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!
It’s been a hot weekend and we’ve had two busy afternoons on the plot.
We managed to do a lot of clearing and some proper digging - I do like digging, though my body’s aching after more activity than it’s used to these days! The ground is so dry, I don’t know when we last had any rain. Here’s the before...
And here’s the after, and Jamie dealt with the edges. That area has been limed for broad beans to be sown in a few weeks time.
We still have lots to do. The enormous, spiteful bramble got me a few times, but we’re getting it too! Slowly, but surely.
I retrieved and potted up some strawberry runners as the strawberry bed has grown wild this year.
We hoed and dug up some enormous weeds around the Raised bed, where the garlic will be planted as soon as it’s delivered. And I cleared around the pond and planted some iris into the ground; it’s been pot-bound for over a year so I hope it will appreciate the freedom.
We actually saw a big dragonfly today, but it didn’t fancy visiting our pond which is in need of some more water. The frog doesn’t mind though and we may get some rain this week. At least we have the polytunnel for shelter when the rain does finally arrive. And we’ve got the fleece tunnel ready to protect a couple of the Speedy french beans which are just about to produce some beans for us and may coincide with our first frost - doh!
The courgette plants are still providing for us and Neal gave me some beetroot today (thanks Neal) Also my sister is supplying tomatoes still (thanks Joanne) so I made these nice spicy tomato noodles for lunch this weekend. And we’ve got a big bag of potatoes to use. We had a dish made with mash, cheese, ‘This is not bacon’ (which, to me, tastes like kippers) and peas - mmmmmm, so delicious! (But I forgot a photo, shame because it looked nice too).
Please forgive another globe artichoke photo, but that colour! And the bees are loving it and really did appear to be in a purple haze at times! One of those bees was in there most of the afternoon.
Did you see what I did there? Thanks to Jimi Hendrix (obviously) for the title. (And the crowd at the end of this video is great 😀)
I’ve been working from home for 6 months now. I know lots of people don’t get on with it, but I’ve found it ok. It’s a bit intense, with too many meetings and I miss the general chit-chat and the random corridor chats but I’ve found I’m more productive with work and at home - look, I even made a blackberry & apple crumble! I haven’t done that in a few decades 😀
The blackberries were from the allotment hedge and the apples were windfalls left outside a house we walked past at the weekend (Thanks!). It’s very tasty and I had some for breakfast. I added some almonds to the crumble, but can’t really taste them, I should have added a few more.
We walked to the plot because the East-bound M4 was closed all weekend so all that traffic had to drive along the A4 and was queuing for miles, we didn’t fancy getting caught in that for the sake of a mile walk! You can just about see some of the traffic in this photo from the site’s entrance.
It was a lovely sunny weekend and we spent a good few hours on site both days. We did lots of weed clearing, trimmed the edges, dealt with the compost, hoed everywhere and enjoyed the sun and wildlife. I was given two kale seedlings (Thanks Min!) so planted them in the netted area on Plot3 - the weed seedlings are happy with all the extra space so we’re going to have to hoe it regularly. This is an extreme close-up of a tiny section of ‘bare’ earth!
Jamie spotted this great looking Herald moth on the back of our bench. I love the wing-shape.
We’re still enjoying runner beans which are very long but surprisingly not gnarly yet.
These few went into a stir-fry, made with peanut satay sauce and Naked Glory ‘roast tender strips’. I hadn’t tried them before and they were a really tasty veggie-protein fillet to use as a ‘meat replacement’ - I’m not keen on that phrase but it’s hard not to use it sometimes.
It’s sweltering today (Monday) and it was nice to have a quick lunchtime visit to the allotment - I won’t be able to do that when I eventually make it back to the lab. Talking of which, have you seen the news about life on Venus? Well, maybe not life as we know it 😊
Tom Petty provides the title track, though I added the 'g' because I'm just not that cool to get away with it and Blogger can’t handle apostrophes in titles :-D
Not a sunny bank holiday Monday, but perfect weather for actually getting some work done.
Our new poly tunnel has been waiting to go up since last year, so yesterday was the day to finally do it.
So from this abandoned-looking plot...
To this, aah, that’s more like the Plot7 we know and love. The old polytunnel is going to be used for a squash climbing frame (plans for next year).
We’ve spent quite a few hours on the plot during the extended long weekend. We even cleared some of Plot3, what a mess!
So, it looks better, but what can’t be seen is the million tiny seedlings just waiting for a bit of rain!
It’s a shame to be clearing really, as there’s so much wildlife finding a Winter resting place. I even found another elephant hawk moth caterpillar today! My macro camera has been working quite well. Jamie found this amazing caterpillar. The id has now been confirmed as a Pale Tussock moth caterpillar. More photos on my wildlife blog, which I keep separate for each new creature I spot.
And we saw a couple of Angle Shades moths. Pretty.
And loads of white butterflies,
...along with far too many slugs and snails..!
So, lots of grub for froggy to clear up (but surely they don’t eat snails!?)
We found these rather interesting Hare’s foot inkcap mushrooms in our compost bins last week, which I think are worth a mention. They’re helping to break down all the garden waste we’re putting in the bins, along with plenty of cardboard as ‘brown waste’.
And the song title, with the rather weak link to the blogpost is of course provided by the great Bob Marley.
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!
We didn't pick strawberries in the week because it was just too wet to want to scrabble around under the bird netting, but we were very pleased that the harvest yesterday was so delicious, with plenty more on the plants - we wish we knew the variety as they are so sweet and produce masses of fruits. We only have 5 plants but will definitely take some runners this year.
We had two visits to the plot yesterday, luckily we went home for lunch and missed a torrential downpour. The plants (and weeds) are enjoying it but it's not great for June, is it?
Today Jamie earthed up the potato bags and added some potato fertiliser to them. I sowed sweetcorn: Double Red and Glass Gem - it may be a bit late for them to produce the cobs so I'm hoping for a long season... Luckily Jamie had already sowed the Lark which are the ones we mostly like to eat, rather than for the Horticultural Show and Food Festival. The Larks have germinated so we'll get them planted out quite soon, but it was really windy today.
Yesterday we were mowing and tidying a communal area on the site as we want it to be clear and tidy for the fete on Sunday 7th June. I hope some of you who read this blog will be able to come along and join us!
The grass we sowed wasn't too successful, but the area is green because of all the weeds! And as long as we keep mowing we hope that we'll beat the marestail into submission...
We also potted up lots of flowers yesterday so that the site looks cheerful for the fete - I'm hoping that 3 weeks is long enough for those plants to fill out the empty spaces.
Jamie's planted out the first Jack Be Little pumpkin plant - protected from wind and slugs at the moment.
And I was tackling the spikiest, nastiest thistle on our Plot46A which hasn't had a look-in yet this year. We intend to plant other squashes on that plot and clear all the rotten wood at some point this Summer. It's a mess.
I was pleased to pick some salad, including radish for my lunch tomorrow.
And even more pleased that we have all these lovely over-Wintered broad beans for dinner this evening. We're having a curry.
And I got a very small bunch of flowers, with a few sweetpeas.
I'm still clearing the poppies and other self-sown flowers from Plot 7, but it's still looking so pretty and the frogs are appreciating the cover.
So, after three visits to the plot in one weekend we have achieved a lot, but there's still so much more to do. Seedlings are growing in the polytunnel but not quite large enough to be planted out yet. We could do with a bit more sunshine and warmer temperatures, but it doesn't look like this week is necessarily going to provide it - hence the song title.... by Ian Brown.
