8 & 15 August 2009 - What a pickle

This blog is going to focus on Outputs rather than Progress Reports. But before we get onto that, we know you'll want a quick roundup of progress.

These two weekends have been extremely busy - we are in the eye of the storm in terms of harvesting, tending, weeding, etc, and we are truly tired by the end of each session. Courgettes and now beans (french and dwarf) are regularly picked. The recently planted runner beans have swarmed up their poles and the opportunistic peas also recently sown have come up strong. Raspberries are beginning to make themselves felt and more potatoes dug up (second earlies).

The pumpkin (spreading amongst the potatoes on the bank) managed to surprise us with a large hidden fruit and the butternut squash are beginning to throw out fruits - though the ones in the main bed seem to be getting got by something. The old original peas have been taken down and regular broccoli has been harvested - note to self - do not sow so many broccoli next year. Mind you I said that last year. The transplanted leeklings are still not great but at least they are upright. We hope that they are late winter leeks and just need lots of growing. We've also had a second, mighty tasty cabbage and on-going carrots, and dug up some of the onions. Rainbow chard coming up strong too. Opportunistic sowing of spring onions and pak choi. So, as you can see, lots going on.

But what do we do with it all? As last year, we realise that we have to run to keep up with the amount of produce. At the top of the blog is a typical harvest from a week's growth - more than we can eat. Harvesting and storing are the main reasons we can't leave the plot at this time of year for longer than one week. Here is a list of Outputs.

General excess - veggie bags to our Neighbours and miscellaneous visitors. Nobody who visits the plot goes away empty-handed. Usually consist of broccoli, potatoes, carrots, courgettes and very special one-off gifts of garlic (as we have a shed-load).

Carrots - quite a lot have been frozen. Mostly kept in storage for home usage or munched directly from the soil after washing.

Potatoes - stored in garage, kept in storage for home usage, general excess.

Beans - some frozen and kept in storage for home usage.

Broccoli - some frozen, general excess, fresh consumption at home.

Shallots - kept in storage for home usage, pickled.

Strawberries - munched, fresh consumption at home, jam.

Courgette - fresh pickle, general excess, fresh consumption at home, chutney, have just found a recipe for courgette cake (deep joy), help - running out of ideas

Garlic - kept in storage for home usage, one failed garlic in oil experiment (YEUCH), pickle

Peas - some frozen, fresh consumption at home.

Cabbage - fresh consumption at home.

We wonder about whether we should weigh everything, so that the end of the year we can say grandly that the plot produced 100lbs of produce (and that's probably just the courgettes). It's very interesting how differently we have to treat each vegetable once it is harvested. For example, soft fruit can be frozen but it's delicious eaten raw in situ. The maincrop onions and potatoes, when they are dug, will be stored for winter usage. Shallots on the other hand which keep just as well we decide to pickle. Courgettes are so versatile that we can do all sorts with them, though making chutney from one recipe means that we have to buy 1.5kg tomatoes, etc. We counter the expense by blagging free apples from The Neighbours. But still there is something inherently satisfying in cooking a huge batch of chutney from one 1.5kg monster courgette - even though when we made it yesterday it took 7 hours to solidify (which is probably the reason I decided to share the experience with you today).

Freezing is another option but we have been more choosy about what to freeze. Courgette though willing is not quite up to the mark (ahem) when it is defrosted, though peas and beans are fine. Carrots are OK, but nowhere near as nice. So there are limitations - and of course, we are both eating more vegetables than we have eaten in our whole lives.

So what pickle recipes do you use, we hear you ask? Well, for the shallots and jam, it was Delia. Simple, straightforward and the Goddess Delia is always right. For the courgette pickle, we rely on a somewhat shabby cutout of a Jamie Oliver recipe from the News of the World magazine (I know, I know, you're all shocked - but this is a feisty, "fresh" pickle that is ready in days to eat and very reliable). For the pickled garlic, some anonymous recipe from the internet involving soy sauce and honey (very tasty). For the chutney, we used a recipe circulated by Jan and Pat - it was light on the detail of when to call it a day and how long to leave it before we eat it so we decide 3 months before consumption to be on the safe side. The ingredients were courgette, apple, garlic, tomatoes, mixed spice, chili powder, mustard seeds, sugar and vinegar. The house smells like the pickle factory of my youth. On the right is the sum total so far of the pickling for your admiration.

We are going to enter the jam into The Show but we know there will be stiff competition. Too soon for the chutneys, alas. They and the pickled shallots will be left for 3 months. So they can remind us of summer and our herculean labours. And we haven't even mentioned the produce that we have acquired - such as a pumpkin and several cucumbers from various allotment neighbours.

Weather note: warm but not too warm, rain, cloud, you name it. Good growing conditions (i.e. we don't have to make special watering trips.)

1 August 2009 – End of staycation

Time alone will tell whether today was the best day of the year in the allotment. Perhaps, though, it is our end-of-staycation-tinged view that has made our day seem so rich.

To start, we had an 80th birthday party for Jim, who, we believe, is the oldest Burydell allotmenteer and, it is rumoured, whose father and grandfather had plots here. About 40 people turned up at lunchtime at The Falcon Public House (the pub nearest to Burydell Lane) and Jim was presented with a new bench for his plot. We may all be pitching in to help him in future, as his primary helper is moving house and will not be able to drop in as often. More community spirit.

A natter with the Ladies and a few other familiar faces, then off to the plot, which is in full bloom. Maincrop potatoes still doing well, despite us having had to remove two plants suffering from Leaf Curl. Cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli doing well, although some off the latter sort of going to seed. These stalks removed to the compost, with tender shoots to follow (we hope).

Onions and kale getting on well. Leeks, transported from the seed bed a little while ago, are perking up. K narrowed the deep wells into which they had been moved, because they didn't seem to have the strength/support to bring themselves erect. (We've all been there.)

Apples. Despite good advice from our Hungarian apple expert, the tree I like best has produced only three apples - though fine, plump apples they are. There's something we need to learn re pruning - all the new growth each autumn? Blueberry plant seems to be flagging. Autumn raspberries will explode soon.

Their Fruit Cage neighbours, two leeks, we have left in flower, as the bees love them. We will take a view nearer the Agricultural Show on whether to enter the fine, sturdy beasts.

Original peas dying away, and yet, and yet, newly planted peas are emerging. Too late for a further crop? Who knows?

Various beans and the corn are growing, but seem shorter in general than those of other plots.

Plentiful sun reminded us that a visit by our 3.5 year old neighbour Connor had been postponed earlier in the week due to showers. It turned out that he had a window in his diary (after a nap) and he, Jo and Dave dropped by for carrot-picking and the harvest of a small bag of second-early potatoes from the bank. He has a gift, we think, for spotting potatoes as they are uncovered by the pitchfork. They also left with a courgette (something like our eighth to date), and Dave's growing conviction that he is a Man of the Soil who should become an Allotmenteer.

So far, then, community spirit and conversion.

We left with second-earlies, courgettes, broccoli, carrots, raspberries and blueberries.

Earlier in the week - the second of our two-week staycation - we had a much-enjoyed, and all-too-brief visit from our friend the eminent Professor Jeffery, who had a feast of our produce at supper. He seemed to approve of our plot activities, and kindly carried home the first of our summer cabbages, a monster. (NB. this was one of the Homebase seedlings and turned out to be exceedingly tasty.)

Of the 148 garlic bulbs harvested recently, now drying in our home greenhouse, several have been pickled and, today, one put into herby oil for snacking. As the Radlett deli owner, himself an allotment novice, said, a 148-bulb harvest allows you some scope for experimentation. The drying bulbs could be smelled next door, but we hope to smooth over any temporary discomfort through vegetable bribery.

So it seemed to us, on balance, to have been a fine day, perhaps the day that will epitomise the summer of 2009.

July 2009 - Staycation Bumper Edition

Three long weeks without blogging doesn't mean that there hasn't been lots of action. And now we have a chance to catch up as we are having a Staycation - 2 weeks holiday, most of which we will spend at home. Not because of the credit crunch but because we cannot leave the allotment for a 2 week period in the summer time. Note that the search for something to provide shade is over - a £4 beach umbrella from Marlows.

So much going on and to do too. Much of the time on the plot has been spent weeding. It takes up so much time and energy, even with a fully charged wacker. And there's the bank now too. End of wingeing about the weeding.


Far more exciting headline news - we have harvested a grand total of 148 garlic bulbs on 24 July. We could probably corner the garlic market in Hertfordshire. Consulting the blog, we think we planted around 100 cloves - but that may have been an estimation, and 148 might be slightly out as quite frankly we were giddy with garlic fumes in the greenhouse (where they are drying). This picture does not do the sheer amount of them justice. We anxiously think about what we are going to do with them as this is roughly 3 times as many as last year - a few of which we still have. Lots of garlic pickling coming up and our friends can expect to receive garlic gifts. Enuff garlic already. The bag next to the garlic contains our shallot harvest, the majority of which we will pickle. The picture on the left is the same bed now populated with leek seedlings, transplanted from the seedbed. I am very proud of the expert way I did the dibber thing to make the hole and confidently placed the leekling inside. Quite different from last year. And they are not too big to move either (as last year's were according to some). (Philosophical note: perhaps the excess of garlic makes up for the dearth of peas.)

To the left is the remainder of the first earlies. The plants looked bitten and as we had already dug up quite a few we thought we'd dig up the rest. They are exceedingly tasty and no doubt our friends will benefit from a few presents of these too - as of course we have the joys of the second earlies to look forward to. To the right is the empty space on the bank where the first earlies were - now sown with green manure in a possibly vain attempt to keep out the weeds. The shadow is the Pagoda (mighty fruitcage which has received some remedial treatment to its structure).

Other breaking news from the plot.

Bed 1 - rainbow chard and a few late sown carrots coming through and an empty space where the shallots were. We think we'll go for a late sowing of peas, given the disappointing show of peas in bed 6 which got got by pea moth. This rendered half the crop inedible. The peas that were given to us by neighbours etc were much better but not enough of them. We have only frozen 2 or 3 small bags. The rest of the bed contains onions including the giant ones. There are no pictures of bed 1 or 6.

Bed 2 - as reported, garlic now pulled and replaced by leeks. Butternut squash also in residence looking happy. This was only meant to be a temporary measure before moving it to the bank but we've decided to let it be.

Bed 3 - various kinds of broccoli happening. We have frozen a fair bit and our pregnant Neighbour is scoffing quite a lot. It is delicious. The summer sprouting (?) stuff looks particularly nice. The red cabbages moved fairly recently have suffered badly from either slugs or caterpillar, but the other ones (sown in situ) look fine. Not sure what that means. The summer cabbage is also quite bitten but hopefully will be ready to eat soon as they are bloody huge. The winter cabbage also sown in situ looks good. As you can see, the nasturtiums have been a great success and make the bed look really "on trend".

Bed 4 - maincrop potatoes looking good, except for 2 which have leaf roll virus which is serious. The book says that they can be treated but apparently the chemical is no longer sold according to the garden centre. This leaves us with a moral dilemma which we have yet to resolve. As the virus affects the yield, maybe we should dig these plants up to prevent others getting infected. Or maybe the aphid that spreads the virus has gorn orf somewhere.

Bed 5 - now here's a bed that's going places. Lots of growth over the recent period. The corn and french beans are now well established whilst the squash is getting itself sorted. The main attraction though - of course - are the three courgette plants. They are already shooting out courgettes and we are now back in the familiar territory of excess courgettery. The yellow one is fab, though the courgettes look a bit like bananas. And yes they are yellow all the way through. The runner beans optimistically planted recently have come up and are climbing up their poles. I heave a sigh of relief - a plot without runner beans cannot be right.

Bed 7 - carrots are doing well and we've had and frozen lots. We've also sown some more with a view to overwintering. The parsnip plumage indicates that all is well with them too, though we don't know when to pull them up.

