We got off lightly

Last week we made it to the allotment on a couple of afternoons. Monday was bitingly cold but we decided to have a quick visit to harvest a few vegetables. It was the first time that we had ventured to the plot since storms Arwen and Barra. To be honest the two storms didn't really hit us with any real force. It was very windy but nothing unusual for this time of year. In fact our strongest winds were during the period between the two storms.

We did wonder whether the allotment would have suffered any wind damage. The only minor problem was that some old enviromesh, that I had used as a wind break for the sweet corn, had become loose.

The overwintering onions and garlic were looking a bit battered but that usually happens at some point over winter and they generally recover.

The bed of sweet Williams is still looking really healthy and has been untroubled by the recent winds and snow.

Gardening wisdom, or is it folklore, decrees that parsnips are sweetened by frosts and so shouldn't be harvested until the temperatures have fallen below zero. There was no doubting that this criteria had been met and so we decided to dig up some roots. It's always a 'hold your breath' moment as when the first parsnips are lifted there is no guarantee that anything useful will have formed below ground regardless of how well the tops have grown.

We usually end up with multi-forked roots but the ones we harvested last week were perfectly shaped but rather smaller than we are used to. Maybe we should have watered them more. They were sown later than usual though so maybe that had something to do with the smaller size.  At any rate they were tasty. The frost had done its work.

As well as lifting some parsnips we wanted to lift more leeks.

I mentioned last week that I am almost certain that our leeks have fallen foul of the dreaded allium leaf miner. There are brown stripes on some of the shafts and when layers are stripped off tiny pupae are discovered.

Some leeks are totally devastated and unusable. After stripping layers off some leeks have a usable central area and some leeks seem to be totally unaffected. The problem is that until I start to prepare the leeks for cooking, I have no idea how affected they are. To make meal preparation easier, I decided to prepare all the leeks that we harvested and then freeze them.

The two red cabbages were cooked and frozen in suitable portions. I cooked them with onion, eating apples, cider apple vinegar, sultanas and cinnamon. The vinegar is essential or the cabbage will turn blue. This reheats really well.

Our second trip to the allotment was on Sunday afternoon, when the plan was to coppice one of our hazel bushes. We usually do this every three or four years. We ended up with a large pile of hazel poles and twiggy branches. The poles will be used as supports for sweet peas and other climbing plants and the twiggy branches will be used as pea sticks.

Mid week we went to Nostell. The scene there is very different now. Many of the trees have completely lost their leaves and temporary ponds have appeared as a consequence of all the recent rain and snow. These ponds are likely to remain throughout winter.

As you can see from the larger photo the scene is rather bleak now. We had to get out Ruby’s winter coat and the muddy conditions meant that paws needed to be given a good wash when we arrived home.

Last week was just the right sort of week to enjoy a warming stew. I made a turkey stew into which went our, carrots, leeks, potatoes, frozen peas and frozen green beans.

I also made a vegetable lasagne which used some of our onion, carrots and garlic.

Finally, I made a chicken paella which used our frozen runner beans and frozen peas. I used less rice and more vegetables than the recipe called for.

That's all for now, thanks for reading and keep safe and well.

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