Bistro Bumpkin

We have recently bought a saucepan, and taken a small cast iron griddle up to the allotment, so we can cook a bit better. And get that harvest, to pan, to stomach time down.

The first proper allotment meal was our first pea, bean, mint and feta salad of the year. This was a staple last summer, but the broad beans and peas seem to be a little later this year.

It involves lightly boiled peas and broad beans. These are cooled a little and the outer white skin removed from the broad beans. I warmed the pittas on the griddle (well more burnt them really).

Collected plenty of mint. We had the amount in the photo each. The plates came from the site skip, they are in perfect condition so I have no idea why they were there.

And plenty of salad leaves (Saladin lettuce in this case). And then mix, add oil and vinegar and eat. Enjoy!

snow

Yesterday was a beautifully snowy day. I walked through the park whilst there were a few flakes whispering down but when I got to the allotment it started in earnest. I tried to light the stove but there were so many snow flakes coming down the chimney it kept putting it out.

I tried to do a little movie to capture it on my phone, but it doesn't really do it justice.

Today of course it is all gone, just a bit of slush here and there to confirm we didn't dream it.

Frosty Windy New Year

We went down to the plot for the first real amount of time since the New Year the other day. There had been high winds earlier in the week and our fence had been knocked over (which pepette kindly told us about through this blog) so we firstly fixed that. Not much else had been damaged or whisked away by the wind, and the only damage was caused by a bit of corrugated plastic from someone another plot landing on our broccoli and sprouts. Fortunately our broccoli and sprouts were rubbish anyway so we haven't really lost anything there.

We got the stove going pretty quickly which kept us warm while we were there, which was enjoyable.



We have bought some seeds from Garden Organic and some seed potatoes and jerusalem artichoke slips. We plan to get a little heated propagator for home to start off some things, and to start off some others in the greenhouse soon. When it is a little bit warmer. For now I think it is a matter of clearing up some of the beds (pulling out the rubbish broccoli) and covering some with plastic to try and warm them up.

So those are the next jobs, and the fixing up of our shed floor and a bench, and the LeanHouse™ and a bench for there too.

Rainy Days and Bank Holidays

Generally the same thing it seems. We hopefully took the tools along and started on the cold frame today but the rain soon got the better of us. So we retreated into the greenhouse. Consequently the aquilegia got potted on into bigger pots; my Mum has warned me about aquilegia, she says hers self seed everywhere, so I'll have to keep an eye on them when they get planted out and maybe try and pick them as cut flowers before they seed. I don't want to annoy our neighbours.

Next week we should meet a few more plot holders, we are having a work day to cut the hedge that overhangs the public footpath and to tidy some of the main paths in the allotment site itself. And then a BBQ - we have volunteered/been asked to do the BBQ, must look out some kebab recipes to supplement the burgers and sausages.

I wonder if you can BBQ rhubarb?

Wet Plot

Yesterday we went on a shopping trip to Lidl to take advantage of their garden specials. We cam away with 9 different kinds of seeds, a spade (with long handle), 5 fruit bushes - raspberry(2), gooseberry, blackcurrant, and redcurrant - and 3 packs of weed control membrane.

We also had a van so we went to pick up a few things from our storage container. One being a 2m x 2m x 2m metal cube frame. We had it made for an exhibition we did a few years ago and now it is going to be turned into a fruit cage.



So now one bed is cleared, membrane down, and the frame set up on it, with our 5 fruit bushes planted inside it. MrUrban's dad can get us net from his work so, later in the year, we will do that. We might get some strawberries for the other half of that bed.

It was sooo wet though, we couldn't really get anything else done. The stove wouldn't get going, or the incinerator, and we constantly had huge bricks of mud stuck to our boots. So we did that one bed, hung up some shelves and hooks, and then went home.

Getting a lot done in a day

Today was a good day, the first long amount of time we have spent at Plot 60.

First we cleared a load of the rubbish and then we got down to one of the two main tasks for the day - the shed roof. That all went well, all we have to do now if wait for it to rain and see if it leaks.

Next came the fence, which was as easy as we hoped. The fence posts were mostly stable so we could just screw the panels back on to them. And then came one of those things that you do and it starts off a chain reaction. There was a piece of wood on the floor where we wanted the gate to go, and it was going to make it arkward to take the wheelbarrow in and out of the plot to the skip etc.

So . . . we tried to lift the bit of wood and it wouldn't come up. This was because the end of it was underneath a door that was lying on the floor. So we lifted up the door, to try and get the wood out. And it was still underneath something, quite what we couldn't see at first. Turns out it was a bit of heras fence with grass growing though and over it, which was fun to prise up, then under that? Pieces of glass, several wrought iron gates, and a big puddle with 2 toads and 4 frogs in it. We managed to drag it all out of that way and at least this now meant that we had several gates to choose from.

Later we put the greenhouse to use and laid the potatoes out to chit, and planted some sweet pea, carrot, and salad seeds.

The clear up begins

We have plot No. 60, and it already has a shed with a greenhouse lean-to attached so we are very happy about that. It even had some tools in it, although it also had wet carpet and collapsing bits of furniture and floor as it seems to have been leaking in for some time. And best of all it has a stove - a rather ingenious homemade one consisting of a metal barrel with a door cut out, and then hinged back on, a flue, a paving stone for a base, and some metal sheets between it and the shed wall as a heat shield. Which will help dry out the damp once we get the place watertight.



On the actual plot there appear to be some beds laid out already, although it is very overgrown, and we think we can see some paths laid out of bricks under all the grass. We have spotted carrots, leeks and garlic that look OK. There were obviously some marrows, but they have died off and we may have some broccoli going on.



Yesterday was mainly about getting the worst of the rubbish to the skip that is on site for the next few weeks. Mainly chairs actually, so far we have found 13, I don't know if this person had a lot of friends, or if he was just hoping that he would make a lot of friends by having that allotment.

It was also a day of showing our faces and saying hello to a lot of people. I have to say there seemed to be a lot of folk that just happened to be walking past and then casually pausing so that they could say hello, but I don't blame them. I would have done the same. Hopefully they will be glad to see the plot getting cleared up which will give us some allotment karma points.