Smart...?

I picked up this rather nice rug on a trip to the tip a week or so ago - not quite nice enough to take home but not far off...

Orange Squash - not!!!

The first proper squashes since the autumn of '06 are languishing in their rightful place on the front room window sill. We find they keep well here and they are a traditional feature of our Mothers' day celebrations in May!

There are others behind the curtains and stored in the kitchen...and we have eaten quite a few of the smaller ones already:-) The larger ones you can esee here are I thinK around 7lbs in weight. They have very dense tasty flesh - not watery at all.

Nov update cont....

This pic of the salad patch was taken during the early-ish part of November during a really cold spell...

...it is still giving us loads of produce and a real discovery to make the lottie more productive this year...I have also picked chard, kale, mizuna & florence fennel...

...we have discovered that as well as stir fried and raw in salads the pak choi is delicious steamed as well!

Visitors!!!

I am a bit late with my October visitors but I had a nice cup of tea with Phil this afternoon...

...and Peter and Marcia called in for a look round on their recent visit to stay with Mum.

Mike's Autumn/Winter Soup...

I used one 5lb squash, one cooking apple & three Jerusalem Artichokes, with two stock cubes, water to cover and a bit of milk. (Oh and a good bit of pepper too - ed.) It was a bit thick so needed thinning out with more water and another splash of milk.

Peel and de-seed the squash...

...you get the picture...

Then whiz it up with a hand blender & decant to bowls with pepper and grated mature cheddar or whatever strong cheese you fancy:-)

In the kitchen...

On the way out today i picked some greens and we had a stir-fry for tea...

...lottie ingredients were garlic, shallots, white & purple pak choi, mizuna and curly purple kale - I added ginger, pepper and soy and oyster sauces.

Probably doesn't look as delicious as it actually was...

Tomorrow (1st November) is officially Doyenne de Comice picking day according to Jane Grigson in her Fruit Book so I will try to get the bulk of them picked. We have been using some from the tree for cooked puddings to try and do them justice and waste less than usual - especially as we are not very good at getting them to ripen properly. (But when they do they are totally magical). Anyway I made this little tart for poorly Sue. Had made the case up at the same time sas the last apple pie.

I sautéed the pears in butter then added a little water and put the lid on for a bit then added sugar cooked a bit longer and finally maple syrup and turned the heat up and it kind of toffified. I then put it in quite a hot oven for 10 minutes. Seemed to go down ok and the bit I tasted wasn't a disappointment...The pears are from the garden not the allotment though.

October 31st pics

The Cherry tree I planted earlier in the year and from which we had one delicious pudding is waxing autumnal....

...and the new compost bin is replete with it's load of sweetcorn (at the bottom smashed with the back of an axe first like they tell you in books) and squash plants. I cobbled this together in a hurry lastweek and am very proud of it.

Behind it in Paul's lottie lurks the magnificent apple tree from which I created the pie below a few days ago. Paul is of the opinion it is apple "Charles Ross" but having read up on it I am sure that can't be right as that one is best up 'til Christmas whilst Paul says this one is best late on 'til May. I must find out from somewhere what it is...it is wonderful.

Here is the pie... It was made with one of the afore-mentioned apples & 4 "Lord Derby" also from Paul. The apple on the right made a pie on it's own a day or two ago.

31st October pics

The beautiful cosmos "Candy stripe" are still putting on a good show at the end of October. The hoverflies love them.

These squashes are all over now and have been rounded up and dumped in the new compost bin. Of which more later - in other words above so you probably already know all about it...

The Jerusalem artichokes are gravitating gracefully toward the greenhouse. I concocted my "Autumn/Winter Soup" yesterday - basically pumpkin, apple and Jerusalem artichokes with stock, milk salt and pepper - served with mature cheddar grated over it and home made crusty seeded bread. I madeit from the pumpkin (winter squash) which broke off early in the season and it was very tasty. Quantities were one 5lb squash, one cooking apple & three Jerusalem artichokes.

I left these beans "Rob Roy" from Robinsons to dry as Borlotti beans so they are now in the bathroom with the heater on.

Preparing the way!

Work at the lottie has been sporadic this month due to other commitments but I do have a backlog of photos to post as a mini review of the month.

