Harvesting winter vegetables

brussel sprouts

I know I've been neglecting this blog for a while and for that I am sorry. My time has been very much taken up in travelling and writing elsewhere. But the allotment has not been neglected, far from it. I go up there from time to time when I can just to check that all is in order, that the pigeon defenses are still in place, not destroyed by winter winds, and to harvest those winter vegetables.

super leeks!

This year has been the best yet for me in this respect. In addition to the squashes in storage which roast beautifully, I am also harvesting brussel sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, red cabbages, green cabbages, parsnips, spinach and leeks.








So with the potatoes in storage as well, I havn't had to buy any vegetables at all this winter, except onions - my own crop was very poor this year.

Rhubarb sprouting! 

But the plot is a total bog after all the rain we've had, and I try to avoid walking on it as far as possible as that will damage the soil structure. The time I spent in the autumn covering all the bare soil with manure was time well spent. Not only have weeds been totally suppressed, but I hope that come the spring, and hopefully with some warm days and drying winds, the plot will only need a light fork over before sowing and planting begins.

The amazing thing is that the rhubarb already thinks it is spring and is beginning to sprout!

It's summer at last at the allotment!!

The allotment is looking wonderful at the moment, albeit everything is probably four weeks behind in development due to the cold summer we’ve had so far.

Looking at the healthy crops, the half decent soil, the lovely flowers covered in bees, it’s hard to believe that just 4 years ago this whole area was a stony field, covered in weeds and grass. What is more, it was a quagmire!! One very wet day when it seemed, at last, that we may be allowed to move over from our existing allotments, I climbed the gate and started walking into the field to get a closer look at what we may have to work with. Soon I was sinking into what felt like sinking sands!! Only it was really sticky boggy clay, with a consistency I can only describe as “gloopy”! How different it is now!

As we started digging our plots over that first winter of occupation, we were soon rewarded by the song of a skylark high above us, come to see what was going on. Of course it didn’t take long for the pigeons to visit as well, in their droves. Locust like, they can be guaranteed to appear as soon as some unsuspecting “plotter” plants out any kind of brassica, without protection, when these pesky birds come down to strip the plants bare to the midribs of the leaves. But we have netting and scarecrows and glistening CDs and other ideas to help keep the pigeons away, some methods more effective than others.

Now a friendly robin sometimes comes to see me while I’m working. She probably nests in one of the sheds dotted around the site. And we have pheasants galore! Beautiful birds, I don’t think they do much harm to crops, although I’m convinced that they eat my organic slug pellets that I put down!

So work is now going on in earnest up at the site and soon I’ll be harvesting strawberries, new potatoes, spinach, beetroot, chives, swiss chard, and hopefully some courgettes…

Is Spring here at last?

Unbelievably this is the allotment only 4 days ago!!

Today it is sunny - the first sun we've seen for ages - albeit still very cold - little more than 3 degrees centigrade still. But at least I have been motivated to venture outside and sow a few seeds - the first of the year I confess! I've found it so difficult to get going this year in the garden - it has been so wet, then so cold!

What have I sown? Well to start with I've sown two different varieties of Broad Bean into 3" pots of seed compost, watered them and covered them with panes of glass on the staging in the cold greenhouse. I hope the ever present mice out there will not be able to climb up to the staging - and anyway the glass covering will defeat them at the moment. Mice love digging up broad beans - all through the process of germination! Last year I sowed the seeds directly into the soil at the allotment - and lost the lot to mice!! The heater in the greenhouse is set to prevent the temperature going below freezing - that is all. I have given beetroot seed and asparagus peas the same treatment except that I have put individual seeds into 2" square modules in seed trays - and will transplant them out on the allotment in due course when it is warmer up there and they are well hardened off. I also thought it was time I sowed the tomatoes. These I have treated like the beetroot, sowing them into modules in seed trays. But I have brought them indoors and they are on a warm window ledge above a radiator, covered with cling film to keep them moist until they germinate.

