How can you grow seaweed on an allotment 70 miles away from the sea?

Well Christmas is tomorrow and I went down to the plot to check on the brussel sprouts. They are looking healthy if a little small and I picked enough to cater for Christmas lunch tomorrow.  What a proud day to be able to serve them up to my family.

I will toss them in butter with bacon bits and walnuts. While the potatoes I still have left are too waxy to make really good roast potatoes (I always favour a Maris Piper potato for that) I will still use them to make salmon fishcakes to eat on boxing day.

In the mood for some cooking and loving Chinese food (at least before the diet starts in January) I also decided to try out a recipe I'd seen in BBC Good Food magazine.  Chinese seaweed. I was surprised to see that it isn't actually seaweed but cabbage shredded and fried.  I used a small savoy cabbage and some sprout tops, shallow fried them in some plain oil and then tossed them in a sweet sour mix with toasted sesame seeds. The sweet sour mix is two parts sugar and one part salt.

Delicious (and easy).

Keeping the flavours going

Top tip: think ahead to enjoy flavours of summer in the winter

Instead of buying expensive flavoured vodkas (think Vom Fass at Selfridges - delicious but expensive) why not try making your own?  It's the easiest thing in the world. Even Tom and I could do it.

Take two litres of cheap vodka - we used Sainsburys basics. Add 2 punnets of raspberries into a kilner jar with a bit of sugar and keep in the cool. Shake every day and taste (the best bit) until you are happy with it.  Don't try using lemon grass as it was unsatisfactory and we ended playing catch up with more raspberries.

Delicious but dangerously easy to drink!

Frost and physalis

Top tip: Keep trying exotics - they might surprise you

Well not only have we had amazing frosts but we have also had snow showers that disabled the Southeast and threatened Brussel sprout farmers. Apparently despite frosts making sprouts sweeter, the snow and prolonged bad weather has meant that farmers can't harvest during their usual hours (the sprouts go black if picked when frozen) so hopefully my few on the allotment will be worth a million pounds. Well, a girl can hope.  Mind you, as we are not allowed to profit from the plot I will just have to enjoy the kudos of serving our own sprouts on Christmas day.

In the mean time I have been enjoying using kale which I can sometimes find a bit tough in an Asian inspired dish. Boil up the leaves in chicken stock and add noodles and sprinkle with dried shallots - a perfect and nourishing lunchtime snack.

Just before the frosts hit I had the excitement of harvesting the first and last of the physalis or cape gooseberries as they are known. I thought they would never ripen and thought the seedling I bought at the Hilly Fields Country Fayre would be a complete dud. It grew but stayed a resolute green. And then by magic, fruits appeared. Not many but they were lovely.

Tangy and sweet, they are great dipped in melted chocolate but they are great on their own too.  It just goes to show don't give up on a plant too soon (unless it's carrots, peppers or aubergine where it really isn't worth it).

Jerusalem artichokes

Top tip: Only lift the tubers that you need. They keep better in the ground than out.

I decided that I would dig up one of the Jerusalem plants to see how they did as the books say that they are ready for harvest from now. The frost had killed off the top growth but they still seemed sturdy. Unfortunately the first one yielded nothing. I had much more luck with the next one as you can see.

I stopped there and roasted them in their skins with a little olive oil and sea salt. Delicious and healthy. 

They are reknowned for unfortunate side effects so if anyone knows of a remedy that can counter this it will be very welcome!

Green manures and the first frosts

The first frosts came on the 24th October and this is apparently the earliest frost to hit the area for the last 8-9 years.

Though the plants in the garden have survived because they are sheltered by fences and the house walls, the tender herbs on the allotment have not fared as well.  The purple beans, nasturtiums, and pineapple sage have all been affected. In fact the nasturtiums have collapsed completely.

So off to the compost heap they go though some people think to treat them in the same way as green manures. That is to dig them in and return the goodness directly to the soil to break down over the winter.  I sowed phaecelia into the fruit area - this has pretty frondy leaves and can flower though in a fit of tidiness I have also cleared this and put it onto a compost heap (one of many developing all over the plot).

Some green manures can return nitrogen into the soil such as clover and field beans as they work in the same way as all beans and have nodules on their roots that break down into nitrogen in the soil.  Others are fast growing and provide efficient ground cover and suppress weeds over the winter.

Preparing rasberries for next year

I love raspberries - they seem pretty easy to look after and cost loads in the shops so seem to make sense to grow on the plot.  Throughout the year I have been buying various plants throughout the year costing only a pound in poundland (unsurprisingly). This is all well and good but now I discover that there are summer and autumn fruiting varieties and they need to be treated differently. Unfortunately the packets that came with the plants doesn't say which they are are.

For the moment I have put up two layers of retaining wires (well, string actually) and tied them in. If they don't fruit until late summer and fruit on old wood then I guess they are summer raspberries though the description I have found (below) doesn't make it abundantly clear.

This is particularly important as they need to be pruned at different times.
1.Summer Bearing (floricane) Raspberries will provide 1 large harvest, usually in late summer or early autumn. Summer bearing raspberries bear fruit on 2 year old canes, the canes that sprouted last season. Summer bearing raspberries can be further categorized as early season, mid-season and late season. The harvest period lasts about 4 -5 weeks.
2.Everbearing (primocane) Raspberries aren’t really everbearing, but they do generally have 2 harvests per season; one in mid-late summer and one in the autumn. The autumn crop will probably be a bit lighter and is on 1 year old canes of the current season. Many autumn bearing raspberries bear so late in the autumn that they are not practical for gardeners in short season climates.
•Prune all canes that bore fruit last year; they won’t fruit again. These will have grayish, peeling bark.
•Remove any canes that have grown outside the 12 - 18 inch designated row footprint.
•Remove any spindly or short canes.
•Thin so that there is about 4-5 of the healthiest, tallest and fattest canes left per foot along the length of the row.
•Tie remaining canes to your fencing.
•To force your everbearing raspberries to produce only one crop in the autumn, prune back the entire raspberry bush in early spring. As the canes grow back in the summer, remove outside suckers and thin the canes to about 6 inches apart. Keep the sturdiest canes. This technique will give you a larger autumn harvest and is good if you also have summer bearing raspberry bushes and you want to stagger the harvests.

