Fame at last!

Woohoo! FAME!

Following on from the last post re the Knobbly Veg campaign, I sent off a photo from lottie of the loveheart spud, dug up and photographed by Nick earlier in the year. It is only now on the delicious Knobbly Veg Gallery :D

Meet 'Knobbly Veg 14'...

A proud moment indeed!

Downtime

I should be at the allotment today but I'm not!

I've booked next week off work so I am taking some time to chill. It has been insanely busy at the day job. Designing books for kids takes a lot of hard work you know! We've been prepping for the annual book fair where all our new ideas get showcased to buyers. We spend a good couple of months intensely working on covers to sell these new ideas. Our office is one of 3 - the smallest of the bunch with just a handful of designers, me included - 7 of us. We did about a third of all covers produced (just under 400 this year, I think) which is a big achievement as there are around 20 designers in the medium-sized office, and around 2 or 3 times as many as that in the 'big' office! I've also been in charge of orchestrating the whole thing - keeping tabs on illustrators, commissioning, fees, invoices, designs, feedback from our bosses... all the while getting not one, but TWO books off to print at the same time! No wonder I am pooped. I just couldn't face next week at work and Friday just gone was our official book fair deadline, so I made a break for it!

I am off to see my folks in Lancaster later on today for a while. It is my dad's birthday Monday so we're looking forward to a zoo trip (family tradition!). Maybe I'll make him a courgette cake?! I'm hoping the weather is alright as I've heard whilst we've had a reasonably nice spate of sunshine, they've had rain and gale force winds. Think I'll pack some warm gear and my waterproof! I'll be back later in the week to tend to the allotment - see if the butternut squash have grown much since I last saw them budding up, and dig up my 'rooster' spuds, along with other jobs. I also want to make some glassy goodies too. 'Back to the Future' is being shown at the cinema (HUZZAH!) so I'll be seeing that and out for a friend's birthday meal.

In between all those things, I plan on chilling. I find this very hard to do, getting 'lazy guilt', but I'll give it a good go!

Hope you're well doing whatever you are :) I am now off to make a batch of veg curry with squash, spring onions, green tomatoes, runner beans and a pepper. It will be based on the veg spaghetti curry. Something for the freezer.

Ohhhhhhhhh, now I get it!

After all my pontificating about what a let-down 'Vegetable Spaghetti' was I simply had to cook it! Now it all makes sense. The chunks I'd cut the flesh into got made into a curry and, low and behold, look what happens...

It breaks down into strands that look like - that's right kids - SPAGHETTI! ha! That'll teach me to waffle on :P

The curry I made was this recipe: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3982/tomato-squash-and-spinach-curry

I used home-grown tomatoes too - windowsill-ripened, of course! :) It is mighty delish! Something that could almost be made totally from lottie veg. I added some natural yoghurt this time but creme fraiche works well too. Do give this recipe a go. I've already made it with patty pans, but courgettes, pumpkins, sweet pots, marrow, any squash or even spuds would work.

Green Tomato Soup

(serves 6)

• 1 oz butter
• 1 lb green tomatoes, sliced
• 8 oz potatoes, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 pints stock
• 1 tin beans like barlotti/pinto/cannellini (I used the equivalent in dry lentils - around 1/2 mugful)
• 1/4 tsp dried sage/thyme/mixed herbs/whatever (I used 1/4 tsp sage & 1/4 tsp mixed herbs, 1 bay leaf)
• salt and pepper (JUST ADD PEPPER! My soup was too salty - forgot the stock has salt in it)
• a handful of rice (I used easy-cook brown - 1/2 a mugful)
• 125 ml single cream or a splash of chilli sauce (optional) (I used around 250 g natural yoghurt)

1. Fry the tomatoes, potatoes and onion in butter until softened.
2. Add the beans, stock, herbs, rice, salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer for 30 mins or until the veg is tender.

4. Blend the soup and return to the pan (I like it a bit lumpy).
5. Stir in the cream/chilli sauce, etc and reheat. (I didn't reheat it - it was still piping hot!)

MAHOOSIVE marrow and other miscellaneous veg

Well, up to the allotment I went last night. I've not had much time for it lately. I was gadding about on Saturday at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire at the Battle Proms. Very nice it was too. An excellent way to spend a Saturday night. The spitfire fly-by put a tear or two in my eye. I'm a plane fan and everyone cheering and being uber patriotic tugged at the heart strings ;) What a sap!

