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32 Things we have grown at out allotment!

bloggymum — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:36:41 +0000

As our first season draws to a close, I thought it would be a good time for a list!

We are lottie-newbs so if we can do it, anybody can. Our thanks go to Mother Nature for her gentle, guiding hand. So here, in no particular order, is what we have produced on the allotment this year.

Strawberries
Melon
Cucumber
Sunflower
Broccoli
Radishes
Onions
Potatoes
Cauliflower
Peppers
Peas
Beetroot
Rhubarb
Carrots
Shallots
Raspberries
Tomatoes
Turnips
Red onions
French beans
Spinach
Leeks
Pumpkin
Yellow courgettes
Swiss chard
Pak choi
Spring onions
American Land cress
Sweetcorn
Mangetouts
Lettuce
Chinese leaves

Brassicagate and blight

bloggymum — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:25:55 +0000

Up until the last week it had all been going swimmingly down at the lottie. Then within the space of a few days we were hit with a double whammy of devastation of our crops. First came an infestation of hungry caterpillars on the brassica bed. The outer leaves of the savoy cabbages rapidly began to resemble lace curtains! Our own fault really, as we should have been picking off the clusters of little yellow eggs and squishing them as fast as those pesky cabbage whites

The accused, at two stages of development...

could lay them, but I don’t really have the stomach for that. So, instead those tiny clusters of yellow eggs became like the elephant in the brassica bed that nobody spoke of. The brussel sprouts are beyond salvation and have been pulled up and destroyed. Now, I am of a generation scarred by the pungent horrors of farty-smelling, mushy, over-cooked sprouts. Never did I think I would mourn their demise, but I am pretty gutted that we have lost them. I have been persuaded by the dulcet Yorkshire tones of Mr J Martin to give them a chance. I was actually looking forward to serving up his ‘Brussel sprouts with pancetta’ alongside the turkey this year. Alas, twas not to be.

So, with the wounds from ‘brassicagate’ still raw it was with a heavy heart that I discovered that we’d lost our entire greenhouse of tomatoes to the blight. The plants were laden heavy with green fruit, and with a few days sunshine they’d have burst forth in a glorious display of reds. Lovely big, juicy ‘moneymakers’ and beautiful, sweet ‘piccolos’. Every single last one had to be destroyed. Blight is a fungal infection and can be identified by dark brown/black patches on the plant stems, brown patches on the leaves and brown, sunken, rotten patches on the fruit. Next year we may have to spray the plants with a copper fungicidal spray as a preventative measure, although we were loathe to do this as, so far, we have grown everything with minimal chemical intervention.

The same disease affects potatoes too, it was this that caused ‘Irish Potato Famine’ of the mid nineteenth century. Thus far (touching wood) our spuds look OK, but we are cutting down the haulms (the stems and foliage) as a preventative measure and will lift the potatoes for storage in the next couple of weeks to put them out of harm’s way.

Raspberry Gin

bloggymum — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:49:41 +0000

I’m very excited to have made my first batch of raspberry gin! I’ve never made anything of this sort before, although last year I was given a small bottle of sloe gin which was very nice indeed mixed with a bit of sparkling wine for a kind of ‘Kir Royale’ effect. I was thinking of cracking open the gin at Christmas when we have the family round, but hubby goes a bit doolally on anything stronger than wine, my sister gets all maudlin on gin (think Bridget Jones singing ‘All by myself..’ – I’m making her some blackberry voddy to be on the safe side), her hubby is teetotal and my dad is on so much medication that a shot or three of this might send him into orbit. Looks like it’ll be down to mum and I. This is the recipe I followed for the raspberry gin:

380g raspberries

400g white granulated sugar

1.2 litres gin

1. Wash the raspberries and tip them into a sterilised kilner jar or similar receptacle.

2. Add the sugar

3. Top up with the gin (any mid range gin is fine – no need to crack open the Bombay Sapphire!)

4. Shake jar daily until the sugar has dissolved

5. Put somewhere cool and dry. If the vessel is clear glass then wrap in brown paper as exposure to light can affect the grog.

