The Plot

Squishy Squashes

2007-10-27T20:17:00.000+01:00

We had our first frost of the season this week and while this is good news for the parsnips which are still in the ground it is less good for our butternut squashes. If the squashes are exposed to frost the flesh goes mushy. We don't want to mess up another of our crops so we went down to the plot and harvested the biggest ones down there. The leaves on the plants had all gone brown so they were definitely in need of rescuing.

We are pleased with how many we got, especially as only a couple of months ago there were no signs of us getting any. They are still quite green, so they have joined the tomatoes on the kitchen window sill. When we cut them we left as much stalk as we could as they go rotten from the stalk end so the longer the stalk the more warning you get.

The plant in the garden is still doing very well. We feel we can keep the four squashes on that plant to allow them maximum time to grow and ripen. They are loads bigger than the previous photos on here and are a lot less green too! The garden is much more sheltered than the plot but we are giving each of the squashes a newspaper blanket whenever there might be a frost!

Fried Green Tomatoes

2007-10-27T20:10:00.003+01:00

Mark harvested the remaining tomatoes from the plants this week. They are now sitting on our kitchen window sill while they change colour. As you can see we got lots of little ones (moneymaker) and quite a few bigger ones (beef - yes Mark the vegetarian is eating them!!). The beef variety has lots of flesh and are therefore brilliant for pasta sauces and the like.

We know that we should keep some red ones near the green ones so that they help ripen them, but we keep eating them and so we have loads more green than red. I think we may need to use a banana to help ripen the rest or we will be eating fried green tomatoes - yuk!

Popcorn?

2007-10-27T19:58:00.000+01:00

The moment arrived for the harvesting of the sweetcorn. We were really pleased with our sweetcorn. It grew brilliantly in the garden next to the composter. They looked a reasonable size and I was excited about trying it...

Oops!!

Unfortunately we left it too long before we harvested it and the kernels had all gone hard.

If we had tried to eat it I think we would have been visiting the dentist soon afterwards!

But they were so beautiful it would have been a shame to waste them. I had a bit of a brainwave and have been researching making popcorn with it! However what research I have done has scared me a bit as there seems to be a lot of concern about the moisture content of the kernels. The moisture level is crucial to the popping of the corn apparently. I think we might just have to give it a go...

...watch this space!!

Butter Nutters

2007-10-03T20:34:00.000+01:00

Now is the season of butternut squashes. We have several plants, one in the back garden and about six plants at the plot. Below you can see the plants at the plot happily growing below the beans. The plants have grown very long and are now bearing fruit.

This is the plant in our back garden, it is approximately 12feet long now. It has stood up to attack from the slugs who have been slicing straight through the stem. There are about 5 squashes on the plant at the moment. All of a similar size and a perculiar green colour.

Hopefully they will get even bigger so that we can make lots of butternut squash risotto - yummy!

Monster Parsnip!!

2007-10-03T20:28:00.000+01:00

Mark dug some more parsnips up today so that they can be distributed to friends and family over the next few days. Here's what he dug up! I was amazed when he came into the kitchen holding a great big black sack with the leaves poking out of the top!

You thought the first one was big just take a look at this one!

Mark estimates another 30 in the bed still to be dug up. Some might stay in past the first frost!!

The Parsnip Story

2007-09-27T18:06:00.000+01:00

Two rows of parsnips were planted on May 6th 2007. They were put into a raised bed along with a butternut squash plant, a courgette plant and later on a few leeks were added into the gaps.

They grew steadily and although the carrots soon overtook them we weren't too worried as the harvest is much later. They have been thinned out a couple of times and we put some soot around the base of the shoots to protect them from pests.

We haven't done anything with them since going on holiday in July. I tided the bed up a bit a few weeks ago, but they haven't been disturbed (except maybe by the cat!).

Last week Mark was feeling curious so he tried to dig one up, after breaking one trowl he managed to get this one out of the ground. It was much bigger than we had anticipated, we photographed it with some pegs to give it's size some perspective.

We have heard that to get the best from parsnips you shouldn't dig them up until after the first frost so we're not going to disturb the rest just yet.

We didn't let this one go to waste, Mark chopped and roasted it with rosemary and thyme, they were delicious (from me who hasn't ever really liked them!!). I can't believe that they get better after the first frost because this one was really tasty without a deep freeze!

Watch this space (and the weather forecast!)

Peppers in a Pot

2007-09-26T20:21:00.000+01:00

The peppers in the garden have done really well, especially considering the summer we have had. Our garden isn't very sunny and I have been surprised that we have managed to grow any. We had the first two in a stir-fry. They are a mini variety, but they had a very peppery taste and a fairly thin skin, whether that would have thickened up if we had left them longer I'm not sure.

