pea moth

We had loads of peas yesterday so decided to pod them at the plot so that we could fit them into our tupperware. Which is when ended up discovering the pea moth larvae. The cheek! Eating our peas!



Fortunately they were only in a few pods, maybe 6 or 7, but I think it might be time to take in the rest of the peas in case more damage is being done. We'll have to remember to net the peas next year when they flower.

However there were still plenty of peas left.


Along with broad beans, tomatoes, and salad. I think this is the first 'pest' attack we have had really (excepting wood pigeons and slugs), which is incredibly lucky I think.

then and now

A little post to just compare where we are now with where we were when we got the plot this February. It is nearly 6 months now and I came across the 'panoramic' pic we took in the early days, so I took another from the same position the other day. The 'now' is at the top in case you can't tell!


I guess it might not look that different to someone who isn't there most days, but it just seems like such a huge difference to me. I had forgotten what a huge overgrown mess it was. The ground was covered in layers of carpet and metal and wood, all grown through with weeds.

And on the 'architectural' side we have moved the compost heap from one side of the site to the other, put the fruit cage in, covered the roof of the shed, created and edged beds. And of course all the sowing and planting, and the recent addition of the leanhouse.

I'm feeling quite proud of us today. We just have to make sure we keep up the good work.

extreme close up

After reading the My Tiny Plot blog my new resolution is to try and take better pictures. She has some beautiful close ups. I'm not sure my camera phone is up to it, but I'll give it a go rather than taking a few hurried snaps before I leave.

plait

I've plaited our shallots today, into 2 long plaits.


I'm not sure I've done it the way it is meant to be done, but it seems to work. I did a kind of french plait: starting off with 3 shallots and then weaving more into the plait as I went along to keep it going. I knew having long hair as child would stand me in good stead one day!


They are now in the greenhouse drying off a bit more; red onions are now on the drying rack.

lean-house™ 2

We now have all the walls and roof cladded. We just need to put walls and doors on the ends, but we need to build wooden frames for that and our drill ran out of power again.

But it is sheltered in there so we moved in the tomatoes that have been getting a bit crowded in the cold frame. Because of the bars on the ceiling we can run strings from the tops of canes or grow bags up to the ceiling to stabilise them, which is great.

So we have 15 tomatoes (5 varieties) and 4 aubergines (2 varieties) in there now. I hope they like their new home.

Salad

I mentioned a salad a few posts ago, pea, bean and mint. We are going to have it again tonight with a little paté and bread on the side.


These are the raw ingredients from the allotment (well we won't use all those peas and the tomatoes will be with the bread and paté). I'll pop back and post another picture once I've assembled it all with the lidl feta.

[edit to add photos]

Check out those colours! The plates have orange and red tomato slices laid out alternately.

living off the land

We were just musing the other night how great it is to be popping to the allotment in the evening to collect food, rather than popping to the supermarket. Stuff is so fresh and tasty, and it is really relaxing too just wandering around seeing what is ready. It makes for slightly random meals, but that is quite fun too.

I'm really enjoying it, and plans for how to fit more beds in are afoot. More beans and peas are definitely on the cards, I think we might ditch rocket and spinach (but stick with perpetual spinach) and have more lettuce - which can go inbetween lots of other things. Carrots we are dithering about, they take up quite a lot of room, but carrot cake with fresh carrots is lovely!

And more strawberries, the plants are now sending out runners which is good.

All in all I think these first few months have been good.

lean-house™

The leaning greenhouse ( leanhouse™ ) is coming along. The batteries on the drills are getting past their best, so we can only do a bit at a time, but it has a bit of plastic on it now. We can clad it bit by bit though.

We are going to fill the trench that the back wall is in with the brick rubble we have, that should act as a bit of a heat store and help with drainage too.

Mmmmmmm-mmmmmmm

Harvests continue aplenty.


Latest recipe is a pea, bean, feta and mint salad. Equal amounts of peas and broad beans, then proportionally slightly more feta, and as much mint as you fancy (lots!). Mix in with salad leaves and add lemon juice and olive oil to dress. It's fantastic.

