This is the busy time where you can hear the plants growing and panic starts in that you are falling badly behind. Or is that just me?

To make myself feel better here is what I HAVE done (too much that I haven't done to list!):
- Planted Sharps Express on 16th April
- Planted out mangetout but didn't support them well, planted Duke of York potato at row ends, and added an extra row for Maris Piper on 17th April
- I repotted all plug plants and seedlings

- I harvested 840g of rhubarb and made some rhubarb syrup for cocktails. Delicious.


Things that I really must make a priority:
- Sow more seeds (Maybe Cavollo Nero)

I need to establish when can I start to put seedlings out

Frost watch
We were still getting frosts on 27/28 March and we had snow in the 4th April
Just as you thought it was safe. Following 20+ temp on Thursday the temperature plummeted again down to 9ish degrees. Hopefully temporary blip.

Bulbs and blossom are finally emerging (unfortunately so are weeds and snails and I've been told this will be a  bumper year for them - damn)

Warming up now on the 2nd  May (I should hope so too!)

I just planted the last of the potatoes into a bag for the patio - in layers. But I won't be earthing up as apparently it makes no difference.
- Innovator at the bottom
- Purple Majesty in the middle
- Anya on the top
All from a stall at RHS spring show

I also planted out the onion sets which were in modules. While popping them in I noticed the tops of the Jerusalem artichoke are showing through in garden (and the tops of the Charlotte potatoes in the patio bag are just starting to show). On top of that I potted up 6 strawberry plants - I can never resist.

This is such a  busy time and I just can't find time to plant out tomatoes/ chillis/ look after peas properly/ plant brassicas (summer cauli and kohl rabi). I'm also not sure where to put wild garlic - I don't want it to spread but I also don't want it to die out....

Argh... Spring does my head in!

Invasion of the triffids/ giant artichokes

Well not triffids at all really. Just enormous Jerusalem artichokes. Maybe because they have been in the ground for a long time or were grown from good sized tubers. Whatever the reason, they are at least twice the size of the last 2 years (those are kitchen scissors by the way not teeny tiny scissors chosen to skew the scale).

Last weekend I cleared some snow away (along with some cat or fox 'gifts' - yuk) to unearth over 4kg of artichokes. And I still have more than twice that to harvest still. So I will have to be quite creative in using them up.

I first decided to use some of them as an alternative topping for a weight watchers fish pie. It worked brilliantly even if next time I would boil and slice them thinly rather than try to mash them which had mixed results.

I also shaved them with a cheese slice and layered them with garlic, creme fraiche and feta for a bake to go with a haggis we are eating to celebrate burns night.

Finally, I also made this great tray roast of Jerusalem Artichokes, chicken and lemon from Yotam Ottolenghi's fabulous book 'Jerusalem'. You can find a copy of the recipe here.  I omitted the tarragon and peppercorns and substituted preserved lemons for fresh ones as I have some I need to use up.

Along with the the haggis it is traditional to have 'neeps and tatties' - potatoes and swede (not turnips as one would logically assume). As luck would have it I still have a swede lurking I the garden as a refugee from the Christmas over catering experience. I mashed half of it and turned the other half into chips (Morrisons have a good recipe here). No potatoes as health kick is still ongoing.

I have also signed up to attend a local baking event in March. the theme is British Classics. I am currently debating between all time classics (scones/ shortbreads etc) OR savoury (game pie/ pasties) OR a historic slant (long lost puddings like Deptford pudding)).  I would do a Woolton pie except it was developed in the war as 'nutricious and economical'. Not sure I want to make my debut with a ration book creation...

December update

The end of the year is nearly here and I decided to inspect the damage caused by my neglect on the plot.

I was pleased to see that overall it was not too bad but in no way is the tidiness as good as Bernie’s which is dug and covered already. On my plot, a few hopeful weeds are clinging on and I need to tidy up generally. The manure I spread around the raspberries seems to be keeping weeds down but still needs hand weeding to get on top of any sneaky dandelions.

My own compost bins should be almost ready (she writes hopefully) and spreading that around once I've turned the soil should help nourish the earth and keep weeds down (unless it activates weed seeds that have been lurking in the compost). I can't see the likelihood of getting any help with that back breaking job.