6. Strain the boozy fruit through a fine sieve and bottle the lovely, rich liqueur.

I’m told the raspberries are delicious over ice cream or as a trifle base (just don’t drive afterwards!!)

When matured, the gin should be syrupy and rich, like a liqueur. All I need to do is resist it for the next 4 months…hmm, wish me luck with that!

Mr Tesco and the great blackberry scam

bloggymum — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:12:17 +0000

We had a ‘lottie meeting’ this evening. We packed up some crusty bread, cheeses, charcuterie and plonk and trundled off to the lottie to plan for the coming weeks. We hoped to sort out what needs to come out of the beds, what is being harvested and stored, what needs to be planted to overwinter, where each of our crops needs to rotate to next season, what soil treatment each bed needs etc. There is a lot to think about as we come to the close of our first growing season and it is all a bit bamboozling. I have to say it doesn’t feel a whole lot clearer after polishing off the plonk – but we did have a lot of fun! We also spent about half an hour gathering more blackberries. I weighed our haul when I got home and we’d picked about 3lb between two of us. I also pulled up some spuds because hubby was mortified that he had to buy a couple of taters for his lunch today – buying anything from the fruit and veg aisle these days kind of sticks in the craw! We’re still using our second earlies, dug fresh from the earth, and have a whole bed of maincrops that will be due to be lifted and made ready for storage in the next couple of weeks.

I needed to do a shopping order when we got home. I checked the price that Mr Tesco is charging for blackberries – a whopping £13.27 per kilo!! So, in about half an hour we’d gathered almost twenty quids worth of blackberries! Un-be-freakin-lievable. I can’t believe people will pay such a princely sum for something that is readily available, free and fresh right on their own doorstep. Mother Nature provides a veritable bounty of berries ripe for the picking at this time of year.

So then it got me thinking about eggs again and how much I resent paying nigh on £3.00 for a dozen free range eggs when I could be gathering those from my own hens (in a pretty wicker basket looped over the crook of my arm, of course.) Oh how my little chicken-mama heart yearns to ensconce Hennifer Lopez and all her feathered friends in a coop in our back garden. As I type this I’m looking at a little sign my mum bought me that’s pinned on the corkboard above the computer. It’s got a picture of a funky chicken and declares ‘This chick rules the roost’. Oh yes, those chickens shall be mine, muahahahaha!

Stuff it!

bloggymum — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:38:46 +0000

I was bestowed the gift of a marrow by my lottie neighbour. He advised me to stuff it. And stuff it, I jolly well did.

stuff it...

I took a pic of the beast with a can of beans beside it so you can see how huge it was. We had it with cous cous, peppercorn sauce and oven-roasted vegetables (red onions and yellow courgettes that we had grown along with chestnut mushrooms, red, yellow and green peppers, whole garlic cloves, cherry tomtoes all lightly drizzled with olive oil and black pepper, whacked in the oven). Yummy! (Sorry for the naff photos, the lighting looks like something out of a 70s cookbook. I really must learn how to use a camera!)

Stuffed Marrow

1 obscenely large marrow

1lb minced beef

4 shallots, finely chopped

5 tablespoons of stuffing mix

1 egg

Freshly milled black pepper

Peel the marrow and cut into rounds approx. 1 inch thick.
Remove the centre, leaving about 1 inch of flesh all the way around (I use a scone cutter to remove the centre)
Place marrow rings on a baking tray and brush lightly with olive oil
Mix all the stuffing ingredients in a bowl
Spoon the mixture into the centre of each ring, pressing firmly
Bake at about 180 degrees for 40 mins, turning once during cooking (a fish slice is ideal for this job)

Marrow à la stuff it...

The veg formerly known as 'broccoli'...

bloggymum — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:19:00 +0000

This week I ‘ave been mostly eating…broccoli!

Today I harvested about 8 heads of lovely broccoli and made up a huge pan of ‘Broccoli & Stilton’ soup. This, along with some good crusty bread, provided good, hearty fare for the boys’ return from Donnington. The soup went down a treat to a cacophony of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ (and the disgruntled slurps of one non-believer).

