A visit from the Marrow Fairy

I was feeling bad about the brassicas in Bed 7 pushing up against the tunnel cloche so I finally nipped over for an hour this evening to remove the cloches and to cover the plants with netting (see below). It has been wet all week (yesterday was particularly bad) so it was the first good opportunity.



I picked a handful of peas and harvested a single bright yellow One Ball courgette. Some of the sweetcorn plants do look like they are starting to grow nicely upwards and the squash plant climbing up the surrounding wire has got a healthy-looking fruit on it.



Dammit though - I have just read up on the Lady Godiva squash and it seems that the flesh is not worth eating. I got them because the seeds are shell-less and very nutritious and tasty but I didn't realise that the flesh would not be worth eating (according to reports on t'Internet). That'll learn me. "Grown for their seeds" actually means "don't bother with the flesh".

However, I won't starve because the Marrow Fairy has paid a visit. The nice fairy left me a marrow and 2 courgettes on my water butt.

Marinated globe artichokes

This afternoon, while listening to Radio 4, I have had a go at making marinated globe artichokes. It was based on a BBC Good Food recipe for Chargrilled artichokes with lemon but I didn't bother with the chargrilling. I prefer artichokes with a fresher rather than a BBQed taste.





I don't think I have the prepation technique right yet because I seem only to be left with the base of the heart of each artichoke. I'll wait a day or so before trying them to give the flavours chance to develop but the finished product will only keep for a week. I'll pop the carrier bag full of peelings over to the plot another time...

Globe artichokes, anyone?

Today was warm with a few clouds. The odd small grey one threatening but no rain. Tomorrow will be a different story with rain coming in after 1100ish.

This morning, I weeded around the sweetcorn in Bed 9. One of the nearby squash plants is using the wire surrounding the sweetcorn to climb on:



The sweetcorn are looking good and stocky but I hope they get taller soon. Courgette production is starting to speed up now - see the 'One Ball' below:



I then moved onto the peas in Bed 6. I removed the orange netting stuff and weeded around them. I picked my first little lot of pods. I really should have removed the netting before the plants got attached to it. Some of them found it hard to let go and had to be wound around the canes again.

I nipped home for lunch with a sizeable harvest (the swede was given to me by a lovely fellow plotter):



After lunch, I nipped back to plant up a couple of small sweet potato plants that one of my colleagues gave me. Lots of other colleagues asked what they were when they were sitting on my desk yesterday. They are small and perhaps a bit late going out but fingers crossed they settle in and grow. See below for a piccie of one of them:



I also took some other photos of the tomatoes that are growing nicely, the runner beans that are starting to grow and a chard plant that is facing some healthy competition from a Florence Fennel plant.









So what did I fancy for tea with all this grub? I made my first risotto. It contained onion. broad beans, peas and courgette from the plot. It looked like a risotto and it tasted ok too. It was incredibly filling.



So, tomorrow, when it is too wet and windy to venture onto the plot, I can spend some time cooking up the artichokes. I don't want to speak too soon but the globe artichokes are definitely in the running for the biggest success of 2009 on Plot 35. Still time for more though...

Broken through 1000 visits

Hurrah! Over 1000 visits now.

I didn't make it to the plot today. I had some very lovely friends over for lunch (which included salad potatoes, broad beans and marrow from the allotment) and when I was about to leave the house afterwards to visit the allotment, the heavens opened. It brightened up later in the evening so I did partake of some potting up and seed sowing in the garden.

I potted up the chard and brassicas that had been sitting in trays and sowed some parsley and sorrel. A bit late for sorrel according to the packet but I'd really like to try some. I then stripped back the Garden Pearl tomatoes, just like I did yesterday with the plants on the plot in Bed 7. I staked them up with bamboo canes too. I will give them a feed shortly. While my hands were dirty, I pulled up the lemongrass clump that has been growing not that successfully in a pot on the patio. Some very thin foliage and very little happening underneath the soil. I stripped back some dead bits and divided the clump into 4 pieces. I potted each piece up and have put these in the lean-to. I'll see what happens. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I hope to visit the plot after work tomorrow to do a bit of hoeing. Might have a courgette to harvest from Bed 9 too.