An apology to all and especially to Bob

I have been an idiot. I have made an unkind and unfair comment about someone who has offered me nothing but guidance. The fact the comment was made with no malice and in frustration (and drunk) is no excuse. 

I would like to apologise unreservedly to Bob and ask for his forgiveness.

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to anyone else on the plot who I might have offended by not asking their permission to write about them at any point in this plot.  You have all showed me kindness, help and advice. Please be assured that I will take any reference to you (and any committee decisions) out of the blog.

The allotment has been a source of great joy and pride and has helped me through a very hard time when I was redundant and I hope to contribute to the life of the allotment not harm it in any way.

Once more, I am profoundly sorry.

Rhubarb, rhubard (and grapes)

Top tip: keep an eye on your rhubarb and divide if it's starting to look weedy

Rhubarb is a relatively short lived vegetable (though we use it as a fruit, it is classified as a vegetable) and can become woody and weedy.  This is exactly what has happened to the rhubarb that I inherited on my plot.  I tried feeding it with compost this spring but to no avail. so today I took advantage of a sunny day to dig up the crown and divide it into new plants. The outer parts are best for replanting as they are less woody and still vigorous.  When replanting though avoid planting in the same spot as it could bear diseases.  I have replanted my mini plants in the rough patch by the water butt and in the fruit cage.

I have also dug up and relocated the strawberry plants that have sent out runner and were at risk of disappearing under the pile of compost that Bernie has relocated and the pile of plant matter that is fast coming off the plot as I tidy.

One unexpected joy was that the grapes we dismissed as unfit even for wine making turned out to be lovely eaten off the vine there and then, warmed in the late summer sun.  Small and just the right type of tart, they would be lovely in a yogurt but I just gorged myself.

Baby brussel sprouts get served up early

Top tip: make freezing your friend


I was told we couldn't save the brussel sprouts as the space is needed. Diasappointed that I couldn't have had an extra 2 months and eaten fresh sprouts at Christmas but at least it meant I harvested them young and it has introduced me to the joys of baby vegetables.  And the sprouts in the other part of the plot might rally after all and recover from the mystery 'grey'.

We have replanted the sprout plants so maybe we will still have some fresh by Christmas.  In the mean time, I have probably made the most of things by blanching them and they are tender and sweet.


The next question is what to grow next year ?  What was successful for me? Beans? Jerusalem artichokes? I will also be growing more potatoes despite the fact they are already sprouting in my bag in the shed.

When is late too late? What did well and what suffered from a late planting

Well the ground has been cleared for the shed and many plants have been cleared away. All but a few beans have been cleared, I just left a few for seeds for next year. The cauliflower  I was so proud of was a victim to the shed clearance.

While the cabbages are bulking up nicely they have been in the ground all year and take up a lot of space so may not feature so heavily next year. Cavolo nero, which is expensive and hard to find, and pak choi (pictured), which are quick growing, can be sown late in the season and is good in stir fries may be the only representatives of the brassica family next year.

Chilli peppers and aubergine took too long to mature and the physalis (cape gooseberry to me and you) is prolific but green so unlikely to be on the menu again.  The asparagus pea that  planted had one lonely scarlet flower but I will try again next year and sow it earlier.

Having left a few tomatoes on the plants, disaster struck and we suffered full blown blight in the damp late season.  A lesson to us all to clear away and create chutney!

The Jerusalem artichokes are flowering (like tiny sunflowers) and apparently can be harvested from Autumn through to Spring.

Other successes are the giant radishes. The curse of the radish seems to have well and truly lifted and I am producing monster plants. They will be grated and added to salads in the future.

Previously,  mentioned the late sowings of the poundland potatoes has produced a decent crop. Of course now the potatoes have gone the cats have moved in. Grrr.  Any ideas on how to stop them?



Problem plants

Top tip: cover your brassicas with netting to stop pigeons from eating them and catch problems early before they get out of hand.

I am worried. My brussel sprouts aren't sprouting very well. In fact they look grey. I don't know if it's mildew or a grey aphid that I spotted earlier in the season and ignored.  It's in the main patch and has spread throughout the brussel sprouts.  There are early signs of the sprouts but they look a little frilly.  Luckily the 'grey' hasn't spread to the Kale 'Cavolo Nero' or the cabbages but I don't know what to do about it.

The other patch however by the compost bins (soon to be decommissioned - sorry Tom, you're hard work is being replaced by a shed) is doing fine and it's exciting to see the developing buds. With luck we'll have our own sprouts for Christmas.  That is as long as we don't have to sacrifice them when rebuilding the shed. On that topic, does it make me a lazy allotmenteer to pay another person to construct the shed and move my compost?  I like to see it as sharing the goods - I have a job (hooray!) and he doesn't always. He is a builder and I'm not. He has skills and I definitely don't.  He has time and I don't. Surely it's the best for all around?

Find food for free in the city

Top tip: Avoid picking from the direct roadside and low down on bushes to avoid traffic fumes and dog wee.

Don't assume that you have to grow your own. If you look around where you live there are all sorts of foods you can use.  And autumn is a great time to collect them.

Of course, everybody knows about blackberries and they can often be found in hedges in parks - in fact my friend, Joy, collected them by the bag load last year from Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery.  As we are still without an oven and the freezers are still full, I won't be collecting berries this year and making jam.

Other less well known berries that you can easily find in the wild (and in wild parts of town) are elderberries and sloes.  Both are tart in flavour but elderberries mix well with apples in a jam and apparently you can also make liqueurs and wines out of it.  Sloes, found on blackthorn bushes,  give flavour and colour to gins and vodkas. They are better after a frost to develop the sugars.

Prick them all over, put 460g of sloes into 1 litre of vodka divided between two empty 75cl vodka bottles.  Using a funnel divide 112g of white granulated sugar into each bottle.  Shake the bottles every day until the sugar is dissolved.  Store into a cool, dark place. Leave for at least 3 months.