Oooh, lurrrvely!

Broccoli & Stilton Soup

(enough to feed about 300 peeps – adjust quantities accordingly)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

3 onions, chopped

8 heads broccoli

4 pints vegetable stock

400g Stilton (white, blue or half and half)

Splash of cream

Oodles of black pepper

Method

Sauté onions and garlic until soft but not coloured.
Add broccoli and stock, season with black pepper
Cook until broccoli tender
Liquidise in batches
Return to pan and add more stock if necessary
Crumble Stilton into soup and stir until melted
Finish with a splash of cream, but do not allow to boil.

Footnote: Now I am a lottie person and have access to classified information hidden within the leaves of gardening books, I have learned a thing or three about veg of which I was previously ignorant. It appears that what I (and maybe you also) have been calling broccoli (see pic above) for all these years is actually called calabrese. True broccoli is what has started to appear on our supermarket shelves, at an exorbitant price, calling itself ’sprouting broccoli’. However, I shall continue to call calabrese ‘broccoli’ and broccoli ’sprouting broccoli’ (confused yet?) as to call broccoli ‘calabrese’ frankly sounds a bit poncey and pretentious. If, in fact, you call broccoli ‘calabrese’ and I have just offended you by suggesting this is either poncey and/or pretentious, I apologise unreservedly and offer a bowl of calabrese and Stilton soup as a peace offering. I’ll even throw in a crusty roll, gratis, can’t say fairer than that, eh?

Windfall Apple & Lottieberry Crumble

bloggymum — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:42:39 +0000

We use a wonderful hall for our Monday home-ed get-together. This week I collected some windfall apples from beneath a huge tree in the grounds. I think they are golden delicious or similar eaters. I peeled, cored them and chopped out and discarded the crabby bits (which took me about a bloody hour!) I mixed the eatable pieces with some raspberries from the lottie. A simple nutty crumble topping completed the dish, served up with a blob of crème fraîche. Délicieux!

Rumbly Tumbly Crumble!

Ingredients

For filling

Windfall apples

Raspberries (foraged blackberries would work well too…)

(If using cooking apples then you will need to add a good sprinkle of sugar, according to taste)

For crumble topping

6 oz plain flour

4 oz sugar

4oz butter

3 tbsp mixed chopped nuts

Method

Peel, core and chop apples, mix with berries and place in bottom of ovenproof dish (sprinkle with sugar if required – I don’t add sugar if using eating apples as I like the crumble to be quite sharp)
Combine all topping ingredients, rubbing together until the texture resembles breadcrumbs.
Spread over chopped fruit.
Bake in medium oven (about 160 C) until golden (about 40 mins).

I have put down weights and cooking times as a guide only, as I don’t actually weigh anything out. Try varying the recipe. Sometimes I use porridge oats instead of flour in the topping and add honey instead of sugar. Mixed spice, ginger or a pinch of cinnamon can be nice too – play about and experiment with different fruits and toppings.

Look at my babies!!

bloggymum — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:38:32 +0000

You could be forgiven for thinking that I picked this lovely box of veg up from the local farmers’ market. But no…it came from our very own lottie! Nestling in the box there are new potatoes, cabbage, mangetouts, spinach, thyme and a lovely bumper cauliflower!

I stuffed some chicken breasts with the thyme and spinach, along with a crushed garlic clove and seasoning and oven baked them in foil parcels. I made the most delicious cauliflower cheese (yes, from scratch! Knickers to you, Nigella, you don’t have the monopoly on domestic goddessery!) along with lightly steamed mangetouts, and steamed cabbage which I dressed with butter and black pepper. The new spuds were simply boiled and rolled in butter and snipped chives. We opened a bottle of nicely-chilled white wine and ate outside. I can honestly say it was the most rewarding meal I had ever eaten.

