Strawberry Harvest

With the mud still on 

This year our allotment has really kicked into gear. I'm not sure why to be honest. it's as weedy as ever and I've been slacking on my propagating.Allotment/Clare relations have actually been pretty bad in general. I feel like I don't do enough on it. I feel like it needs too much doing on it. I feel like I'm just not a good gardener. Of course this means I'm less enthusiastic, feel like I have to be dragged there, don't do as much as I should and the cycle continues.

In a jar 

So I feel like these strawberries appeared despite my effort rather than because of my effort. Our first bowl, pictured in post allotment bliss, weighed 1kg and since then we've got another similar amount. The first lot I made into a lower sugar, barely set strawberry jam ready to fuel cakes and biscuits.

In the freezer

Our second harvest I froze up for pies and smoothies. It's probably not going to last me all year but it will do for a start. There is something satisfying about stocking my cupboards and freezer with home grown goodies but don't worry, it didn't stop me from sampling some on the way to the chopping board.

Allotment Frittata

So it's spring and the winter coat has gone away. The allotment is dry enough to work on and some things are even starting to sprout. Using a combination of these new veggies - garlic chives, egyptian walking onion greens - and the over wintered ones - chard, daffodil garlic - I served up slices of frittata with our lunch.

If this is a sign of things to come I'm very excited.

Germination, Slugs and Coffee

It's March. Sowing time for a lot of things; I'm told it's a time of hope, but for me it's a time of worry. You see, last year I didn't have much luck with my direct sowings. Seedlings didn't have much of a good start. The ant infestation (I'm talking a lot of ants here) often left them disturbed and nibbled off in their infancy and then... slugs happened.

We've spent a year disturbing ant nests (seriously, we must have found at least 20. Lots and lots and lots of ants) and putting powder down. I guess we'll see later in the season if that worked but right now we're pretty ant free. As for slugs? Well my strategy is to dispose of them when I find them but mostly I expect to lose some of my crops and sow extra accordingly.

There are precisely one billion and seven magical home remedies for curing your garden of slugs. I've never found one 100% effective or all that useful on a large scale. A tactical strike at the perfect time can help though. I'm using coffee grounds - free from a local shop - to top dress the soil where I'm sowing prime slug snacks. That's a purple mizuna above. The coffee grounds should act as a deterrent until the seedlings get properly established and are able to withstand an attack.

But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

Storm Damage and Spring Promise

We've had some storms recently but as we live in a flat on top of a hill with only a distant view of the sea we didn't suffer any damage here. The allotment however? Well until today we hadn't got chance to check. When I did I found this: 

Our green house door has detached and deposited glass about the place. In the back ground you can see the pond being dug out. Unfortunately the weather didn't get the hole any deeper for us. 

One of the compost heap filled with plastic that the last occupants left (...thanks) for us lost it's front 

I was initially worried about the olive tree as it seems to have gone brown. I examined the leaves and this is just mud. Caking the leaves a foot off the ground. Shows how heavy the rain was. 

Was gratified to see this though. My onions have grown, nice and tall. Last time I saw them they were just bulbs. I'd covered them with chicken wire to discourage bratty birds. Seeing their heads up let's me know spring is on it's way. 

Which means I really need to get sowing next week...

Unusual Alliums

We've had our allotment a year and we've spent most of that time just ripping it apart. We've had to dismantle rotten edging, cut back the overgrown hedgerow, depose of all the plastic and the dismantled greenhouse (!!) we found in the overgrown hedgerow, and just throw away a lot of trash. There's still some falling apart compost bins which are filled with a mix of compost and disintegrating plastic, a half finished green house, the wall that's holding us up needs to be rebuilt and - oh yeah - we have to get the thing ready for planting.

Sometimes the idea of burning it all seems like a good option

While the main structural work has been stressing us out we've had a couple of tiny areas ready to bring us happiness. Barely a quarter of our plot in in production at the moment but the small area we do have had given us all sorts this year. Chard, kale, enough garlic to see us through the year. We've got a good collection of herbs and edible flowers. We just need more, more of everything, before we can start eating more home-grown vegetables.