Autumn on the allotment part 1

It has been an incredibly busy month on the allotment - harvesting the results of my labour, keeping the weeds in check, carting loads of farmyard manure from the communal heap by the gate (hard work that!!) to spread on any soil as it becomes free of crops. That's the secret of weed control - keep the blighters smothered - don't give them a chance to grow when the soil is bared!
We had to get a new motor mower - each of us thought the other was keeping the oil topped up in the old one - whoops!! Don't try that yourself! So the shiny new one arrived - trouble is I cannot start it! Never had any trouble at all with the old one, even in its dying moments - in fact I can still tickle a little life out of it. But the new one? No way! What is so frustating is that hubby starts it first time every time.

Took it up to the allotment the other day anyway - but after 30 attempts and me totally exhausted, I gave up. A fellow plotter arrives - starts it first time for me!!  So I did get the grass cut.
Yesterday I thinned out the brussel sprouts plants and replanted the thinnings. I did the same with the Swiss chard, "Bright Lights" so hope to get some good crops off both through the winter, although the latter won't oblige if it snows.

Anyway, these are some photos of what it all looks like now.

Turning a lawn into a vegetable garden!

"I'd really love to be able to grow my own vegetables," she said. "OK", said I, and with hindsight somewhat rashly. "I'll come over next March and dig a vegetable patch in your lawn - you just show me where you want it, keep me fed and watered, and I'll do the rest."
(I would add that said friend cannot do much digging and bending - hence needing me for this heavy work). So last week there I was, looking at this large patch of grass and wondering where to start!!

First we brought out a compass and decided where the sun was going to rise and set in relation to our new plot. It is a good idea if possible to have the rows running North to South so that both sides get maximum benefit from the sun.
Having thus decided upon the best site for our vegetables, we marked out a rectangular plot running roughly West/East with canes laid upon the ground. Then I set to work.
My first joyful discovery was that the ground was beautifully light and sandy, making work very much easier. So I set to with a fork and spade and skimmed off the top layer of grass and moss and weeds. I stacked these turves upside down in an out of the way corner at the bottom of the garden, making a heap. Over the next few months this should rot down well and can be dug back into the plot perhaps as early as next year.

The downside of such sandy soil is that it will dry out very easily in summer, and is readily leached of nutrients. So before we did any more, we went out in search of horse manure. Fortunately my friend lives in a very "horsey" area, with plenty of riding stables, and it did not take us long to find one such establishment only too willing to let us take away as many sack loads as we could manage. And so we came back triumphantly with about sixteen sacks, some well rotted, some quite fresh.
And here you see the trench I then dug where we will sow the runner beans this year. This I filled with some of the fresh horse manure, and covered it with soil. The beans will love this - they are hungry for nutrients and the manure will also help hold moisture if we have a hot dry summer (wish!).

That was all an afternoon's work, and we felt well pleased with progress - but tomorrow will be another day.....

Summer holiday time

One of the problems of holidays is that the garden and the allotment grow apace and there is much catching up to be done on the return home.

Luckily it seems that whilst I was away there was an adequate supply of rain, and no searing temperatures to desiccate the crops.

The rain of course means that the weeds grow, but it was exciting to come home and see that the cabbages, lettuces and carrots I sowed before I went away have all shown a healthy germination. I am hopeful that the lettuces and carrots will mature before winter sets in. The cabbages are winter and spring varieties so there should be no problem there.

What is most exciting is the sight of two tiny melons on the plants I grew in the greenhouse. Melons are difficult to grow in England outside. Last year they came to nothing on the allotment. But they respond, apparently, to warm soil, and the greenhouse soil, under a black fabric, should provide the right conditions. I really hope I can grow at least one to an edible size. Watch this space!

