Friday 25th September 2015 – And so the Mass Harvest begins!!

Posted on September 25, 2015 by clairesallotment

Today was a wonderful day. I’ve not been to my allotment for a while now, what with work and the weather getting in the way. But today I was free and the weather was perfect, so off I went with my harvest basket in hand to see what I could find. Quite a lot as it turns out. So if you’re sitting comfortably then I’ll begin. I started off harvesting the Butternut Squash. The leaves have started to go blotchy and loose their greenness (is that a word?) and the stems of the Butternut are no longer green so they won’t grow any more. They’ve done really well this year, I’m not sure what I did, but it worked. I’ll just have to try and repeat it again next year. I harvested 20 from about 5 or 6 plants which I was really impressed with. I have 2 little ones with the smallest weighing 3.9 oz and then 16 are what I’d call “normal” size, and then 2 rather large and oddly shaped ones. The largest of these weights a whopping 2lb 12.9 oz!! I’m rather impressed, but I’m sure you’ll agree with me that it looks a bit like something else. I’m not saying what, but you can make your own mind up.

Little and large. Now I don't know about you, but I can't see anything rude about the large one!

Little and large. Now I don’t know about you, but I can’t see anything rude about the large one!

I then moved onto the French Beans. Again their leaves have practically lost their greenness (there’s that word again), so I harvested the last few and then cut off the plants leaving the roots in the soil. Make sure you do this because they have all sorts of goodness in the roots that can go back into the soil and help the crops to grow the following year. The French beans have done brilliantly this year and we’ve got loads in the freezer to keep us going for quite a while. Then it was time to harvest the variety of Squashes that I got from W Robinson and Sons. This little pack of various Squash are brilliant because you end up with a wonderful variety. A couple of the plants are still looking fairly spritely so I’ve left then in, and there are a couple of small Pumpkins that still have some growing to do. My other Pumpkins, which I’m still keeping secret until I harvest them, are growing very well, and the biggest one is looking good!! That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Another harvest from my mystery selection of Squash.

Another harvest from my mystery selection of Squash.

Now, because I’ve not been to the allotment for a while the chickens haven’t been having their greens, so before I went to the allotment today I promised them I would bring them a treat back. So as not wanting to disappoint them I picked some Kale for them. This they love and when I came home and gave it to them they got very excited and very happy. We don’t tend to eat Kale, but I grow it just for the chickens because they’re special!! I then went to have a look at how my Beetroot were getting on. Now it’s entirely up to you as to what size you want to let them get to. Personally I like them when they’re just a little bigger than a golf ball. Well when I say I like them, I don’t actually eat them, but Mark loves them so I grow them for him….Aren’t I a lovely wife? The answer to that question is “Yes”! I managed to get a fantastic amount so will wash and then boil those later and put them in the freezer until Mark wants some. The rest will grow quite happily and I’ll check them again in 3 to 4 weeks time. I pulled just 3 carrots up, but ran out of time, but will harvest more next time I’m on my plot.

Some wonderful Beetroot and 3 Carrots. All are the proper shape, I must have done something wrong!

Some wonderful Beetroot and 3 Carrots. All are the proper shape, I must have done something wrong!

Just before I left I went to check on my purple Cauliflowers. They’ve grown really well this year, and quite a few are ready, but I only harvested 1 today the others I’ll harvest next time. There’s only a certain amount you can carry home, and I’ve got lots today. The purple colouring is amazing, if you’ve not tried them, do give them a go. Whether they loose their colouring when you cook them I don’t know yet, but will let you know when I try it.

Yes it's really that colour!! I think they look brilliant. You'd never find this in a shop!!

Yes it’s really that colour!! I think they look brilliant. You’d never find this in a shop!!

So that was just 2 hours on my allotment today, wish I could have stayed a bit longer, but the kids were coming home from school and they get confused when I’m not about. They love their mummy and miss me when I’m back late. And they’d not even think about getting themselves a snack or drink when they get home. So here it is in all it’s glory, my harvest for today.

This should keep us going for a while at least. Now where to store it?

This should keep us going for a while at least. Now where to store it?

Hope you all have a great weekend the weather is supposed to be good.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

It’s Christmas Cake time!!

Posted on September 23, 2015 by clairesallotment

I don’t know about you, but I like to get ahead with anything to do with Christmas. It’s such a busy time with one thing and another, so there are a couple of things I like to get sorted very early on. The first is my Christmas cake. This is always made between the middle to the end of September. I know this sounds early, but I have to feed it with Brandy (quite a lot) so then it gets lovely and moist inside and oh, so very flavourful. I’m the only one who seems to like Christmas cake, but my parents are over this Christmas and they love Christmas cake, so I’m making a small one for us to eat. I always us the same recipe which comes from Mary Berry’s Ultimate Cake Book and it’s her Classic Rich Christmas Cake. Page 91 if you have the book. This book was first published in 1994 and I think I’ve had mine since then. Let’s just say it’s been well used and loved and Mary Berry would be pleased with how it looks. And before you ask, no I don’t want a new one, I love it just the way it is.