Here you can see the work I did today in preparation for planting the apple "Annie Elizabeth". I have been doing a lot of work on family history recently and have discovered that "Annie Elizabeth was the apple at the bottom of my grandparent's garden at 1 Kenton Gardens. Google Streetmap shows only too clearly the apple is no longer there - and my Uncle Peter admits to digging it out years ago as it was on it's last legs. the apple is a cooker at it's best from Christmas 'til May.

First I cleared most of the rubbish...

...peeled back the carpet...

...and dug!!! This area has been under carpet for over 10 years now and was used as a dump when the houses at the back were under construction. It feels good to reclaim it as productive land again. The soil was as expected very compacted and pretty clay-ey with no apparent weeds at all apart from copious quantities of shocking white convolvulus roots. I dug these out with a goodly quantity of rubble and was very satisfied! Now I have to get as much as possible out of the gnarled old blackberry in the right hand corner....

Turnip-tastic!

I picked a few of our lovely little golden turnips a few days ago...

...and cooked them today as part of a medley of roasted allotment veg involving: turnips, potatoes, garlic, onions, shallots and rosemary - also Black Tuscan kale cooked separately.

Pumpkin' Pickin' Day!!!

Yesterday and today I picked the first proper pumpkins and squashes since 2006! The last two summers have been far too wet and cold as Monty Don was only saying in the latest issue of some gardening mag. or other.

Tee hee - lots of lovely meals to share in the winter months when it is cold and we need warming up a bit! In fact we have often kept pumpkins and had them as part of out Mothers' Day celebrations.

Little and large!

positively final sept pics!!!

sept final pics I

sept final pics II

Cracking Cosmos!!!

For the past few years we have been growing Cosmos "Candy Stripe" in the garden and at the lottie as we love the colours and the variety of the flowers They can be anything to all white all scarlet and countless beautiful variations in between...

...no two are ever quite alike.

Planting Garlic...

This week I planted the garlic and onions to overwinter in keeping with my new philosophy of keeping on top of things and especially getting stuff sown/planted whenever possible. It has really paid off with the salad stuff I planted late summer and that has encouraged me to keep it going as long as possible...

The protection is really against cats at this stage although I will probably modify it wjhen the shoots appear to keep the birds away as well - this mesh is very low so they might be able to reach through it:-(

Planting onion sets...

Same story with the onions as with the garlic really...

Recent pics iii

This is the sort of harvest we have been getting on a regular basis recently - we love it!!!

The turnips are getting to quite a good size in parts but I overcrowded all these little rows and will be a lot more careful with future sowings. I need to sow more thinly and not be frightened of doing a bit of thinning out!

This is possibly the last (or maybe the last but one) alpple from the James Grieve tree. There was one last apple left on the tree which had to be picked and was thus not a windfall. Triumph!

Recent pics ii

I have been quite diligent this year in removing mildewed or otherwise diseased leaves from the courgettes and squashes...

...and have been rewarded with lovely fresh new growth and a supply of small succulent fruit.

The winter squashes have been gioing mad taking over the place as they are wont to do in a good year when they ae thriving in the sunshine...

...and this one is crawling away even though you can't tell from the size of the fruit that the variety is 'Atlantic Giant'!

Recent pics i

One of the real pleasures of the allotment at the moment is the harvesting of the salad crops I sowed in the late summer - something I have never done before. I have several types of leaf anfd flower to choose from including Mizuna, Green and Purple Pac Choi, Nasturtian leaves and flowers, the corn salad (aka Lamb's lettuce) which self -seeds every year around where the cherry tree now grows, and baby chard leaves. i have been forgetting the borage flowers but will remember next time with a bit of luck...

Here is partof the salad bed...

...and another picking. I have started filling a tupperware or two when I get the chance - so much better than the bags on offer in supermarkets!

Here is some more produce - I have picked 19 sweetcorn and counting this year and they are beautifully sweet and tender The grains almost literally burst in the mouth with a freshness and sparkle unheard of in shop-bought produce which is picked too late and stored too long.

Sue is 50!!!

Sue turned 50 yesterday and naturally allotment produce played a fairly large part in the festivities...only the best for me darlin'...etc...etc

We harvested the first of the baby chard for a creamy tagletelli sauce, and although no pics I added the first two ripe sweetcorn to Colin Spencer's 'Celestial Soup'.

The posts supporting the artichokes have snapped on one side and must be replaced...

The harvested chard looked fresh and pretty as it waited to be chopped and wilted.