There are more peppers growing and since this plant started another one has decided to get in on the act and has one pepper. The pepper protection plan of hair and egg shell has worked really well - hoorah!

Old News

2007-09-26T20:05:00.000+01:00

Oops, haven't done this for a while - sorry!

Before I give you the very latest exciting news, I will you tell you about what was happening at the plot at the beginning of the month.

We (yes even me!) spent some time clearing out weeds and tidying up a bit. The grass needed cutting almost constantly and the petrol mower wasn't always up to the job making it very hard work.

The raspberries were ready but there were lots of stinging nettles in the way making it difficult to pick them. My job was to clear out some of the nettles - my arms were tingling for hours afterwards - I had gloves and long sleeves on but they didn't always meet! You can just see the raspberry canes (and some very tall nettles) in the background of this picture of the runner beans.

The potatoes were ready and should have been dug up earlier really so Mark and Richard got all the rest of the Red Caras out, along with the last of the Estima white potatoes.

We picked several marrows when we came back from holiday and as you can see from the next photo new smaller courgettes were ready to be picked. Mark really wanted to eat the flowers but we're not entirely sure how to cook them - any ideas?

As you can see we left the plot with some lovely fresh organic (to our best knowledge) food, some of it was eaten within hours of being picked - yum!

Tasty Tomatoes

2007-08-12T20:07:00.000+01:00

We have four tomato plants growing in the back garden. There are some cherry tomato and some beef tomato plants. They have also enjoyed the rain but need some sun now to ripen them, some of them are getting there - about two. One each!

Growing in the garden

2007-08-12T19:49:00.000+01:00

Now to tell you about some of the food we're growing in the back garden.

We've got four containers with sweet pepper plants growing. Helen has grown and nurtured them from seed. They spent a long time on the kitchen windowsill before progressing to the little green house. However the slugs started to attack them so they came back in to grow a bit bigger. The three you can see above have been potted on and placed back in the back garden with some hair around them to try to stop the slugs.

The hair seems to be working as little peppers are starting to grow - wouldn't make a portion of veg yet though! The fourth plant has been in the kitchen however we came back from holiday yesterday to find it covered with greenfly - eughhh. I'll have to try and help it recover.

Also in the garden are four sweetcorn plants, given to us by Lucy. They have been put in the ground and left effectively. All the rain has helped them to grow well. The two pictures were taken two weeks apart.

The flowers have come out at the top and the ears are starting to develop. Unfortunately Mark doesn't really like sweetcorn so I'll have to eat it before he uses to catch fish!

Yummy Onions

2007-08-12T19:42:00.000+01:00

We've harvested all the onions now. We left them to air outside for ages and ages and most of the white onions have dried out well so we can store them for later in the year. Unfortunately some of the red onions haven't dried out at all so we need to use them now or chuck them (onto the compost heap).

We have of course tasted quite a few of them and they are very tasty!

Big carrots!

2007-07-01T17:24:00.000+01:00

Now I've told you about the broccoli, courgettes and parsnips I can tell you about our monster carrots, pulled up today - just have a look at this!!

Yes it is a full sized fork! However we have some concerns about the rest of the crop as we may have been attacked by the dreaded carrot fly. A couple of the carrots pulled up today have considerable holes at the top of the carrot, which look similar to the symptoms we have read about. We'll keep a close eye on the rest of the crop and let you know about any further developments.

New crops

2007-07-01T17:08:00.000+01:00

You've heard a lot about our potatoes and carrots, but I feel the other crops are feeling neglected in their publicity. So here are three of the little plants, growing into big things, ready to be attacked by the VegiChef!

Here's a little broccoli, one of four plants at the moment. However one is under threat from slugs - yuk! If we ate it early would it be purple sprouting broccoli or is that a different plant altogether?

This is a courgette plant, we've got 7 of them, taking up one of the beds made vacant by the scrummy early potatoes. They haven't flowered yet, so it'll be a while before we can eat any of them. The plants are looking really healthy though. A crop for the future!

Here's the parsnips another crop for the future, they're looking good for a plentiful winter crop. Mark has thinned them out today and they are similar in size to the carrots when he thinned those out earlier in the year. He is pleased to report that they smell parsnipy!

It is at this point that I would have liked to share the news of my red spring onions, lovingly planted from seed, nurtured and planted on into the back garden (sorry not technically a plot crop). However the nasty slugs got them - every single one. SNIFF SNIFF.