Sunday I was working on glassy goodies - listing things for sale in my folksy shop, as well as putting together some commissions.

So, last night I had a poke about, seeing what was new. Did a bit of weeding/hoeing/dead heading and all that jazz. I found my first hooligan pumpkin hiding under a leaf. Looking forward to these. They're pretty cool smallish striped numbers - well, they looked it on the packet! I await the stripes...

The two tomato plants my aunt gave me back in spring are doing so well! Last year the tomatoes in the ground died off. I am guessing from all the rain we had. This year it has been much drier and the tomatoes should be ripening any time soon. They are so laden and heavy with fruit I have had to support them with some cane hoops. Hopefully this will give a bit of support in the wind, keep the fruit off the ground and make watering a little easier to do. I may put down some straw mulch to hopefully stop the low tommies sitting directly on the soil.

I planted a whole bunch of stuff too (I was the last up there in the dark with a torch by the end!): hollyhocks, 2 rows of sweet williams, red cos lettuce, dwarf beans - 'purple queen' and 'stanley', as well as some 'the sutton' broad beans, again. I did most of the sowing post-digging up the last of the charlotte spuds in the big 'road end' bed. Potatoes are great for soil being easy to turn!

It was a bit of a bumper harvest. Loads of the charlotte spuds, some beetroot, courgettes, a couple of yellow courgettes and a MAHOOSIVE marrow :) My first ever marrow. I am like a proud parent!

Check it out! Pretty big. I thought it best to harvest it at this size, rather than leave it too long and lose it. My mum has a great marrow recipe so I'll be using that for this bad boy :)

This batch of spuds were a pretty impressive harvest, especially as I didn't plant any of this variety this year! These are leftovers from last year's laziness ;) Five and a half pounds of tastiness. I have saved some to chit for next year.

I grabbed a few beetroot too. These will be peeled then I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with them. I don't want to pickle them in vinegar, so maybe I'll find a recipe where you can appreciate their fab taste and great colour :)

And the courgettes just keep coming! I only have 4 plants and they are keeping me well in stock. I spoke to my friend at work and she has FIFTEEN plants at her allotment! Blimey!! She says her veggie friends are loving her though :) I really like this photo of them in the sink being washed, with the sink edges forming a frame. Maybe it is just me...!

And this arty arrangement is me drying them off before they go into the fridge. I am definitely going to make chutney, but I don't want it to be dominated by tomatoes or apples as a lot of the recipes are. I also will be making some into a chocolate cake! Watch this space :)

Oh, and what do you think of the new blog template? I kinda like it. Seems fresher to me and gives me more space on the page. Need to re-size my header but can't for the life of me find the file to do so! Ho hum.

I ♥ spuds!

Isn't nature magical?! Look what got dug up last night. :)

A quick 20 minutes... PAH!

I should have sorted this post out mid-week but I just didn't get round to it. I went to lottie for a quick raspberry pick. Ya know, a short 20 mins to harvest the first of the fruit ready for picking, then back home to do other things. Well, as usual, that 'quick 20 minutes' turned into a full-blown 3 hours! To be honest though, I was really pleased to actually spend a good chunk of time really working the plot. I got the hoe out and did lots of weeding. The generous watering the plants are getting is, of course, benefiting the weeds too. Once the hoe gets pushed around the plot is transformed and looks nice and tidy. I have very tidy plot neighbours so I usually get guilty if mine looks messy. Silly really!

I also re-jigged bits of the plot I'd planted out. Some plants were being overshadowed by others so they needed to be moved to get more light etc. The peppers in the med bed were being dwarfed by the tomatoes so they got re-homed. Also the charlotte potatoes from last year have popped up again (great, as they were SUPER delicious) and were encroaching on my aubergines. Aubergines, why do I bother? Last year they didn't do all that great and this year they don't look all that great either! Maybe next year I will learn not to bother....!

FINALLY, I have success with sunflowers. This is the 3rd or 4th lot of seed I've tried to get going and by a miracle I've got 4 plants looking pretty good. The rest of the seed were a no-show and the earlier seedlings I tried just got munched. I am amazed at how hard I have found it to get sunflowers growing happily. Aren't they meant to be a doddle, something a child could grow?! Anyhoo, I've moved these into final growing positions and put in some support canes. The way I got them to grow eventually was like with the peas - in plastic bottle tubes in an attempt to keep the slugs away.