Note on the photo of sweetcorn - not my favourite vegetable; it is after all used for fattening cattle in other countries, but we seem to be obsessed with eating it ourselves. One trick to make it more palatable is to ensure it is eaten really fresh, as close to picking as possible. Otherwise store in the fridge until use, to slow down the conversion of the sugar to starch and to maintain their sweetness. But it's all those bits between the teeth that I really object to!!

Year of Biodiversity - Bug Hotels

I took these photos earlier this year at Chartwell, the former home of Winston Churchill, in Kent, and at Pensthorpe in Norfolk.

These bug hotels are being built all over the country, in response to the appeal for us to protect the natural habitats of our bugs, amphibians, creepy crawlies. Encouraging and protecting this natural biodiversity is good for us all - good for crops - good to encourage natural predators - to keep pests and diseases under control naturally, without recourse to harmful chemicals.
In my own garden I have had a "stumpery" for a few years now. This is simply a pile of old logs and twigs left in a sheltered corner with absolutely no disturbance from one year to the next.
But "stumperies" are not for those who love everything in the garden to be neat and tidy (my husband, for instance!) This is where the bug hotels like those at Chartwell come in to their own.
I am hoping to build my own bug hotel at the allotment over the winter and will let you know how I get on over the next few months.

A wonderful miniature lettuce

This lettuce is simply wonderful! It is a perfectly formed Iceberg type but in miniature!
Measuring only 2 or 3 inches across, tennis ball sized, it is perfectly formed, with a tightly packed crispy heart, and the perfect mouthful for a single helping; useful for the person living alone, or where only one in a household likes lettuce!

What is more, it is showing exceptional drought tolerance in this extremely dry summer, and is showing no sign of wanting to bolt. I can leave them all in the soil and cut them one at a time as needed.

Note the dry and stony soil.

More harvesting and seed sowing

Driving home from the allotment the distinct aroma in the car was of beef casserole. This came from the red onions I have just lifted - the leaves are well dried and died down and the bulbs look nicely formed and fat. I have therefore brought them home to finish drying off on the back patio and then I will make the smaller ones into ropes, in the same way as garlic. The larger heavier ones will be spread out in the frost free and dry garden shed for use throughout the winter.

The white onions need a little longer to mature for harvest.

The soil now released by the red onions is dry but nicely friable and I have lightly forked it over and raked it to as fine a tilth as can be managed bearing in mind the stones. The larger stones have been picked off and put on the paths within the plot.

My gardening book tells me that in a 4 year crop rotation plan carrots and other root crops can follow on from the onions. This is rather convenient. I think I have mentioned that my carrot crops have really failed this year - the plants look miserable and tiny and definitely not showing much sign of forming any half decent carrots for the kitchen. I am therefore going to sow the rest of the carrot seeds I have in my collection. The packets say sow until the end of July, so given the warm soil, then as long as I give the seeds plenty of water I hope I can grow a late crop. Let's see. I'll report back later!

The red cabbages are really looking good. I have never grown these before and am perhaps having beginners' luck. Some have a little caterpillar damage, but most of them look as near perfect as they can. The wire netting has kept the pigeons off, and in any event they seem to prefer the green brassicas, given the choice. Even pigeons can apparently have dietary preferences!

Squash Harvest

These were my spoils today. All these squash will make lovely soup, or will roast well, and the beauty of them is that they will store well through the winter at room temperature and be decorative into the bargain.

I place this green plastic on the ground beneath the trailing plants to raise them above any puddles when it rains (not that we have had much of that this summer!) and it also gives some measure of protection from slugs.

More Harvest

Yesterday was dry and warm; in fact it was almost unbearably muggy and humid. But in spite of that I spent several hours at the allotment doing lots of tidying up, harvesting, getting more barrow loads of manure to spread on bare patches, trimming the grass edges and keeping any stray weeds at bay.

I dug the shallots up and rather than leaving them to dry on the surface of the soil I have brought them home and spread them in the garage to dry - I am tempted to make ropes of them in the same way as garlic, (right) to hang in my kitchen for use throughout the winter.