I noticed we also had a massive pony poo delivery - I must nab a bit to mulch with. It should have rotted down by planting time. Not sure if I'll have time before Xmas though to transport it to the plot...

Mental note on general fertilisers: if you have rotted down root perennial weeds like bindweed and dandelions for fertiliser, don't forget and try to wash your hand in it at a later date. It is revoltingly stinky and it takes a lot of soap and hand gel to shift the lingering stench.

Looking around other plots, it looks like others seem to have put chard seedlings in. Too late for me. At least I have 3 PSB seedlings/ plants established. Admittedly this is a bad return on the 20 or so plug plants I started with but the way I see it these are strongest by natural selection.

I should have covered PSB as they have suffered pigeon damage. Maybe I’ll do it now (or after xmas) so they have time to recover in spring.

While it looks like rosemary is the only useable thing in the plot actually the Jerusalem artichoke is ready. I will leave in the ground until I’m able to use it as they go wrinkly quickly. Never the prettiest of veg, wrinkles don't enhance things.

I decided to try out a Jamie Oliver recipe:
2 handfuls of large Jerusalem artichokes or new potatoes
1 radicchio or treviso, outer leaves discarded (I left this out as I don’t like the bitterness)
3 little gem lettuces, leaves washed, dried and stalks removed
a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley or chervil, leaves picked and finely sliced
extra virgin olive oil
8 rashers thickly sliced smoked streaky bacon or pancetta
1 small red onion, peeled and finely sliced
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Scrub the Jerusalem artichokes and boil them in salted water until tender. Once cool, cut them in half and set aside. Wash and dry salad leaves in a salad spinner.
Cut your bacon into slices and fry it. Add the sliced onion and the Jerusalem artichokes. Fry on a medium heat until the bacon is golden and crisp, the onion is sticky and soft and the Jerusalem artichokes have sucked up all the flavours and turned crispy.
Divide half the contents between four plates, then add 5 tablespoons of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the pan, with a little pinch of salt and pepper. Mix everything together so the flavours improve and then pour immediately over the salad leaves waiting in the bowl. Toss lightly and quickly.

Incidentally the rosemary sprigs made pretty festive flourishes for the Christmas table

In other cooking news, I made Trucklements relish with shop bought beetroot and horseradish (bought in chapel market). Not quite in the grow your own spirit but delicious. You can find the recipe here

Review of the year

Well this year is pretty much acknowledged to have been a dreadful year. Bad weather affected most growers and combined with a heavy work schedule and a slightly slap dash confidence in my abilities, 2012 was my annus vebetablus horribilis.

It wasn't all doom and gloom:

• The fruit did well and raspberries and rhubarb were great
• My (bought) butternut squash plant worked well and yielded 5.5 squash (even if I did then let them go a touch mouldy)
• This was the first year I had success with Alliums and the yield was good as they were given an autumn head start
• Mixed success with broad beans - I wonder if I should leave them in longer as I have a harvest around May but then I read about their season being later in summer in cooking magazines so wonder if they are a result of successional sowing rather than a second flush from autumn sown plants.  My experiment for next year I suspect.

On the whole though, my plot under-performed with usual favourites failing me:

• Potato yields were tiny in comparison to previous years
• Tomatoes hardly even had enough fruit and even they didn't turn red before being feasted on by slugs
• Salad leaves never really got started (slugs again) - the only exception was rocket which is pretty much a weed
• Strawberries are probably in need of a move to refresh themselves
• Jerusalem artichokes, like potatoes, had a small harvest. Considering that they are near perennials I don't think moving them will help (and the place they are in is good as they don't over-shadow other plants) but I do think I need to water them more (both more often and just more water)

I did measure harvests (sort of) but the depressingly small amounts may have meant that I gave up in disgust this year.

The wrath of grapes?

At the weekend I cut back the grape vines which had got totally out of hand. They were so overgrown I couldn't even see the compost bins (even if I was really looking hard for them which I wasn't). 

This manic moment of pruning (well, butchering) revealed many but tiny bunches of green grapes below.  This made me think how clever people are and that there is a marvellously clever symbiosis of using grape leaves as wraps for food when there is a surplus of leaves once you cut back the branches to allow sunlight to ripen the grapes underneath. which then get made into wine (in places like Greece where they actually have sunshine - I just get dark red bullets). 

