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!
That dark sky threatening our sunny High Street has been rather a feature this week. The sunshine has been blighted with heavy hailstorms and wind. The chilly temperatures have brought frosts and we’ve fleeced up the tiny plants in the polytunnel. Our plot visits have been rather short but I managed to complete the digging in one area - it’s always satisfying to see - it’ll be worked again as that’s where the spuds will be planted in a few weeks.
I’ve hoed and weeded the ‘orchard’ and the raised bed - I’m probably going to put some more herbs in so it’s a full herb garden and I also need to think about using them a bit more…
At the moment these are growing. I’ll need to keep them trimmed, especially the sage, but it’ll be good if they fill out more.
We’ve sown a small row of carrots (Nantes) and salad leaf in the polytunnel raised beds. The plan is to be harvesting them before the tomatoes/peppers are growing. I’m pleased to say there is room for Jamie and me to shelter in the polytunnel- we’ve needed it this week!
I dug up the row of parsnips from last year - they had regrowth so I wasn’t expecting them to be much good, though they made a pretty good spicy soup - a bit too salty but we have to blame the chef, rather than the veg for that! I’m clearly a bit out of practice.
On Friday we attended a ‘Quiz & Curry Night’ with some allotment buddies. Delicious veg and chick pea curry for the vegetarians. We did reasonably well in the quiz, which was very well attended - fundraising for the Wetland Reserve project, which now has planning permission, so that’s an exciting addition for Hungerford!
Thanks to Forbes for the photo
Can you see us in the photo? We’re the ones waving at Forbes, the photographer 😊. It was a fun evening and we won this marvellous raffle prize of “Greek treats”! And Ivan won the auction for a fabulous hamper of goodies - we’ll be sharing much of that one sunny day soon we hope!
That’s all for now, hoping to get a bit more plot-time over the coming week, which marks 2 months since I retired. I must admit, it doesn’t feel too different (yet), though I have forgotten everything about my job 🤠The song title is provided by The Killers in acknowledgment of the clocks changing to ‘British Summer Time’ today.
We’ve had an enjoyable month on the run-up to Christmas.
We’ve had a Christmas meal with allotment friends, which was a lot of fun! (That’s the only mention of the allotment in this post!)
We went to the Hungerford Victorian Extravaganza and had a cheerful time ðŸ¤
We attended an adaptation of A Christmas Carol in our Town Hall - it was performed by 4 people and was very good with some beautiful singing. I hope to see something else by This is My Theatre next year.
There have been a few very clear, cold nights between the rain and we were lucky to spot a few shooting stars of the Geminid meteor shower, without particularly planning it, which is always the best way to see them.
We’re having our bathroom converted so have been staying at the Bear Hotel across the road for a few days on and off. The work has disrupted our Christmas prep but we’ve really enjoyed our little ‘holiday’ and it’s so friendly and Christmassy over there.
The Bear is an old coaching inn dating back to the 13th century with a history of famous visitors including King Charles 1, William of Orange and Laurel & Hardy!
We’ve stayed in a couple of different rooms over the last couple of weeks and it’s been handy to nip back home to work in the mornings but I’ve finished for Christmas now - woohoo!
We’ve had our delicious Christmas Eve breakfast over there and now we’re back home, while the bathroom is just being finished. This is the festive breakfast room, but you can’t see the lovely buffet and cooked breakfasts on offer!
We’ve visited relatives and distributed pressies, cards and wreaths to some no longer amongst us - so I’ll wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and SEASONS GREETINGS until the 2025 review, which should include a few allotment photos! Here’s a beautiful angel from the cemetery.
And that ties in nicely with the song title - enjoy 🎄
I finally used the macrame kit my sister gave me a while ago (sorry Carolyn, I think it’s been used as a monitor stand for a few years 🤦♀️). I must say it was rather fiddly and I did have to unravel the plant hangers a couple of times. I definitely didn’t follow the instructions properly but they look alright and no-one will look that closely 🙂 Anyway, they’re perfect for that little plant and a re-homed spider-baby plus I bought the white pot for 50p from the Antiques Arcade in Hungerford - bargain!
Since my last post the weather has turned dry and cold - especially overnight. I picked all the outdoor melons as the foliage had died back and a frost was threatened - I’m hoping one or two of them will ripen at home. The melon in the trug was from the polytunnel and was so ripe you could smell the sweetness. And it was delicious.
And finally I’ve had some beetroot - so incredibly slow to bulb up this year. I’m trying to blame the weather but I know I should have thinned out the seedlings earlier - along with so many jobs that didn’t get done properly this year, but…. Plot7 did win third prize in the plot judging, I think maybe there wasn’t much competition!
On the last sunny day a week ago I planted 48 Snowball onions - lovely white ones. I put a net over them to deter birds/mice/squirrels from digging them out. The leeks and onions are going to be joined by garlic quite soon and the whole bed is going to be highlighted with salsify judging by the number of seedlings I found. Well, they have a pretty flower, so I don’t mind as long as they don’t get in the way and perhaps I’ll actually get to eat one next year.
I think plot neighbour, Neal’s, busy Lizzie’s are evidence that there was some frost on site, but it’s only hit a few susceptible plants so far.