But a box arrived this week that will help us make a tonne of meals in the future. Some awsome, unusual, perennial aliums. Perennial vegetables rock my socks for three reasons:

1. You buy it once and you're all set
2. Generally they are way less fuss than their annual counterparts
3. I get a cool crop for very little effort. 

I have a perennial kale that has my undying love and some globe artichokes that I'm somewhat indifferent to so it's about time we adopt some more perennial veg into our lives. As we love all things allium the Unusual Allium Collection from Otter Farm (now out of stock I'm afraid). 

I've wanted to grow Egyptian Walking Onions for years so that's what sold me. Along with it came Nodding Onions, Siberian Chives, Babington's Leek, and Daffodil Garlic. All of them now have a space on our plot and I'm so excited! 

Pickled Nasturtium Capers

When I first went vegetarian I was surprised to learn I could still eat capers. Don't laugh. I had read of them tasting like anchovies and they kind of look a bit like cockles. So I just sort of wrote them off as posh cockles and avoided them.

Eventually I learned the error of my ways and learned to love capers. This isn't the story of how I need a caper substitute because they aren't vegetarian (because they are) or the story of how I need to replace them because I hate them (I don't) This is a love song to nasturtiums.

Picking the pods an entire hair colour ago (or Sunday. You can call it Sunday)

Nasturtiums are the plant that keeps on giving. I can't imagine a veg garden without them. I'm currently using them as a ground cover for my raspberries. And as a sacrificial crop to dump cabbage whites on. And for their leaves. And for their flowers... To complete the cycle I need to use the pods.

I've snacked on the pods straight from the garden. They tasted like a freshly picked apple with a hint of horseradish. You'll know if that is something you want because you'll have just gone "ewww... indeed?" It's hard to describe, you might as well try it.

Prepare to Pickle

Now I'm growing allotment nasturtiums rather than balcony ones I finally have enough to pickle. 150g, brined over night, covered with vinegar. In a couple of weeks they'll be caper like. I followed the recipe from Preserves: River Cottage Handbook

Allotment Abundance and the Start of MoFo

September. The Vegan Month of Food. I'm so glad to be back. I'm going theme-less this year and I though we'd open with some very special food.

Sunday Harvest

Back at the begging of March we planted some Orla Potatoes. Orla are a blight resistant early with a fabulous taste. They are an all rounder leaning towards floury. Taste great sautéed or as chips. The skin is thin so I don't bother peeling it.

Vegan Hedgehog Substitute

We grabbed our forks, ripped them up and got some lovely spuds. We added to our harvest with chard, nasturtium pods, elderberry, french beans, asparagus peas and achocha (above). I'm looking forward to getting these on a plate. In the meantime happy eating everyone.

A Cheats Way To Plant More Bee Friendly Crops In Your Veg Plot

Just let things bolt. And when you see a bee drunk on pollen, all over the globe artichoke you didn't pick you'll see why.

There are other benefits too like edible flowers and self seeding. But that's a really happy bumblebee.

Beginnings and Ends

Tiny Crop

My raspberries are starting to trickle slowly to a end. There are a couple of fruits left to ripen but no flowers are left. Nothing new is coming. So what to do with these small spurts? Just eating them is always an option. Or I could freeze them. Freezing is a good option if you are only getting small bursts of fruit and want to combine them together to make something like jam or pie.

the most important meal of the day

I decided to combine the last efforts of my Raspberries with the first efforts of the blackberries. I foraged for these on the way back from the allotment and cooked them into Whole Berry Sauce (from Vegan Brunch because I'm obsessed right now) and served on a mini stack of pancakes Stephen made for us.

Grow Write Guild Prompt #10: Write about a plant that you do not understand. You tried. It died. What does it want?