I have saved the largest leaves and will be making Quorn dolma at home when I get around to it.
Quorn/ beef dolma

Ingredients

• Dolmades
• 2 cups short grain rice, washed
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 small red capsicum, char grilled, skin removed and finely chopped
• 1 small aubergine, sliced and grilled then diced
• 50g currants
• 3-4 eggs
• Fresh black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 3 lemons, (1 cut into slices and 2 made into juice)
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 200g vine leaves, approximately depending on the size of the vine leaves, approximately 70-80
• Lemon, garlic dipping sauce:
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 clove of garlic finely minced
• 125g low fat natural yoghurt

Method

For the dolmades: wash the rice well and drain well. Bring to boil 3 cups of water and add rice and stir until boiling, reduce heat to very low and place lid on. Cook for 15 minutes then turn off the heat and let the pot stand for 10 minutes. Do not lift the lid.
Tip the rice out into a bowl and add the minced garlic, onion, red capsicum, eggplant, currants, pine nuts, oregano, and dill and combine gently, add 1 egg at a time and gently combine keep adding eggs until the rice hold together when you squeeze it into a ball, season with pepper.
Wash the vine leaves well if using packaged ones, leave soaking in clean cold water while you use them.
Take 1 vine leaf and place it on a board, shiny side down and add teaspoon of mix and roll into a small cigar shape folding in the sides as you go. Place then in a steamer, seam side down and pack them tightly together and steam them until cooked about 20-30 minutes, once cooked place them in a flat bottomed container with a lid and add sliced lemons and lemon juice and pour over olive oil, let marinate.
For the lemon garlic dipping sauce: Mix ingredients together in a bowl.
To serve: Remove dolmades from marinade, serve cold with dipping sauce.

Nutritional Analysis (average per 135g)

Energy	863kJ,
Protein	5.6g
Fat	8.0g
Saturated fat	1.2g
Carbohydrate	26.7g
Sugars	4.7g
Dietary fibre	2.5g
Sodium	320mg

A happy accident
Unfortunately I cut off the growing tips of a few Jerusalem artichokes in my over-enthusiasm of cutting. Luckily , it turns out that was the right thing to do - as was ignoring watering them! (though I still worry that the grape vines created a situation of extreme drought).This is the advice from RHS:

When stems are around 30cm (12in) tall, draw soil around them to a depth of 30cm 15cm (6in) to help stabilise plants as they grow. Cut back stems (including flowerheads) to around 1.5m (5ft) in midsummer so plants won’t be rocked by the wind, thus avoiding the need for staking. Only water in cases of severe drought.  When foliage starts to turn yellow in autumn, prune to leave 8cm (3in) stumps above ground level. Place the prunings over plants to keep the soil warm and aid lifting of tubers in frosty weather.

Now I just have to pick up all the debris, turn the compost, plant the potatoes, sow the broad beans and beetroot.  Easy.

The hungry gap comes late

The recent (ongoing) weather has been a disaster for the crops this year - yields are down YOY and the cupboard is bare. There is little hope of anything else coming off the plot in the near future - the beans have not survived brutal slug attack and the Brussel sprout/ curly green kale plug plants were devoured by snails in our garden.

The beetroots are looking ok though so will plant more of them (much to Tom's disgust) and I will try the supermarket salad trick again. Basically buy a tray of supermarket living salad, separate out into plantlets and replant in real soil with a decent spacing.  Surround by copper barbed wire to deter snails (I may be over-reacting here) and wait for your instant salad to grow.

With my brother-in-law over at the weekend I didn't get much allotment time but I did hear tales of prolific tomato and cucumber plants in greenhouses in Germany. No such luck here. Even friends who grew tomatoes under cover have reported that plants didn't really flower enough for a good crop.  I have a measly couple of chili peppers on the grafted pepper plant I bought last year from Hampton Court flower show. Clearly, I will have to find an alternative source for this year's chili jelly.