Also look out for unwanted fruit on trees in public places - plums, cherries and apples are often planted with nobody to pick the fruit. A local Transition Town initiative in Brockley is to match unharvested trees in public places and gardens with a team who will pick away and give away the fruit to passers-by.

Don't let mini corn become maxi

Top tip: Keep an eye on your sweetcorn especially if it is a baby sweetcorn variety.

A neighbour was greedy and dismissed his plants when they were little and left them to grow large. Unfortunately they were a baby variety and when they grew big they grew hard and tough. The best time to pick them is when the tassles start to turn brown. If they are a 'grown up' variety then they are also ready when a milky fluid comes out of a kernel when pierced with your nail.

They say that growing plants from seed can be hard but obviously nobody told this little tomato seedling that I spotted in the October autumn sunshine. It has self seeded into a crack in out wall and seems perfectly happy. The frosts wll probably kill it off but in the meantime I'll see how long it lasts.

Peas, planning permission and publicity

Top tip: look ahead to early crops in 2011

I am very excited as my plot has not only featured in an article in Eat Me, a funky new food magazine, but also won a photography prize for 'Best Arty Shot' in Kitchen Garden magazine - they liked my bright poles apparently and called it zany.  Apparently I will get a lot of garden goodies - can't wait to see them though a subscription would have been grand too as it's a good magazine for foodies and growers alike.

Now is the time to sow overwintering peas and broad beans.  The experts recommend sowing peas in a gutter. This apparently allows them to develop and get strong before the spring. This means earlier crops and better resistance to blackfly. Broad beans in particular suffer from black fly - in fact it can be so bad thatit can be frowned upon to grow them on the plot.

Meanwhile the shed saga continues. After finding out we needed planning permission to have it in our front garden we took it down. Well, actually we got our neighbour who put it up to take it down again. Despite not wanting have a shed on my plot and this one is really too big I don't want to waste it so the idea was to rebuild it on the allotment. It would take up the space of the compost bins at the moment and I will revert to using tardis ones dotted about the plot - all the easier to reach when weeding.

Pumpkin, squash and a damp squib of an aubergine

Top tip: Learn from my mistake - don't be in too much of a hurry to clear runner beans away. Leave the pods on the plants until the end of October.  Save seed by podding them and drying them on newspaper in a warm, dry place.  This also works with sunflower seeds.

With sunshine predicted this weekend and Tom having some free time on his hands, I decided it would be good to clear some of the plot. The tomatoes are almost finished and the courgettes are sending out very few finger sized courgettes.  The patty pan squashes are never making it larger than a golf ball before starting to rot and the runner beans are getting enormous and stringy. 

On the whole this was a good idea. We collected over 7 kilos of tomatoes (including 2 kilos of green tomatoes - if they don't ripen by the end of the month then more chutney is predicted. Friends and family you have been warned! Maybe I can get empty jars from work to put it in once I have a kitchen to make it in). We discovered a ripe butternut squash and the pumpkin has ripened to a proper Halloween orange. The debate now is whether to save it for Halloween or to eat it. Considering that I can't cook it properly and can't remember if it is a variety that is particularly tasty I think it might be best to keep it for a bit.  It can live next to the unfeasibly tiny aubergine I rescued from Tom's clearing onslaught.

2 kilos of runner beans were destined for my aunt but then Tom and I were struck with the cold lurgy so the fridge is stuffed again until I can work out what to do with them.

We also picked the largest pods off the runner beans before they were hacked down - making sure to leave the nitrogen fixing roots still in the ground. My plan was to to pod the beans and save them either for seeds next year (ignoring the fact that I have loads of beans already) or else to boil them up as dried beans in the same way that you would treat dried kidney beans.  This is where I should have waited until the end of the month as too many of them were under ripe and not worth the effort of podding - they should be a pretty mottled pink and purple.  Still they are now in the summer house next to the sunflower seeds and I am dreaming of winter stews.

Pushing your luck or what vegetables will grow late in the year

Top tip: Don't always believe what the gardening books say - they are guidelines written to suit the whole of Britain and so don't allow for the fact that you may live in a warmer (or colder area) of Britain.

I planted mangetout back in July after the potatoes had been cleared as they had been such a success earlier in the year. While they have now succumbed to mildew they did grow big enough to start cropping and I got a good 200g off them which isn't bad when you consider how much they cost in shops - a bonus crop really rather than a real alternative to spring sowing.

I also popped in some more potato seedlings at around the same time as they were sprouting like made and £1 in the pound shop.  The main idea was to use them to clear a patch of land that was riddled with debris and if I managed to get a crop out of them all the better.  The other day I was earthing up the plants (drawing up the soil to protect the plants and create more space for the tubers to grow) with a rake (a Bernie tip) and spotted a decent sized potato so it seems to be working. I had read that some people put in a second lot of potatoes and are able to eat fresh new potatoes at Christmas. Fingers crossed.

Elsewhere on the plot, brussell sprout heads are starting to form and I have a few mini cauliflowers. I will let these develop a little before harvesting them but doubt they will ever attain the monster size of Mark the elder's (whose plot has been completely left to its own devices - tut tut).

This week I also planted gooseberry bushes and raspberries as I want to redress the balance between fruit and veg. I also suspect that fruit are easier to look after themselves.  I hope they don't grow too big as I seem to have at least 3 gooseberry bushes now.  Must go and measure the bushes on other plots!

When a greedy person has to give food away. The pain is made up for by roast garlic.

It's finally happened. I had to give produce away. With three freezers full and a running total of over 52kg of tomatoes and 21kg of runner beans we are feeling overwhelmed. It doesn't help that we have no kitchen. We don't even have no kitchen. We have no kitchen floor. We are surviving on food that can be steamed, slow-cooked or microwaved. If truth be told we haven't even done that - the local take-aways have done very well from us.  I must say that the novelty is starting to wear off.

