Clairesallotment's Blog

Popped to Sainsbury’s this morning to get a few bits for dinner and more fruit. Walked past the bunches of beetroot, and thought “Ha, ha mine are much bigger than that”, and “My carrots are a more interesting shape than those, and I picked purple ones yesterday”. I felt very proud of my allotment.

Popped up to the allotment this afternoon to do more picking. All seems to be going well. Because we’ve had loads of rain it’s filtered through the soil, so digging potatoes is much easier. The runner beans have got so heavy the canes have broken and the beans have fallen over. With the strong winds that we’ve had that hasn’t helped either. I managed to prop them up, then the heavens opened, the wind whipped up and I had to make a mad dash for the car. Having sat there for 10 minutes and steamed up all the windows, the rain finally stopped and I was able to resume my picking. But all my hard work in propping up the beans had all been wasted, there they were lying on the ground again. Next year I think I’ll do wig wams, that way they support each other. Got a good haul though. I kohl rabi is about 5 inches across.

Allotment Summer Social today. The weather wasn’t very summery, but a great time was had by all. Thanks to Jill, Aimee and Angela for all their hard work. Also to those who helped on the day and donated goods. My funny shaped carrot won 1st place in the funny shaped vegetable competition. Well done carrot. I think we’ll have him for dinner on Monday night. I got a little plaque to keep and it’s taking pride of place in the kitchen. Well done to those who won the scarecrow competition and neatest plot. Congratulations. The rain appeared about 20 minutes before the end so it didn’t spoil the day. Just a bit of light drizzle.

Went down the allotment today to do some picking. Pulled up all the beetroot, more potatoes, broccoli, onions beans (runner and french), courgettes, tomatoes and carrots. I was trying to dig up a funny shaped carrot for the odd shaped vegetable competition for the allotment social on Sunday. Could I find 1? They were all perfectly straight. The time you want a wonky one you can’t find one. I moved to the rainbow carrots and up came a carrot that looked like it was running with a tail. I’ll put that in and see. It’s just a bit of fun. I came home with a lovely box full of goodies. Made a short film “August harvest”.

Had fun this morning making a scarecrow for the allotment competition tomorrow. It has to be of someone famous, fictional or non fictional, so I’ve done Superman. It’s my son old dressing up costume, looks quite sweet really. I’ll pop up the allotment this evening (before it gets dark) to erect him in position. Hope he does a super job at scaring away the birds. Also had a bit of a sort out of the jungle of a greenhouse. I’ve got a melon growing very well as well as loads of little aubergines. I picked 2 more cucumbers, 1 aubergine, 1 sweet pepper and quite a few chillies. The new greenhouse is fab everything is growing so much better than last year when I had the old greenhouse. Thank you Mark again for buying it for our anniversary I love it and you.

Got back from holiday today and after lunch and a bit of a nap I went down to say “hello” to the allotment. Oh my, everything has grown so much. Thank you very much to my sister Michelle for looking after my allotment and garden. I picked enough to keep us going until Saturday. One carrot had an extra stump to it, the kohl rabi are all ready but I only picked a few. Runner beans have gone mad, I picked loads but some were too far gone, so I left them on the plant for seeds for next year. French beans, onions and the broccoli which is brilliant. I picked 4 heads we’ll have some for dinner on Wednesday. Had a good look at the tomatoes there were a few ready and best of all no sign of blight thank goodness. The fennel has all gone to seed, but never mind I picked 1 the rest I’ll pick at the weekend. The garden was tidy when I left, and has now gone mad. The greenhouse looks like a jungle. I’ll get in there this week some time and sort it out.

Popped down to the allotment this morning after bellringing. Had a massive water as I’m going on holiday, and my lovely sister Michelle is looking after my allotment and my garden at home whilst I’m away. Thank you Michelle, you’re a star. I picked a few runner beans, french beans, carrots and another kohl rabi. These we’ll eat before we go away. Everything’s coming on well in the greenhouse, the aubergines are getting bigger and more cucumbers are nearly ready. The chilli’s are taking shape nicely and also my various tomatoes. Hopefully when I come back from holiday (not wishing the 2 weeks away) I’ll have loads to harvest. Have a great Summer to you all, love Claire.

Picked another cucumber today, looked like an elongated pear. There are more growing so they’ll be ready in about a week. I also notices several small aubergines growing. I’ve got loads of flowers on the plants, so hopefully I’ll have lots of fruit. I fed all the tomatoes, aubergines, chillies, melons, cucumbers and cape gooseberries with tomato feed yesterday, so hopefully they’ll put on a spurt of growth.

Picked lots of goodies today to hopefully last all week. Potatoes, carrots, spring onions, red and white onions, courgettes, 4 runner beans and a kohl rabi. The kohl rabi should be picked when they are about the size of a tennis ball. I cooked in the following way: take all the leaves off until you’re left with the round part, peel, cut up into 1 inch cubes and par boil for 5 minutes. Cut up a red onion in slices, put on a small roasting tray add the kohl rabi, salt, pepper and olive oil and roast at gas 5 for about 1 hour 15 mins until the onion is crispy. During the cooking time turn the veg over a few times. Very yummy.

Picked the rest of the peas today, then spent 1 and a half hours watering. I gave everything a thorough water as I won’t be there until Sunday as the kids broke up from school today. I used a watering can which is why it took so long, but at least you get the water exactly where you want it, and if you’re listening to music on your i-pod and singing along the time goes faster. All I need to do now is to keep it ticking over until the kids go back in September. Happy Summer holidays to you all, have a great summer, and enjoy your harvest.