What I do have in abundance are weeds. They are knee high now and a source for shame when I viewed them on Sunday on a flying visit to pick 1.4kg of raspberries.  Luckily I have the weekend free so I will rip up the worst offenders to compost them and reveal the brave remaining plantlets still in the allotment.  Perhaps I will also have to resort to larger ready to pick (almost) plants to at least give me a reason to visit the plot.

I did harvest a handful of blueberries which was fun but perhaps not the best yield from 2 bushes. No sign of currants (red or black) or gooseberries though being overwhelmed by raspberries may have cramped their style - must move them this Autumn.  The good old Jerusalem artichokes seem to be ok though I will cut back the grapes to allow the torrential rains to get to the roots as it would be ironic if this year of all years they suffered from drought (as my container potatoes seemed to).

According to gardenorganic.co.uk these are things I could be sowing now:

Swiss chard

until mid August, or end of August undercover. To brighten up your winter plot, try Rainbow chard. Stems can be orange, yellow, red, bright pink or even white!

Peas	maincrop, mangetout and sugarsnap until end of July

Pak choi

until end August

Kohl rabi

until August. Try Azure Star, striking blue/purple ‘bulbs’ with white, mild flavoured  flesh

Calabrese

until end July

Beetroot

early and maincrop; until July. Try 'Boltardy', good resistance to bolting, with fine   texture and flavour

So mainly leafy things and brassicas - roll on Autumn and the new crops on the block.

Checking in with the changes

B.W. Before Weeding

After heat and drought, temperatures are back to seasonal norm and Easter onwards gave us rain. However now half the country is in drought (predicted to be the worst since 1976) and we are unlikely to have hosepipe bans lifted until December.

Temperatures at night dropped so much that the emerging potato tops have browned a little in the frost. This weekend it was time to plant last Shetland black potatoes and earth up others. This is done easily by using a rake to drag the soil from the mounds to cover the green (and brown) leaves. Damage to the leaves is noticeably worse on the plot than near house where there are no signs of frost damage.  The house itself must give them a little protection.

I finally got around to weeding the onions and garlic which are shallow rooted and hate competition. This should be a lesson to me to regularly weed rather than do a marathon job - two wheelbarrows later and I was exhausted.  But as you can see, it made a huge difference. Now I just need to fertilise them and water the Jerusalem artichokes which are in the shadow of the grape vines so don't get rained on even if it does rain.

A.W. After Weeding

Great excitment was felt (well, by me anyway) after the weeding revealed our very first stems of asparagus. 2 weedy little specimens but mine own no less.
Window box salad is through as are some spring onion shoots (I think).
We had a mini disaster with the chili seedlings. Tom knocked them off the window sill and all but 3 seedlings are no more. I suppose it's a crude form of survival of fittest. Mind you I don't need many just enough to make chili jelly. Plus  the overwintering grafted one we bought from the RHS Hampton Court flower show is coming back to life. Both tomatoes and chili are actually perennials but our winters usually kill them off and they grow so easily from seed that they are usually treated as annuals.
Other seedlings that are doing well are the butter nut squash - I need to pot them on as can't plant out yet but I want to make room for sowing giant pumpkin seeds. My beetroot and PSB (purple sprouting broccoli) probably need repotting too as they are too fiddly and tiny to plant out but I will also try to direct sow as they look unhappy in their seed trays.

Some tomato seedlings are out but I have let them get leggy and should really pot them on deeper (ie plant them with half the stem submerged) to allow for roots to form further up the stem and make sure they are sturdy.  I also want to sow the black tomatoes to test them out.  Where will I find all the place?

Spring has sprung

The blossom has just opened up on the plum tree in the garden and the blueberries are coming into leaf.

Temperatures are averaging 15 degrees and the weeds (sadly) are springing back to life. (Note to self: hoe between garlic, onions, shallots etc. which are looking a touch jungle like).

