General
You are currently browsing the articles from 5 rods matching the category General.
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.
Read more articles on General.
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.
Read more articles on General.
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.
Read more articles on General.
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.
Read more articles on General.
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.
Read more articles on General.
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.
Read more articles on General.
Another five cauliflower plants had to come out this morning, following the two I removed last week. I still have about 15 plants left, so I’m hoping hard that they’ll escape the horrible disease. It seems that our allotment plot is riddled with club root, and I will have to review my planting choices next year to include more F1 hybrids with club root resistance, or give brassicas a break completely.
On a more positive note, the F1 Kilaxy cabbages that I planted (in the same bed as those pesky cauliflowers) have grown extremely well and are nearing eating point.
Written by The Little Green House on July 18th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on General.
The harvest is in full swing now. The courgettes especially, they seem to double in size every night.
Written by exmonkey on July 13th, 2006 with 12 comments.
Read more articles on General.
Most allotmenteers probably have one vegetable appearing regularly in their cropping hall of shame. You know, a particular crop that year after year stubbornly refuses to give results in spite of the hand-wringing, pleading and tender care that is heaped upon it.
My own particular bete-noir (or would that be a legume-noir?) is the courgette. Courgettes are famed for being so productive that even the most ardent ratatouille lovers have been known to stand outside their houses grabbing passers-by and begging them to take the spares off their hands. But not mine. While others are overwhelmed with a glut and are exploring ever more outlandish recipes (chocolate courgette cheesecake, anyone?), I have resolutely fruitless plants. I think in four or five years of courgette planting I must have harvested a total of four or five courgettes - and even my maths tells me that’s a pretty poor number of courgettes per year.
But no more. This could be the year that I break the cycle - look what I’ve got:
That’s at least three (three! Count em!) on the way. I couldn’t be more proud.
Written by Pumpkinsouper on July 7th, 2006 with 6 comments.
Read more articles on General and Experiences.
The first of the tomatoes. I wanted to see if they will ripen off the vine, so these got an early chop.
The new potatoes are somewhat abundant at the moment, which may become a problem as we cannot eat them fast enough. I think I’m right in thinking that you can’t store first earlies - so any nice potato (vegetarian) recipes will be gladly accepted.
Written by exmonkey on July 4th, 2006 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on General.
« Older articles
No newer articles
feedburner
