So that's the last of this year's squash tunnel photos - I hope I didn’t hear a little cheer - the area is cleared and waiting for the trenches to be re-dug in time for the manure delivery so that I can prepare the bed for next year.
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!
Saturday 23 October 2021
A Forest
Sunday 10 October 2021
Time of the Season
The mornings have been foggy and dark this week, but this weekend has been mostly warm and sunny. I’ve been prepping for future meals. I do enjoy seeing jars of stored beans.
The Borlotti and Gigantes came from all these pods, which have mostly been drying in the polytunnel. The Gigantes are drying slower than the other beans and haven’t produced so many pods this year.
I filled the trug yesterday, with the intention of doing the podding at home. But it was so sunny that I did it on the plot and it was very relaxing. The Borlotti lingua di fuoco 2 are great; they basically just unzip and the beans pop out. The runners, Scarlet Empire were podded last week and taken home with the peppers. The slugs definitely enjoyed more peppers than us. We’ll probably grow a smaller variety (peppers, not slugs) next year so they’re ready for picking earlier.Tuesday 21 September 2021
In the Meantime
These weekends are flying by; the weeks are too, but I don't mind that so much! The previous weekend was warm and dull, but last weekend was mostly sunny and very warm. That’s when we saw this interesting cloud formation (cirrus uncinus?)
We had some rain in the week but have still needed to water, but as crops are dying back we have less watering to do (thank goodness!)
All those pumpkins, plus at least two more which have crept into the tunnel, are all on one plant! They're New England Pie variety so I'll have to try making a pumpkin pie this year.
Some of the other squash foliage is dying back and un-ripe fruits are beginning to shrivel. The Festival still has the greenest foliage and started to produce later than the others. There aren't as many fruits as I expected; I don't know whether the Tromboncino hogged the water or whether making the plants climb used more energy. Anyway, they have a few more weeks to do their thing before they get composted if they haven’t ripened. On Sunday I decided to measure the longest tromboncino (drum roll please)… 134.5cm! It’s not a record breaker; it’s 42cm shorter than the European record!
We’ve been harvesting the sweetcorn over the last few weeks.Tuesday 20 July 2021
Pink, Orange, Red
Phew, it's been a sweltering few days - Close to 30°. Both Saturday and Sunday we got up the plot reasonably early and then had to return home for lunch and a siesta. In fact, it was really too hot to do anything but we had to water, water, water of course!
They're my flowery ice cubes - pretty aren't they? They clouded up a bit more once they were fully frozen. I need to try again and be a bit more careful with the design. None of the flowers are poisonous, though I'm not intending to eat them - there are borage, viola, calendula, runner beans, cornflowers, daisies and buttercups (though these are toxic if eaten in large quantities). I think they'll be a marvellous addition to a Pimms 😊
And here come the Rocky mini cucumbers to also add to that Pimms! All the squashes have gone crazy. The two New England Pie pumpkins are winning with the fruits getting quite large and the foliage providing good ground cover.
In second place are the Tromboncino squash which are going to take over the world, maybe two plants was too many! They're only tiny at the moment, but I see that you can eat them as baby squash so I think maybe I'd better start...
This is a Spaghetti squash, which is climbing well.
And, I think these are a Boston and either a Honeyboat or a Crown Prince.It's getting a bit crowded in the tunnel. I keep lifting the trailing
shoots and encouraging them upwards rather than along the ground. I haven't needed to use string yet as the tendrils are hanging on tight so far.
So please enjoy The Cocteau Twins. Try to singalong but it's a made up language, so don't bother trying to understand it!