Though the saying goes "ne'er cast a clout till May be out" (see the excellent phrases.org.uk to learn more about the phase) implies we shouldn't discard our winter clothes till May (or indeed till Hawthorn (also called May) is in bloom) weeds actually start back into life from 7 degrees so keep a vigilant eye open and a hoe ready.
With the joys of spring growing within me and limited chances to sow seed, I made a mad dash before a flight on the 10th to plant some of the potatoes I have had chitting in the kitchen.  In went the first earlies and a couple of Shetland Blacks.  I had dug 4 trenches and I filled 3 of them (30cm or a foot's length separating them and in the pit not top of the piles and gently firmed up the soil above them) in this order:
- trench nearest plank pile: Sharp's Express PLUS Shetland Black x 2
- middle trench: Swift
- 3rd trench from plank pile: Pentland Javelin

That leaves one more one more trench which I shall save for the rest of the Shetland Black x 4 and the British Queen. Though I also have Ratte chitting madly so they will need a home.  I have 3 patio potato planters which I think I will use for Charlotte and Ratte. The compost is already waiting by the kitchen steps though I plan to stagger the planting of these to see if I can spread the inundation of spuds.

Delicious magazine (April edition) have got 6 lovely sounding recipes for use with Jersey Royals so I might use the last of the stored potatoes for chips, tartiflette and sauteed but paired with Chorizo rather than black pudding.
Jersey Royal chips with Saffron Aioli - 500g potatoes sliced lengthways in quarters, cook in boiling water 3-4 minutes, toss with 2tbsp olive oil, roast 30-40 minutes till crispy + cheat's aioli (thanks to Donal Skehan) 3tbsp mayonnaise, 1tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 chopped garlic clove
Jersey Royals with anchovy gremolata - finely mince 1 garlic clove, zest of 1 lemon, parsley, toss with potatoes, 25g butter, 2 sanchovy fillets finely chopped.
Jersey Royal and fontina frittata
Jersey Royal salad with hot-smoked salmon, dill and mustard creme fraiche - 4 tbsp creme fraiche, 2 tbsp olive oil, squeeze lemon, 1tsp Dijon mustard
Tartiflette
Sauteed Jersey Royals with black pudding and fried egg

According to the books this si the time to be planting jerusalem artichokes so it is also time to harvest the last of them (leaving a few behind int he ground for next year).

I intend to use another recipe from Delicious magazine for Mother's Day: Jerusalem artichoke and potato bake with welsh rarebit topping. Considering that the last 2 plants I dug up yielded 1.9kg I may need to consider making a Jerusalem Artichoke Flan too (from the excellent BBC website).

2011 yield review and the best intentions

Laziness, a new job and Winter has meant that I haven't updated in a while but now that Spring feels like it's round the corner, I am stirring like the snails crawling out of the nooks and crannies in the allotment and feel it's time to start writing again.

Where better to start in January but a review of the last year and a blog full of good intentions?

This is what I wrote back in July
Slow start to the year as things got into their swing. Things came early due to warmth but when growing from seed still need a growth cycle so not as successful than established soft fruits. Heat may have been a check and certainly the raspberries need magnesium (Epsom salts) to correct yellowing leaves. They also should have been tied in better. Next year or in the autumn I will create a framework of wires which should resist the weather better than normal string.

Now for the update in January 2012
We had a dreadfully wet summer and that meant the tomatoes got blight and yields were poor. It also didn't help that I didn't tie them in or support them well. Again - must do better next time.

Yellow was the colour of the season and yellow courgettes, patty pans, ornamental squash and yellow beetroot were great fun. The squash stored well and we are still eating it now in stews and bakes. Despite a slow start and early lack of germination the beetroot ended up doing well though they weren't the impressive giants that Bernie managed to grow.

I can't tell you what varieties did well because I forgot to label them, or labelled them in pen that washed off or on sticks that got lost over the season. Again, must do better this year.

Now in the midst of winter, incidentally the warmest winter since the early 80s apparently, we have had just one frost and the chard is still going strong and we are starting to harvest the Jerusalem Artichokes. We also had a potato harvest to make an Irishman proud. Sadly, though we tend to eat bread or pasta more as our chosen carbohydrate and my constant on/ off diet discourages me from even that so we still have mountains of potatoes at home. 

My resolve is to find recipes that are both healthy and that use up potatoes in vast quantities before the next season returns.  In fact the whole chest freezer needs a good clear out as I fear we may even have vegetables from Autumn 2010 lurking in there! 

So that will be my challenge for the next four weeks is to use up all the stored vegetables before Lent starts on the 21st February. Watch this space for recipes using fruits of the freezer...