So with the allotment bursting with food and nowhere to go, I took the plunge and offered runner beans to my allotment neighbour Bernie who said that he knew an Englishman who might want them (I gathered that as an Irishman he doesn't hold much truck with them). I also offered them to my friend Anna but despite having an unproductive north-facing garden they had managed to grow too many for the two of them.  I offered them to my city dwelling friends who take in an organic box but even they felt over-loaded with runner beans.  Hating to let the food go to waste I resorted to offering them to a great new cafe, The London Particular, that has opened in New Cross that serves local and organic food (and what can be more local and organic than beans from an allotment round the corner?). Thankfully they took them and I might even claim a free hot chocolate at some point!

I'm very excited as I have a new full time job. It will be a bit of a struggle to keep up the plot just on weekends but things are winding down now and the main things to do are to sow sweet peas, broad beans, move and turn the compost, relocate the giant shed (don't ask - it's all to do with planning permissions and being too greedy to sell it for a song), build raised beds and plant garlic.

I have at least done the last of these. I planted 12 cloves of elephant garlic and am hoping for a good crop in June/ July next year. As I paid £3.90 from a farm shop in Cornwall last week for a head of elephant garlic I am looking forward to being as rich as Midas. Or at least to cut it in half, wrap it in foil, roast it a low heat and scoop out the sweet flesh and spread it on a slice of good bread. Oh and use a good layer of unsalted butter. Total YUM.

Top tip: Don't be in hurry to clear everything away. 

I learnt this earlier on in the summer where the mangetout came back to life and it's true again this month.  

After the first broccoli (or more precisely, calabrese) harvest I made a cross cut in the stem and a few weeks after we got an extra harvest of shoots.

Meanwhile I am struggling to keep up with the runner bean glut - I have even taken to giving it away to our builders as without a kitchen I can't blanch them and the freezers are full.  A few pods (well quite a few actually) have got too big to be tasty and will have developed a tough inner skin. Rather than use them to eat when I already have so many tasty pods I have decided to let them dry on the plants and use them as seeds for next year.  Doing this will discourage the plants from flowering and creating new beans but I think I can probably cope. The books say that runner beans keep on cropping until the first frosts but I'm not sure I can cope with any more beans.  In Cornwall at the weekend I saw that someone made runner bean chutney - I suppose that's a possibility if I get desperate. And if I ever get my kitchen back again.

On the other hand it can be good to clear things away. A recent preference for fast food has slowed our salad consumption. Unfortunately this means a) that we have put on weight and I feel toxic and b) the lettuce plants have bolted. An attempt to braised them from a recipe in Nigella's 'Forever Summer' wasn't quite what I expected and they are still sitting on the plot, gradually reaching for the skies. I will clear them away when I'm not spending all my time harvesting beans and tomatoes (52 kilos so far!) though I suppose they provide a good diversion for the slugs which are sneaking around the plot eating beans and tomatoes (fill your boots guys!).  My other attempts at organic slug control was too gruesome to keep up. They recommend snipping them in half with scissors but when I tried it the poor thing oozed in a totally gross way that stopped me from ever doing it again.

Clearing away the dead wood and new beginnings

Top tips: Keep an area overgrown (a perfect excuse to be a bit messy), collect up your kitchen waste and avoid chemical sprays if you can (do you really want to be eating that?)

With Prince Charles hosting his eco-friendly garden parties, we are all being encouraged to live greener lives. As part of that gardening has a huge part to play. Not only do we reduce food miles by literally having your plot stock your larder (or 3 freezers as is our case - does anyone actually have larders any more?), but also by growing heritage plants and encouraging wildlife into our gardens we reduce the use of chemicals and keep a diversity of plants.  The subject is so huge it can be a bit overwhelming but there are lots of little things we can all do to help. On the most basic level, grow your own salad - it reduces the need for the huge polytunnels and you don't have to pay over the odds for a plumped up pillow of a bag with a few sad, soggy leaves in.

It is official and experts have confirmed what we in the UK knew all along, August has just experienced the coldest August in 23 years with a total absence of 'hot days' (where the temperature rises above 27 degrees). Rainfall was almost one and a half times the average amount for August.  No wonder that my thoughts to clearing away the tired and collapsing plants on the plot.  To that end I have been researching compost (oh the glamour!).  To compost is the ultimate in green and also in tune with greed. Refuse to relinquish your kitchen scraps and turn it into something useful that will feed your plants later on. Perfect.

When we first got the allotment I knew we needed a double compost bin - one for collecting and one for rotting down.  I have had mixed successes at home with composting. I tried the tardis bins the council subsidies (and am due a delivery of another one, now free, which I ordered before the government cuts touch that) but found it slow to rot down and access was hard. I have a wormery but I killed the worms (indoors they tried to escape and the cat started playing with them while outdoors they caught a chill in the winter). I also had a couple of Bokashi bins which have been successful in breaking down the start of the kitchen waste and produce a liquid that, when diluted, becomes a good fertiliser. The only problem is that, despite many hints no one has bought me any replacement Bokashi granules which contain the organisms that break down the food and reduce the smells. I finally went for a rotating composter that works when it is spun round and you introduce air into the mix thus avoiding the tiring, smelly and boring job of turning your pile.  This all works very well unless you are lazy like me and forget to traipse down the garden path to spin it occasionally.

At the allotment though home made rules. In the same way that you don't turn up with new wellies, to buy in a shiny new composter would be frowned upon. Which is a shame as these easy build ones from Crocus (nursery supplier to many Chelsea gardens) look great.  I experimented in dumpster diving (well actually it was just dumped on the street) by rescuing some parts of an old bed and designing a double bins. Ably assisted by the elusive sous-gardener, Tom, we built a suitably home made structure which I have been filling ever since.  Now that both bays are almost full (and covered (mainly) by plastic to keep the heat in), it is time to see the results of my labours. 

Creating compost is supposed to be easy as long as you get the recipe right.  According to the BBC Gardeners World website, it will take about 6 months to create perfect compost if you turn it regularly. I am slightly concerned about this last part as I haven't turned it at all (has the rotating composter not taught me anything?).  Avoid putting animal products on the compost as it will attract nasty beasts - wildlife is all well and good but I draw the line at rats. 