Also good were noodles with chilli (3 tiny ones from our plant), bacon and peas, topped off with caramelised shallots and finely sliced plum tomato. The tomatoes were the first from one of our plants and they taste fantastic, really fragrant.


I'm now wondering what to do with cucumber (no sniggering at the back) as we have two approaching readiness. I've seen a garlic chicken and cucumber recipe on the beeb site that looks promising, and also cucumber salsa to serve with fish, so I might try those. And there is always tzatziki (sp?) and raita.


We also made raspberry and strawberry cheesecake, doesn't really count as from the allotment as only the fruit on top didn't come from the shop, but I had forgotten how good proper homemade cheesecake tastes. Really simple too: digestives, butter and sugar for the base; cream cheese, greek yoghurt, double cream, and icing sugar for the top. Just add fresh strawberries and raspberries.


Mmmmmmm-mmmmmmm

from cane to oat

Today there were a lot of rasberries (and a few gooseberries, strawberries and redcurrants).

I had been planning on making some flapjacks to I decided to combine the two.



Which worked quite well I think. I put a layer of flapjack in the tin and then added a layer of raspberry, and then added another layer of flapjack.

more produce

This time shallots. They are drying on a old metal grid thing in the greenhouse.

and also the peas are now giving up a harvest every few days, here they are with the broad beans behind them and the onions in front. The bed behind is the potatoes.



The peas are lovely and sweet, and the potatoes (Arran Pilots) have a fantastic texture.

We have also planted some purple beans, and some more courgettes, in the random hope of having later season stuff. About 5 mins after I had planted the beans the Gardener's Question Time tip for what to do now was 'plant beans to try and extend the season', so I live in hope. They are in a bit of guttering in the bath (previously Bath'O' Salad™) so that they should be a bit easier to transfer once the time comes. I think we will put them against the east fence (the one behind the peas in the previous photo).

weeds, weeds and more weeds

We had a marathon weeding session on Saturday, the beds with broccoli and lettuce in, the strawberry bed and the cabbage beds. All were absolutely covered in green, looking very scruffy. Now they are lovely and neat.



The greenhouse is awash with greenery, some of the tomato plants we started from seeds are starting to get flowers.



Still don't have our plastic for the greenhouse so it is still a naked frame. I'm promised that it will arrive tomorrow afternoon though. I had forgotten that it was a bank holiday here in Scotland today, so that scuppered my cladding plans.

produce

Lots of things seem to be well on their way right now. The plum tomatoes are ripening:



The chillies have loads on them, as do the other 3 tomatoes, and there are 4 aubergines developing on one plant. The cucumber had shot up too, so there are 8 or so of those developing on the plant.


The peas are almost ready and so, I think, are the broad beans. Little gem lettuce we have in a few places and they seem to be doing well.

The weather has sent some broccoli and caulis mad, they are flowering already, so I guess that is them out of the game although we will at least be able to eat their small early offerings.

Today I discovered that someone else on our site blogs about their allotment Kennyhill Cottage so I've added that to my link list. They have had their plot a little longer than us, probably about 18months.

new greenhouse

Well all the plans from the last time I posted changed as we inherited (or re-inherited) some things which moved the greenhouse on.

A while (6 years) ago we designed an exhibition that had some 'leaning posts' - tall upright metal posts with padded cushions, so that people could lean back and watch an overhead projection screen. After the exhibition they went on a tour round various storage spaces and theatre companies and have now ended up back with us. So, greenhouse time!

It took us a day to load them and a load of wood onto the van and to the allotment (thanks to Sarah, and to Bard in the Botanics for the help). And then today we started building. We have ten of these posts and they are 1.5m wide and 2.3m tall. We are going to use 3 for the front and 3 for the back, and 3 for the roof. No idea what we will do with the 10th one.

They are going to go next to the current shed/greenhouse combo.



The walls are in and the floor is levelled, so just the roof to go.



We are going to clad it with transluscent correx. If we can convince a delivery company to send stuff to an allotment (tomorrow's task).



I think it is going to look great, the metal is powder coated in a teal blue which is quite good. And their will be loads of room for all our tomatoes, which are languishing in the cold frame at the moment.