mrs. G's turn to enjoy them I thought.
All in all, a lovely couple of hours spent in good company was just what I needed today. Now it's time to freshen up, cook dinner and then meet Mr. and Mrs. G for a pub quiz. We haven't been for months so maybe we're back to beginner's luck :).
Mrs. M.
The soil was easy to work and the weed came out easily. I tackled a bed and then planted onions. The onions we planted last autumn will soon be ready to harvest and the garlic was actually sitting there waiting to be dug up. So that's what we did.
We split the harvest and these beauties will hopefully last for a good while.
Mrs. G. planted leek and beetroot as well as got rid of the spinach that had gone to seed. We decided to try out the celery so she dug those up and they ended up in our bags.
There was a notice up on the hut saying that somebody's potatoes had got potato blight. Oh dear. Ours look really good, though a touch on the small side compared to everybody else's. We'll have a go at digging some up at midsummer for the traditional meal.
It took me a while to remember that I had actually planted them and that they are shallots. Hm, this had totally slipped my mind... We didn't plant shallots last year so I had no idea what they look like. Apparently they grow in clumps. We had a peek at another allotment and they looked exactly the same, though obviously much bigger!
The rhubarb isn't doing as well as last year which is slightly disappointing. Most of the strawberries have also been "picked on" by either slugs or birds. The harvest wasn't very impressive so there was no point in sharing it. It was Mrs. G's turn to enjoy them I thought.
All in all, a lovely couple of hours spent in good company was just what I needed today. Now it's time to freshen up, cook dinner and then meet Mr. and Mrs. G for a pub quiz. We haven't been for months so maybe we're back to beginner's luck :).
Mrs. M.
Monday 2 June 2014
Neglect by me
I have just come back from the allotment where I haven't set foot for a couple of weeks. Rain mixed in with too much to do at home have made me stay away voluntarily. I was meant to meet Mrs. G. yesterday but had too much planting to do in my own garden that I ran out of time. Therefore I signed up for watering today and planned to plant onions that I had found in B&Q.
I knew that Mrs. G. had sorted out the shed as she called me while doing it. I didn't realise how hard she had worked. What a transformation! She definitely puts me to shame and I almost couldn't step in for fear of messing it up.
My intention to plant onions disappeared as soon as I saw the weed in the bed I had intended to plant them in. I just have to invest a few hours of weeding and doing my bit of allotment work this coming weekend. The potatoes are growing nicely and the celery is certainly a lot bigger, though if you can actually eat it I don't know.
There were quite a few strawberries but the very teenage like master M. and I didn't have anything to put them in so we just picked a few and ate them. Despite having covered them with netting, a lot of them had been half eaten.
I really must make more of an effort this coming weekend. I seem to have forgotten about the poor allotment for all the work at home and school. Time for a change I believe.
Mrs. M.
I knew that Mrs. G. had sorted out the shed as she called me while doing it. I didn't realise how hard she had worked. What a transformation! She definitely puts me to shame and I almost couldn't step in for fear of messing it up.
My intention to plant onions disappeared as soon as I saw the weed in the bed I had intended to plant them in. I just have to invest a few hours of weeding and doing my bit of allotment work this coming weekend. The potatoes are growing nicely and the celery is certainly a lot bigger, though if you can actually eat it I don't know.
There were quite a few strawberries but the very teenage like master M. and I didn't have anything to put them in so we just picked a few and ate them. Despite having covered them with netting, a lot of them had been half eaten.
I really must make more of an effort this coming weekend. I seem to have forgotten about the poor allotment for all the work at home and school. Time for a change I believe.
Mrs. M.
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