The last week has seen a bit of action down on the allotment plot, after a number of weeks of allotment avoidance. Since I planted the Xmas potatoes back in early September, a combination of rain and laziness has kept me away, until last week Monday. I am “giving” one of the beds on our plot to a friend who can’t plant any vegetables at home for big dog reasons, and also because I quite fancy the idea of having a friend to weed and water with sometimes. So we headed down to the allotment last week Monday for her to take posession of her bed, and I started with clearing the sweetcorn, horrible celery, courgette and cucumber plants. Pete mowed the paths on Saturday, and I planted Autumn Champion onion sets and White Lisbon onion seeds to overwinter. I also put in some winter hardy Chinese cabbage to harvest in December, and some mustard greens. Along with the winter lettuce (can’t remember which now) that is doing pretty well, we should have lots of greenery on our plates for the next few months. We also still have some of our Kilaxy and red cabbages, as well as chard and perpetual spinach ready for harvesting now. This is the first winter that we’re trying to keep our crops coming through the cold months. Why not?
Written by The Little Green House on October 11th, 2006 with no comments.
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I put the potato tyre tower together a few days ago, using straw as the growing medium. Now we wait!
Written by The Little Green House on September 9th, 2006 with no comments.
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Well, the main crop potatoes are now up - pleased to say we have filled three full sacks (lovely hessian sacks from the Organic Catalogue people that smell like old garden sheds).
We have been a bit remiss with the weeding as we may be moving away, so don’t know if we will be able to keep this plot after Christmas, consequently the plot looks a bit wild. I am determined not to pass it on to the next person in to bad a state though.
The squash and courgettes continue to fill our cupboards, and we now have a steady supply of tomatoes - most of which get roasted and turned into sauce (see Giles’ post below).
I will post up my favorite Madha Jaffrey squash/pumpkin soup recipe later.
Written by exmonkey on September 9th, 2006 with 4 comments.
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I hope I’m not too late for late potatoes, but the weather’s still quite warm so…
Today I went to the local tyre-fitting shop and asked for 5 old tyres to make a tyre tower with. I’ve dropped them off at the allotment and am going back tomorrow morning to plant my potatoes. I found these simple instructions for a tyre tower at the Ravenswood Community Garden website.
If you have some old car tyres you can grow some potatoes.
Spread some newspaper on the ground.
Stack two tyres on the newspaper, and fill them with straw or soil.
Bury ten potatoes in the straw or soil and water your tyre tower.
When potato sprouts peep through, add another tyre and fill up with more straw or soil. Keep doing this as your potatoes grow, until you have at least four, five or six tyres in your tower. After the plants flower, take the tower apart and count your potatoes.
Photographs to follow and potatoes for December (I hope).
Written by The Little Green House on September 4th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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Apparently it’s not a snake, it’s a legless lizard called a slow worm. It looks like a snake to me though, and I’ve seen a few, being an African girl. On Sunday, Ayrton and I were picking some bits for supper at the allotment and I found this beauty when I lifted the carpet on top of the compost heap to add a few weeds. It just lay there, perfectly still and waiting to be photographed. Apparently slow worms are protected in England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 from being killed, injured or sold. We have invited our slow worm to stay and eat as many of our slugs as it likes.
Written by The Little Green House on August 22nd, 2006 with 2 comments.
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Just a quick note - checkout the various suggestions for the courgette glut that have developed on the two courgette posts.
Here and here.
It seems that to much courgette is a national problem.
Written by exmonkey on August 21st, 2006 with no comments.
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Came back from holiday to find a bumper crop of plum tomatoes on the allotment. They are so sweet our baby Tilly, 14 months old, loves munching them straight from the vine.
We have so many we need to preserve some, so here are two things we’ve been doing with them:
1) Making tomato sauce for freezing, and using in pasta sauces etc. Thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Cookbook for this tip. Cut the tomatoes in half and roast them in the oven with a clove or two of garlic and a little bit of olive oil. Then I skin them once roasted and sieve the roasted tomatoes. The pulp goes on the compost heap and the sauce goes in the freezer. It tastes almost as good as…
2) Roast Tomato Soup. From ‘Stones Spells for Magic Feasts’, a veggie cookbook from a cafe in Avebury, Wiltshire - near the stone circle.
Again, halve and roast the tomatoes with garlic and onion, scattered with oregano and basil (we used dried mixed herbs and fresh basil). When skins start to blaken, pulp in the Magimix. Put the puree in a pan with some red wine (we skipped that with no ill-effects), stock and tomato puree. Whisk to combine, reheat gently on the stove and then stir in some cream or fromage frais (we used double cream) when it simmers. Just delicious.
Written by giles on August 16th, 2006 with 5 comments.
