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!
I’m a bit out of date, I haven’t posted in nearly 3 weeks. Well, it’s been a busy time and I have a rotten cough/throat infection which is hanging round too long. But, apart from that whinge, it’s a great time of year - look, fresh veg for lunches and dinners!
We enjoyed quite a few strawberries, but not as many as we'd hoped. One of the peat-free compost bags was clearly a bit dodgy as the plants were not at all happy.
We’ve been living on broad beans for a while now, so many different ways to enjoy them but they’re just about finished as we’ll be moving on to courgettes. The leeks will go in the ground once the broad bean stalks go to the compost bin.
We had our Open Day on one of the hottest days of the year, it was a great success with plenty of visitors and lots of chit-chat. So exhausting organising and setting up on a sweltering day but there were plenty of volunteers and it’s always fun running the tombola.
Photo courtesy of Forbes
And the after-party was good fun too, with Ivan’s wine followed by a game of horseshoes - definitely need more practice!
The Open Day was the day after the Hungerford in Bloom allotment judging, so the plots were looking their best. Plot7 was included so we had a LOT of weeding to do beforehand. It did look tidier than ever and I even cleared and weeded behind the polytunnel.
We got 3rd place in our class 😊 mostly I think because there are quite a variety of different items growing on that plot. The plot looks better now after a couple more weeks with some heavy showers between sunshine but still much more growing to do to cover all that bare earth - otherwise a weed will find it! I’ve been filling gaps with lettuce seedlings.
The Incredible sweetcorn that Nia gave us is growing at a pace. I had to stomp the earth around them as they’ve had some really strong winds to contend with. The four tiny plants are the Lark variety that we managed to germinate - they shouldn’t be affected by cross-pollination apparently.
A few more flowers are appearing but our plots are definitely looking mostly green at the moment. The larkspur and nasturtium are the brightest spots for the many hoverflies and bees that have arrived with the warmth.
And I’m pleased to have noticed a lot of ladybirds over the last week. The HAHA Wildlife plot has plenty of colour for the butterflies that have turned up too.
So, as new veg is emerging, the earlier planted items are giving way. The radish are all eaten, but the radish rats tails provide a spicy addition to salads, along with the delicious peppery nasturtium, which caterpillars haven’t found yet. We ate the scapes from our garlic a couple of weeks ago. They were a very tasty mild-garlic addition to a halloumi meal.
And, I gave the garlic a couple more weeks in the ground but not long enough for the bulbs to properly form into cloves because the foliage was looking so dead and rust- covered. As a result we’ll have to eat it as ‘wet garlic’ and it won’t store for long which is a shame.
Oh, I finished my Best Foot Forward challenge for the National Kidney Federation - Thankyou if you sponsored me! I managed over 176,000 steps in June - a lot of watering was involved in those steps! So much watering!
Alfie very kindly gave us a Bokashi Composting kit. It literally ferments the green waste, rather than composting, and as it ferments we can use the ‘tea’ as a plant food. Seems interesting and all our broad bean waste has been going in there over the last few weeks - the Bokashi bran needs adding for the process to work.
Apart from the lovely plot visits I’ve been working (obviously) and prepping some documents for the BIG HAHA SUMMER SHOW. It’s our first year of running the show ourselves and it’s going to be in the Town Hall, so we really hope there’s a big turnout. I’m not involved in the organisation, but you know me, I do enjoy doing the posters, etc ☺️
So, that’s me caught up. We’re hoping for a thunderstorm this morning then we can go to the plot this afternoon. Song title and sadly relevant question, provided by Marvin Gaye.
We had another sweltering day for Open Day yesterday (Sunday).
Committee members were on site from 10:00 setting up games, bunting, sun umbrellas (lots of them) and picking flowers to decorate the tables. We had two gazebos: one that we bought with the Tesco Bags of Help grant money and the other on loan from someone in Hungerford.
About 30 minutes before the start time (2pm) we risked putting food out - lovely donated cakes, delicious sweet and savoury scones, squashes, home-made elderflower cordial with sparkling spring water and tea and coffee for those who could bear to have a hot drink in 30° sunshine!
The barbecue was surprisingly popular on such a hot day - well done to Richard, Neale and Jane who worked with that additional heat.
The tombola was a huge success as usual, with so many lovely donated prizes to try and win. Children were happy with their party bags if they won a bottle of alcohol!
The stone painting was really popular with the children - they've done it at school and love it. As part of #HungerfordRocks people place the stones around the town (country or further afield) and if you find one you should post a photo to Facebook with the hashtag and then re-hide it for someone else to find. I hope some of ours turn up online. The little ladybird won't though, because I painted that and it's on our plot!
People had tours around the site, peeping into greenhouses and checking how we grow different vegetables before seeking out the shade under the umbrellas or anywhere else they could find it. I even showed someone around for a new plot - that's what Open Days are for, just perfect!
Kate, enjoying the stone painting as much as the children :-)
Then at 5:00 the last of the visitors had gone. Phew, time for the volunteers to have a bit of relaxation.
And we crowned Neal with his Peoples Choice award for receiving the largest number of public votes for his plot - well done Neal, sorry you only got a round of applause!
So, at about 9:00 we left the site and wobbled home through warm streets and placed a few HAHA Rocks around the town as we went...
So, what better song than The Kinks? Though yesterday wasn't an afternoon for lazing...