I also took home all the remaining cauliflowers. They are slightly damaged by caterpillars and I soaked them in a bowl of water to flush the caterpillars out. This also brought forth several earwigs. All the creatures were given a new home in the compost heap!

With so many cauliflowers to deal with, I made some soup, using home grown shallots and garlic, with vegetable stock, and blitzing the softened mixture with cheddar cheese in the liquidizer. It tastes delicious and has been frozen for the winter. Those cauliflowers not used for soup will store in the bottom of the fridge for a week or so quite happily.

Also coming up ready for harvest are several of the squashes. Many of these store well through the winter or make delicious soup for freezing. Otherwise they roast well with a mixture of other vegetables for a hearty winter meal. More about those another day.

Harvest

The plot is probably at its most productive at this time of year. The runner beans are offering their first picking, there is plenty of lettuce, perfect beetroot, courgettes and marrows, the butternut squash are swelling nicely, the broad beans were splendid and the surplus frozen, new potatoes are in full swing and the main crop ones look good. In addition we are eating cauliflower and asparagus peas, and the rhubarb is still going strong.

Not everything has been successful. My carrots have been a disaster this year and I'm not sure why. Perhaps I shall do a pH test and see if that throws any light on their stunted growth. Could I have over limed for the brassicas last year?

But just look at these shallots.

I've never grown them before and this could be beginner's luck! Hard to believe that one tiny "seed" shallot planted only 3 months ago could produce 10 more! Not a bad investment return.
As soon as we have the prospect of a few dry warm days I shall lift them all and leave them for those few days on the soil surface to dry before taking them home to finish off and to store like onions for the winter. I could pickle some. Apparently if the summer has been wet (which this one hasn't!!) then shallots do not overwinter well and have to be pickled to preserve them for any length of time.

A Heron at the allotment

When I cycle around our country lanes I have more than once been deceived by a field covered in horticultural plastic, shimmering in the sunlight, that from a distance I have mistaken for a sheet of water.

I was up at the allotment early today. It felt like one of those autumnal mornings with a slight crispness in the air and the promise of a fine day ahead. There was a commotion in the sky above me and I looked up to see a crow apparently chasing a much bigger bird away. But the big bird soon returned, and as I watched it circled above me, coming closer and closer to me. Surely I wasn't about to be attacked, I thought. Then I saw that it was in fact a heron. And suddenly it turned around and flew away to the woods beyond the plot. What was this about?



Then I noticed I was standing close to the fleece covering part of the plot next to mine. Could it be that the heron had mistaken this for water, a pond in which it could go fishing, perhaps?

I'm inclined to think so.

Hosepipe ban

Today the North West of Britain has a hosepipe ban introduced. This means the inhabitants can fill their swimming pools and ponds with a hose, but cannot water the garden with sprinklers and the like.

Here in the South East of England we have no ban as yet, but all my garden water butts, and I have quite a few, are all empty or nearly so. I have resorted to lugging my bath water downstairs to water the flower gardens. I wonder if my flowers appreciate the "stress reliever" bubble bath, the "pamper and nourish your skin" bubble bath or the "aching muscle relief" bubble bath - the last named has been used rather a lot lately! I only use these on flower beds and my home made compost only goes back on those beds, so I do not worry about the possible tainting with chemicals that may ensue.

I have always resisted watering on the allotment, apart from when plants are establishing themselves. I have been of the view that there is plenty of water deep in the soil and that the plants should be left to their own devices to find it and not encouraged to be lazy! But clearly this cannot apply to shallow rooted plants, such as radish, and other roots, including particularly celeriac, which is notoriously difficult to grow well in a dry summer.

