Hungerford allotment blog - grow your own, harvesting and vegetarian cooking. Enjoying allotment wildlife, weather and other things that catch my attention.
Enjoying time on the Marsh Lane Allotment site in Hungerford, Berkshire.
A record of successes, failures and a handy reminder for me.
From 2017 each post title brings a song to add a little extra music to the world - enjoy!
We had a visit to the plot yesterday, mostly to pick some tomatoes. It was such a warm day that we stayed a bit longer to chat and were glad we did as suddenly there was an air show going on overhead
It was rather fun watching the sky with fellow plotholders and seeing all those bi-planes. And then there were parachutists with red smoke and also apparently wing-walkers - amazing! It was a shame I only had my little camera with me.
And, as if that wasn't excitement enough for one weekend - a frog has moved into our pond!
I took the mesh cover off it last week as I cleared some of the duckweed (it all grew back) and obviously froggy liked the look of it.
Today Jamie and I got on with working - no aerobatics to entertain us today, but the frog's still there. We did a lot of clearing, weeding and edging.
The carrot bed and sprouts plot - look how dry the earth is!
The leeks bed - not many leeks this year but hopefully they'll grow nice and big
The strawberry bed - masses of runners were removed
I also cleared the rest of the dried beans - soya (edamame) and Borlotti. There are quite a lot.... just have to shell them all now...
Jamie is going to pickle some of our Longor shallots this week - we finally bought some pickling vinegar - so they're at home now waiting to be prepared. And we pulled a Nicola potato - they are nice looking tubers; not slug-eaten and quite large.
There are a few of the Aviditas tomatoes which I'm going to add to salad lunches. Jamie made patatas bravas last week and will be making it again this week using the lovely larger tomatoes which are still in the greenhouse - they aren't Lizzano, which they're meant to be, but they are tasty.
My salad lunch is going to be very red this week - beetroot, tomato, red chard and red sweetcorn. I may add a red onion too for good measure :-)
I really wanted the Double Red Sweetcorn for the HAHA stall at Hungerford Food Festival on 7th October, but I'm not sure it's going to last that long; The covering leaves are very dry. And the kohl rabi are only tiny seedlings at the moment so they aren't going to be much of a show in 3 weeks time - luckily there should be plenty of squashes!
Aah, Autumn is definitely upon us, even though it was lovely and warm in the sunshine today - still Everything's Cool For Me as the title translates (apparently). Oh yes, and it has the word 'plane' in the title <ahem>. Enjoy!
Our soil is very dry too but rock hard still so we can’t do much with it at the moment. We have a frog that lives in the pond filter housing. It’s strange to find them in your pond at this time of year.
Wow, your plot is looking really good! I'd love the space to grow lots of leeks and shallots - I keep looking out for open waitlists for local allotments in hope! I'm trying to harvest corn cobs as I need them but I noticed a couple have got mildew just starting, not sure why. What do you do with your dried edamame beans? I've only eaten the beans fresh from the pod.
Is your frog still there? I do hope so. I was excited when I found one in my make shift pond in the garden for a few days, but then it disappeared my little heart sank.
And, as if that wasn't excitement enough for one weekend - a frog has moved into our pond!
I took the mesh cover off it last week as I cleared some of the duckweed (it all grew back) and obviously froggy liked the look of it.
Today Jamie and I got on with working - no aerobatics to entertain us today, but the frog's still there. We did a lot of clearing, weeding and edging.
Jamie is going to pickle some of our Longor shallots this week - we finally bought some pickling vinegar - so they're at home now waiting to be prepared. And we pulled a Nicola potato - they are nice looking tubers; not slug-eaten and quite large.
There are a few of the Aviditas tomatoes which I'm going to add to salad lunches. Jamie made patatas bravas last week and will be making it again this week using the lovely larger tomatoes which are still in the greenhouse - they aren't Lizzano, which they're meant to be, but they are tasty.
My salad lunch is going to be very red this week - beetroot, tomato, red chard and red sweetcorn. I may add a red onion too for good measure :-)
I really wanted the Double Red Sweetcorn for the HAHA stall at Hungerford Food Festival on 7th October, but I'm not sure it's going to last that long; The covering leaves are very dry. And the kohl rabi are only tiny seedlings at the moment so they aren't going to be much of a show in 3 weeks time - luckily there should be plenty of squashes!
Aah, Autumn is definitely upon us, even though it was lovely and warm in the sunshine today - still Everything's Cool For Me as the title translates (apparently). Oh yes, and it has the word 'plane' in the title <ahem>. Enjoy!
Magnifique!
ReplyDeleteOur soil is very dry too but rock hard still so we can’t do much with it at the moment. We have a frog that lives in the pond filter housing. It’s strange to find them in your pond at this time of year.
ReplyDeleteI think this frog was either living under our rhubarb or in our neighbour's greenhouse before it found that pond
DeleteWow, your plot is looking really good! I'd love the space to grow lots of leeks and shallots - I keep looking out for open waitlists for local allotments in hope! I'm trying to harvest corn cobs as I need them but I noticed a couple have got mildew just starting, not sure why. What do you do with your dried edamame beans? I've only eaten the beans fresh from the pod.
ReplyDeleteWell... that's a good question! I think my dried beans will end up in stews and soups. I wish I'd eaten them fresh actually!
DeleteIs your frog still there? I do hope so. I was excited when I found one in my make shift pond in the garden for a few days, but then it disappeared my little heart sank.
ReplyDeleteI hope froggy stays, I'll check at every visit that's for sure!
Delete