Apparently it's all about getting the balance of carbon and nitrogen right. Most piles have too much nitrogen, especially if the main source is from grass cuttings and kitchen waste - the result is an evil-smelling sludge. Equally, an excess of carbon will significantly slow down the composting process.  Nitrogen typically comes from lush green material and carbon from woody stems. For every barrow load of cut grass, you should mix in the same volume of straw, sawdust or cardboard. Ensure any woody material is broken into small pieces or shredded.

Maybe I'll delay turning the pile until another day when sous-gardener Tom is around to help.

Keep going - or else stop when it gets too tough...

I have an admission to make. I can't grow radishes. Yes, the seeds that are supposedly so easy to grow they are given to impatient children to grow and I can't grow them. Well, that's not strictly true. The first two times I tried nothing happened other than a couple of woody narrow stems.

Sometimes though it is worth persisting. I've got the hang of it now. I have no idea why better but I have planted in looser ground and that seems to work. As a result for my persistence I was rewarded with bumper crop of over 700g. Unfortunately I now have no idea how to use them all up. So far all I have done is to grate and freeze them.

Other problem plants I have had have been: carrots, peppers and aubergines.

I fail to see the benefit of growing carrots. They are slow to germinate, cost a pittance to buy in shops and when home grown, are a nightmare to prepare.

Equally I won't bother with peppers or aubergines in the future. They take up precious propagating space in the spring and, without a greenhouse, they are slow growing and unproductive. I don't even have a hint of an aubergine and my peppers are green and unprolific at best. They might be better in a greenhouse however as I am about to devote precious space to an overgrown shed (a result of a planning permission cock up). The only ones that might see a decent crop that isn't green and bitter are the long thin ones given to me by a neighbour.  They have three more weeks to turn red otherwise it's curtains for them.

Disguising swiss chard

Top tip: Small leaves of Swiss chard are more tender and subtler in flavour. Keep picking the leaves to avoid bolting.

The mix of sunshine and (copious amounts of) rain has been perfect chard weather and it has been growing fast. In fact I harvested over a kilo the other day and some of the remaining plants are bolting (putting out flowers and trying to set seed).

It's pretty popular stuff with gourmets and not often found in shops however the taste can be 'earthy' and isn't always popular with people. Tom, my husband, objects to it neat (even with chili, garlic and/ or bacon) so I have to disguise it - ideally with some pasta and cheese. This recipe is easy to do and tasty.

2 tubs of quark (or Philadelphia if you can't get quark, though quark is lower in fat)
Some grated chunks of left over cheese
A few cloves of garlic chopped
1 onion, chopped
Swiss chard, a good handful
A simple tomato sauce
8 lasagne sheets

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Blend the quark, garlic, cheese and onion. Blanch the chard for 3 minutes or so, drain and squeeze out the excess water. blend in with the quark mixture. Boil the lasagne sheets. Separate and roll (they can be a bit sticky so I often boil a few more sheets to allow for ripping accidents). Put a couple of spoonfuls of the mixture into a lasagne sheet and roll up. Place in an oven proof dish, cover with tomato sauce (in this instance it was home grown) and more cheese. Cook till bubbling and brown.

Plump pumpkins and swelling squashes

Giant but a long way off ripe

Top tip: Apparently mildew isn't a problem for winter squash - leave leaves (even if infected) on until they brown in October and dry the fruit for a couple of days to make sure they keep over the weekend. Next year prepare a bed with lots of nutrient rich  and water retaining material (try shed loads of household waste (no meat)) for the plants to discover while growing.

Medium

Thanks to a fellow allotment novice I have finally found a tasty way to use our Patty Pan summer squash.  Boil them with the skin on then sprinkle with a little cinnamon and spread with butter. a great side dish - tastes buttery even without the butter. A grating of cheese wouldn't go amiss either.

Marrows, courgettes, squash and pumpkin are all related and it has been a cracking summer for me for them all. I discovered a great traditional 'Halloween' pumpkin ripening under the brassicas and there is a tiny butternut squash developing. I hear that you should stop a plant after it has set fruit twice so it doesn't divert energies into fruiting more over making the existing fruit a viable size. But I am very greedy and live in hope they are wrong and I can get even more put of the plant.

Mini mini mini! Tasty.....

Enjoy the good weather while you can...

Saturday brought us a rare gap in bad weather. The fluffy clouds in the blue sky and being surrounded by green and productive plants just makes makes you happy. Perhaps having had almost 3 weeks of constant rain make you appreciate things all the more.  All that rain has also meant that crops are swelling almost as you look at them - runner beans are growing prolifically, tomatoes are splitting with juices and courgettes are turning into marrows if you don't spot them early enough.  I discovered this monster when clearing the mildew-y courgette leaves. It weighed a massive 3.2 kilos. Luckily I bought "What will I do with all those courgettes?" by Elaine Borish which should help me find some recipe ideas on how to use the beast.

It is hard to believe on days like this but winter is coming - the mornings are getting chilly and in Scotland they are being threatened with light frosts. At this time of year it is important to keep harvesting but start to clear plants that are past their best. I have already cleared the last of the tumbling cherry tomatoes and pulled up a courgette plant that was suffering from mildew. When clearing the worst of the leaves on the other plants I had to debate with myself whether to compost leaves or to burn them as recommended by some.  In the end I compromise by piling them up around the corner and wait to see if it rots down without contaminating the rest of the compost. 

I have also started to plan ahead for next year. I already ordered in vast quantities of seed (despite having loads left over from my binge buying in Spring). I have also planted a soft fruit collection which includes a thornless blackberry, an autumn fruiting raspberry and a red gooseberry. As the gooseberry is spiky and grows vigorously I need to allow space.  Unfortunately this is something that is running out on the plot.  Maybe I can consider training it like they do at West Dean Gardens in West Sussex - amazing kitchen gardens that put my humble allotment to shame.