Over the last week we spent a lot of time clearing weeds that we've been ignoring for a few weeks - so much grass, bindweed and occasional giant thistle! So the plots were looking their best for Saturday morning for the Hungerford in Bloom Allotment judging.
Look at that! Not a weed in sight.
It's good to have a reason to clear the plots up, but unfortunately we came 4th - so no certificate for us this year. Maybe our plots have a few too many flowers or too many gaps? Well, not to worry I love our plots this year - the weather has been really good for growing (along with plenty of watering).
On Saturday afternoon the Marsh Lane site was open to the public - we didn't get any public (! - there were lots of other local events on) but we got plenty of plotholders and cakes that they had generously made and donated.
So, even though we didn't get to show off our plots to other locals, we
got to have a good natter, eat cake and have a drink or two...
And, although we had some rain in the morning, it didn't rain in the
afternoon and the wind only flipped the gazebo onto its roof when it was
being taken down :-)
I pulled the rest of the garlic as they had all collapsed and the leaves have browned. The ones I pulled a week earlier are drying in the greenhouse surrounded by tomato plants.
The leeks are planted now and, at last, so are the pumpkins! One Atlantic (not so) Giant and two Jack of All Trades. I don't think these will even get us a fourth prize :-) They're planted in holes filled with manure but the ground hasn't been dug very well on that empty plot that a few plotholders are using for the competition.
Lunches and dinners have been involving courgettes quite a lot. We've bought a Spiralizer so at least meals look a bit different, even if they have very similar ingredients :-) That's my first fennel bulb. I'm shaving it into salads this week and eating it with the first of our Chopin potatoes from one of the bags - very tasty, but not a huge haul considering it was two plants - but it'll provide us with about 6 meals in total.
So, you can see where the blog title is derived from - thanks to George Ezra (and my cousin Jen for sharing the song)
Two weeks of extreme heat and still no rainfall have meant plot visits have mostly involved watering, watering, watering! But because of next Saturday's Open Afternoon and Hungerford in Bloom (Allotment) judging in the morning we're doing a lot of weeding too.
We fed nearly everything. The green things were given a nitrogen-rich mixture and the flowers were given a coffee-based mixture, which is potassium-rich as well as providing a bit of caffeine!
After the confusion with the pumpkins in my earlier post it turned out that the four gifts were courgettes - that took us up to 7 courgette plants! A few too many :-) So we swapped two of them for 2 Tromboncinos, a spaghetti squash and a Jumbo Pink Banana! They're all in the barrels and as they grow we'll try to encourage them across the wires over the top of Plot 46a.
And, we now have 3 pumpkins which have germinated - 1 Atlantic Giant and 2 Jack of All Trades. They're rather behind the other competition growers but hopefully we'll have something to show! And here's the first trug shot of the year - nice and colourful, huh?
I've cited poetic licence with the title song: Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me) by Cockney Rebel is to encourage you to visit the Marsh Lane Allotment site next Saturday! I wonder if there will be any lavender flavoured goodies there?!
I've been so busy over the last couple of weeks I haven't had a chance to take photos, let alone blog! Suffice to say we've been living on courgettes, potatoes and cucumbers!
I'm very pleased to say that the Open Day went really well yesterday and, given the dull, wet weather we've had over the last couple of weeks we were extremely lucky that the sun shone for much of the afternoon.
Plotholders are so generous with their time: cooking delicious cakes, savouries and pickles; digging crops to provide produce and of course helping out with the stalls. Others brought family and friends along to show off our site in all its glory during National Allotment Week. We even gained a couple of new plotholders on the day! No-one visiting the site could imagine that we won't be here this time next year - we should find out the future of the site next month...
It was so tiring yesterday I was happy to have a relaxing day today, picking veg, watering and chatting to plotholders in the warm weather.
I'm selecting a few things for showing at the Horticultural Show next Saturday. It's the first year that HAHA are helping the Royal British Legion so we're hoping lots of plotholders will join in. It's a small affair with the emphasis on fun and friendly competition. Jamie and I won't have very much to show - our runner beans are only just getting big enough to eat, so I'm out of the running for the longest runner this year - damn! That's one of my favourite exhibits. (Looks like there will be runners on the menu this week though!)
I've hung all the garlic in the greenhouse - cleaned up and dead leaves removed. And there are some onions drying in there too - phewee, it's pretty strong in there!
There are a few of our silverskins drying in there too, but most are still in the raised bed to grow a bit further.
We may have some tomatoes for the show but I'm not sure we'll ever get a whole truss of red ones! These are our Lizzano. Still our favourite variety to grow outside. The Sungold in the greenhouse don't seem so prolific and are more fussy with needing their side-shoots snipping all the time.
Here's another bit of colour - on our raspberries. Not enough for a bowl-ful or jam (at the moment) but perhaps we'll get more, though they aren't under protection.
We emptied one of our potato bags with the Tenerife potatoes. Probably about the same amount as we got from the one growing in the ground.
Jamie also pulled a Kestrel potato, which had masses of tubers.
In that photo you may notice our first celery, which is rather bitter but seems to have worked, and also our first Crystal Lemon cucumber and one of plot-neighbour Neal's lettuces - I've got a tasty salad planned for lunch tomorrow!
Also one of our purple carrots, though it's not as purple as other purple ones we've grown. What an exciting harvest!
