Blue Monday

Aah, the sky was blue this morning and the sun was shining - that made a welcome change. There are many fewer planes flying nowadays but the contrails were in full view this morning which shows the air was cold up there, but not so cold at ground level as it has been recently.

I was looking forward to being outside after pretty much sitting still all week inside. We drove to the allotment and were the only people on site for a while. I weeded the garlic in the raised bed.

Jamie took the covers off the broad beans and weeded that area and I dug the area behind, though I didn’t manage it all. It was nice to be outside and digging. Several of our plot neighbours arrived but we were all well socially distanced. We were pleased to hear that Ivan has had his first COVID-19 vaccination - I’m expecting mine in February if all goes to plan.

Jamie cleared the rhubarb and surrounded the huge plant with a ring of manure to give it a boost after it was left to its own devices last year. We really need to divide the plant later in the year.

The larger birds were active today mostly gulls from over the Marsh, magpies and buzzards being quite noisy overhead. We saw a couple of robins but they weren’t as busy or inquisitive as they usually are.

We left as the sunshine had gone and it started to get chilly. We’re expecting a lot of rain this week. The plot was already very wet. So the question is... do I read a book or carry on practising crochet before I embark on extending the sleeves of my beautiful cardigan..? Or maybe I’ll make some onion soup as Ivan gave us these lovely veg as we left the site. The onion is huge, it weighs 472grams!

The song is by New Order - I used to hate this song, but quite like it now. Tomorrow is known as ‘blue Monday’, but try not to feel blue - we’re moving closer to Spring and vaccination so it’s best to stay positive. Take care and stay safe x

Out of Control

I painted a rainbow tile for the allotment gate and we've got one for the front door :-) The rainbow has become the symbol of hope for the future (of the NHS and more) - I certainly live in hope.

I’m obviously sticking to the coronavirus advice for the clinically vulnerable, which remains in place at least until at least 30th June. I have no intention of going shopping anywhere but online for the foreseeable future.

I'm not expecting to return to the lab until next year, although some of my colleagues have already returned. The site is going to be very strange; I've seen the notices about stairways and corridors with one-way access - I'm so grateful that I can work from home, even though I miss the chit-chat with people in the corridors. It has meant that last week I was able to have a couple of visits to the allotment at lunchtimes - that's such a bonus!

Believe it or not, that is inside the polytunnel; the polytunnel with no cover - at least we didn't need to worry about damage from the windy weather last week! The courgettes, peppers and tomato are acclimatizing before they get planted out next week. What a mess :-( But not as bad as Plot3 - eek!

We were pleased to see a male bullfinch enjoying some of those seedheads though - apparently there are a couple of pairs on site this year. And our compost bins have also provided a home for wildlife ... ants - it must have got a little dry. Look at all those eggs, pupae and winged ants (they'd flown by my next visit). They've turned the compost into a lovely fine soil and won't cause any great problems, they should move on when we finally get back to doing proper composting again.

We had a little visit to the plot at lunchtime today, to feed the tomatoes and peppers. We saw a few more people (at a distance). It was so lovely to talk to some people I haven't seen in months! What a haven it is.

Our leeks from last year are going to flower as are our onions, they may not serve us this year but the bees and other insects will enjoy them and they look rather pretty too.

I was hoping to recover some more of my garlic but sadly I wasn't able to save any of the other bulbs, they had all re-sprouted and weren't worth saving. The dry weather at the crucial time when they wanted to bulb up put paid to them. But we're so pleased with the over-wintered broad beans - there are plenty more beans to harvest and they are so delicious. It's probably the best crop we've ever had.

We'll be having a broad bean curry this week and I'm trying to make Jamie believe that a broad bean casserole will be delicious - I may have to eat that all to myself - he's not convinced yet :-)

And my globe artichoke has actually grown this year, but I've missed the boat on harvesting this one. I'll probably chop it off and then there may be some more heads produced which I can eat, but it seems a shame not to leave it to flower as they are so beautiful.

This is a tiny rose that's in a pot. It's so pretty but it was the cinnabar moth that caught my eye on this visit.

The runner bean plants that Ivan gave us are looking happy, but no sign of the Gigantes beans having germinated yet. Someone has left us a selection of squash plants in the greenhouse, so I'll see about getting them planted up. We have some space on Plot7 and it would be good to have ground cover at least, so that all Neal's hard work doesn't revert to weed.

The poppies are looking beautiful, but they've seeded everywhere - this was my pot of buddleia cuttings! I'm hoping to be able to salvage at least a couple of them.

I haven't cooked anything new or interesting this week, but I thought this bruschetta lunch we had looked rather pretty - on nice seeded bread from Co-Op.

So that was my week - wholly enhanced by the plot visits. I'm looking forward to more next week, especially as I think the weather may improve. If I get too used to visiting the allotment at lunchtimes though I'll never want to go back to work!!

The great song is provided by the Chemical Brothers - make of the title what you will - the country or the plot, it's all a bit of a mess!

Fire

These pictures are from last weekend's Fire Garden event in Newbury, hosted by the Corn Exchange.

 

It attracted a good crowd and the live music was great.

Lots of flaming structures and mechanical items spotted round the town centre and along the canal.

We went on Sunday evening as the previous two days had torrential rain, as has much of the last week. We only made it to the plot last weekend to pick a few bits.

The tomato plants in the polytunnel have finally succumbed to blight and Jamie cleared them out yesterday. It's quite nice having a polytunnel that we can get into again, though the ripped cover won't provide us with much protection from wind and rain this Winter!

I actually used some of the borlotti beans that we grew and dried last year. I soaked them overnight and then, after cooking, I marinaded them with soy sauce, smoked paprika and some olive oil. Warmed up with a few tomatoes and some of the Gigantes beans made for a couple of very tasty lunches.

Yesterday was actually a pretty warm day with plenty of sunshine so while Jamie worked (and disturbed a few mouse nests) in the polytunnel I did some planting - Cristo garlic is in the raised bed. We got about 20 cloves from these two bulbs.

And then I planted 3 rows of onions - we bought this mixed pack from Thompson & Morgan.

And I sowed two rows of Aquadulce Claudia broad beans. The rows should be close enough so we can use a net cloche if we get any heavy snow this Winter.

Our leeks alongside are the skinniest on site, so I think we'll be eating baby leeks next Spring at this rate!

Over the last couple of weeks we've been eating Erika potatoes - a really tasty white variety. We need to remember to grow them again next year - they were planted in a bag and had no slug damage or scab. And  yesterday Jamie emptied the bag of Estima potatoes - they look good, but we haven't eaten any yet.

Yesterday evening was our annual skittles challenge between HAHA and the Hungerford Twinning Association. There was a good turnout with plenty of food and raffle prizes included. HTA were hosting this year but HAHA won overall - 3rd year in a row, they need to get some practice in :-)

Right now I'm making butternut soup, with a huge butternut grown by our plot neighbour Kate - there's plenty left. I'm roasting the butternut in small chunks. The onion I fried in butter and have added some garlic, turmeric, cumin and soy sauce along with plenty of pepper. With all those flavours I won't need a stock cube.

Actually, right now I'm eating some of it - delicious! But I've just remembered I'm out for lunch tomorrow. Not to worry it often tastes even better a couple of days later anyway :-)

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown provides us with the songtitle. 

 

Beautiful Ones

Our first poppy of the year has flowered - so intricate in close-up, but they also look good from a distance. We're expecting to have a mass of these quite soon as they are one of plants that has self-seeded rather madly.

And look who we saw in the pond at the weekend - a lovely little frog! I wonder if it's one of our tadpoles from last year.

And then, yesterday, we saw this big fella in there - the monster from the deep!!

We achieved quite a lot last weekend with two visits to the plot. We potted on all the begonias, grown from mini-plugs - thank goodness they're out of the flat at last! I planted out my mangetout, from their drainpipe - their roots had formed a thick mat so I could just slide the whole row out in one go.

We sowed some seeds... some in pots and others in the raised bed. The radish are up just 4 days later. I've had to net them because a big crow stomps round our plot and has pulled some other seedlings out.

We planted the last of our potatoes in bags - Dido, Estima, Foremost and Erika. We did a lot of weeding so Plot8 and Plot3 are looking a bit better.

The self-seeded nigella is everywhere, but so pretty that I'm leaving it to flower and will remove the plants before they spread another load of seeds.

The raspberry, which has done nothing for two years, actually has flowers on it this year. It's in a pot and the bees love it at the moment. It seems that heeding the instructions and severely cutting it back each year wasn't what it wanted after all.

Some things just seem to do better when left to their own devices. Look at this lovely Iris bud.

We have some (currently) healthy-looking broad beans - these are the over-Wintered plants which were severely snow-damaged, but it looks like we should get a couple of meals, if the blackfly steer clear for a bit longer...

I'm happy to say that last week one of my posts got a mention in the Thompson & Morgan Vegetarian Week 'Plot to Plate' post - the other recipes definitely provide some inspiration when we finally start harvesting...

We've had no rain to speak of, though it's been forecast, so we've been watering plenty and the warm days are encouraging plenty of growth - it's all looking rather beautiful, in some spots, hence the title, by Suede!

Planting Seeds

Just a quick post while I'm eating my lunch at work. I'm pleased to say it's Good Friday tomorrow; a long weekend away from work and the weather forecast is looking good - hooray!

I wanted to record some planting/sowing that we did last weekend. The above photo shows the aquilegia mini-plugs that I transplanted. A selection of 72 tiny flower plants which will (hopefully) be nice healthy bigger plants to sell at our HAHA Plant Sale in June, plus a few beetroot sown to fill the empty cells.

Here's the list of perennials, which are now growing on in Andy's (our Treasurer), conservatory.

Our tomato (Aviditas) and pepper (Thor) plants have also been delivered so Jamie's potted them on and they look much happier (and straighter) now.

Things are progressing in the polytunnel.

The broad beans are up - most of them...

And I've sowed a drainpipe of mangetout.

We've planted out the onion sets (Sturon variety) - about 25 of them. And some spinach and beetroot are at the other end of that raised bed. I'll try again to do some succession growing, but I'm never very good at it!

Two rows of salad onions are sowed at the end of the garlic raised bed - they should grow quickly enough that the garlic rust (which seems to be unavoidable) won't affect them.

And here's a picture of one lot of our begonia plugs - they're mostly growing on quite happily in our windowsill. We may need to pot them on again before the plant sale, as some are getting pretty big and a bit pot-bound.

So, a warm weekend sounds like a good time to do some gardening and maybe our grass seed will grow - at the moment we appear to be growing a mixture of weeds and pigeons...
The song title is provided by Built to Spill...