Update on the harvest

In addition to radishes that only a small minority actually like, we have now harvested mixed salad.

The main reason I picked the small leaves is because they were interfering with the potatoes. Allow me to explain.

When I planted the seed potatoes, I though I’d try and be clever and plant what some of the magazines call a ‘catch crop’ - ie a crop of fast growing stuff that can harvested before the main crop already planted in that bit of allotment starts to take over. That’s the idea anyway.

So I planted a couple of rows of ‘italian mix’ salad leaves either side of where I thought the spuds would appear. Unfortunatley, I must have put the potatoes in at a funny angle, because they decided to break through right along one of the lines of salad leaves. Hence the early harvest.

Why did I leave it as long as I did? I kept on expecting a nitrogen gas filled plastic bag to appear over the leaves. This never happened - I can only assume that you only get nitrogen gas filled bags in Spain and Israel.

So what does this stuff taste like? Plants. Stephen assures me that it tastes like salad, but I think it tastes like a handfull of grass. Maybe I don’t like salad either. Hopefully, the next crop will be more to my seemingly choosey palate.

Written by exmonkey on May 19th, 2006 with no comments.
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Make the most of abandoned plots

If there are any abandoned or overgrown plots in your allotments, have a look around them to see what you find. Apart from the ubiquitous stingy nettles and blackberry you might find something more interesting. A quick scout around ours turned up some horseradish and sweet cicely, both of which are edible. It’s important to identify the plant correctly as some poisonous plants look very like edible varieties. There are a number of books to help with identification but I recently bought the very useful Food for Free by Richard Mabey. As well as helping to identify the plants, it also gives a bit of history and, in some cases, help on how to prepare them.

It makes sense to ensure that the plot really is abandoned so that you don’t get accused of invading someone else’s patch.

Written by stephen007 on May 19th, 2006 with no comments.
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