Squirrellng away the harvests

Last week the weather was wet, windy and cold for the time of year. It was nothing like the end of summer and far more like autumn. It seems to have been autumnal for a while and, except for a few lapses when summer had fought back to retake centre stage, it hasn't been a particularly pleasant autumn. At times it has been reminiscent of Aesops fable about the wager between the North Wind and the sun. In our case the sun just hasn't put in enough effort and we have not been encouraged to make many visits to the allotment. Working in the cold is one thing, but battling against the winds and trying to garden when everything is wet and soggy is not enjoyable.

We did, however manage some time on the plot. There are things that must be done in spite of the weather so we took opportunity of any breaks in the inclement conditions, mainly to harvest although, Martyn did manage to cut the grass. It's one area that has positively thrived in the conditions, meaning this year it just hasn't had a summer break and has just kept on growing.

I've often complained about the number of ants on our allotment and in the garden. I've suffered from far too many bites, when I have inadvertently stumbled across a colony at work or disturbed a nest. I have to give them credit however, for one bit of good work. Cyclamen pop up all over the allotment and garden, courtesy of the ants efforts in transporting the seeds. The original couple of plants in the garden have produced thousands of progeny, many of which have found homes in the gardens of family and friends. 

We're at the stage in the gardening calendar where we are harvesting a wider variety of goodies.

24 August

Although we are still picking fruits, it is now our vegetable harvest that is taking centre stage.

Kohlrabi always remind me of a sputnik. We've been grating ours and adding them to our regular batches of coleslaw, but now that the 'globes' are larger we will probably need to start cooking them.

The climbing beans are now cropping in spite of their slow start. They are not as prolific as usual. Maybe, like the courgettes, they are not keen on this year's cool cold summer. Many beans will be frozen to use over winter.

Apples too are being made into a compote and also frozen.

29 August - Raspberries, Peas, Apricot Dream Tomatoes, Marjorie's Seedling Plums, Sweet Corn

On Saturday we set off for the allotment expecting a dry afternoon so we had several jobs lined up. I must have had a psychic episode as I decided to pick a few things before doing anything else. 

The All Gold raspberries don't like wet and windy conditions and quite a few berries had been battered and spoiled, but I was surprised by the amount of fruits that had held on for us. I've been asked several times whether the yellow fruits taste as good as the red ones. They yellow raspberries may not look as tempting but in a blind taste test you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I pulled peas are from our third sowing. They have probably proportionally produced the most pods which are also of better quality than the previous pickings. The rows are different lengths so a direct comparison isn't possible. I'm hoping that the pods hang on until they fill out, as I noticed some of the leaves are beginning to be spotted with mildew.

On Saturday, whilst I was picking, Martyn started on lifting one of the rows of our main potatoes. The variety Apache yielded about 21kg (about 46lb) of good quality potatoes. 

Apache

On Sunday Martyn lifted two more of our main varieties of potatoes - Elfe about 5.5kg (12lb) and Osprey about 20kg (44lb). We have several other varieties to lift and will be delighted if any produce a similar crop especially after such a poor potato harvest last year.

On Saturday, I decided to have a break from harvesting in order the lift the onions in our second onion bed. You may remember that the first bed produced a pathetic harvest. Most of the onions from this second bed, however had grown really well. If anything the bulbs were too big, the exception being the red onions which we never seem to grow successfully. We had decided not to plant any red sets this year but, you know how it is when confronted by items in the garden centre. I think it is definitely time to give up on them; we will just have to be more disciplined next year.

From bed 2

From bed 1 - both beds are the same size

As I was lifting the onions the rain started to fall so any plans to  do any more harvesting was abandoned, although, Martyn quickly picked some Marjories Seedling plums and an Earlibird sweet corn as we wanted to test whether they were ready to harvest.

It was and so that means another two jobs to be added to the ever growing list - picking and freezing the sweet corn.

On Sunday I pruned the summer fruiting raspberries and tied in the new canes.

We had a gap in the row of raspberries where one variety failed to grow so we moved some Tulameen raspberries from another part of the plot, where they were struggling to compete with some couch grass, and planted them on the gap.

30 August

We always have a least three vegetable based meals each week, and at the moment there are plenty of fresh vegetables to use. Although many can be frozen or stored, some need to be used much quicker. The courgettes are in full flow and many have been given away, others can be sneaked into all types of recipes including our coleslaw, however sometimes they form the main vegetable of a dish.

Included in last weeks' menu was a Vegetable Tagine with Chickpeas and Raisins. Whereas many tagines are based around squash, this one uses courgettes. I use a ras el hanout mix of spices rather than the spices specified in the recipe. I served it with giant wholemeal couscous.

Another of last week's dishes was a Vegetable Stew roughly based on this recipe with a variation in the vegetables used. A stew seemed very appropriate given how cold it was.

Apologies for the colouration of the photos but they were taken under artificial light and needed to be taken quickly.

Our third vegetable dish was stir fry, which didn't make it to the photo gallery as I forgot. I find stir fries really useful - as well as tasty - when there are lots of odds and ends of vegetables that need using up.

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. 

PS: It's not just our gardens that suffer from blight. Martyn and I are currently suffering from an influx of blog blight. It seems that it is the season of the spammer. One in particular is persistently targeting our and what appears to be lots of other people's blogs. Most are sent to the spam or moderation folders as we moderate comments on posts over five days old. These spam comments are deleted and never see the light of day but unfortunately some do sneak through. I apologise for any that sneak through and end up being emailed to those who subscribe to comments, Please do not click on any links in spam comments which gives these nuisances satisfaction and encouragement. They can track where click throughs originate from and will target a blog even more if they think that this is causing more people to visit their site.

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

Flora

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

Vegetable Bonanza

Our broad beans have been a disaster this year. In spring when the plants were just right for planting, the weather was awful, consequently having to wait for some improvement in the weather, the plants became really leggy. When they were finally planted out, the plants had to contend with gales, very dry conditions and fluctuating temperatures. They didn't like it and just refused to grow. Had the plants been stronger when they went out maybe they would have coped .

Martyn was browsing seed suppliers, as you do, and noticed some broad bean plants for sale that should crop in autumn so we decided to give them a go. In the event they didn't arrive as early as they should have. The supplier rejected the first lot from the grower. The plants arrived last week and were planted out on the same day. To be honest they don't look any better than the ones that we planted originally. On top of that we had gales the day after planting. We are not hopeful.

Other than this planting, our jobs on the allotment have been confined to tidying, clearing beds of spent crops and harvesting.

The blueberry net has been removed as the bushes have just about finished fruiting.

Another bed that has been cleared was a bed housing onions and shallots. The photo below makes the onions look far better that they were. Most of the onions were very much undersized and the shallots were tiny. For some reason, the onions in this bed just haven't grown, unlike the onions in another bed that have thrived.

Sungold and Apricot Dream tomatoes are now ripening. Unlike Sweet and Neat, Apricot Dream is an indeterminate variety. The sweet tasting fruits are small and plum shaped. Both Sungold and Apricot Dream produce much better flavoured tomatoes than Sweet and Neat. Incidentally when I was looking up Apricot Dream, I stumbled across the symbolic interpretation of the name. I quote: 'Dreaming of apricots represent the feelings of joy you have for someone or something that has not been easy to achieve.' Seems appropriate for many aspects of gardening.

Mini Munch is still producing and we pick lettuce as needed to add to our salads.

We've hit the peak of our vegetable harvesting period now and our collections are becoming more varied. 

18 August

Another bed that we cleared was our trial potato bed in which we planted four tubers each of six varieties. Two varieties, Ulster Prince and Pentland Javelin had been lifted earlier and produced good crops. Two of the remaining varieties, Sarpo Una and Mayan Rose produced disappointing crops. Mayan Rise in particular produced a very small harvest. The only positive was that the tubers were pretty as the taste wasn't anything special. The other two varieties, Gemson and Maris Piper performed better with Maris Piper being the best. Gemson like Mayan Rose didn't impress in the taste test. The other two varieties haven't been sampled yet.

We were worried that the first carrots that we lifted would turn our to be a fluke but we are continue to pull pleasing roots. So far we have only lifted one variety - Romance.

We now have lots of All Gold raspberries. So far the fruits have stood up well to the poor weather as in the past  rain and wind has spoiled the berries. We don't need to net these as the yellow fruits don't seem to attract the birds

Our second brassica bed is nearly ready for clearing. We picked the last of the broccoli and  the last cauliflower so only a few cabbages remain. The cauliflower went into a Vegetable Jalfrezi and the broccoli and more cauliflower went into a pasta bake both of which I failed to photograph.

20 August

Courgettes are in full production so the fruits are finding their way in as an extra ingredient in many meals such as curries, pasta dishes, stir fries and coleslaw and sometimes even taking centre stage as in a Summer Courgette Risotto.

I adapted the recipe slightly. I used a mix of yellow and green courgettes. I used less rice and more courgettes. I also added a little turmeric.

The blackberries have now overcome the earlier drupelet problem and providing a steady supply of fruits that need picking on each plot visit. Picking wild blackberries is a memory I have of walks with my granddad. Those blackberries needed soaking to flush out the grubs hidden inside. Our cultivated blackberries don't seem to be affected but I always check the fruits as I pick them. If the core is clean and intact it is grubless.

I'm now pulling from the second sowing of peas which although the pods are smaller, despite being the same variety,  they are in a much better condition that the earlier pickings.

Although we only so far have a dribble of runner beans, our climbing French beans are now cropping with the green Cobra producing more beans than the yellow Sunshine.

Apples are now falling and so we have started picking what we think are Discovery apples growing on our apple hedge. I thinned the fruits this year but at the moment I can't honestly say that the apples are any bigger than when I left nature to its own devices.

You may remember that the first lot of Victoria plums to ripen were badly infested with plum moth maggots. Happily we now appear to have clean fruits. Fruits that ripen prematurely are often occupied. Often our earliest variety Oullins Gage is the most badly affected but I'm wondering whether the poor weather early on in spring delayed plum moth activity and cause them to go for the later variety. 

The plums above went into a compote which is popped in the freezer to enjoy during our fruitless months.

NB: Links are to either appropriate videos that we have posted on our vlog or online recipes.

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. 

PS: It's not just our gardens that suffer from blight. Martyn and I are currently suffering from an influx of blog blight. It seems that it is the season of the spammer. One in particular is persistently targeting our and what appears to be lots of other people's blogs. Most are sent to the spam or moderation folders as we moderate comments on posts over five days old. These spam comments are deleted and never see the light of day but unfortunately some do sneak through. I apologise for any that sneak through and end up being emailed to those who subscribe to comments, Please do not click on any links in spam comments which gives these nuisances satisfaction and encouragement. They can track where click throughs originate from and will target a blog even more if they think that this is causing more people to visit their site.

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

Flying Visits

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

An afternoon out!

Last week we decided to try a few hours out at the NT property, Clumber Park. As with most places at the moment we had to book a time slot for our arrival. We decided that if, when we arrived, we felt unsafe we would just come back home. As National Trust members, we didn't need to pay an entrance fee and so it wouldn't cost us anything if we just turned around and came straight home. In the event we stayed and found that we could easily keep our distance from the other visitors.

It was Ruby's longest car journey, other than when she traveled in her pet carrier from the breeder as an 8 week old puppy. Fortunately she loves being in the car watching the world go by.

It was also the first time Ruby had come across birds bigger than wood pigeons. She studied swans, geese and various other water birds from a safe distance but was more interested in the intriguing scents. 

We felt strange being out and about again although it was very different to previous visits. Lunch was sandwiches in the back of the car rather than the cafe, and people were dangerous and needed to be kept at  distance.

10 August

Although we have done some tidying and rearranging on the plot, mostly our visits have been to harvest. We have moved on from Oullins Gage plums to Victorias but, disappointingly, these are more affected by plum moth larvae meaning more than half have been thrown away. The plum moths usually affect the earliest fruits which leads me to wonder if the weather conditions delayed things.

Last week I reported that our blackberries had ripened unevenly and questioned whether this could be a pollination issue. After researching it appears that this could be the case. The fruits of a blackberry, like sweet corn, are made up of clusters of individual fruits. In the case of cane fruit these are called drupelets. The blackberry in fact isn't a berry at all but a drupe. Blackberry flowers have up to 125 female pistils of which 75 - 85 percent must be pollinated to produce an evenly shaped blackberry. If it is cool, cloudy and wet when the flowers are ripe for pollination this cuts down bee activity and successful pollination.

I am, however, wondering if we have another problem, called red cell regression. This is a reaction to a sudden change of temperature which causes black drupelets to reverts to a paler colour. Apparently this can happen if you pick blackberries on  hot day and pop them straight into the fridge. As our weather has been very up and down this is a possibility. In such cases the fruits are still edible.

Our blackberries seem to have grown out of the problem which leads me to believe that it was weather related and I am thinking, maybe our berries were suffering from both problems.

We decided to cut our first kohlrabi which was probably somewhere between a tennis ball and a snooker ball in size. This was grated and used in a batch of coleslaw.

Lots of the other ingredients also came for the allotment namely, onion, carrot, courgette and cabbage. I had to use shop bought celery, as this is something that we can't grow, and apples as ours are not quite ready.

At the beginning of the week we had some cauliflower and broccoli left over from the previous week so these, along with the French beans picked on Monday and some of our potatoes  went into a Quinoa Vegetable Biryani

The summer raspberries are just about finished and ready to be pruned but we are not without raspberries as that autumn fruiters are now taking over. These are mainly the yellow All Gold with a sprinkling of the red Joan J.

As far as tomatoes go we were still only picking from the Sweet and Neat plants. Likewise we are harvesting Mini Munch cucumbers as we still haven't had any fruits from the larger Burpless Tasty Green.

Cobra French beans as usual are the first of our climbing beans to give us a harvest.

15 August

Courgettes are now kicking into glut mode so will be finding their way as an additional ingredient in several recipes including Veggie Shepherds Pie - not really an appropriate name. The topping is a little different being a mixture of potato, sweet potato and cauliflower.

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. 

PS: It's not just our gardens that suffer from blight. Martyn and I are currently suffering from an influx of blog blight. It seems that it is the season of the spammer. One in particular is persistently targeting our and what appears to be lots of other people's blogs. Most are sent to the spam or moderation folders as we moderate comments on posts over five days old. These spam comments are deleted and never see the light of day but unfortunately some do sneak through. I apologise for any that sneak through and end up being emailed to those who subscribe to comments, Please do not click on any links in spam comments which gives these nuisances satisfaction and encouragement. They can track where click throughs originate from and will target a blog even more if they think that this is causing more people to visit their site.

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