I mentioned the rogue charlotte potatoes just now. Well, I had to dig up some of the plants that were growing through the path and over the aubergines - they had to go. Even harvesting a little early I got a good crop from the few plants I culled. There are still lots left. I am sure I will have charlotte pots popping up in the 'road end' big bed for lots of seasons to come, which to be honest, is no bad thing :)

I also spotted this red lettuce (variety unknown - any ideas?), growing under the patio apple, seemed to be nibble-free. Odd, I thought, as I've avoided planting lettuces due to the expected battle with the slugs. I can just about handle the holes in spinach as I love spinach so much. Well, reading blogs and lottie sites, as I do, I learned something I didn't know. Red lettuces don't appeal to slugs. Well I never, why didn't anyone tell me this before?! That's it, I am definitely stocking up on red lettuce seed to grow my own. I actually prefer the red varieties of lettuce anyway - it appeals to my artistic eyes more than the green. These are a few leaves I grabbed to munch on. Tasty :)

I also finally planted out the last lot of sweetcorn that was struggling along in the containers I'd planted the seed into. Poor things needed space to grow. I planted out 24 seedlings so if their older brothers are anything to go by they should do well. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and I did pick some raspberries and it did take a 'quick 20 minutes'! I just got the ripe ones from outside the netting and it was enough for a bowl of rasps for pud. However mostly they need a little more time before the main harvest. I also brought home some of the cornflowers which are making a great sugarsnap support, as well as looking fabulous.

The weekend is ear-marked for catching up on my glassy goodies business but I am getting a 'go down the allotment' urge already! I also need to do something with all those blackcurrants I picked the other day.

Planting out 'the survivors'

The survivors from my grown-from-seed selection got planted out last week. Disappointingly there weren't as many as I'd like, but then that's the way it goes. I guess it is all part of learning. Most things got planted in the big bed at the 'road end', the one I'd divided into 9 sections. I put the squashes/courgettes etc here as it is closest to the water source. Should be easier on my poor back!

This is how it looked post-planting. Flowers nearest to us: nicotiana, cosmos, dwarf rudbeckia; above them to the left of the photo is the 'med bed': aubergine, tomatoes, yellow pepper (more to add here). The rest of the squares contain various courgettes and squashes. Some squares are still empty but they'll soon fill up :) As you can see, the squashes etc are pretty weeny. Hopefully they'll sort themselves out asap.

If you're wondering what those are by each plant, they're cut-off bottles, to focus the watering. Last year I didn't do this and I expect water was wasted. I know some of the leaves got scorched, so hopefully this way will be better. While the roots get established I am watering normally, then I'll move onto just watering in the bottles.

I also planted out into the mini-beds. My chitted rooster spuds went in one, and the surviving early extra sweetcorns went next to them.

The flowers planted a while back in the first row of mini-beds are taking their time. The only one looking promising is this bed of gladiolus, poppies and mixed annuals, even if it does look messy. I am sure half are weeds!

I also netted the blueberry with the clothes-peg & cane system.

Firsts in the latest food harvest

I didn't get too much done this weekend down the allotment. Mum and I did pop down on Saturday morning to water - and, as usual, got distracted by other tasks! We did some harvesting which was the main reason for going. We picked raspberries and gooseberries and the final redcurrants the birds hadn't eaten! They look beautiful, like little jewels. Hopefully there is enough to make a jar of jelly. I am planning on making a cake and some oat bars with the raspberries and some chutney with the gooseberries - all will be adapted recipes I am sure :) Mum took some fruit for herself.

We also got to harvest my very first broccoli florets and a head of cauliflower. I also picked a bunch of sweetpeas but have found the flower stems are shorter on the new blooms. That means a smaller vase is needed! When I inherited the allotment, some produce was already there. I had a poke about in amongst the weeds and found a few (what I assume are) shallots ok to pick. I am drying these out and will see if they are edible!

We also picked, but didn't photograph, more charlotte potatoes (delish!) and the first globe artichokes. I am going to try mine tonight and see how it tastes. Will let you know! Cauliflower cheese is also on the menu. Yummy :) I hope you are enjoying your harvests.

I have now taken the netting off the strawberries and started to pot on the runners. Hopefully this will give me more strawberry plants to keep or to pass on to others, perhaps in a plant swap which they do at the allotment - not that I have had time to go to one yet!

