A plotless week

We didn't get to the allotment at all last week. The weather wasn't really pleasant enough most of the week. 

On Monday, we had planned to work in the garden. Martyn wanted to cut back our magnolia tree which I daren't show a photo of. When Martyn cuts thinks back, there are no half measures. We will sacrifice next year's flowers but we do know that the tree will bounce back in subsequent years.

Whilst, Martyn was in destruction mode, I planted up some pots for the patio. There had been bulbs in these pots for a couple of years. Last year, there had been a noticeable reduction in vigour so I bought some new tulips, miniature daffodils and hyacinths. I planted some of the old bulbs in the garden but I really need the perennials to die back to reveal planting pockets for the rest.

The summer containers will be transferred to the greenhouse to provide some protection over winter and hopefully given this extra protection some of the plants will survive. These newly planted pots will take their place.

Any other days where at least part of the day was free of rain, we took Ruby out for a walk.

There are now plenty of fallen leaves for her to explore.

This year we have noticed a distinct lack of acorns. We have seen oak trees in at least four separate locations and none of the trees have a single acorn. Have you noticed any where you are?

Many of the trees at Nostell are now sporting their autumn colours.

We kept to the sheltered areas during our walk as it was really windy. In one respect the wind did us a favour by drying up the grass after the rain.

Ruby enjoyed a game of chase and didn't want to stop when we thought that she should have had enough. Maybe she knew that a shower was on the cards when we arrived home.

A while ago I shared, with you, some of the useful gadgets that I have in the kitchen. Recently I found one or two more to add to my collection. 

Previously, I removed zest from citrus fruits using a small grater but it never really did a good job and I missed quite a lot of the zest. The grater covered the area that I was trying to zest and I couldn't see what I was doing and fingers were in danger of being grated along with the zest.

I spotted a little gadget designed for the job which is, appropriately, called a zester. It makes the job so much easier. I managed to remove more zest and it also looked more attractive as opposed to the mush that the grater produced. I freeze the zest and juice in ice cube trays.

This brings me on to a second useful 'sort of' gadget. I’ve snapped a few plastic ice cube trays when trying to knock frozen cubes out of the tray to pop into bags. I then saw the ideal solution on a YouTube channel that we visit. The base of the compartments is rubbery. A few seconds after the tray is removed from the freezer, the cubes can be pushed out by pressing on the blue bases of the individual cube compartments. No more broken ice cube trays and far less frustration.

One activity that the weather can't curtail is cooking.

Last week I made a chicken and leek crumble which was based on this recipe. Into this went some of our leeks, an onion and some fresh parsley. The crumble was an oat and cheese mixture. It was served with a mixture of our frozen green beans, broad beans and peas.

Some of the frozen tomato sauce which used our tomatoes, onion and carrots was eaten with shop bought ravioli. We are determined to have a go at making our own ravioli. We have a pasta maker but I've seen some rather nifty ravioli cutters so maybe another gadget is in the offing. Have any of you made your own ravioli? Any insights would be most welcome.

Finally, I used some of the Pink Banana squash that we froze earlier to make a squash and chickpea curry. Along with the squash, I use some of our onion. I used red Thai paste as I didn't have any of the yellow paste. This was served with jasmine rice. I didn't use any mint as, when I went to pick some, it was past its best which was a shame.

Martyn and I both received texts last week to invite us to book our Covid boosters which we have had today - Monday. Here's hoping that we escape any side effects. Fingers crossed.

Take care and stay well everyone.

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