This year all my best principles have gone out of the window. The strawberry plants have wilted, the potato crop is threatened, the lettuces are slow getting going, the celeriac are standing still and not growing at all, in short most of the crops desperately need more water. So every other day or so I give them all a jolly good soak. This is far more satisfactory than giving everything a dribble every day. And after watering, the straw in the farmyard and stable manure, spread around the plants, is acting as a jolly good mulch, helping to conserve the water for the plants rather than letting it evaporate and go to waste.

PS Note the organic slug pellets. I will never use non organic pellets on the allotment.

Spring 2008 on the allotment

Some "plotters" as we are often now called were quick off the mark that first year and not only managed to get sheds up but also had the foresight to plant daffodil bulbs to give a show of colour that first spring. This photo was taken April 2008. It is not my plot!

There was plenty of construction going on all around the site. As well as the many sheds going up there were also plenty of strange goings on with posts and stakes as plotters planned mini orchards and fruit cages. And many were constructing raised beds with planks of wood and imported top soil.


I chose not to grow any fruit trees as I was concerned at the space they would take up. And I had no timber to make raised beds but I made my own improvisations as we shall see later.


For now just look at the difference another 3 months has made!! This was taken July of that first year! No one could really believe just how much progress was made and what superb produce we took home to eat that summer.

Look at those runner beans in the background, and the broad beans, broccoli and spinach in the foreground. The broccoli are totally caged to keep pigeons and butterflies away.
Pigeons found the allotment in no time and would strip brassica leaves down to the midrib given half a chance.
And the only sure way to keep caterpillars away from brassicas is to keep the butterflies out with suitably small netting!

In the beginning...

Here begins the story of my vegetable plot.
Three years ago, in winter 2007/2008, I became the proud lessee of a patch of ground in the middle of a grassy and oh so stony field. I had walked over the field earlier in 2007, when negotiations were progressing between the potential landlord and our allotment association, and it felt like I was walking over a kind of gloopy sinking mud, and that any moment this awful stuff was going to part me from my wellington boots.

There were no worms to be seen in the soil, and no birds in the air above us. It seemed a pretty barren field. But most of us were undaunted by such an unpromising start!

Our wonderful committee not only marked out our plots but gave them all a very rough dig with a rotavator. We were also lucky to have an unlimited supply of cow manure from a local dairy farmer. So that first winter the wise amongst us put that manure to good use and covered our plots with it - barrow load after barrow load of this stuff was carted across the field to our plots, and spread thickly, to be left to rot down over the winter months.


....and what a difference this thick winter manure dressing made! Those few who for whatever reason had not heeded the advice of our chairman and had not taken advantage of the freely available mulch found that, come the spring of 2008, their plot resembled a badly overgrown lawn - thick matted weeds and grass - well let's face it, an arable field. Not so much of a surprise there, but some budding gardeners never really caught up after that, and appear to still struggle to keep their weeds at bay.

As the old saying goes, one year's seeding is seven years' weeding. How very true.


Whereas those of us who had worked so hard in the winter cold that first year were handsomely rewarded. Sorry if I sound smug:

I even planted a few flowers - primulas - in the muddy cold clay - as a harbinger of that first spring that held so much promise for us all.

And the all important compost bin had high priority - seen in the distance. I made mine rather inexpertly from wooden pallets and string (!), but later we shall see, perhaps unsurprisingly, that it did not survive for very long.

I cannot remember why I covered part of the ground with fleece at that stage. Obviously I wanted to warm the ground for something, but goodness knows what!

My allotment had got off to a promising start.

In later posts I shall chart progress - how I marked out the plot, and why, the mistakes I made and the triumphs, the tears and the fun of it all, the camaraderie and the bleaker moments when thieves broke in. There is so much to tell.

And the rewards are huge. This last few weeks I have picked 50 or 60 pounds or more of the most delicious strawberries - they have been frozen, made into crumble with rhubarb, consumed fresh in vast quantities at every possible opportunity, and given away to all and sundry. And they have seen no nasty chemical pesticides to taint them. They are pure and as far as possible organic. And that is a huge bonus!