Pagoda - strawberries, alas, now finished but they were much better than last year. We must pot some runners for the greenhouse. The summer raspberries have yielded their first harvest but to be honest, people, we don't rate them as highly as the autumn brigade. The fruit is not as big or firm and they seem sickly compared to their exuberant autumn relatives. The blueberry has been getting into the swing of things and we've had quite a few delicious helpings. The seedbed has been cleared of leeklings and a strange broccoli (don't know, don't ask) which just seemed to sprout and bolt in about 10 minutes. Now we have kale and (I hope) some more winter cabbage seedlings left in there. There are 3 leeks left in the seedbed from last year and we decided to let them flower to see what happened. As you can see, Mr Bumble Bee finds them delicious.

Bank - two asparagus thingies have come up and the rhubarb is looking magnificent. We have spoken already about the potatoes. The pumpkin is having issues. While it is spreading, any nascent pumpkins have been spoiled by The Slug. We have sprayed it and put pellets down.

Weather note - warm, rainy, sunny, downpours, storms - usual English summer really

Good points - opportunity to reflect on last year's experiences compared to this year and thinking "great, now we know how to do X better"; courgettes; carrots; garlic; broccoli; strawberries; potatoes; shallots; nasturtiums

Bad points - opportunity to reflect on last year's experiences compared to this year and thinking "bugger, these (X) are nowhere near as good as last year"; peas; leaf roll virus; gaps appearing in beds with no back-up plan (e.g. bed 1).

So let the pickling begin!!

27 June 2009 - Hot hot hot

Blimey, it's hot. As I type, we have officially entered into a Heatwave. There's swings and roundabouts associated with heatwaves - swings are that crops like corn and beans get plenty of incentive, but roundabouts are that you have to water and be extra vigilant for things drying out. We try not to do it too often so as to encourage a proper spirit of sustainability - for some crops (e.g. parsnips), it's actually better if they are not watered so that the roots go down really deep. On the left is my first ever attempt at strawberry jam - 1.8lb of strawberries = 1.5 jars of jam. It's a very messy and tense business but tastes delicious. This is because we have that most joyous of things, a strawberry glut, many more fruits than last year. We even had the Neighbours over for a summer bbq and plied them with strawberries so as to use some up (and to see them as well of course).

Other developments include harvesting of the first broccoli and freezing it; removal and composting of both the noble chard and spinach as they had given way entirely to the reproductive urge. In their place we have sown rainbow chard (a rainbow of chard) and overwintering carrots as an experiment.

Overwintering onions, sown so long ago now, were harvested. A few of them (4/5) were of decent size but otherwise they are tiny. We decide to pickle these. Perhaps starting them in the greenhouse in the autumn will give us a better result next year as the yield is quite disappointing given their long gestation. Likewise some shallots, though we are not sure whether it's time, to see what happens. All laid out in our greenhouse, a far cry from last year when Jan and Pat kindly lent us their.s

We have reluctantly concluded that the various sowings of peas in the dodgy bit are not yielding the required results at all, so dug them up and reconfigured that area into two runner bean wigwams. After anxious consultation of the authorities, we conclude that it isn't too late to sow them direct. Orthodoxy be damned.

As you know, we dug up some new potatoes a couple of weeks back and have decided to leave the rest for a little while longer. The second earlies are definitely looking healthier as plants, so maybe the bank is not the best start for first earlies (this is about yield not quality).

But - other bank news - the giant pumpkin however is doing well and there is one baby fruit already - not bad. The rhubarb seems to have got over its teenage angst and has produced truly majestic leaves. And there is ONE proper asparagus spear.

The courgettes are showing their first flowers, though the plants are still fairly small. The other - main - peas are so nearly ready to pick. Someone already has sampled them to assess readiness. They are not quite there yet. But very soon will be. Carrots and parsnips are blossoming (well not actually but you know what I mean).

The brassicas are doing well, though the transplanted red cabbage still look not entirely comfy in their new home. We inspect the last remaining brassicas (excepting kale) in the seedbed and see that they are now summer purple sprouting broccoli. Yikes. Other recent sowings of winter cabbage (yes I know there are some already in the main bed but I like to be sure) and kale have come up. Summer raspberries are also beginning to ripen and one majestic loganberry is daring us to pick it. Blueberries are still an intriguing shade of green rather than blue.

