Nostell Priory

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Orange squash

Last week, after a period of dry weather, rain was forecast and so, on Monday, we took the decision to harvest our squash. Ideally they would be left a little longer but, after some good drying weather, they were in danger of a soaking so we took the plunge.

We had grown three varieties of squash - Uchiki Kuri (sometimes referred to as onion squash), Musquette de Provence and our old favourite Crown Prince.

After last year's crop failure we were pleased with the harvest. We cut seven Crown Prince, seven Uchiki Kuri and three Musquette de Provence. Some Uchiki Kuri were not fully ripe so we left a few on the plants and we also left a couple of immature Crown Prince to see whether they would grow any bigger.

Now for a confession. We assumed that the Musquette de Provence were fully ripe. We even ate one in a Turkey Tagine after which we were still no wiser although, Martyn did comment that the skin wasn't as tough to cut through as the Crown Prince skins usually were. I then decided to check the seed catalogue to make sure that I had the spelling correct - I had. However, the photo showed a yellow fruit and in the description I read that the skin turns from green to golden brown on maturing. Oops! The squash that we ate tasted fine so I am assuming that fully mature squashes have better keeping qualities. If that is so we shouldn't have a problem with only three fruits to use. I wonder whether the fruits will continue to ripen in the summerhouse which doubles as storage unit over winter.

22 September - runner beans, squash, cabbage, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, tomatoes

One of last week's meals was red lentil, rice and vegetable bake in which I used some of our courgettes, carrots and tomatoes.

Red lentil, rice and veggie bake

Our only other visit to the allotment was on Sunday afternoon when the main activities were more weeding and tidying. As usual I also checked how the latest plantings were faring.

The onion plantlets are standing up well and seem to have settled in, but there was no sign of growth from the onions sets that were planted at the same time.

However, the onion sets planted about a fortnight ago are now beginning to shoot. .

The garlic planted at the same time and quickly produced shoots and is growing well.

On 3 August, in the bed that had previously housed some early brassicas, we planted some Safari dwarf French beans.

We picked the first of these on Sunday. We pick them as small tender beans. If the weather is kind we often manage a good harvest from this late sown crop. 

September 27 - carrots (Flakee), runner beans, dwarf French beans, courgettes,  dahlias, cosmos. cranberries, raspberries, blackberries and a missed Delsanne pear

Our various berries are now just about done but we managed to pick a few.

I thought that last week's vase of flowers would be the last of the year. Dahlias succumb quickly to the first touch of frost and low temperatures were forecast. Although it has been cold, it was not cold enough to put an end to flower production - I wonder whether the dahlias will survive this week?

As always stay safe and healthy

This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on 

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres

You don't have to have your own blog in order to join in conversations. It may seem that everyone who comments knows one another but bloggers always welcome new commenters, after all that is how we all started. 

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Playing with different fonts

Spurred on by Deborah at Rustic Pumpkin, I've been looking at some of the alternative fonts available with the new version of Blogger and there are hundreds.

It set me wondering whether I should change the font that I use in my blog posts. I've picked out a small sample. I have my own views on which would be more readable and possible alternatives but wondered what you all think. Maybe you have found an alternative favourite, if so what is it? I couldn't resist trying a font called courgette!

Playing with different fonts - courgette

Playing with different fonts - lobster

Playing with different fonts - eagle lake

Playing with different fonts - homemade apple

Playing with different fonts - lobster 2

Playing with different fonts - paprika

Playing with different fonts - petet formal style

Playing with different fonts - Montserrat

Playing with different fonts - oxygen

Playing with different fonts - cabin

Playing with different fonts - dancing script

Playing with different fonts - handlee

Playing with different fonts - charm

Playing with different fonts - questriol

Playing with different fonts - andika

Of course some 'pretty' fonts don't always score highly on readability but I'll let you be the judge on that.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett