Allotmenting on hold

It's at that stage in the year when there isn't any real urgency to get things done on the allotment. There are still spent crops to clear, but the on and off rain means that would be a rather soggy business. The soil is now really too wet to dig and our overwintering crops are just ticking along without any need of attention from us.

While we still can, (we are now a level 2 Covid area), whenever the rain holds off, we are taking the opportunity to get out and about.

One of our weekly walks with Ruby is around Rothwell Park. 

Rothwell Park

It was here that Ruby had her first experience of walking and running through carpets of fallen leaves. A month or two ago, the leaves would have provided a distraction and she would have been picking them up and trying to chew them, but she is now a dog of the world and can ignore many objects lying on the ground.

Now she is far more interested in intriguing smells and likes to check out where any other creatures have been. Nuzzling in the wet grass means that her furry snout is often dripping wet.

She is becoming a well traveled little dog and is always impatient to be lifted into the car when there is the exciting prospect of a journey. After the initial noisy excitement, she likes to watch the world go by and finds it really hard work deciding which window she should look out of for the most interesting view. Although it may not be obvious in the photos, whilst we are traveling she is safely attached to her own doggy safety belt.

Some curious doggy extra sensory perception always seems to mean that she knows when we have nearly arrived at our destination and excitement begins to mount again.  When he car engine stops and her seat belt is unfastened, she is eager to get out and explore. Coming home again is a much more subdued affair which usual involves snuggling up and having a well earned snooze.

Nostell Priory

We had another afternoon’s walk at nearby Nostell Priory where I had more opportunity to practise my camera settings. It’s difficult to tell, in Blogger but the settings did improve the definition in the sky. (Martyn isn’t very impressed by how Blogger handles photos). You can probably guess from, some of the photos above that our afternoon was cut short when it decided to rain.

Benningbrough Hall estate 

We had a second afternoon out at the Benningbrough Hall estate.

Squash and chickpea curry

Last week, we used one of our stored Uchiki Kuri squash in a curry based on this recipe.

Moroccan chicken stew

Homegrown onion, carrot and a courgette went into a Morrocan chicken stew based on this recipe.

Last week I also used some of our stored potatoes and onions to make a batch of cheese and onion crisp bakes. Most were popped into the freezer but we had a couple for dinner served with some of our Savoy cabbage and carrots. I asked, Martyn to plate it up prettily but as you can see he was more interested in eating  them than displaying them.

Cheese and onion crisp bakes

We paid a visit to the allotment on Saturday intending to take down the runner bean frames. As the weather didn't look promising, we decided to do a bit of harvesting first. This was just as well, as once we had gathered together our harvest, it started to rain putting paid to any further activity.

Ethiopian Cabbage

We brought home an extra cabbage so I cooked Ethiopian cabbage. Some of our potatoes, onions, carrots and tomatoes were added to the cabbage. I think I have mentioned this recipe before. It was based on this recipe.  I hadn't a green pepper so I used a red one instead and added vegetable stock instead of water, I also omitted the cayenne pepper as we prefer to taste the vegetables and the cayenne is somewhat overpowering.

Along with a Kalibro cabbage we brought home a Cordesa, savoy cabbage.

We lifted more Flakee carrots. We don't thin our carrots and so some have developed sinuous shapes as they curl around to avoid or cuddle up to their neighbours.

Although the leaves of our Safari dwarf French beans look a bit battered, the plants are still producing a supply of beans, just enough to have fresh for dinner on Saturday.

Our late sowing of peas have lots of pods but these don't seem to be swelling very quickly. I would have thought that the damp conditions would have suited them. I managed a tiny picking but I'm wondering if the remaining pods will now swell at all.

There are still plenty of green tomatoes in the allotment greenhouse which are ripening only very slowly. It's probably getting close to the time that we will have to pick them green and hope that they will ripen off the plants. I know we could make green tomato chutney but we don't really eat that sort of thing.

Surprisingly I am still managing to cut flowers for the house. Although the dahlias are less prolific, they are still hanging on.

That's all for this week - I wonder what next week will bring?

As always Stay safe and well

I'm linking to Harvest Monday on Dave's blog

Our Happy Acres,

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