I also bought some scaffolding planks from the allotment organisers to make raised beds. This will make access easier and the marginally warmer atmosphere might make plants grow earlier.  The only downside, apart from having to build them, is that I will lose a bit of space as I sacrifice space for paths.  I did apply for another plot that has been overgrown on the allotment but it's a strictly one plot per person policy. I am still considering applying for one on another plot for my soft fruit (which are less trouble than vegetables I think)but I'm not sure if I can wait another 5 years.

In areas I have cleared I have sowed green manures which can be used to block out weeds and enrich the soil when they are dug into the soil. I started with Phacelia which is a quick growing hardy annual green manure that germinates at low temperatures and is ideal for sowing from March until September. Now all I need is on that is suitable for overwintering - mustard is a strong candidate.

Chateau Nouvelle Croix anyone? Brewing borrowed grapes...

In this wet weather my mind has been turning to Autumn and alcohol. Not just any alcohol, mind you. I have been contemplating making my own wine and am seriously looking into options.

The plot is lucky enough to have neighbours who have planted a grape vine in their garden and the fruit of their labours is overhanging my plot.  Having fought off a couple of neighbours who (very unusually for allotmenteers who are very rule abiding) were trampling over my seedlings to get to my grape leaves (and my courgette flowers), the fruit are ripening nicely despite the rain.  I snuck a taste in and the fruit are not sweet enough to eat alone but they could be viable for wine making.

Unsure of how heavy my haul will be I am not sure where to start but I have two alternatives. The first is the lazy person's option. That is to hire people to make your wine for you. You join a club and for £80 you get 6 bottles of a blend of South London grapes back. You can then buy extra bottles (yes please!) for just under £5 each. Seems a little pricey to me but you don't have to worry much about it and they might make a better result than a complete amateur. On the other hand it isn't exclusively your own wine and works out very expensive - we could be swimming in Blossom Hill for that price.

The second alternative is to go all heath Robinson and experiment with syphons and distillery things.  Hop and Grape sell kits that allow you to produce 1 gallon (4.5 litres) £35 or 5 gallons for £64. At almost 23 litres that's £2.13 per bottle.  However that excludes the sure effort that will be involved and the lack of guarantee that it will be in any way drinkable.

Decisions, decisions - it's enough to turn a girl to drink.....

Speedy salads and using up green tomatoes

Top tip - pinch out growing tips once tomato plants have set two or three trusses of fruit (cordon) otherwise you will be left with too many small green tomatoes at the end of the growing season. Save time by using salad seedlings to start off your salad collections.

If you do get stuck with some green tomatoes you can a) make more chutney or b) ripen green tomatoes using the banana trick. Basically, put your green tomatoes into a paper bag with a ripe banana and pop them in a dark place (a drawer will work well). Keep checking but the tomatoes should ripen.

Paul Merrett has a great recipe for Green Tomato Chutney in his book 'Using the Plot' which I adapted (as I didn't have all the ingredients to hand). I have used quantities that would make a jar's worth (again out of necessity as I didn't have that many green tomatoes).
500g green tomatoes, roughly chopped into small bits
140ml malt vinegar
1 onion, chopped
100g soaked dried dates (keep the juices)
2tsp mixed spice
2tsp cinnamon
2tsp ground ginger

Throw all the ingredients into a saucepan let the mixture boil for about 20 minutes. Turn down the heat and allow to simmer.

Every so often stir the pan to stop sticking. When the mixture is thick, dark brown and rich looking your chutney is ready. Cool and store in a sterilised jar.

At this time of year you can still sow salads to keep you going throughout Autumn (apparently you can even do this up to Christmas with a cloche or tunnel). It is important to choose a good variety that suits cooler temperatures.  These varieties tend to be spicier types although, actually, all lettuce germinates better in cooler (not cold) weather.

If you can't be bothered with sowing and pricking out you can still grow salad very cost effectively. Cut and come again salad leaves are now available from most supermarkets (I've seen them in Sainsbury's and Lidl). these are actually little salad seedlings and if you separate them and plant them out you'll soon have proper sized salad plants.

The sad little seedlings before they blossomed!
They were planted at the height of the heatwave....

Courgettes, Pine nuts and SULTANA pasta - adapting a great Nigella recipe

This is a testament to being adventurous in the kitchen (and other places of course!). Inspired by the Cookbook a month blog I decided to challenge my prejudices and try Nigella Lawson's recipe that involves sultanas with courgettes (which I have only tried in carrot cake style cupcake).
It has turned out to be yet another way to use up courgettes but this is worth it even when you don't have a glut as it's surprisingly delicious. The quantities are supposed to serve 4 but I found it was fine for two greedy people. I also reduced the parsley to 3 tablespoons and increased the garlic to 4 cloves (there is always a risk of vampires in South London and we need to be prepared). We also tossed in a couple of extra tablespoons of butter with the pasta at the end as we crave heart attack by fat later in life.

•3 tablespoons butter
•1 tablespoon olive oil

•675g courgettes (4 medium)

•4 cloves garlic, chopped

•salt

•3 tablespoons Marsala (keep it boozy!)

•1/3 cup sultanas (golden raisins)

•2 tablespoons pine nuts

•225g egg pappardelle

•5 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

•3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat one tablespoon of butter and oil in a heavy-based saucepan, and cut the courgettes into very fine rounds before adding them to the pan. Chopped up the garlic and add in, season with salt. Cook over a low to medium heat for about 45 minutes, stirring every now and again.

At the same time, warm the Marsala, pour it over the sultanas and leave them to plump up for about 15 minutes (pop in the microwave for 30 seconds to speed things up). Once the courgettes are cooked, stir the sultanas and their juices into them. Taste for seasoning. Toast the pine nuts by cooking them in a dry frying pan until they turn a golden brown, and remove to a cold plate.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions, then drain and tip into a bowl, toss with the last two tablespoons of butter. Add the courgette mixture and fold and toss to combine. Sprinkle over the pine nuts, Parmesan and most of the chopped parsley and toss everything gently together again. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and take to the table. Add even more Parmesan. YUM!