Out with potatoes, in with leeks

I spent about 4-5 hours on the plot today. It was mainly sunny and warm though it got cloudier with a bit of spitting after 1600ish though I'd left by then. It was a great day. I had started digging up the early and salad spuds when a research student came over with a questionnaire to find out what we were growing in Worcestershire. I took her around the plot to list what I am growing. I asked her what she had uncovered so far and she mentioned that after only 7 or 8 interviews, she had found a chap growing some sort of veg she'd not heard of as well as another person growing a veg from saved seed since the 1940s. The researcher plans to do some data gathering in a much bigger city soon where she hopes to see people growing all sorts of exotic veg. I said to her that globe artichokes is as exotic as we get on our site. It was 10 mins earlier that one of my fellow plotters pointed at them and asked what they were.

After digging the spuds up in Bed 8, I focused on the tomatoes in Bed 7. A couple of the plants have some fruit now. Earlier in the week, I had come across a forum discussing the removal of leaves and trusses below the first flowers. Apparently, it drastically improves the likelihood of ripening. So, taking the advice to heart, I stripped loads of the tomato plants. Some flower buds came away but hopefully the ones left behind with actually ripen.

Back in Bed 8, I planted out the leek seedlings. Fingers crossed that they grow ok. I covered them with some netting to stop the birds taking them before they are settled in.

Talking of pests - there is talk of a young badger on the rampage. He/she took somebody's root veg being grown for show. Apparently, it is making its way over from the far side of the site.

I remembered to pop over to a neighbour's plot to see if there were any courgettes to harvest. I should have gone over a few days ago. There was one large marrow, 3 very large courgettes (or small marrows depending on your outlook) and a couple of nicely sized courgettes. I have kept the marrow but gave the rest to a couple of other allotmenteers. I was wondering what to cook for some friends who are coming round tomorrow and now I know. Stuffed marrow anyone?

I spent a good few hours at the plot today. It started off cloudy and a bit grey this morning but it got sunny at around 1130ish. It turned into a warm day. As the soil was a bit damp, hand-weeding was easy-peasy.

I got loads done. I weeded Beds 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, along with bits of Bed 6 and 9. See piccies below:

Bed 1



Bed 2



Bed 3



Bed 5



Bed 7



I'd planted chard and brassicas in there after thinking that the fennel didn't germinate but 3 fennel plants have come through.

The globa artichoke plants are still producing like mad...



Below is a piccie of one of the cucumber plants that has started fruiting.



I harvested a handful of beetroot and lots of Anya potatoes, plus my first courgette of the year.

For tea, I thought I'd make something summery with some globe artichokes, broad beans and the courgette. And some pesto I knocked up earlier in the day between gardening sessions. I ended up with the following pasta dish...

Good neighbours

I feel like I've hardly been on the plot this past month. I am looking forward to at least 1 decent session on it this weekend. It might rain tomorrow so Sunday looks like the best bet. For my birthday earlier in the week, a friend gave me a fridge magnet which said "God made rainy days so that gardeners can get the housework done". So true. The weather does tend to dictate the state of our house.

I made a trip over to the plot this evening. Among the mess, a couple of exciting things to note. The 2 cucumber plants in Bed 6 look like they are beginning to fruit (my first cucumbers!) and there looks to be at least 1 courgette that might be ready to pick in a few days. Well, I think it is exciting ;-) I focused on cutting the couch grass on some of the paths to clear the way for weeding and hoeing the beds later in the weekend.

A couple of fellow allotmenteers were about this evening. A chap with a plot 3 or 4 away from mine came over to say that he is going to be on hols for 2 weeks and that I'd be welcome to harvest any of the courgettes that grow during that time. That should tide me over nicely which I am waiting for mine to kick off. I will keep an eye on anything on his plot that needs watering.

Before the light started to fade and some darker clouds came in, I decided to leave. I quickly watered (and fed) the cucumbers and tomatoes. I need to read into stopping the upwards growth of the tomatoes to encourage ripening.

Must take some photos this weekend...

Tomato jungle

Nipped over to the plot this evening. I've been meaning to get over to it for a few days but the rain has stopped me. I went over while the sky wasn't too grey on Sunday but after arriving and harvesting a handful of broad beans the heavens opened and soaked me. I was clearly not meant to do any gardening this week.

Anyway, the rain stopped for this evening. My focus was on the tomato patch in Bed 7. The plants have suddenly taken off and have toppled over and got tangled up with bindweed. I went through them, weeding, tying in the main stems and pinching out sideshoots. Hopefully they will continue to grow and flower before fruiting nicely without blight rearing its ugly head. I did manage to break one plant but the other 15 seemed to come out of it unscathed.

A couple of courgettes are starting to grow but there are a fair few slugs about so I sprinkled over some pellets.

I finished up harvesting some spuds and 1 globe artichoke. I look forward to tidying things up at the weekend.