Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beans, carrots, garlic, lettuce, parsnips, pickling, poppies, preserving, strawberries
We’ve inveigled some friends to look after the plot whilst we’re on holiday. In exchange for harvesting as many strawberries, raspberries, lettuce and herbs as they can eat they will stop by every now and again and do a little watering.
They came to visit yesterday and couldn’t get over the size of the plot and had to sit down, in the sun, to get over the shock… The little girl they were babysitting was happy to walk around, throw water, eat strawberries and weed.
To be allotment siting ready means tidying up: cutting down weeds, harvested seeds from the PSB and sowing the last of the seeds: kale, beetroot, parsley, poppies, more lettuces and a few runner beans.
I’d just about given up on the carrots and parsnips but I think they’ve decided to grow after all. My allotment neighbour was laughing that I couldn’t grow carrots and parsnips. He very kindly donated more seeds earlier in the week but I’m pleased to say that a few parsnips are up and I noticed at least one tiny carrot top emerging.
There is one flower on one of the pea plants. This hasn’t been a good year for the peas but the mange tout are doing really well. I haven’t got a good support system in place; I’m trying string and poles but I think they’d prefer chicken wire. The spring sown broad beans are suffering attack of the aphids. I don’t think I’ll ever plant broad beans in the spring as the autumn ones are much less susceptible to the attack.
I was worried about the garlic, as it had gone brown and the tops fallen over but apparently that means it’s ready to be pulled up. So they are now out of the ground and drying in the sunshine. The shallots too are ready. They aren’t very big this year but they’ll be fine for coq au vin.
The preserving has also started in earnest. 4 Jars of strawberry jam, strawberry granita and dried strawberries is just the tip of the preserving iceberg. There’ll be pickled shallots, pickles, raspberry jam, garlic in oil and other jammy or pickling activity in July. For now, though, it’s a well deserved break from the allotment.
Feverfew in flower
Tidy allotment
Instead of allotmenteering I’ve been preserving. One of the tomato plants collapsed under its own weight in tomatoes so I converted the green ones into Green Tomato Chutney. The only things in the recipe that I couldn’t supply from the allotment were the vinegars and the bramley apples.
The recipe, from Preserved by Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton, suggests that the preserve will keep for up to 18 months. Not bad for some green tomatoes that could have ended up on the compost.
Also preserved are some of the pickled shallots. Less demanding from a preserving point of view – just boil up some sugar and vinegar – but more from a preparation. First, blanch, then peel under coldwater, then salt and leave overnight, then place in sterilised jars and pour over the vinegar/sugar mixture. The proof will be in the eating. Luckily we’ll only have to wait a minimum of 3 weeks for these.
Plot 36 