Saving the best to last

Top tip: Use vegetables as soon after picking as possible to keep nutrient levels up. If you can't eat them all immediately then blanch the vegetables to reduce harmful bacteria. Cooked tomatoes have higher levels of Lypocene which make them better at fighting heart disease and protect against cancer.

There is a saying that we are all either green and growing or we are ripe and rotten. This holds as true for fresh produce as it does for us.  Wine and cheese may get better with time and exposure to the air but this is rarely true for crops. Vegetables, like our skin, start to lose water and become flaccid as soon as they are picked. Why grow your own, only to neglect your crop once picked and eat vegetables that are no fresher than in the shops?

They also start to lose their vitamin content. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation  of the UN) state that vitamin C content decreases with time after harvest, and that little may remain after two or three days. When you do cook the vegetables, bear in mind that overcooking means a significant drop of vitamin content - try steaming instead of boiling (also eat potato skins as their vitamins are just under the skin) and use the water in a stock as the dissolved minerals stay in the water.

It can be hard to eat all the vegetables fresh so it helps to have a few ways of processing them. Our new freezer arrives in three days and I can resume blanching duties (the existing two freezers are already full). In the meantime, I have got a free extra fridge (from Freecycle) to store jams and chutneys in.  I am particularly fond of Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's recipe for 'Glutney'.

This is a great way to use up summer vegetables and you can just use whatever is taking over your plot at the time. The quantities he recommends make 10 jars so i halved everything here. I also kept out the chillis as I am a wimp. I also rarely have all the spice to make the spice bag so I just use some allspice and nutmeg.

500g courgettes, diced into 1cm
500g red or green tomatoes (I don't bother to skin them though it was recommended), roughly chopped
500g cooking or eating apples, peeled and diced
250g onions, peeled and diced
250g sultanas or raisins
250g brown sugar
375ml white wine or cider vinegar, made up to 500ml with water
1 thumb sized nugget of ginger roughly chopped
1 tsp of mixed spice
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1 tsp mustard powder and 1/2 tsp salt

Put all the ingredients in a pan. Heat the mixture gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar, bring to the boil. simmer uncovered for 2-3 hours (this makes the kitchen smell great). Stir to make sure it doesn't burn. it's ready when rich, thick and reduced. Put while warn in sterilised jars. Leave to mature for 2 weeks, ideally 2 months, before serving.

This recipe is also a speedy way of using up cherry tomatoes that is surprisingly healthy - in fact I adapted it from a Weightwatchers recipe. It takes just 10 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.

150g ready rolled puff pastry (I used a pack of feuillete pastry that I picked up in France on a day trip)
60g light mozzarella, sliced
60g goats cheese
500g cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp green pesto (I forgot to add it tonight but bet it would be yummy)

Score a line around the pastry 2.5cm from the edge to make a border then prick all over with a fork. Chill for a bit. Preheat the oven to 220C, bake the pastry for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and using the back of a fork push down the centre of the tart leaving the edges puffed up.

Reduce the oven temperature to 200C. Cover the base of the tart with the cheese slices and top with the tomato halves and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and drizzle with the pesto. Leave for 5 minutes and serve with a fresh salad and balsamic dressing.

Dealing with a deluge of tomatoes

With over 6 kilos of tomatoes that have come off the plot in the last fortnight I have been investigating new ways of dealing with them.

As the majority of them are the 'Garden Pearl' variety that I have found a little watery and flavourless I was particularly keen to try out recipes that enhance the flavour.

A great one was to create 'sun-dried' tomatoes. Given there isn't an Italian level of sun around I used the oven instead.

Slice tomatoes into thirds (depending on size), scatter a little salt over them and place into an oven preheated to around 100 degrees C.  Keep an eye on them if your oven, like mine, has hotter patches than others. It's wise to use a silicone baking sheet to save on washing up as the juices caramelise and make it a pain to clean. When they look dried (but not burnt) then pop them in a jar and cover with oil. Scatter them in salads or in pasta and enjoy the taste of summer tomatoes well into the Autumn.

The tomatoes when ready for potting up.

I also slow cooked some cherry tomatoes, garlic, red onions and red peppers and blended it together for a healthy chilled soup.

When I get more flavoursome tomatoes off the plot then I might create great vats of pasta sauce but it's not worth it when the tomatoes aren't already bursting with flavour.

Autumn in August?

Top tip: Enjoy the daylight before the clocks go back (or forward - I always forget), keep harvesting crops and sow green manures when bare patches start to appear. Enjoy the bright colours of approaching Autumn.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Autumn is already here despite it being still not even mid August.  The days seem shorter and there is a definite chill in the air in the morning. Maybe this is normal and the exceptionally dry and warm summer we have had was the aberration but I had almost forgotten what rain was like. Last Tuesday, the skies decided to remind us with a vengeance. Following the driest weather for 80 years August 12th saw vast amounts of rain - so much so that the Met Office issued severe weather warnings. Looking on the positive side, it means I don't have to spend so long watering. It does, however,  encourage the weeds to spring into life and though you are supposed to keep on top of weeding a) I am not going out in the rain and b) there is no point hoeing weeds if the rain might 'replant' them. So I've stayed indoors and read gardening magazines.

This might be another reason why I think it might be Autumn as, infuriatingly, monthly magazines insist on talking about tasks to do in September despite coming out in early August. I seem to be living in a time warp.  Luckily I also buy Amateur Gardening (the UK's oldest consumer gardening magazine, I believe) and Garden News which are weeklies so they should be more relevant for mid August.  According to them, this week we should:
- Harvest early apples (only take them if they come off easily when twisted)
- Keep picking runner and french beans to keep the plants flowering and cropping
- Lift and sort out potatoes - eat damaged ones first (obvious I would say...)
- Sow salads. Apparently if you sow them in the morning they will germinate better. Worth a go.
- Direct sow spring cabbages now to either crop for winter greens or leave for fully grown plants in spring.
- Remove all but two or three fruits per pumpkin plant to allow them to ripen properly and put the fruits on a tile/ lift them off the ground to stop rotting and encourage ripening.