Beetroot you bastard. It's not that I don't appreciate you. I adore you, you know I adore you. I go out of my way to buy you. I willingly pay for you. How can I love you more than that? And when I get you home I put you into a red flannel hash. And it seems like we are friends. We are friends aren't we?

Then why won't you grow? I've tried all different varieties: Cylindra, Boltardy, White, Choggia, Detroit. And the best you can do is a minuscule swell and a frantic bolt. I get that you might not like the conditions on the balcony. I try to put you in the biggest pots but still it's hot and dry. I'm sorry that I sowed you at just the wrong time this year. I'm sorry that you germinated to be met by a freak and harsh frost.

I'll do better. I'll do anything. so when I do my autumn sowing won't you grow for me?

[This post was written as a response to the 10th prompt of Gayla Trail's Grow Write Guild. Check it out.]

Allium Harvest

With the leaves starting to dry and fall over it was time to pull our onions and garlic. I had a great time with the onions this year. I didn't want to put them into traditional rows or just mix them up and put them all over the place so I mixed the traditional rows with my more polyculture-mishmash by panting them in a row along the path. They grew up big and strong and I got about 15 this year. Not too bad considering how pain in the ass our plot has been. 

The garlic was disappointing. It barely formed cloves. I think the long cold spell knocked them back, they weren't able to put on weight before it was time for them to die off. We planted loads though so we ended up with a fair few bulbs even thought they are tiny.

Next year I want more onions probably around 25 white, 25 red. The quantity of garlic was okay. I guess I'll just have to prey for better conditions next year. And I'm hoping to get some shallots this year. We didn't have enough space at the right time to get them in this time around. Next year though.

While I'm waiting for next year I'm going to get some bhajis on. 

Silver Linings (are red)

Although I'm still annoyed by the pests on the allotment, although I haven't been able to grow much and although the amount of work to do seems massive there is still joy to be found.

A peace offering from my plot.

This was my mid morning snack on Sunday. Enough to take the bitterness out of my mouth about another ants nest found and another slug attack.

A list of things I hate

Part of growing in an organic system is that you wait to see if you have a problem before dealing with it. So I have a problem. Or two.

Some people say this is fascinating animal behaviour, I say it's creepy

Ants

I knew we had ants nests on the allotment but I assumed that the disruption of digging the things over would have disrupted them enough for them to get the hell out. No. I still have ants. I hate them.

Yeah, just creepy

There where way more ants then we thought and even though I've personally put an end to three queens there are still far to many to grow successfully. They disrupt my seedlings, they eat my strawberries. They must be stopped. We're looking into traps.

Also evil, they are my favorites

Slugs

Just... carnage

My usual slug prevention method is to over plant and remove them as I see them. Possibly because so much of the allotment still counts as wilderness we're still getting a lot of slugs. Too many places to hide. again they are decimating my crops and stopping any seedlings from getting past the adorable baby stage. We may have to take drastic action here.

Even the nasturtiums? It's so ON.

Allotment Inheritance

When we got the allotment we noticed two things. One was a closely shaven crop of weeds, the other was the huge ass artichoke plant in the middle. Last year we cut a few of the artichokes off to give to friends, cut down the flowering spikes at the end of the season and then proceeded to do absolutely no maintenance on it.

Looking good (and like an artichoke)

Despite dire warnings it didn't die and this year we are ready with a fresh crop. Despite the insistence of some people it is a fresh crop of artichokes not cardoons.

Let's take a rant break. A man complimented me on my lovely cardoons, I corrected him and told him they where artichokes. He continued to tell me the merits of cardoons. Why he didn't believe me I don't know but our conversation continued in that vein. Considering a t-shirt that says 'despite having boobs I do know my shit' but I suspect I'd wear it out pretty quickly.

Soaked and ready for extensive prep 

Let's get back to me and artichokes. I've had them before, notably at the Riverford Field Kitchen, and I'm okay with them. But as I'm only okay with them and not madly in love the amount of prep that goes into cooking them seems excessive. I've managed to avoid it for a while. But as I'm growing my own I may as well steam some and see what happens.