Plot presents

2007-06-29T16:52:00.001+01:00

A child in my class also has an allotment, and he has grown some peas. Never mind an apple for the teacher I get peas! Haven't had a chance to try them yet, but I did give him some carrots in return!

Then this cheeky little pepper arrived in the land post! I think we're well on the way with creative ideas for what to do with our potatoes, but 1000 might be a bit ambitious! Thanks UNK!

Perhaps this pepper will scare off the plot cat who keeps leaving us presents at the plot!

Roots, roots, roots

2007-06-15T21:04:00.000+01:00

The carrots have been growing really well, they are now much bigger than they were when they had to be thinned out. Of course the only way to check how the are really doing is to dig them up and sample them! Yum yum!

The radishes were beginning to get nibbled, and we decided that we couldn't eat them if they were at the plot, so Mark pulled them up too.

There are still lots of carrots, radishes and parsnips down at the plot, enough to last a long time. The parsnips won't be ready for quite a while, but they have started to grow well.

I went food shopping this evening and didn't have to buy any potatoes or carrots - sorry Sainsbury's!

First Harvest!

2007-06-15T20:44:00.000+01:00

Already we've started to eat our produce! The eary potatoes flowered, so Mark dug some up to see whether they were ready. He started with just two plants, which produced 26 potatoes, weighing 5lb!

Since then he has dug up nearly a whole bed, and we have been eating lots of potatoes! They are super yummy, although sometimes they have been nibbled already!

Watch out for more pictures of other produce that has been dug up!

Cartloads of Carrots

2007-05-30T19:22:00.000+01:00

Here are the carrots.

Richard planted 2 full rows of seeds straight into the bed, after the rain a couple of weeks ago they really started to shoot up. So much so that they really needed thinning out, so some poor carrots had to be removed from the bed, never to reach their full potential (can you tell I'm into report writing mode?!).

Mark brought these three carrots back from the plot, hopefully they are all like this in the deepest darkest depths of the bed. Naturally we couldn't let them go to waste so we ate them and I have to say they tasted really carrotty!

I'm not sure when they'll be ready, but judging by the ones in the photo they need a little more time before they are big enough to provide a portion!

We haven't seen any evidence of the nasty carrot fly, hopefully they don't read blogs so they won't know to make their way to the plot!

Plot Cat

2007-05-30T19:14:00.000+01:00

Here is the plot cat!

We think he might be responsible for the onions being dug up. He obviously thinks that he owns the plot and feels that we shouldn't have planted that many onions. He's happy with the potatoes though!

Does anyone have any tips for keeping cats away? We're not there all the time so it has to be something we can leave there for up to a week at a time.

I've heard that orange peel works, has anyone tried it?

Ooh he needs a name too.

Oodles of Onions

2007-05-20T14:08:00.000+01:00

Here are some pictures of the onions at the plot!

We've got one and a half beds full of them. The large bed has 60 white onions and 40 red onions in. They are growing really well and the rain seems to have helped too.

I'm a bit worried about the one in this picture as it seems to be much smaller than the others. Any ideas about what we can do to help it along. I've tried paying it extra attention, talking to it more, but surprisingly that doesn't seem to have helped ... maybe I'll try singing!!

The half bed has got another 40 in, some white and some red. However they aren't doing so well as SOMETHING or SOMEONE has been pulling them out of the ground. Hmmm... maybe Mr Squirrell enjoyed the Alcester onions and has come over here to have some more.

Plenty of Potatoes

2007-05-13T15:27:00.000+01:00

Here is the first of the photos showing you the plot as it is now!

You can see the four beds of potatoes, the early potatoes (nearest camera) are doing really well (they're in the beds that Helen forked over!!). They should be ready in July, we've planted forty plants, so we might be overrun by potatoes. Watch out if you've got a birthday in July, you might be getting potatoes from us!!

In the other two beds are the main crop potatoes, we hope they'll be ready to eat later in the summer. Just incase we didn't have enough already, there's another 42 plants!! Recipes for potato based meals are welcome!

Oh yes, there are some more potaotes planted in another part of the plot, they are second earlies so should see us through should we finish the first earlies before the main crop are ready (if that is at all possible!!). Does anyone know how many potatoes we might get from each plant?

Watch out for more postings about our other veggies.

Welcome to The Plot

2007-05-12T19:06:00.000+01:00

We're really excited about our veggie plot so we thought we'd share it's progress with you! It started towards the end of last year...

...looking a bit of a mess. But with lots of hard digging by Mark and Richard (and a little light forking by Helen) it has come on amazingly!

There are now 8 large beds full of potential food.