Oh and I promise to:
- cut down a third of the raspberries to see if they are autumn or summer fruiting
- tie the raspberries in with wire (string just didn't work)
- label things properly
- tie in and support the tomatoes I eventually grow.
- I can't promise not to order too many seeds because that horse has already bolted but I can sow them with caution to avoid a glut

Sowing seeds in the sun

Top tip: sow tomatoes indoors now to have plants ready to plant out in May.

We have had just over a week of absolutely wonderful weather. Sadly it will return to clouds and average temperatures for the time of 11 degrees. However it was glorious while it lasted. With temperatures hitting 18 degrees It was sheer bliss to doze in the sun and be busy doing nothing.

Spring is such a dynamic time where you can almost see the plants grow. There is a lilac that I cherish and though initially slow to flower now is invariably in flower for my husband, Tom's birthday. I noticed the buds were plumping up a week ago and within a matter of days the purple buds were on show.

In an attempt at spring cleaning I harvested the last cabbage, cavolo Nero and Brussels sprout tops. With them out I turned the earth and weeded afterwards which should be a good foundation for further crops.

The addition of a mini deep fat fryer has not been the wisest choice but it has introduced delicious Jerusalem artichoke chips to the household. You could also do this more healthily by spraying them with oil and roasting them. I also made bubble and squeak using up the last of the brassicas and sprouting potatoes (sprouting in a not good way as opposed to purple s. broccoli). Yummy served with a duck egg and baked beans.

I overcame my sun-induced laziness and some some seeds - a hopeful act imbued with magical qualities. How can these tiny things spring forward and grow to feed us months from now?

When sowing there are some ground rules that provide a great grounding for the future health of your plants.

Use a light weight fine compost. Some people make up their own concoctions but I have to admit I just used a multi purpose compost.

You are also suppose to clean out old trays but, again I was bad and just emptied out the old soil and that was it.

Then just follow the instructions on your seed packet.

Pop them on a window sill. Turn them occasionally so they don't grow wonky trying to find the light.

Keep them watered but don't drown them (avoid mould). Keeping them covered keeps the moisture in an helps germination.

One important thing I will remember after the mystery tomato debacle is proper labelling and record keeping.

To that end this is what I sowed at the weekend:
Tomato gardeners delight
Mangetout with purple flowers
Cosmos
Kale no cover
Calabrese
Asparagus pea

Update- one week later and the calabrese, kale and cosmos are already poking through the soil.

Amazing.

Potatoes, shallots and garlic

I planted up garlic in among the rhubarb (including the plants I had to move because they are building a new path). The elephant garlic is also looking good.

I have 2 varieties of shallot I planted - Red Sun and Golden Gourmet (two packs of the latter one of which was from Poundland and in fact had more bulbs than the pack from B&Q). Come end of July/ early August I hope to harvest a bumper crop. I planted them in furrows 10cm deep, 10cm apart and kept rows 20cm apart to allow for hoeing. Golden Gourmet is supposed to be sharp while red sun is supposed to be gentler in flavour.

I also harvested the last of the Jerusalem artichokes and replanted a few of the tubers to grow again this year.

I relocated the Swiss Chard as edging to the plot.

Finally, I planted 4 varieties of potato. Positioning the Maris Piper and Charlotte closest to the rhubarb/ garlic to allow the space freed up by the speedy first earlies Rocket and Pentland Javelin to be planted up with something else. I forked over the soil into the trenches so that it would be easier to create a furrow. The only one where I didn't was the Maris Piper and I'm concerned that the soil is too compacted.

I didn't find time to plant the Autumn Bliss raspberry canes from B&Q nor the asparagus crowns from Aldi.

A hard wind's going to blow

I roused myself from my sick bed to briefly inspect the allotment which I haven't seen for some time what with frosts and festivities.

It is on days like these that you appreciate brassicas as they were among the few plants still standing. The strawberry plants look healthy as do the pak choi and the Swiss chard, though battered, is surviving.

I harvested most of the remaining Brussels sprouts - 1.5kg of them. I also took home two of the healthiest looking Brussels tops as I'd heard they can be a delicious alternative to cabbage. Not that I needed them as I also cut a small cabbage head and the last few broccoli shoots.

