Borscht

I have made borscht tonight, I'm just simmering it now before giving it a bit of a blitz.

The beetroot isn't homegrown unfortunately, but the cabbage is. I love how cabbage looks when you cut into it: like marble.



I softened onion in a pan, added the cabbage and beetroot (about half the amount of cabbage to beetroot, by weight) added a tablespoon of cider vinegar, a bay leaf, and some salt and pepper, and then added stock and am simmering for an hour or so. I'll leave it to cool a bit, before blitzing in the blender, and then reheat before eating and serve with a blob of yoghurt or sour cream.

I think I'll make some red coleslaw, and some braised cabbage with the other cabbage and a half I have left.

no-meeting meeting

We had our allotment AGM the other day, but unfortunately there weren't enough people there to hold it formally (we needed over half of all the plots represented). However whilst quite a few of us were there we decided to have an informal chat about various things: the workdays we had last year, the bank balance, security (as always), plans for attracting some cash, help and materials, and the progress with the community garden which is in the process of being created on the eastern edge of our site.

So, it turned out to be a pretty good and informative meeting in the end. Especially good for us, as we hadn't been to one before as we got our plot in Feb last year.

I have volunteered to be on the committee too as they were looking for some new faces, and someone else has done too, so hopefully a bit of new blood will keep the energy levels up. I'm looking forward to helping out - the work days were good fun last year, and I'm sure we can build on them this year.

Another bout of weeding

You can now see our cabbages and onions a bit better, as we had a massive weeding session around them, they seem to be doing rather well, although there are only a few onions still in.


Most of them are drying on a rack in the greenhouse. I'm glad we did it, they are the first two beds we see as we come in the gate and it is much nicer now they are free of weeds. It was also nice not to be building something, but actually getting up close and personal with the soil and plants.

But . . . on the drying and building front, we are thinking of trying to make a solar airer/dehydrator. Saw a thing on TV on the "it's not easy being green' programme, and I think we have all the bits we need: wood, glass, black plastic, wire mesh. And hopefully soon we will have lots of tomatoes, so it would be good to be able to dry some and have our own dried tomatoes to put in pasta and on pizzas. Might as well make use of the warm sunny weather while it is here.

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.

Sauerkraut

Well, in a few months time anyway.

Today the cabbages and cauliflowers from Gert went in. We thoroughly weeded the bed (bottom left) which means there are probably only a million tiny pieces of whatever evil pervasive root seems to populate out plot. We then heeled the bed down as brassicas prefer well firmed ground. Next we dug holes - we did this a bit closer than the reccomended spacings as we want to harvest them small and young. We also alternated rows of the earlier maturing cabbages with the slightly longer cauliflowers which means alternate rows will come up, leaving more room for the cauliflowers later. Or that is the theory.

Also watching Gardener's World on Friday night finally got us to get round to taking out copper pipe and fixings down to the plot. We had some left over from doing the bathroom and now it is around the cabbage bed to try and keep the slugs off. We need to get some nemotodes too, to try and kill off the ones that are no doubt hiding in there.

We 'puddled in' the cabbages. Once the hole was dug for each plant some compost went in the bottom and then the plants went in. Then the hole was filled up with water and allowed to soak away, and then filled again and allowed to soak away again, before the hole was backfilled and firmed around the plant. I'm assuming this is to send the water down below the cabbage to encourage it to send roots long roots down, but I don't really know.

They now have fleece over them to protect them a little.

Back after Easter

Wayhay! Things are still alive!

A little view of the plot before we went away - must take another one soon as it has changed already:



Compare and contrast from those few short weeks ago (from a different angle) here.

And here is the plan so you know what is what. The photo is taken with back to shed.

The bonus of going away to demolish your Mum's shed is also that she ends up throwing stuff away so we now have some biggish terracotta pots, abig piece of wood that will make a good potting bench, and the old shed window for another cold frame.

Easter egg-replacement gifts from Mum, aunt, and in-laws include a small watering can with a delicate rose for watering seeds and seedlings in the greenhouse, a pot of 6 raspberry canes and a tayberry cane,, garlic bulbs, some sunflower seeds, and a b&q voucher. I also got given a lovely old red tilley lamp by my granddad (which hasn't been used for 30+ years but seems in working order) and we bought citronella candles; a wasp jar; a smaller parafin lamp; some fruit netting; some watercress, cress, mustard and garden huckleberry seeds; and another little chilli plant and a 'burpless' cucumber plant. The garden centres in Lancashire/Yorkshire seem much more satisfying than our local ones - I don't know if that is just beacuse I kow where the good family-owned ones are down there.

So we have potted up the chilli and cucumber, planted the garlic, and sowed the hukleberry seeds and sunflower seeds.

And then went round so see what had been growing in our absence.

The radish has come up and the seedling as quite big. The beetroot is just peeping tiny leaves through the soil. the rocket is well on it's way and the perpetual spinach looks like it is sending up the start of some leaves. The spicy salad has several good leaves and I think will be ready for the first cut soon. The carrots have gained some true leaves.

One close inspection (nose to the ground) some broad beans are starting to germinate (must get the chickenwire out) as are some peas. The onions have sent up some green. The starwberries has formed some new leaves since planting, and I have harvested yet more rhubarb for the freezer. All the fruit bushes have new leaves.

In the greenhouse some more aubergine seeds have germinated, and three of the tomatoes have too - the 3 vintage wine seeds I think. Still only 1 chilli one. All the bought tomato/chilli/aubergine plants have grown. Gert's brassicas had not died.

And the previously sad looking broccoli had flourished! Loads of lovely long purple sprouts. So it was stilton and broccoli soup for dinner.