In this gloom it's good to have a few unusual and colourful produce to make a change from the tidal wave of green (courgettes, salads, cabbage, beans etc) so I was particularly pleased to see that my Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' have produced a great range of coloured stems.  The variety of colour ranging from hot pink to burnt orange is truly psychedelic. Steam the leaves and use like spinach. Cook the stems separately and apparently you can treat them like asparagus spears. A good way to preserve the leaves and stems is to freeze them but rather than have the leaves in a giant block, steam them, squeeze out the water and then pop them into a muffin tin so that you have easy to use portions.

I'm also loving the cute mini-spaceship shaped Patty Pan summer squashes. I'm not sure what to do with them though the online view seems to be to either treat them like courgettes (ARGH - not more courgettes!) or to stuff them. Tempted by the latter, though I am a bit suspicious about stuffing things - it's almost like disguising the filling.  I also spotted among the triffid-like squash patch a developing 'real' pumpkin and a butternut squash so am watching their progress with interest.

PS Charlotte, her darling little daughter Tabitha and I harvested one of the neighbour's giant cauliflowers (he did give me permission). Though impressively huge it was also full of woodlice - less than appealing but I did get rid of them all by the time I posed for this photo!

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With over 4 kilos of mangetout, it's been hard to eat it all

Top tips: Keep picking mature pods to encourage flowering and therefore more pods later. At the end of the season leave a few pods on strong plants to grow big so you can sow them next year. Make sure the roots of your plants are well watered and there is space for the air to circulate. Aim the water at the soil not the leaves to avoid scorching and mildew.  When the plants are finished, cut the stalks off and leave the roots in the ground as they will fix nitrogen in the soil.

The mangetouts have finally given up the ghost. They have been a fantastic success. Initially, I thought they weren't going to perform well as all I got were a couple of pods sporadically but in the end they were miles better than the peas.

I guess I'd better come clean about my shameful secret. In a pretty anal way, I have been weighing the crops that I bring home.  A spreadsheet and graph even exist. 

Looking back I am glad I did as I can see that the mangetout started cropping on the 26th June. They produced a prolific crop of 2.7 kilos in  two weeks.  At that point the plants were looking sorry for themselves so I cut down half of them and left the others to see what would happen.  It was a good thing that I did as 10 days later they started cropping again and we got another 2 kilos. Not bad from half a packet of seeds.

On top of that you can use the new shoots in a salad - just like they do in smart restaurants. I've been freezing them like mad and have even had to buy a new freezer to accommodate them as unfortunately I don't have many recipes to use them up with.

Any ideas?

Three things to do with broccoli

Top tip: Bulk bake to add variety and stop you feeling like you're eating a mountain of the same vegetable.
I harvested my first broccoli at the weekend.  While not as big as the giant cauliflowers that were grown on a neighbouring plot (and were also left to fester and rot) it was pretty impressive and I decided it would make 3 decent meals.

The first dish was an easy mid week meal and a variation on a Nigel Slater recipe - broccoli in an holandaise sauce. I cheated on the sauce and used a packet and served it with runner beans mixed with onions and bacon. I am a firm believer in bacon jazzing up any vegetable.

The second meal was a broccoli and bean bake based on a recipe from The Great Allotment Cookbook.  I used cannellini beans instead of butter beans as it was all I had in the store cupboard and added horseradish and mustard to give it a bit of a kick.  I served it with a dollop of Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's courgette 'glutney' (love that name!).

1 onion finely chopped
300ml milk
2 tbsp flour
1/2 teaspoon herbs
425g beans, rinsed and drained
tbsp of horseradish and mustard to taste
150g broccoli divided into small florets
8 cherry tomatoes or 4 full sized, chopped
1 tbsp of tomato paste
1 tbsp cheese
50g breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Soften the onions then add the flour, milk and herbs and bring to the boil. Once sauce is boiling, reduce the heat and cook for 3 minutes or until thickened. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, horseradish and mustard and salt to taste.  Add the beans, broccoli to the sauce and bring to the boil. Pour into an oven proof dish. mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese and put on top of the broccoli mixture. Cook for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the breadcrumbs are beginning to brown.  Here is what it looked like before I added the breadcrumbs and cheese.

I also prepared a twice baked cheese souffle as a friend is coming on Friday and i thought I'd serve it with a sharp green salad.  Souffles are not nearly as scary as they are made out to be if you follow the steps. 

Twice baking also means that you can cook it ahead of time (and even freeze it) and then just reheat it when friends are coming round. It's much more fun to socialise with them than worry about egg whites and souffles rising.
I used a recipe from the Fruit and Veg Grower's Cookbook.

75g butter, softened
150g broccoli (avoid thick stalks but some thinner stalks are fine)
25g flour ( I used wholemeal for fibre)
150ml milk (semi or skimmed is fine if you're watching your fat intake)
50g mature cheddar (the stronger the better), grated
3 large eggs, separated
2 tsp of mustard, powder or British (brings out the cheese flavour perfectly)

Preheat the oven to 190 C. Grease an oven proof dish (you can also do 4 large ramekins) and place a circle of baking paper on the bottom (though mine got tangled up and I had to remove it and the souffle still came out of the dish OK).

Finely chop the broccoli along with any small stalks until it resembles chopped herbs. Melt 25g butter in a frying pan and fry the broccoli until just softened. Remove from the heat.

Melt another 25g into a saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook while stirring for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in the milk bit by bit, then return to the heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove again from the heat.

Stir in the broccoli, mustard, grated cheese and egg yolks and mix well. whisk the egg whites till stiff and fold in with a metal spoon.

Pour into the oven proof dish and cook for about 30-40 minutes until risen and browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Cover and chill till ready to serve. Or you could freeze it at this point and it will last up to 6 months. If you do decide to freeze then let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then cook as below.

When ready to serve, preheat the oven again to 190C. Put the souffle on a baking sheet. Melt the remaining 25g and brush over the top. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes until warm and crisp.