The corn is definitely having a growth spurt and we hope that the french beans will catch up. They are in the game but seem a little shy. The onions have rallied and are getting weekly doses of magic juice. We have great hopes of rivalling Mr G in this year's show.

We have been experimenting with making a shelter to provide shade over our bench, as it is very hot in full sun and there is no shade elsewhere. The search for Sir N's perfect shade solution continues.

24 June 2009 - Viral carrots

We are entering the season of plenty.

Brought carrots to work for Sally and David. See their feedback here (if necessary, scroll to 24 June 2009).

6/7-13/14 June 2009 - 24 Hour Rolling News

Two weekends' worth in one blog. There is simply not enough time to garden, do allotment, tend greenhouse and now blog. But we must try. The greenhouse is very beautiful and even has some things in it, mostly tomatoes which is ye traditional greenhouse croppe. However, we have enlivened the proceedings with a melon (cripes!), cucumber, chili and sweet peppers. Whether any of these will survive the mysterious rituals of "damping down", raising blinds (wot blinds?), temperature control and ventilation who can tell. As far as our loyal readers are concerned, the chief value of the greenhouse is the opportunity it affords us to get more developed stuff on the plot at an earlier point.

(There may be editorial changes to this post along with pictures.)

Rather than go Bed by Bed as in recent blogs, we'll just give you an overview of proceedings.

Seeds sown - more Winter Cabbage and Kale in the seedbed, additional remedial peas for what we had fondly hoped would be a flourishing pea/mangetout area but is sadly not (fear not, the other peas at the end of the plot are doing great). This is a mystery, as we did dig in two trenches there of household compost.

Plants moved/planted - practically all the brassicas have been moved from the seedbed to the brassica bed. These are broccoli (2 sorts) and red cabbage. Not much space left so the winter cabbage/kale can only be moved once the summer crops are eaten. Everything on this bed looking very healthy, including the first broccoli which are now developing their calabrese heads, so here's to the Power of Lime. And the new netting solution not only looks great but seems (touch wood) to have prevented any Cabbage Whites from invading and laying their dastardly brood. But we mustn't count our eggs (or cabbages/broccoli). We donated two broccoli seedlings to Jan and Pat. Sunflower seedlings planted at the end, along with a couple of runner beans.

A few french beans and corn, sown directly into the ground, have come up. However, there are large gaps. Plan B (sowing some at home, buying from Homebase) has been put into action. The weird thing was that by accident and certainly not be design there were exactly the right number of seedlings to fill the gaps - spooky.

Weeds - weed weed weed weed, along along the bank and a huge effort in the Pagoda, where the many tall grass stems were getting seriously out of hand.

Construction - we began the assembly of a temporary shade shelter thingy to affix to the shed roof, as we have no shade on the plot.

General progress notes - all appears to be doing well, other than the peas mentioned above. We have been carefully selecting carrots as delicious hors d'oevres. Munching a just picked carrot is true joy. One of the first early potatoes made an early entry into the world due to the vigour of the weeding exercise and it was duly served with supper. We take a bite and are instantly rewarded by the sublime taste of early potato, a reminder of why we got so much into growing our own in the first place. There is really nothing like it - no butter or salt needed, just the true taste of potato.

The recently planted broccoli and squash appear to have survived, bar one which went to the slugs. We purchased a large pumpkin seedling and have defiantly planted it on the bank, surrounded by a temporary plastic pot and many slug pellets. And strawberries! We have now picked our first bunch and they are lovely, though evil mice have had a go at a few of the ripe ones. We put down traps baited with strawberry - which are completely ignored. Rats (ho ho). Onions, shallots, parsnips and garlic all looking healthy, and indeed, the overwintering onions look almost ready for eating.

Unfortunately, the runner beans sown into the Pagoda seem to have been consumed which is sad for me, who likes eating them. Although we remain hopeful that one or two might defeat the weeds and rise up.

Soon we will be eating, on a regular basis, broccoli, onions, garlic, cabbage, carrots, strawberries (and blueberries), potatoes and peas. Yum. And that's before all the bean and courgette frenzy.