What happened was this

• I spent forever chopping off the inedible bits
• I spent another forever steaming the edible bits
• by the time they were done I was really hungry

So I did the old gardeners trick of toss random steamed vegetable with pasta (and a little roasted red pepper, possibly some cheese... I forget) and it was... okay.

Now eat, and rest

So the verdict on my inherited artichokes. Well I'm going to keep them around and I may even eat some instead of just forcing them off on friends. It's a stunning plant, I'm glad it's there and I don't think it tastes too bad either.  

Breaking the rules and trusting the plants

Gardening has rules. It's true. Some of them are 'rules' old gardeners tales passed on. You're supposed to plant bulbs with the top pointing up but try pointing it down sometimes and see what happens (spoiler: it grows) Some rules are worth following though and this post is about how I broke one of those.

Move plants when they are dormant. It's simple. When plants are dormant they have pulled all their energy in on themselves and that's the best time to move them. However sometimes a plant just needs to be moved. And you can't wait for a better time.

Six inches too high. Either it goes or it's roots have nowhere to rest

Out allotment is tiered and we've made the decision to take some of those tiers out. Some are impractically small, some are mostly caved in anyway, so whatever. We decided to get rid of some of those tiers so earth is being shunted around right now.

A rhubarb was sitting precariously on top of a pile of earth that needed moving. We didn't always know this. When we got the allotment it had been cut down so we couldn't see the rhubarb there. Then we put a mulch over that part of the plot. In March when I removed the mulch there was a rhubarb. Surprise.

So I wasn't attached to the rhubarb. I didn't put it in and I really only like eating it one way. As I needed the ground beneath it to be six inches lower I had two choices: move or kill.

New home, please don't ask about the broken glass. 

Not to look a gift plant in the whatever I moved it. At the wrong time of year. But you know plants will generally put up with a bit of rough treatment. Their purpose is to grow after all. I'm also giving it a gentle start with some pampering.

I say pampering, it looks a lot like carnage. After being moved plants can undergo transplant shock, their roots aren't making the same sort of contact and everything is different. They aren't getting the nutrients that they need. The outer leaves are a great big energy suck for them. Leave them in and they'll go flaccid, weakening the plants in an effort to respire.

With A Haircut

So it's worth it to cut everything down to the young growth. It gives the plant less to do so it can concentrate all it's energy on establishing it's roots. There's still no guarantee it will thrive but taking a risk with rhubarb is better than having none at all.

Grow Write Guild Prompt #5: Listen

I missed prompts 3+4 because I was busy with the planning and aftermath of the wedding for what seems like forever. Let's jump straight in with prompt five then.

Prompt five is all about listening to the sounds your garden makes so I've made two videos mainly to talk about the sounds I can hear from my balcony and allotment. Also there are some bits on what 'relaxing' sounds like to me (loud), how I feel about people who don't respect that gardening can sometimes be a job and is always work (they annoy me), and my feelings on getting pooped on (it sucks)

These are the balcony sounds:



And this is the allotment edition:



[This post was written as a response to the 5th prompt of Gayla Trail's Grow Write Guild. Check it out.]

In The Tool Box: Cobra Head Weeder and Cultivator

I am a child of consumerism. I wish I wasn't. I'm a smart person. Smart enough to know when I'm being advertised too, smart enough to know that I'm being sold a disposable life style practically all the time and smart enough to know that it isn't a good thing. I'm as self aware as I am smart though and I have to admit that part of me wants it to be true. Part of me want to believe that this product will revolutionise my life. Okay, not the whole of my life but the bits of it that the product is relevant to at least.

Sometimes I've been right: there's the Vitamix, MAC lipstick, a flattering overcoat, the iPad. Mostly I'm wrong as evidenced by Urban Decay nail polish, interchangeable knitting needles, and about half a dozen lifestyle books that I bought before I gave up buying lifestyle books.