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I don’t mean to spoil what is left of the summer by raising the spectre of the cold, damp, dark, depressing months to come, but it is time to start thinking ahead and preparing the ground for what will fill the spaces left by the potatoes, courgettes, corn and so on once they’ve all been pulled up, harvested and gone.
Of course, to be sure of having plants to fill these spaces, the preparation needs to have started some months ago when the seed should have been sown in modules. In spite of my best intentions, however, I have once again not managed to produce my own brassica or leek seedlings and am in danger of having an empty plot over the winter months and an empty larder next spring.
Am I despairing? Certainly not. All is not lost. I have not got this far in life without discovering that there are few disasters that can’t be repaired by going shopping and if you happen to find yourself in the same boat as me then read on and rejoice.
There are plenty of safety nets out there for allotmenteers as unskilled or disorganised as me, or for those who have recently taken on plots and need plants quickly to fill recently cultivated beds. Delfland Nurseries caters for those of us who try to be organic by providing plug plants and seedlings all year round, and at reasonable prices (no, I’m not on commission). True, it will always be cheaper to grow your brassicas from seed yourself, but at £1.50 for 5 cabbages, they’re still pretty reasonable. Alternatively, Dobies are tried and tested (though not, I think organic) and seem to get good results - we had some lovely over-wintering onions from them last year.
So, a plot full of healthy, thriving vegetables with minumum effort. What more could you want?
Written by Pumpkinsouper on August 16th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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Our spinach beet is growing beautifully at the allotment and it’s time to start eating it. These pasties were inspired by the recipe for Chard Pasties in the Five-a-Day Fruit & Vegetable Cookbook.
450g spinach beet, trimmed and chopped including stalks
2 tbsp butter
2 small or 1 large onion, finely chopped
10 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
80g Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 to 1 cup fresh brown breadcrumbs
6 tbsp single cream
For the pastry:
2 1/2 cups plain flour
generous 1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
beaten egg, for glazing
To make the pastry, place the flour in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter. Add the grated cheddar cheese and a little cold water to mix to a soft dough. Add extra flour if the dough gets to sticky. Knead gently on a floured surface. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
Place spinach beet chopped leaves and stalks into a heavy-bottomed pan, cover and cook over a low heat for 8 minutes until the stalks are tender and the leaves wilted, shaking the pan occasionally. Strain, pressing out the excess liquid and place in a mixing bowl to cool.
Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onion and bacon until the onion is lightly golden and the bacon is browned.
Add the onion and bacon to the spinach beet and stir in the Gruyere, breadcrumbs, cream and seasoning to taste. Preheat the oven to 220′C/Gas 6.
Divide the pastry into four and roll out into rounds. Spoon the filling onto the centre of each and dampen the edges with water. Bring the sides together over the filling and press together to seal. Brush with beaten egg and then put on a non-stick baking tray. Bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden. With the leftover edges of the pastry rounds that I cut out, I rolled two smaller rounds and with a little filling saved, made two mini-pasties for the children.
Written by The Little Green House on August 7th, 2006 with no comments.
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Another of the collective with a current courgette glut, I’ve been trying out some new recipes. This is from The Complete South African Book of Food and Cookery, with some amendments. It is a winner in our house.
3 large courgettes, thickly sliced
2 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
500g minced lamb
1 tsp flour
1/2 tsp dried oregano
200ml vegetable stock (or whatever you have available)
freshly ground black pepper
brown sugar
red wine vinegar
3 large tomatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
2 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbs soft breadcrumbs
Sauce:
2 tbs butter
2tbs flour
300ml milk
salt & freshly ground black pepper
100g feta cheese, crumbled
2 egg yolks, beaten
Put courgette slices into a colander and sprinkle liberally with salt. Leave 30 minutes to drain, then rinse and dry slices on recycled paper towels. Heat oil in a frying pan and saute courgettes until golden on both sides. Remove courgettes with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Add onion and garlic to the pan and cook gently until soft. Turn up heat, add mince and cook until it changes colour, stirring and breaking up lumps with a fork. Sprinkle with flour and oregano and stir in, then add stock and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook gently for a few minutes, stirring once or twice. Taste and add a touch of brown sugar and vinegar as needed.
Make the sauce: melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and cook, stirring, on gentle heat for 1 minute. Remove from heat, cool a little, add warm milk, stirring until smoothly blended. Return to heat and stir until boiling. Season with salt and pepper, then stir in feta cheese, remove from heat and whisk in egg yolks. Stir 2 tbs of sauce into meat mixture.
Turn meat mixture into a greased, wide but fairly deep ovenproof dish. Arrange tomatoes in a layer on top, then courgette slices on tomatoes. Pour cheese sauce over courgette and sprinkle with Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Bake in a preheated moderately hot oven (190′C/Gas 5) for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Serves 6.
Written by The Little Green House on July 23rd, 2006 with no comments.
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