All that is left are the (hopefully) purple sprouting broccoli that have been squatting on the plot all year with no results so fingers crossed for spring!

Looking forward to the coming growing season, I think I won't bother with brassicas again. They take too much space, take too long to mature, are dead cheap in shops and don't taste significantly better to me. Perhaps the odd broccoli plant that allows me to cut and come again but on the whole I'll use the space for other plants.

For example the amazing Jerusalem artichoke.

I harvested a whole 3.6kg of artichokes from one plant today! I'm not sure how to use them all but I'll give it a damn good go. I'm thinking gratin and soups.

Follow up: 2 delicious dishes later...

Brussel tops, Artichoke and Bacon salad (adapted from Great Allotment Cookbook):
4 small Jerusalem artichokes
2 tbsp walnut oil
8 slices of pancetta
40g walnuts (can also replace with pine nuts)
4-6 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp bramble/ redcurrant jelly
2 brussel tops (or 175g watercress salad/ mixed leaves)

Scrub the artichokes and slice them into 5mm slices. Toss witht eh walnut oil in a roasting tin and roast in a preheated oven, 200 C for 20 mins turning after 10 mins.

Meanwhile, grill the pancetta until crisp, then break it into bite size pieces. Dry-fry the walnuts/ pine nuts. Set aside. Heat 1 tbsp of oil and fry the garlic until lightly golden. Add the vinegar and remaining olive oil and bramble jelly/ redcurrant jelly and keep warm.

Layer the greens, bacon, walnuts/ pine nuts and bacon and drizzle with the sauce. YUM.

Jerusalem artichoke soup from the Great Allotment Cookbook:
1kg Jerusalem artichokes sliced
50g butter
1 onion
600ml stock
600ml milk
150ml single cream

Melt butter, add the onion and cook until soft (5 minutes). Add the artichokes and cook for 3 minutes. Season to taste, add the stock and milk and bring to the simmering point. Reduce the heat, partially cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Blend the soup in a food processor. Reheat gently without boiling then add the cream. 

Weighing up 2010

Despite the snow and ice thawing and in theory I could revisit the allotment and start digging. But as the rain falls I still don't feel like it.

Instead I am enjoying staying on my sofa and dreaming of the crops to come in 2011. Surrounded by seed catalogues and an insatiable urge to buy more seeds and plants I find it useful to look in my seed store to see what I already have, look over past posts to remember what was problematic and, in a nerdy way, look at my crop spreadsheet.

Not only did I weigh every harvest (apart from a few of the later ones) and chronicle when they were harvested but I also went round a local supermarket getting a guide price per kilo so I can now work out which crop was worth the effort and if the plot itself broke even.

As we were starting from scratch there was some spending (£253) on tools and plants and scaffolding for raised beds (still not built!) which will be spread over the years but on the whole it seems to have worked out well. I slipped up a little in record keeping in the party season and didn't measure everything (including the Brussels sprouts on Christmas day) and don't have prices for all the vegetables I grew but even taking that into account, the value of what was grown was £800 (and 187kg of produce). Of course we had to buy a new freezer to keep them all in!

By far the most productive vegetable was the tomato - 67kg and worth £374 alone. 23kilos of Runner beans while worth a decent amount, £152, was excessive as they are not as versatile as tomatoes and courgettes. I also got 23kg of courgettes (worth £79) however they proved to be great for cakes and stews though not so good at freezing as they get water-logged.   26 kilos of potatoes were very welcome and we are still eating them now. Definitely worth repeating again though I will have to switch our carb habits from pasta and rice to potatoes so we use them up quicker.  Jerusalem artichokes are promising to be very productive too - 3.6kg from just one plant already. Delicious and difficult to find in shops - definitely on the list for the coming growing year. Salad is not only easy and fast to grow but also expensive to buy in shops - another winner.

The Patty Pans were cute but I wasn't fast enough in using them all, equally the excitement of finally managing to grow radishes doesn't overcome the fact I'm not too keen on them.

What else is on the plans for this year? More soft fruit like currants (red and black), gooseberries and raspberries.  I can't wait.

