Clearing up for the winter

Well, I've not blogged much this year! Doesn't mean I haven't been allotmenting, probably just too busy. Sorry folks! Anyway, I had quite a productive year, but the long dry spell in early summer proved a challenge. My potato crop was smaller, my sweetcorn minute and the fruit non-existant, except for raspberries which were very happy.

The big success for this year was tomatoes. I didn't let them dry out and was rewarded with thousands of decent sized toms, the principle borghese mini plum toms were fantastic and I'll do those again. But the shirley, moneymaker, gardeners delight all did brilliantly as well. The only downside was they all ripened in a 3 week space - normally they start in June and go on to November (but generally are quite small).

Squash was a big disappointment - only 4 and one was got by woodlice/slugs and the only butternut squash vanished.

I've now started the autumn/winter clear-up - there's some green manure in, I've got broad beans and garlic to plant and there's parsnip and various brassicas to harvest in the next couple of months. The rest of the beds will be cleared and manured.

New plot and greenhouse

I now have a second plot - another half plot (5.5m by 13.5m). It houses my new greenhouse (a rescued old cedar greenhouse). I'm currently restoring it and working on the new plot.

The old plot is doing fine - lots of tomatoes, some potatoes, beans, sweetcorn, carrots, courgettes etc. I had a good fruit crop - loads of plums, blueberries, raspberries (almost non-stop). Strawberries were not too good but had gooseberries and blackberries as well as a good grape crop (yet to be harvested).

New Year

A bit late I know, but I have at long last started my new allotment year! I've just about tidied up my plot after the winter's inactivity, I've started seed sowing: tomato seedlings, aubergine courgette and brassicas in the greenhouse, spring onions and parsnips in the ground (although may have pulled up parsnips when sorting out the millions of weed seedlings that appeared.

My very productive plum tree (4kg last year) has flowered - I was a bit worried, it lost all its leaves after fruiting last year as have the other plum trees I planted.

Also, I've got an allotment extension! It's a strip of land about 3m wide adjacent to my plot but will make a few extra beds, and allow room for more fruit!

Feeling guilty

I may have killed my greenhouse plants. I've been away for a long weekend and didn't arrange for anybody to water the greenhouse. I didn't even set up the watering system before I left or water particularly thoroughly as I had a tired, tearful, three year old in the car and I had to drive to Scotland. I didn't even go today as I had a tired, tearful, three year old in the car. Tomorrow will probably be too late. All that nurturing gone to waste (well, apart from the several kilos of tomatoes, cucumbers and chilli peppers I've harvested).

Allotment dinner

Went down to the plot this evening with Elizabeth to water the greenhouse plants and came home with the ingredients for dinner: corn on the cob, new potatoes, courgettes fritters, french beans and a yummy hot (chilli) tomato sauce. The only things in the dinner that we didn't produce were eggs (hope to soon), flour and olive oil!

We also came home with a (kids) bucket of blackberries from our foraging along the river bank and a couple of apples from a fellow plotholders tree (I feel a pie coming on!). Also had the offer of ripe elderberries -may have another go at elderberry wine.

Plum jam

I've just made plum jam! I used half of my first batch of plums (1kg) just in case it didn't work, but all seems fine. It set nicely and has formed a seal on the recycled glass jars (the poppers on the top are all depressed). The jam is a beautiful plum-red colour (even though the flesh was green) and best of all the bit I put on a plate to test tasted very yummy.

The recipe was simple: 900g plums (before being stoned), 300ml water, 850kg sugar. Cooking in a wide pan until it reaches 220 degrees F or for about 20 mins on a rolling boil. Test a sample on a cold plate, if it wrinkles when you push it then it will set. Pour into hot sterilised jars.

I'm going to have a go at a plum chutney tomorrow and a plum cake on Sunday. the challenge of course is what to do with the next kilo I pick!

Plums, tomatoes, beetroot and bindweed.

Just back from my hols (Iceland - fantastic place) to find a bumper crop of plums, tomatoes and beetroot, not to mention cauliflowers, courgettes, potatoes....

I'm really pleased with my plum tree - it's about 3-4 years old and last year gave me 4 delicious czar plums. This year, well, the photo hopefully shows that my toddler tree has produced so far a whopping 1.5kg of ripe plums with more on the way.

I also have a dozen beetroot, a bowl of cherry toms as well as golden sunrise yellow toms, some marmande as well as others that I can't remember the name of.

I was delighted with the cauliflowers - I've grown them under enviromesh (a fine mesh-net thing) after a couple of years of inedible catepilliary cauliflowers I've finally won - this year have had 4 cauliflowers so far with no wiggley things inside.

I think I've done well in just under 3 weeks. Many thanks go to my allotment neighbour Shirley and my brother Jamie for watering my greenhouse whilst I was away.

Unfortunately I've come back to a plot that is not only full of produce but overrun with bindweed. I've pulled up a sack of it already and there is still more to go.

Now to find plum and beetroot recipes.