What to do??...

Good morning, well in comparison to previous years growing, this year has been pretty rubbish, failed crops and eaten crops being the main reasons. 

I've been getting quite down, disheartened and fed up with the plot and was contemplating giving it up - it's just so much work plus working and family life. But yesterday I took a walk through the site (to marvel at the wonders of the other plot holders) and you know what? Mine isn't the worst one!  And a lot of them aren't perfect... imagine that!!  So I guess I shouldn't aim for perfection, not have such high expectations - I'm no monty don or Charles dowding. 

From now on I will just enjoy the time I spend there. I've decided to start clearing small sections at a time, clear the big weeds, top each section with manure/compost/seaweed (whatever is available) and then cover with sheeting until spring. 

My tomatoes, chillies, corn and pumpkins are still growing. And I'm planning on planting some lettuce, radishes, Spring onions and chard today - I'll take some photos later.  Oh and I have some cavolo Nero kale seeds in the post, plus some brassica plug plants - not my usual way of doing things but the slugs ate everything I've tried to grow so far!  I'm thinking nematodes might be worth a try next year. 

That's all from me this morning, the sun is shining so I'm off to the plot. I'll leave you with a picture of a little harvest from this week. 

Few snaps from the plot x

Popped down the plot today to plant my spuds for Christmas, I have charlottes, Maris peer and another variety with no label,so it'll be a nice surprise. At least I hope they grow - I may have let them chit a little too long, but I'm giving them every chance to do their thing. Growing them in bags, with multipurpose compost, they're outside at the moment, but when the greenhouse empties of the lovely tomatoes I'll move them in doors. 

The greenhouse is producing lots of tomatoes, and I just love them! So sweet and delicious, the shop bought ones are just so bland in comparison. 

I also have some chillies growing - ring o fire, joes long and birds eye - all still green at the moment but I'm hoping they'll ripen - if only August and September will give us some sunshine. 

Allotment delights and cooking.....

Allotment delights and cooking.....

So between the wonderful August downpours I managed to get to the plot, with the aim of watering my greenhouse tomatoes - however as quite often happens at this time of year, I ended up harvesting a huge hall!

Runner beans - I just can't get enough of these, unfortunately I think mine are coming to an end, but this last batch will go wonderfully with a big family favourite, sausage and mash.  And of course the potatoes were also dug up this afternoon, 'Desire' grown in a potato bag - a little disappointed at how many there were, but its enough for a family of fours sausage and mash.

I also picked a wonderful assortment of tomatoes - flavorita, floridity, red pear, tigerella and some big crinkly looking ones that I can't remember the name of, but they were all delicious (obviously the nicest ones were the little yummies that I ate straight off the plant).  The rest I had plans for.... I made a yummy tomato salsa to go with last nights tea - thankyou to +Jamie Oliver for the recipe, even the children ate it :o)

Tomato salsa recipe

Today I've made a delicious courgette and ginger jam, first time I've made it, it should have been made with marrow but I think large courgettes will do just the same, can't wait to try some on some toast.

We're off camping this week so have also made a tomato and onion relish to go with our first nights BBQ, another first for making this and its delicious, recipe from here, but I also added 1/2 a diced red onion and used 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika with some hot chilli powder as I like it hot!

Finally, I've started off a fizzy pink champagne fermenting - yet another first so fingers crossed it turns out well... it was very easy to make, heres the recipe if you want to try it for yourself : Pink Fizzy Rhubarb Champagne

A few pictures from the plot...

I've been really busy at the plot over the last few weeks, but it's just so exciting to see everything growing! I have tomatoes outside, peas in, chard growing, broad beans flowering, runner beans in, various squashes growing, globe artichokes(green and purple), seeds down for sugar snap peas, carrots, parsnip, spring onions, my leeks are just about over but I have just seen for next winters crop, garlic and onions are swelling, potato stalks are quite large now, strawberries are in flower.... probably lots more too, so here's a few pics, I'll do another update towards the end of the week  

First afternoon of the year at the plot!

Yeah I know it's still very, very muddy but I just had to get out there! I needed to accomplish at least one job, you know just to feel like I'm back in the game.

So firstly, with the help of my 2 daughters we dug up the sprouts that had gone over. Then we inspected the onions, garlic and leeks that we planted last autumn - they look a bit rough around the edges but I'm hoping they'll pick up once the days get longer and lighter. I'm most impressed that my 2 cloves of elephant garlic are growing - I can't wait to try them!

Next we got down to some serious digging, I'd left some carrots and parsnips in the ground, I didn't realise quite how many! And lots of them had been nibbled by bugs - but they had been in the ground since the beginning of last summer! 

We gave it all a take over and covered over with thick sheeting to help stop any unwanted weeds. I don't think we'll be ready for planting anything anytime soon, so until then we'll leave it all tucked up. 

Plans... there are cape gooseberry a and windfall apples that need clearing, so I think that'll be a job for next weekend weather permitting! 

That's all for now folks, happy growing. 

Its 2016! Its a new year! Its nearly spring time! Its nearly time to sow!!!

I'm so excited for the new growing year, I have plans, I have a new note book, I've ordered some seeds - I need to stop and take a breath! Its just so refreshing to start planning for the new season.

Just had to get all that out, first job this year - sort out the seed box, and fit them all into the appropriate growing spaces on my allotment plan.... I'll update once its done, happy planning!

More makes!

I've been a busy bee in the kitchen over the last few weeks, the chillies, tomatoes and apples have been keeping me chained to my stove!

So first up i made sweet chilli jam, there are hundreds upon hundreds of recipes out there but I finally went with this one from the BBC good food website, and I particularly like their description of it looking like 'thick, bubbling lava'.  I'm planning on enjoying this with some cheese, pate and crackers, mmmmm....

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8257/sweet-chilli-jam 

Here are two jars I made, others have been dished out to the family to try. 

So even after the chilli jam I still had chillies to use... now in our house we use lots of dried chilli sprinkles - we sprinkle them on pizzas, cheese on toast, add to stir fries and other recipes. Again I turned to the World Wide Web in search of instructions, I found a really helpful site by the chilli king, here I found really helpful instructions on all sorts of things chilli related!

I fired up my oven to 80 degrees, washed dried and cut all my chillies in half length ways, and put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, some fried quicker than others, but some took up to 3 hours, you can tell when their done as they crunch up when squeezed.  

Here are mine after a blitz in the food processor - 

2 baking trays of chillies really do shrink after dehydrating!

For more info on anything chilli, visit -

http://www.thechilliking.com  

The third recipe I'd like to share is for a Dorito style salsa dip, my family love this sort of dip with some tortillas - and certainly a favourite on a movie night. 

For this recipe I've been planning since the beginning of the year - growing everything I needed from seeds - my peppers didn't go to plan so ended up buying these. 

All ingredients were chipped added to a pan, simmered for 10 minutes and popped into sterile jars. 

I followed this recipe as s guide but my ingredients varied slightly in that I used small tomatoes, and slightly less chillies but left some seeds in as we like it HOT!

http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes/zesty-salsa

Lastly I seemed to have a glut of tomatoes, and soup always goes down really well with my little ones, so I made roasted tomatoe and basil soup. 

Pop your freshly picked tomatoes into a baking tray along with 4 cloves of garlic, 2 quartered red onions, and drizzle over a tablespoon of olive oil and another of balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper to season, then roast on 180 for 20 minutes. 

Next add your roasted goodies to a pan along with 750mls chicken or vegetable stock, 4 tablespoons tomato purée, 1.5 tablespoon brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of chopped basil. 

Simmer for 15 minutes. 

Cool and liquidise until smooth. 

That's all from me for today, but I am planning on apple pie tomorrow so keep an eye out for my next blog.