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!

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?



The kindness of strangers

Top tip:
Take time out from all the work to talk to your neighbours - you never know what you might learn. Besides, it's just nice to get to know new people.

20.07.10
Having an allotment is more than just growing food for yourself, it is about connecting with a variety of people in your area. Much like your family, you cannot choose your allotment neighbours but you are united by a common interest and it is in your interest to get along with them as it makes life much more pleasant. Whether it is advice, help with the watering or free plants there are great benefits of building relationships with your fellow allotmenteers.

Within just four months I have received spinach, peppers, curly kale, Spanish onion plants, runner beans, Jerusalem artichokes, a fabulous metal rod for holding my hose, help with carrying scaffolding boards and eaten some wonderful broad beans, spring greens and cima di rapa (a fast growing sprouting broccoli type of plant). These last 4 days we have had winds of over 45km per hour and my immediate neighbour has kindly helped piece together my runner bean framework. I've also had a convivial drink and a chat with a few others along the way.

This generosity of spirit spreads around – some seeds here, tomato plants there or the offer of a building job is offered in return. Even non-allotmenteers start to benefit as the gluts become so great that the freezer and belly is full of chard, tomato or courgette.

My Spanish onion courtesy of a fellow allotmenteer

Creating structure out of chaos

Top tip:
Have a plan but stay flexible. consider the essentials such as access to water and which way the garden is facing. Leave space for courgettes and squashes to grow - more space than you thought was necessary.

24.07.10
“We adore chaos because we love to produce order.” - M. C. Escher
“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.” - Stephen Sondheim

I have to admit I like creating something out of nothing. I like imposing structure where previously there was disorder. I also love a plan. After reading vast amounts of books and websites, I drew up a plan. To scale.

In my favour, I wasn’t as anal a fellow new allotmenteer who was seeing marking in each individual plant on an incredibly detailed plan of his plot. I just created zones of planting and winged it from there.

I took into account which direction most of the allotment faced (South), where there were hard structures already that would be hard to move (water butt, wall and wooden posts formerly used for runner beans), I also started creating zones. I decided I would turn the former runner bean area into my fruit cage (or actually fruit area until I get around to doing cage things to it) where fruit can grow permanently. I highlighted an area for compost that had access but that wasn’t in a prime area – this will move again a little next year as it takes up too much space.

I made a list of all the fruit and vegetables I like and that I would like to try to grow. I then grouped them by type. Books differ on what is and isn’t in these groups (and how many groups there are) but roughly speaking there are the brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, sprouts and such like), legumes (peas and beans), roots (carrots, swede, beetroot, onions, garlic etc) and everything else (tomatoes, squash, courgette, sweetcorn, potatoes, peppers). In fact there is also a final group of permanent vegetables and fruit such as asparagus, rhubarb, currants, strawberries and raspberries.

Once you have these crops it is advised to rotate them every year to avoid build up of disease and to avoid the same crops over using certain minerals in the soil.
Some of the features I liked about my allotment also meant that I had to sacrifice some growing space - access to compost, the water butt and a path that was installed to reach it. There is also an arcane rule about how far away from the wall I am allowed to plant in case it creates damp. This means that I am in process of finding new ways to fit in more plants. I am reclaiming an area around the corner and starting to use wasted space under climbers and between slow growing plants like cabbages.

Other unspoken rules that I have been made aware of and had to allow for are that you should keep bushy plants away from paths and you shouldn’t grow tall things where they will cast shadow – a neighbour got into big trouble for growing Jerusalem artichokes and letting them get out of control.

Overall I have underestimated the space some crops will need and despite following packet instructions my courgettes are so close together now it is almost impossible to bury among the leaves to reach the little green fingers. The suspected summer squash (Patty Pan) is making a break for Kent through the brassicas (cue much head shaking from a neighbour who holds brassicas very dear to his heart).

The current layout of the allotment (or lottie as some afficianados call theirs) is based on a pre-agricultural revolution style: a patchwork of crops fitted in where the will took me and in-filling when something has been harvested. While this is attractive I do admire the more uniform rows and neat zones of other plots. They also have the advantage of allowing easier hoeing without fear of cutting an emergent plant off in its prime.