1st spuds and other jobs

Ah, what a nice view. The photo above is the sight that awaits me as I pull up to the allotment. The sweet peas are glorious so I think I will have to have some of those in every year.

I thought I'd take a snap of that flowering shrub I mentioned in the previous post. Isn't it pretty? It says it grows to 30x30cm so I thought it would be fine in this old metal bucket. It makes me smile anyway, even if I can't eat it like most things on the lottie!

As I was tidying up the edges of the 'road end' bed and doing a spot of weeding, I noticed how many ladybirds there were on the plot. Of course, this is a good thing - I have plenty of blackfly they need to eat and they're just so darned attractive! This is a snap of one that I spotted (hardy ha!) on the runner beans.

Hooray! I got something ticked off my 'to do' list - I re-netted the broccoli as it was growing too big for the original net protection I put up. You can see the difference between the cauliflower (left) and the broccoli (right). They were the same before I re-netted. I don't think I need to re-net the cauliflower as they look like they're just about right. I did some weeding around the broccoli as I had the net off but I think I'll just leave the weeds under the cauliflower net for now. I noticed that all the plants had broccoli forming so I can't wait for that to be ready :)
I am getting a bit fed up with all the grass, and to be honest, a little embarrassed I'm not using all my plot for growing. Yes, I know I've not been there that long really (especially as I had most of May off!) and I am doing most of the work solo, but I am feeling guilty. I plan on putting 3 new strip beds in between the 'road end' bed and the 9-grid bed. I made a start on taking the turf off the first one in the stifling heat of yesterday. It was hard going as the ground is pretty rock solid from the hot weather and it must've been in the high 20s when I was digging. I did set up my chair and parasol with a big water-filled bottle for breaks but I didn't get as much done as I'd like before I started to feel a bit too faint to carry on! Ah well, at least I've made a start.

I'm a curious ol' thing and thought I'd take a peek at the progress of my charlotte potatoes. One of my allotment neighbours told me that once the flowers turn, the potatoes should be ready, apparently. My flowers on the pots were on the turn so I thought I'd take a peek at the new potato crop. This is what I found...Yes, there are potatoes to eat - and delicious they were too, but I think I'll wait a while longer before digging too many up. There were still quite a few tiny potatoes so I replanted one of the plants I dug up to see if it will keep growing. This is the 'haul' from 2 plants...

What's going on down't lottie?

So, as promised, here is a photo-heavy post about all the plants that are making progress in my plot...

the 'road end' bed. row nearest us: dwarf beans, hopefully on road to recover after they got a bit too much water, runner beans looking ok but got blackfly i need to attend to, 4 remaining pea plants looking a bit sad now. sweet peas in the background going great guns!

runner bean flower, plagued by bloomin' blackfly

sweet peas are always covered in flowers, even if i pick most of them the day before. my flat smells wonderful from all the posies i am picking :)

broccoli ready to burst! must re-net this asap. L-R: charlotte spuds, red baron red onions, broccoli (don't know the type), morning glory cauliflower

charlotte potatoes in full flower. might dig some of these up to see how they are doing. can't wait to eat these, especially mixing them with my homegrown mint from the 'shed end' of the allotment.

red baron red onions fattening up and starting to burst through the soil. can't wait to eat these :) this one is about 3 or 4cm across i'd say. yes, i need to get in and hand weed around these.

pumpkin flowers starting to form. there were some little pumpkins on these, like marbles, but they've dropped off. i think it is my fault from ham-fisted watering. i am now watering these very carefully. i'm still learning! very blurry photo!!

midnight courgettes flowering and another coming through on this plant. i bought these from the market and they've not been in long. they are already about 3 times as big as when i bought them!

chilli peppers seem to going really well so far. lots of flowers and quite a few fruits at the mo.

sweet peppers look like they are going to start flowering soon :)

was a bit worried about these 'sale' buy cherry tomatoes but they must be reasonably happy as they are starting to flower. phew!

sweetcorn (left back) and baby corn (right front). i usually weed mostly by hoeing but can't around the sweetcorn as they have shallow horizontal roots. will have to hand weed this soon.

this is the bed down the allotment from the 'road end' bed. it had parsnips and onions in it. i need to clear this and make another strip-shaped bed next to it to the right. it's on my 'to do' list. maybe this weekend?

ok, end of part one. part two to follow later! :)