Any Colour You Like

Finally something vaguely allotment-y to post about now that it’s February, though we haven’t actually made it to the plot yet mostly because of the incessant rain.

Having said that we did venture out to Marlborough to a plant-based market - it’s the first one they’ve held (I think) and our favourite Vegan Street Diner hot dog man was there so we couldn’t resist. We had a few snacks and bought some vegan soap as well as cakes to take home.

It was very cold and wet but we had a nice walk through the Priory Garden and enjoyed seeing the squirrels scurrying amongst the snow drops and watched (water?) rats in the river.

On Saturday we visited Pewsey for their Potato Day. There was a good turnout and loads of spuds to choose from - in the rubber buckets - as well as a large selection of seeds and herbs. 

It’s always tempting to buy too many seed potatoes as each tuber was 50p but we were quite restrained as we don’t need many and having done no prep (yet) I decided against buying any plants. These are the potatoes we selected.

Desiree and Orla we’ve grown before but Paris and Baby Lou are new to us. They’re all chitting under a grow light in the hall now so we have till April to prepare the ground, though some will be planted into bags - looking back it seems that Orla are a slug-favourite 😖

We also bought some Yellow Moon shallots to plant in the raised bed again - they did well last year (though that doesn’t mean much) and were good to use as spring onions as well as for cooking and pickling later in the year.

I received some treats from my Hastings cousins for my retirement. It’s always fun to get an unexpected delivery from the postman!

Some fabulous cosmic-styled gloves, fairies and lovely scatter seeds for the plot from Jen - if the flowers are as successful as last year’s hollyhocks I’ll be very happy!

I’ve been keeping myself busy in retirement by doing some clearing and I’m painting the bathroom door. The man in the shop thought I was nuts when I asked for a pink paint to be mixed then abruptly changed my mind to blue after he showed me the available shades of pink. It wasn’t till I started painting that I realised, from the whole selection, I’d unwittingly selected a perfect match for our car 🤭 

Stirring stick/car comparison

Talking of lovely colours - I filtered the sloe gin that we made using sloes from the allotment hedge in September last year - it’s so sweet and delicious! We have another jar to filter after this one.

We have another full day of rain expected so I’ll finish my painting and maybe will check on the plot at the weekend - there may be some parsnips to pick (she said hopefully).

Pink Floyd provide the title track - enjoy ☺️ 

Too Late

Autumn really provides us with some lovely Sunrises and Sunsets. This was the view from our window one morning in September and there have been some excellent pink clouds at both ends of the day. At home we’ve noticed bats flitting about when it’s still quite light before dusk and after dark a hedgehog has been trundling through the courtyard.

The allotment is waiting to be cleared, but my heart’s not in it at the moment. That bed has the parsnips and beetroot but almost everywhere else needs clearing. We want to dig a trench under the old polytunnel frame where the climbing beans will grow next year. All the old foliage can go in there but I need to clear the squashes first - maybe I’ll actually do that today…

I’ve planted some daffodil bulbs around the orchard and in the flower plot and I did get round to planting the garlic at the beginning of the month - about 30 Czechmate Wight. Sprinkled onion fertiliser on the leeks, onions and those garlic cloves.

I pulled the last Pink Fir potato from there. Just enough for a couple of meals from some potatoes left on the allotment spares shelf, with 20cm chits! They were very tasty roasted.

At the end of September I cleared the small raised bed - the pak choi had all bolted and the Chinese cabbage disappeared - but I discovered the seed tray where I’d sown All Year Round cauliflower! I hoed and cleared (not dug, brassica don’t want dug soil - luckily!) an area in the brassica cage and stuck 14 seedlings in, so we’ll see…. I don’t know if the whole country is the same but we have hoards of whitefly - in the town as well as at the allotment.

There are still a few redcurrant tomatoes hanging on, but I’m expecting that this was the last meal that included fresh home-grown toms this year - they’ve certainly served us well!

Talking of food - we visited beautiful Oxford yesterday specifically for the regular street food market at Gloucester Green and to visit a museum. 

Gloucester Green didn’t disappoint - so much choice Nepalese, Thai, Lebanese, Italian, Korean with so many veggie options! I opted for a Persian halloumi bowl - so delicious- and Jamie had Chinese dumplings - yum yum 😋 

We browsed the shops including Blackwells Bookstore and visited The Covered Market for coffee and cake at Browns Cafe - it’s a must.

We wandered along streets - a bit dodgy for Jamie at times - admiring the architecture and considering the history in these cobbled alleyways and walls - so beautiful. And spotting the weird features and gargoyles on many of the buildings.

We heard music and when we turned into Broad Street we stumbled across another street market - what a stroke of luck! Being surrounded by so many different nationalities and languages makes Oxford such an interesting city to sit, watch and listen. Oh, and have a little drink of course ☺️

What a lovely, exhausting day! Now, as we’re well into October and it’s not windy or rainy I really should go to the allotment… Carole King provides the great song because we didn’t make it to the museum on time! That’s ok, we’ll be back.