I'd given the Cobra Head had a big mental build up. I saw it. I thought I must have it. I imagined all I could do with it. I grumbled at every task I had to do without it. I begged Stephen to buy me one. For the good of the allotment! And he ordered me one. From America. A whole other country.

It's covered in mud or it isn't a tool.

Therefore the question that this review seeks to answer is does the Cobra Head live up to the hype that I piled upon it. The answer is yes, hell yes. You could stop reading now and just order one but if three words aren't enough to convince you after suffering through my long rambling opening paragraphs read on.

The Things At Which I've Found My Cobra Head To Be Very Good At

I've been using the cobra head for almost everything since I got it but yesterday I set aside a test bed around 50 cm by 50 cm to display what the Cobra Head is awesome for.

This bed, in between the grass path and the wood that is holding some horticultural fleece down is full of weeds. It wasn't two months ago. The weeds are mostly annuals, young annuals, with one or two perennials that escaped the last weeding.

I could dig this over but I want to disturb as little of the soil structure as possible. Digging that small of a space would be awkward anyway. I could hoe but some of the weeds have gotten large enough to make that a pain, and I'd loose track of the perennials before I could get their roots out. Along the back are some willow cuttings that I need to be delicate around so large tools, again, aren't going to be ideal.

What I'd do ordinarily is take out the perennials, probably with a fork, take out the larger annuals with a hand fork and then hoe over the rest. Using three tools, a quite a bit of time and a lot of the energy I don't always have to spare. Instead: Cobra Head.

First the docks and dandelions. The Cobra Head is built for this, it's sharp end tunnels down and dislodges the root. At least enough for me to get my hands down there and pull. It is an efficient tool, disturbing as little of the surrounding area as possible which is great for my poly-culture hodgepodge of a planting scheme.

Then the larger annuals get plucked out, grab hold of the tops and the cobra head goes in just enough to pull the roots. After that I just scuffled the weed seedlings out as if I were hoeing, leaving them there to die in yesterday's harsh wind.

Then I dropped a pile of dead grass on it, which kind of screwed up the after shot and had no horticultural benefit as far as I know.

Finally I used the cobra head to put some new plugs in there. When the weeds pop up back around them the cobra head will be perfect for taking them out without harming the plants I want. All of that took twenty minutes or so, could probably have done it in less had I not been messing around with a camera.

I'm in love with my cobra head and I'm sure the more I use it the more uses I'll find for it. Unfortunately the only way you can get one in the UK is order them direct from the manufacturer, it's a bit of a pain but even with shipping with the US it works out fairly cheap. At the very least check them out, but you really will want to buy one.

Potatoes

I have a bit of an internal debate when it comes to growing potatoes. They take up a lot of space. They can break your heart with blight. They are just so damn cheap to buy. Even so I can't not grow potatoes. For one thing Stephen is totally in love with them. For another digging up potatoes is one of the best, most magical moments a veg garden can give you.

In the ground: Orla Potatoes at the allotment

So I'll hedge my bets, dig a couple of trenches and plant Orla. They are a first early, which means they are out of the ground before the worst of the bight, and they have a lovely flavour. We've grown them before so we know the results will be good but with the allotment we'll have a lot more space to work with.

If I was to give a bit of potato growing advice it would be to do it like I have. To pick a first early. The taste of a fresh spud is worth it and there is less chance for blight. It's the sensible way to do it. There is no point growing a main crop. By the time they are out of the ground the price of shop bought spuds is low enough that growing them seems silly and blight seriously sucks so...

Highland Burgundy Red: waiting for their go in the ground

I bought a main crop to grow too. We bought fewer of the main crop so we won't be as emotionally invested if things go wrong (I'm telling myself) We decided on our favourite variety: Highland Burgundy Red. You can check them out here. They'll go in the ground at the end of march, and we'll hope for the best.

I'm really excited!