A well used and well loved cookery book. It was new once but not any more.

A well used and well loved cookery book. It was new once but not any more.

The recipe works perfectly every time. This year I’m not using a round or a square tin, but a rather seasonal one. I do have two Christmas Tree tins, but decided on the Snowman tin this year, just for a change. I’ve had them for several years now, can’t remember where I got it from, but it may have been Betterware!!

"Do you want to bake a snowman?"

“Do you want to bake a snowman?”

Once all the ingredients are mixed together, make sure you read the instructions properly. It’s time to pack it in the tin. The oven is on very low and for this size takes 3 and a half hours to cook. I know it’s a long time, but the house smells amazing just before it comes out. Once it’s in the oven cover it loosely with some baking parchment to stop the top from going too dark.

All ready for the oven.

All ready for the oven.

Once it’s cooked and cooled then you can add, the first of many, feeds of Brandy to it. I do 2 lids full at a time. I will now feed every 2 weeks with 2 lids full of Brandy and then when we get to the middle of November I’ll then feed every week until I put the marzipan on.

I expect I'll use most of this Brandy to feed my snowman. What ever is left, I'll drink!!

I expect I’ll use most of this Brandy to feed my Snowman. What ever is left, I’ll drink!!

I can say without any shadow of a doubt that by the time Christmas comes my Snowman will be so drunk it won’t be able to stand up. I’ll show you when I’ve iced it and it’s all finished. Next the Mincemeat.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Making time to read…

Posted on September 16, 2015 by clairesallotment

I usually fall asleep on the sofa at 9pm, so reading in bed doesn’t happen very often. I can sleep for England!!

MarkStayWrites's avatarMark Stay Writes

There was a time, about twenty years ago, when my reading prowess reached its peak. I could whip through a novel in a day. There was one holiday where I devoured twenty-four books in a fortnight (okay, most of them were short children’s books, but my holiday companions were all fairly impressed), and I was engaged and enthralled by all of them. No skim-reader, me.

But how times have changed. Writing takes up almost all of my spare time now. When I’m not working at the day job at Orion, I’m writing: on the train to work, my lunch break, the train home, the evenings and weekends. And then there’s real life: bits of housework and paying bills and all that crap. Oh, and a family! So I’ve found myself with very little time for reading. I tend to leave it till the end of the day, which I find is okay for non-fiction…

View original post 282 more words

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Butternuts and Beans – Claire’s Allotment Part 260

Posted on September 13, 2015 by clairesallotment

Checking on my butternut squashes and picking a few French beans…

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Cutting back the Globe Artichokes – Claire’s Allotment Part 259

Posted on September 13, 2015 by clairesallotment

I leave my globe artichokes to flower to attract the bees, but now they need cutting back…

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Last of the Rhubarb – Claire’s Allotment Part 258

Posted on September 13, 2015 by clairesallotment

It’s 3rd of September, the kids are back at school and I’m getting ready for winter…

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Friday 11th September 2015 – That’s one side done and dusted.

Posted on September 11, 2015 by clairesallotment

Another beautiful day on the allotment. I was “playing” for nearly 4 hours today which was great fun. When you are doing something that you really enjoy, it’s not work, it’s more like playing. I continued from where I left off yesterday and managed to get to the very end of the row of beds. I made a couple of trips to the “Green Waste Area”. This is an area on our site where we’re allowed to put our green compostable waste, like weeds and brambles etc. The Council then remove it each year for free and we then start all over again. It’s now much more organised than it used to be several years ago, but then the allotment sites in our borough are more organised than they were when I first became an allotment holder 10 years ago!! Oh my has it been that long? The Sprouting Broccoli plants are growing very well, but won’t be ready to harvest until early next year. I’ve still got them covered up with netting because if I didn’t, then the birds would have a feast. In the area next to the Broccoli I had one Pumpkin plant growing, but there was only a teeny tiny fruit growing, so I pulled it up because it wouldn’t have grown. This meant that I could then turn the earth over and aerate it before winter.

My Sprouting Broccoli is growing well. Keep netted otherwise the birds will get it.

My Sprouting Broccoli is growing well. Keep netted otherwise the birds will get it.

I then moved onto the next bed which has the Brussels Sprouts growing in. Again make sure that you keep these covered, for the same reason. They’ve still got a lot of growing to do, but hopefully I’ll start picking some by December and then all the way through to February. I’ll show you how I cook them when I come to it. It’s very special and there’s not a soggy sprout in sight.

My Brussels Sprouts are growing away nicely. I'm sure we'll be windy after we've eaten these.