Our flower plot avoided it and even got some nicotiana which has been attempting to put on a show for months.
And I do love the Cerinthe Major and the sedum which the bees were enjoying today too.
Our scattered sunflowers have taken advantage of what little Sun they’ve seen over the last week but they didn’t know where to look for it today!
The sunshine and showers earlier in the month have encouraged everything to re-grow - this was a bare patch of earth 4 weeks ago, now it’s a whole bed of nigella, valerian, cranesbill geranium, bindweed and probably a few other things - some welcome, others less so… I’ve been hoeing quite a bit but I think that’s just helping the seedlings, until the weather gets really cold - which I don’t really want!
So from that green foliage to the lovely colourful chard - it seems to have enjoyed the raised bed after a dodgy start. It’s so pretty - I just wish Jamie liked the taste of it 😊
We’ve just passed the Autumn equinox now so the days are getting shorter. Pull those curtains and snuggle in, surely all the fruits and berries mean we’re in for a hard Winter…. Brrr, we’ll see…
Tomato season has arrived on our plots. I’ve been looking up ways to use the tomatoes and passata was the easiest solution so I have some bags frozen now - they should last 3 months.
We used some of it fresh for this tasty pasta dish - it used up the last of last year’s yin-yang beans which I’d pre-cooked in the slow cooker for 8 hours, avoiding the overnight soak.
The British Tomato Association have some nice recipes so I may use the redcurrant tomatoes for a confit, otherwise they’re mostly good for salads or garnish. I was surprised to see that ‘Tomato Fortnight’ is in June which the Tomato Association consider ‘peak tomato season’ - shows the difference between commercial and home-grown! This was another trug from last week.
The radishes, carrots and aubergine were roasted with potatoes and halloumi and the giant courgette was cut into rings and stuffed with a chestnut stuffing.
Jacob’s Cattle, Greek Gigantes and Borlotti
You can see that I’ve managed to dry some beans, just in time as we’ve had some significant rain over the last few days and have measured 20mm on the plot. I may dry the runner beans too as the meagre amount that we’ve picked have already gone stringy - what a dead loss!
We were lucky that the rain stayed away for the Bank Holiday weekend. Hungerford’s Beer and Music Festival was on for three days. We had two lovely afternoons sitting in the Sun, listening to live music and drinking real ale plus the barbecue had veggie burgers - woohoo!
Cheers!
On Plot3 the squashes are trying to fruit - the Shark’s Fin melon (squash) has a couple of good-sized fruits but I’m not sure that the Festival or Taheri Melon squash are going to achieve anything edible but I do hope so!
Shark’s Fin melon squash
So today’s the last day of August, it’s seemed a quick, but beautiful Summer and I hope it’ll continue for a few more weeks giving the rest of our sunflowers time to bloom 🙄 Poor little plant desperately needed a drink that day!
Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush provide the positive song title as we move into meteorological Autumn and see what September brings us….
It’s been extremely hot again, reaching 30° and there’s still a holiday-feel in Hungerford when the Sun shines. We’ve enjoyed walks to feed the ducks in town and on Sunday went to the monthly Food & Artisan market and had a cake by the canal - lots of canal boats visiting. The allotments are further up the canal in that direction.
On Wednesday I took leave so Jamie and I had a trip to the seaside - Hayling Island, we haven’t been there for years. It was rather cold and windy 🙄 but we did enjoy some terrific thunder and lightning!
We went on the little train along the beach, well, why wouldn’t you?!
It was fun trundling along waving at people and we couldn’t have walked it.
We played on coin-push machines, had chips and watched seagulls arguing over some biscuits. Traditional British seaside amusement ☺️
We even had a paddle in the sea - I was panicking that Jamie would fall down, but I’m pleased to say all went well!
I’m leaning rather than the horizon - I was paddling at the time
So, no matter what the weather we had a fab, exhausting, day. Of course, the next day I had to work and it was really hot again - we were too tired to even visit the plot so it had another day without water - the plants, especially the flowers and sunflowers really didn’t appreciate it and were completely flagging by Friday but have cheered up again now.
The amaranthus (Love lies bleeding) was transplanted when it popped up having self-seeded amongst the potatoes so I’m pleased that survived. And I think I sowed the cerinth last year (or maybe it was this year) and there’s a nice little cluster of those interesting flowers in the flowerbed.
Many veg plants are going over now though, seems like a short season. The Baby cucumber has burned itself out and I’ve started removing some of the dried bean pods from the Gigantes with the Borlotti following soon. But the melons are trying hard to produce something…. This is in the polytunnel and the outdoor plants have a few fruits too.
And the squashes on the tunnel are beginning to flower and fruit - this is the so-called rampant Shark’s Fin melon squash. Well, perhaps not rampant for us this year… or perhaps there’s still time.
I’m pleased that the earlier-sown radishes have produced their seed pods now which I enjoy snacking on and the flower is quite pretty too.
The aubergines are bulking up and more tomatoes are ripening - even a few of the tiny redcurrant tomatoes so there’s still more to enjoy - but I’m glad I didn’t sign-up to put anything in the Horticultural Show!
The Doobie Brothers provide the excellent song title - enjoy ☺️