This started a conversation about how everything on the plate, save the chicken, was home-produced and how hubby and I are in agreement that when we have the land and the relevant knowledge we would like to explore the possibility of raising our own meat too. I used to find the idea repugnant. I am (*hangs head in shame) a twice-failed vegetarian (forgive me Linda McCartney for I have sinned…) The first time I ‘gave up’ meat, I lasted about 18 months and the second time only about a year. The problem is, I love meat, I really :HEART: meat, I am über carnivorous. So, rather than trying and failing to give up my beloved steak, the idea of raising our own animals for the table, taking responsibility for their welfare, giving them a good life seems a far better option than buying factory-farmed meat. But baby steps are required here, first we need to finance a house move to somewhere with a few acres then, next step hens for eggs (I already have names for them all, like some broody chicken mama nutter!) and then maybe a couple of goats for milk…It’s been my dream since I was a tot to have a smallholding, and every time I pull up some spuds or pick something homegrown, my dream feels a little step closer to becoming a reality.

Veg-fest!

Strawbs!!

bloggymum — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:54:35 +0000

I am doing my happy dance!! Our first crop of strawberries at the lottie were harvested today. We planted six plants each of four varieties of sad-looking, bare rooted plants what seems like an age ago and it seemed too much to hope that they would ever produce anything resembling fruit, let alone the ripe, succulent bumpers we’ve scoffed this afternoon.

A job for the next few days is to peg the runners into pots filled with compost, still attached to the mother plant. After about six weeks the runners can be cut and these will give us another bed of strawbs for next year.

J & C returned home from school unaware that the first crop of strawberries had been picked and devoured (we meant to save some for them!) Another benefit of home ed is that you get first bite at the spoils!

Lovely, juicy strawbs!

Mad dogs, Englishmen and the saga of the greenhouse...

bloggymum — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:59:00 +0000

We’ve had such a great day. I woke up this morning excitedly anticipating the birth of a greenhouse at our allotment. As I munched my fruit salad for brekkie I could not help but dream of the luscious, ripe homegrown melons that I would be serving up for breakfast in the not-too-distant future. Hmmm. Needless to say, the best laid plans of mice and men etc… As of this evening, after a rather long, protracted labour (that almost saw me screaming for an epidural in the heat of the midday sun) …still no bloody greenhouse!

We started out quite pleased with ourselves as our small, but perfectly formed crack team of labourers (5 of us) seemed to be making excellent progress. A few other plot holders passed, clearly impressed, cheering on our efforts. We even mooted the idea of hiring ourselves out and cheerfully passed the next 15 minutes deciding on our company name and slogan – ‘Erections r’ Us’ – no erection too large, or too small… Ha! Maybe this was the point at which we took our eye off the ball?

Anyway, suffice to say that two hours later we were sheepishly pulling down the greenhouse frame and starting from scratch again. The second time round we paid more attention to the (admittedly, rather shabby) instruction booklet and set about the task with a slightly less gung-ho approach. So, 8 blistering hours (a total of 40 man, woman and child hours) later, we have a fabulously impressive greenhouse carcass but we’ve had such a lovely day that we ain’t going to let the small matter of glazing (or lack thereof) dampen our spirits!

I came home tired and happy, clutching a large pot of natural yoghurt. Hubby thought it was for the strawberries until I turned around and asked him to slap some on the backs of my rather red legs.

We had an impromptu barbie and for pud the kids and I made marshmallow kebabs that we held over the dying embers. I now have that lovely relaxed, glowing feeling that could come from either a) tons of fresh air and exercise b) spending the day in the company of friends, sharing some laughs and working towards a common goal c) the couple of glasses of wine I had with the barbie d) that warm, fuzzy, slightly smug, Waltonesque feeling a mother gets from doing things like toasting marshmallows e) heatstroke

I think its a lovely mish-mash of all of the above. Happy days!

hello...

Mildew — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:27:37 +0000

It’s been a while again hasn’t it? Hmm. Must try better next year. Hmm. Interesting idea for a new year resolution…

Anyway, hope you all had a lovely christmas and it was full of goodness. Best wishes for the new year too. Here’s an idea for next year’s tree; have any chillis still drying? Put a bit of glitter on them and plonk them on a branch. Nice!

Delays and excess costs

shannonbarclayaih — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:51:58 +0000

Without Teleplotter Organ:

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