My Brussels Sprouts are growing away nicely. I’m sure we’ll be windy after we’ve eaten these.

Then after lunch I moved onto the bed where I have Black Radish, Spring Onions, Spinach are growing. I weeded in between these which was rather tricky, then watered them. Also in this bed I had Chop Suey Greens growing. The remainder had gone to seed so couldn’t be eaten, so I removed these and turned over the soil and weeded it. Well that was a good days work, just a small bed and a rather large one to sort out on plot 2 and then I’ll move onto plot 1!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Thursday 10th September 2015 – Beans are coming to an end!

Posted on September 10, 2015 by clairesallotment

My French beans have been brilliant this year, and we’ve eaten loads and also have loads in the freezer. But as the evenings are getting cooler and the days are shorter the green is going from their leaves. I think I’ve most probably got about another couple of weeks left of them before I have to cut them back. I weeded another couple of beds today and cut the ends off the Pumpkin plants. This is so they can concentrate all their energy on making the Pumpkins that are already growing, grow even bigger. They’re doing very well, but I’m going to keep them a secret until I weigh them near the end of October. Don’t worry I’ll make a video when I do it!! The Leeks next to the French Beans are growing well, but are not yet ready to harvest. It’s all taking shape again, but there’s still a lot more to do. I’ll continue tomorrow and hopefully get quite a lot done. The weather is supposed to turn next week, so it could be a bit iffy trying to get stuff done next week, but only time will tell. Still it’s always best to take it one day at a time. Oh, and not wanting to forget my wonderful chickens, every time I’m up the allotment, I always bring them home some Kale that I bundle up and give to them. They throughly enjoy it, well they do work hard laying eggs.

French Beans are coming to an end, but the Leeks are growing strong!!

French Beans are coming to an end, but the Leeks are growing strong!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Tuesday 8th September 2015 – Afternoon – No Jam or Jerusalem, just gardening!!

Posted on September 10, 2015 by clairesallotment

Now this was something that I thought I would never do. I think the WI (Women’s Institute) are a brilliant organisation, and must be brilliant because they’re celebrating their 100th birthday this year!! I was contacted over a year ago to come and give them a talk about what I get up to on my allotment. Now as you know I can talk for England about what I get up to on my allotment. So I went with a selection of goodies from my plots, some that were obvious, like Potatoes and Carrots, and some that were a little on the bizarre side, like the Swan necked Squash and the Tomatillos. I was asked to talk for an hour (which is not a problem for me), and every item that I showed them I gave them little bits of bizarre, or useful, depends on how you look at it, information regarding them. Afterwards I signed lots of books for them, and got chatting to many of them before I left to come home. One lady who I talked to was 90!! She didn’t look it, but they offered me a drink and something to eat afterwards. I’ve asked them to pass on my information to other WI’s and if they would like to me come back another time, just to get in contact. I’ve done gardening talks to various groups but this was something very special. I’m also pleased to report that no one fell asleep!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tuesday 8th September 2015 – Morning – Just a couple of hours to spare.

Posted on September 8, 2015 by clairesallotment

I only had a couple of hours on my plot this morning as I had something very important to do in the afternoon, which I’ll tell you about in the next blog. There was no fox on my plot today, so I carried on with the beds, weeding and sorting them out. As I was weeding I kept hearing birds screeching overhead. I tried to see what they were, but they were flying very fast. It wasn’t until one settled on a sunflower head, that’s on my neighbours plot, that I finally saw what birds they were. It was a parakeet!! We do have lots of them around where I live, but you very rarely see them up close. Now I know what they sound like I’m sure I’ll realise they’re around more often.

If you look carefully on the left hand side of the picture you'll see a green parakeet perched on top of one of the sunflowers.

If you look carefully on the left hand side of the picture you’ll see a green parakeet perched on top of one of the sunflowers.

Once this little mystery was solved I continued to weed around the Sarpo Mira Potatoes, weeded the next lot of Strawberries in more tyres and then onto the next bed that consists of the rest of the Sarpo’s and the rest of the Butternut Squash. Now this area of Butternuts has even more fruits growing than the other bed. I think I counted about 10 in this bed, so adding that to the ones in the other bed I should have about 18 or so when I harvest them!! I’m really pleased as this is the best they’ve ever grown!! Then finally it was onto the bed with the Cabbage and the Kale in. This wasn’t too weedy, which was great, but I cleared away any that I found and cleared away any of the old Kale leaves that had fallen on the soil. It’s best to clear these away because they attract slugs and snails, which will ruin your crop. I cut off 8 good Kale leaves to take home to give to the chicken, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Well they deserved a treat, they laid an egg each today. Aren’t they clever girls. Then it was time to have lunch before heading off for my very important appointment this afternoon!

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments