Allotment Corner

As I am regularly visiting my allotment now the weather is getting better, I have decided to make a regular weekly post called Allotment Corner.  I will try to post this weekly, but it may be slightly intermittent dependent upon how regularly I manage to get there. So here goes.

This week's trip to the allotment was on Saturday afternoon.  With daughter dropped off at a party for the entire afternoon and OH watching the rugby I sloped off to indulge myself in a bit of horticulture.  It was great for once not to be too constrained by time.  I had up to 3 and a half hours to spend there if I wanted to which felt like a luxury.  I took four courgette plants with me that were desperate to be planted out and a tomato plant.  I also took some pretty awful looking sweetcorn I'd bought at our local discount store up the road, but which had deteriorated markedly since buying them, due to my neglect.  I also took various seeds to sow if I got the chance.

When I arrived at my plot an incredibly mangey looking fox was curled up in the corner.  It didn't seem phased by my arrival at first and just eyeballed me, but then sped off through the fence.  I set to on the plot.  I was desperate for some lettuce at home so started off by harvesting a few heads.  I really need to use these up as they are getting past their best now.  I took as many as I could get in a bowl in the fridge and left about another week's worth in the ground.  Hopefully they will still be okay next week.

Next I did some clearing and cleared the remainder of the forget me knots to make room for my courgette plants.  I dug the ground over and put two of them in as well as the sweetcorn plants which weren't spaced very well due to the lack of space at the moment for planting things out, but never mind as they might not even survive.

I did a bit of weeding, harvested some rhubarb as it was taking over again.  I still haven't finished eating the last lot I harvested so this lot might just be used for jam or jelly if I put my mind to it.  I have made jam before but don't sieve it and I'm the only one who ends up eating it because the stringy bits put everyone else off.  It's really tasty though.  This time I'm going to try to sieve it through muslin or something and make a jelly or clear jam which might have a wider appeal.

I also decided to dig up a couple of potato plants to see how they were doing.  The potatoes that came out were lovely  and a reasonable size for earlies, but I think they need a week or two longer to get a bit bigger.  I also pulled up a garlic bulb, but it was the same story.  The broad beans have now set quite well but were not quite big enough to harvest.  Maybe another week and they'll be ready.  I also harvested a few strawberries which had not actually ripened fully.  I decided to harvest them though as often they disappear, presumably being eaten by the birds so I wanted to at least try a few this year which I will ripen fully at home.  I tasted a couple and they were really nice.

Finally before leaving I planted out the remaining courgettes where I could and the tomato plant, harvested a few shallots and some spinach, and sowed a few seeds of turnips, beetroot, kale and rainbow chard before coming home.  I admired this blue hardy geranium which looked lovely.  I bought it at the school summer fair a couple of years ago and put it in the plot to fill in a bit of space last year.  It has really thrived and I think I might separate it out and bring some plants back home to put in the garden.  It's a beauty.

 

This was my total haul from this visit which will help to keep us going for a while.

 

 

I might struggle to get to the plot next week as I've got a busy week coming up what with my daughter's Sports Day and school trip, the School Summer Fair, Wimbledon, plus all the usual stuff, so it was as well that I managed to spend some time there this visit.  The plot is still looking a bit triffid-like, but once the potatoes and broad beans come out in the next couple of weeks there will be a marked difference.