Clairesallotment's Blog

George dressed as a Zombie. I’m rather chuffed with my makeup skills.

George went out with a couple of friends trick or treating on Halloween. He had great fun, and was gone for about an hour. He came back with a load of goodies that he’s going to share with his sister. Emily doesn’t like going, it’s all to do with the make up, which is something she really doesn’t like at all. Therefore I had to do Georges’ just before he left, and as soon as he got home he tried to remove, but without much success. He couldn’t get it all off, so I said to him “Come on let mum remove your make up.” Something I never thought I’d never say to him.

Another lovely way to spend a sunday today. Firstly the extra hour in be which was great, then the entire afternoon was spent in the garden until about 4.30pm when it started to get dark. I planted my kiwi in a lovely place by the fence, so hopefully it’ll thrive there. I’ll keep you posted on it’s progress, and then I started to tidy the back garden. I’ve cut down the herb patch, so now it looks all naked especially now the mint has all gone. It does tend to take over a bit, so you just have to keep using it when ever you cook potatoes. I’ll try to get out and do some more tomorrow and the rest of the week, it’s half term, so the perfect time.

It’s strange how us allotment holders get so excited about something so simple and smelly. But we do. We are but simple folk, who just love this sort of stuff. Today was MANURE DAY on our site. Every year we hire a truck and make numerous trips to our local stables, where he uses his digger and fills up our truck. We then drive the truck back to the site and dump it in various places. All day this was going on, but I was only able to help for the morning. Everyone who turned up was very happy, they had suitable foot wear, a shovel and a wheelbarrow. Fun was had by all. In-between the loads arriving I managed to do a bit of tidying on my plot, and dug up some Jerusalem Artichokes, more Potatoes and the rest of the Beetroot. It was very cold, but the sun was shining, and perfect day to be down on the allotment shovelling smelly stuff. Well done to all those who helped, especial Cliff, Jon and Malcolm.

Wow it was cold this morning! Yes I know it should be, but it’s come on very suddenly. For the last few weeks we’ve been used to 14 degrees or so, and today I went out at 10am and it was only 7.5 degrees! They’re even threatening a few sprinkles of snow tonight, very hit and miss, but all down the east coast of the UK including the south east which is very rare. Anyway, I popped up the allotment this morning to see what I could pick. I didn’t stay long as it started to rain, even though it looked like sleet to me. I managed to pick quite a lot really. The last of my beetroot is now up, and 1 carrot that decided to grow with them, some rainbow chard, kale, the last few squash and either a small marrow or a large courgette. Not sure which it is, but I’m sure it’ll taste good. It’s all looking a bit sorry for itself up there now, but now is the time to prepare for next year, so get ordering your seeds, potatoes and onions and anything else you want for next year. And let’s also hope that next year won’t be as naff as this year was.

This is just weird…. http://io9.com/5949058/

Saw this in the news this morning, thought it very funny…

On Sunday evening, Mark and I went to Richmond Theatre to see the Hairy Bikers Tour. It was all to do with Mark’s work, we met them before hand in a room specially set out for us. They’re such lovely guys. They shook all our hands, and gave lots of people hugs. It was like a family reunion. The way they talk to each other on their food programmes is the same way they talk to each other in real life. Mark managed to take a photo as I was standing next to them. I’ve got a glass of Presseco in my hand, and a little bit of a scary face, but I was very excited.

Meeting the Hairy Bikers.

I felt like treating myself, especially after all the hard work I do, so I was flicking through a fruit catalogue that came for my mum, and something caught my eye. It was a hardy kiwi tree. It’s called “Issai”, and the fruits are fuzzless and are grape size, so you can just pick and eat. I expect George will end up eating most of them, but hopefully I’ll get a look in. The brochure is from “Pomona Fruits” and you can find them online. They have loads of varieties of fruit in the book from strawberries, apples through to pomegranates and nuts. I’ll make a video when I plant it, which will hopefully be this weekend, but it depends on how the weather goes. It came in a huge box which was taler that me, but the plant is only about 2 foot high at the moment, not sure why the box was so big.

If you love baking I’m sure you’ve seen this programme. I’ve been watching it from the very first series and love it. It’s all getting very exciting now as they’re in the semi finals. Mary Berry is a star, I’ve got her “Ultimate Cake Book” which I use all the time. It’s seen better times, the dustcover has now gone, the binder is stuck with tape, there’s various cake ingredients on the pages, and I’ve scribbled instructions on pages, but it’s mine and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve had my book since 1995, and don’t want a new one as it won’t be the same. Paul Hollywood is firm but fair, I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him, but his comments are very helpful. Below is Mary tasting various treats. It made me chuckle, hope you will too. http://maryberrybitingintothings.tumblr.com