Weather notes: very rainy few days has made a huge difference to the plot. Plenty of sunny days, some quite hot. We now have a sprinkler device (we have to keep up with Jan and Pat after all).

Philosophical note: I ponder as to what our harvest will look like this year, in comparison to last year. We did so well last year, knowing very little. Now we know more, but will this in itself make any difference? There is no doubt that we will have a different kind of harvest - more garlic and onions, less peas. But that is part of the "fun" and a cost-benefit analysis (hours worked/output) seems totally inappropriate under the circumstances.

30/31 May 2009 - Phew wot a scorcher

Lots of work on the plot this weekend which was beautiful - hot and sunny with a slight breeze. We divided our forces so that N was engaged in erecting (ahem) the new Greenhouse which is great, and I did a lot of stuff on the plot. There are photos but frankly one is a little cream crackered so forgive me this time for not adding them.

Aside from the usual strimming and weeding (we do seem to get a lot especially around the borders which is a real pain) the following activities took place.

Bed 1 - chard is beginning to bolt and the overwintering onions are looking like real onions. Big job was to sort out the various onions as it seemed that there was a lot of space being wasted with the erratic germination of the original sowings. I am confident that I now know the meaning of the phrase "to know one's onions" as you really have to know what is what when sorting out the various seedlings. Suffice to say after a lot of pondering bed 1 is now the happy home for all the onions that have emerged, including the remedial onions sown at home. Not many red onions, alas.

Bed 2 - garlic is going nuts and the space vacated by the various onions has been given a bit of compost from the blue bag. We are using this as a temporary nursery bed for 1 courgette and 3 squash seedlings, duly planted and watered. I also used a new anti-slug product, a kind of gel that claims to be kind to nature etc whilst being deathly to slugs. We will see.

Bed 3 - the seedlings sown direct are looking great, as is the spring cabbage. They are carefully covered with enviromesh. I moved the first sown broccoli (February??) into the same quadrant as the spring cabbage. They are already showing their heads - they are calabrese. Unfortunately they have all wilted with the shock of the move though we are optimistic they will improve with judicious watering.

Bed 4 - just watered the maincrop potatoes and removed the purple sprouting broccoli.

Bed 5 - all traces of kale and rocket now removed (both covered with some hideous grey bug thing) and put onto reordered compost area. 3 courgettes and 2 butternut squash were planted, again after a bit of extra compost was added. Very excitingly the corn and beans sown a few weeks ago are beginning to appear. We have some "spares" in case things are not altogether successful and have been offered some corn seedlings by Derek. We are great believers in sowing direct, even though we will have the greenhouse to start things off. Will our lives change? The peas are beginning to show too, though I am confused now between peas and mangetout. Oh well.

Bed 6 - peas are still doing great one side, not so great the other, though hopefully they will catch up. Lots of weeding here including getting rid of comfrey, which though removed from this area, still has a grip. Never mind, it goes straight into enriching the compost.

Bed 7 - the carrots are looking terrific, and the parsnips too. No sign yet of the second sowing of parsnips.

Pagoda - strawberry fruits and apples are forming well. Some remedial work needed on the summer raspberry fixings. They seem a lot more trouble than the autumn variety, though the latter have invasive characteristics similar to comfrey. The seedbed was weeded and all is doing well. I planted some runner bean plants inside - and a giant pumpkin. (There is also one in the compost shelter.) No sign yet of sweet peas.

Bank - the weeds are doing well (too hot to weed up there) and the potatoes are growing. Rhubarb still looking ratty and only one asparagus has shown itself. We plan to plant the butternut squash up there once the first earlies are up.

It doesn't look much when you write it down but gee it's a lot of work. The plot is now beginning its summer phase with the removal of the last winter crops. It's not just the manual side of things, but the thinking and working out alternatives and spacings. One has to be flexible and not panic too much. Sunday was enlived by a lovely bbq with our erstwhile neighbours, Jan and Pat - a great way to celebrate progress so far and to look forward to the harvest to come. We are still eating last year's maincrops - probably just enough to last until the first earlies come - and the garlic. Frozen courgettes and broccoli are available if need be. Aren't we lucky!