The 'What I Did Today' Archive - 2007

[heebiejeebie]

Last night I picked the remaining broad beans for my OH (he definitely prefers the lottie ones to the frozen sort) and a large courgette for me. We are now beanless until the mystery beans and the borlottis do their stuff. Looked at the growing bonfire pile and decided that I need to get rid of some of it this weekend because it is getting in the way. Cleared some more brambles and salvaged the ripe berries. Got about 10oz. Measured one of the bramble shaws - 20ft

[Madasafish]

Named turkeys: Paxo:-) and Saxo.

Caught another mouse. Cut up tree branches prior to shredding.

[Shortie]

Plan for today is to get to the lottie after the Health Visitor has been.

Already made the sandwiches (for myself, Dad and a friend) and will take fruit and drinks too.

While there, Dad and his friend will dig over some more of the lottie for me, and I'll harvest the garlic and see if I can find any potatoes - they seem to have vanished!

I'll report back later on progress

[kentvegplot]

Dodging the showers to get french beans, runners, Victoria plums and courgettes picked outside.

In the tunnel, signs of blight mean I am picking everything vaguely ripe and bringing it indoors to finish ripening. Have 'Salt Spring Sunrise', 'Belgian Giant' and 'Cavendish' toms, all from HDRA. Later today will remove all the peppers which failed and clear some space for late/overwintering crops. Only good pepper has been 'Marconi Rosso' , great crop and finally beginning to ripen - hooray.

OH had to repair bean row again - combination of the weight and the wind has snapped another cane. Next year it might have to be steel supports

Also put up supports for autumn fruting raspberries - having sulked all summer, they are suddenly growing (and flowering)

Off to dig out cucumber/beans/tomatoes recipes.....

[Shortie]

Yesterday I got down the lottie MUCH later than I'd hoped... My Dad and his friend had managed to dig over loads of the lottie though (about a third) and I lifted the garlic. Ooo that reminds me I want to post a quetsion about garlic....

My Dad's back down there for me today and I think he's hoping to dig out the tatties. I was going to do it myself yesterday but was told I wasn't allowed...

Looking forward to my 6 week 'rest and recoup' period being over so I can tell people to stop nagging me

[heebiejeebie]

Did a bit more jungle-clearing but decided that I really needed to get rid of the dead wood pile. So I had a bonfire. During this I picked a handful of wild strawberries and some more blackberries. (Apple and blackberry pudding in the oven now). Ate an apple nicked from the neighbouring allotment - well, they are left to rot usually! What a waste!

Pruned the cherry tree (new last autumn) to get rid of the bits damaged by aphids and put glue band traps on the tree and the stake. Hopefully the ants will set up their next farm somewhere else.

Discovered that the "first squash not to rot and fall off the plant" has been attacked by slugs and started to rot... grrr! Ah well, the brief sunny spell we had seems to have started a few more decent fruits.

[sewer rat]

Today myself and my beautiful assistant Iona picked thirty courgettes. We then picked twenty four cucumbers which were getting over-ripe and gave the plants a fresh feed of chicken manure pellets - a small handful in each sunken pot and then watered in over space of a week.
Dug up a crate of Charlotte tatties and another of Nicola. Then the rain got too heavy so we cleared out the store / shed / shop then transferred 400 litres from one IBC tank to another so that my rainwater harvest wouldn't fill the tanks overnight - though it is still chucking it down as I type.
Gave up at 16:30 and came home - bathed Charlie, our Springer x Collie puppy who had of course been having a ball in the five acres of mud I call work, got up to date with paperwork and now about to go to my other job as a bouncer at local club. Hope the rain stops soon.
Anyone know a recipe that needs loads and loads of cucumber ???

[Vegmonkey]

Came back from Honeymoon yesterday, slep lots! and harvested lots inbetween. Pulled 2 large round courgettes and one long one, 6 or 7 handfulls of runners, a few tomatoes, a load of chillies, carrots and onions. The carrots and broad beans got blanched and frozen. A lot of the rest got eaten.

The sunflowers and beans have been massacred by the wind, and everything else has been munched by the slugs but nothing has suffered too badly. Looking forward to being back on the grapevine!

[momol]

Yesterday, managed to harvest 1 big courgettes, 5 big korean summer squashes, NZ spinach, several parisian carrot and a fennel.
Today, harvested 7 more korean squashes, 6 big marketmore cucumber and 1 smallie, some red kuri winter squashes, 1 romanian hot chillie and a small amount of black berry.
Yeah... very happy !

Momol

[HappyMouffe]

Today, in the continuing drizzle (), we harvested a load of tiny Pink Fir Apple potatoes (I chopped the foliage off a couple of weeks ago due to blight), some more Bonnie potatoes, a courgette, Chantenay carrots, chard leaves, mixed lettuce, a few runner beans and a couple of borlotti beans, and some radishes. I also made blackberry jam, but that was inside,out of the drizzle.

Yesterday I made red onion marmalade with some of the softer red onions.

It's only my first year of 'grow your own' and it's so exciting to sit down to a dinner and say "we grew everything on the plate, except the meat". And for pudding: blackcurrant ripple ice-cream, with the blackcurrant sauce made from our currants

[pigletwillie]

Having arrived home from our hols in France at 1.30am on Saturday, it was high time a trip to the plots was forthcoming.

The two plot neighbours had done a fab job watering the tunnels and the greenhouses and had picked tomatoes and peppers for the first week we were away. I still however was not expecting the complete raft of produce that needed picking on getting to the plots. We have some 30lb of tomatoes to deal with, lots of soft fruit, plums and flowers to go at.

Tonight I am making a batch of courgette soup, raspberry coulis, tomato soup, passata, all to be bottled.

Best of all however was the banana shallot harvest, we have loads of superb shallots for the winter, some near 8" long

[Madasafish]

Picked some sprouts, sowed some wintr lettuce in greenhouse, sideshooted tomatoes/picked ripe ones/ and filled in mousehole found under greenhouse wall. Picked eating apples and ate.

Cooked two home grown beetroot. mmm


Turkeys growing well - like sliced up raw sprouts.

[rustylady]

Gave up on the greenhouse toms, cut all fruit off and they can ripen (or not) in the kitchen. At least this has given me space for the chillies which are about the only crop doing well in the greenhouse. Picked Victoria Plums (gorgeous), tidied (hacked) the forsythia which was shading the greenhouse.

[Hazel at the Hill]

The Day of The Show!

It was the Hill Allotments Annual Show today, and I entered - but didn't win any prizes - carrots, beetroot and runner beans. Also entered marble cake - which came third! Out of 3

Mum entered a sponge which won.

HOWEVER I could not have had a better day if I'd written the script as I met up with two very, very special forest folk who arrived having made a special trip up to lend moral support and bearing exotic and thoughtul gifts. You are complete angels, Wellie and Trousers, you made my day!

[scarey55]

Hazel,
I reckon the judges must have been "nobbled" Still, worth it if your angels turned up to give moral support.