Beans, beans, good for your heart....

I'm growing runner beans for the first time this year.

I decided to limit my total beans to one bed still, because the dwarf beans I grew last year were so prolific we had more than enough. I made two wigwams with 8 foot canes at each end of the bed for the runner beans and planted two rows of dwarf beans in between.

I started the runner beans from seed at home and planted them out in May, they are Scarlet Emperor. The dwarf beans were sowed directly into the bed. I'm growing two varieties of dwarf beans, Tasman (left over from last year) and Royal Burgundy.

I bought the Royal Burgundy seeds whilst on holiday in Canada, but you can get them in the UK. They have lovely purple flowers and pods, although much to my son's disappointment the pods turn green when cooked. We haven't noticed a difference in taste between the green and purple beans and both varieties are producing lots of pods, so the difference is really cosmetic. I would still grow them again just because they are interesting and I like the purple flowers.

Because of the glut of beans last year I have tried to stagger their planting a bit. I planted a few seeds at a time at 2-3 week intervals. So far this seems to have worked since I've started picking from the first batch planted while the rest are in flower.

The runner beans have also started cropping and have lots of flowers, so it looks like we'll be eating plenty of those too.

I'm trying some other new crops and different varieties this year, with varying degrees of success. The new crops include raspberries, squashes, peas, parsnips and beetroot. I'll be telling you about my trials and tribulations with those in future posts.

Forgive me blogger for I have sinned.........

.....it has been 8 months since my last confession post.

I have no real excuses, even though I've been pretending I did. I can only apologise and, for anyone who is still out there, tell you what's been happening on the plot in that time:

November/December -cleared the plot and dug over existing beds

January - carpeted and bark chipped some of the paths

February - snow....

March - dug over the unused third of the plot, started sowing, planted onions and shallots

April - planted potatoes

and sweetpeas

May - everything gets growing, including the weeds

June.....

I promise I'm going to start posting more regularly again so I'll tell you what's happening this month in my next post.

An evil wind is blowing......

I recently harvested my first crop of Jerusalem Artichokes. They are known for having a windy side affect, and are also known by some of us as fartichokes. They are neither from Jerusalem nor artichokes but are related to sunflowers, as you might guess from seeing them in flower.

Mine were a bargain buy, found in the reduced bin at the end of the spring planting season. I decided I had nothing much to lose giving them a try and popped them in the ground. Actually I forgot I had planted them and nearly dug them up as a weed in the summer until I spotted the label. I'm glad I didn't because the one plant I have dug so far produced a huge crop.

I had some roasted earlier today and tonight my neighbours are probably thinking I've taken up the trombone.....

The plot is starting to look a bit neater as I continue with the clear up.

before.......

and after......
The Japanese overwintering onions are doing well

I've also planted my garlic and am hoping for some nice fat bulbs next year. Although I have to admit that this years ones may have been pathetically small, but boy are they strong!

I've been fostering a 7 year old girl this week to give her carer a break over half term. She loved the allotment and really enjoyed helping me dig up the jerusalems and the last of my spuds. Later we made chips from some of the spuds and she was amazed because she had no idea that chips were made from potatoes.

At last my son's pumpkins have met their destiny as spooky Halloween jack-o'-lanterns. The smaller ones were designed by him and the little girl, and the big one was my idea, inspired by one I saw on the net.

Pumpkins and pests

These are my son's pumpkins, which he is rightly proud of. The largest one has a circumference of 140cm (55') and weighs 20.4kg or 45lb. That is 1kg more than he weighs! We're intending to use them at Halloween, but picked them early just in case anyone took a fancy to them.

Unfortunately someone or rather some bugs did take a fancy to my leeks. This is a close up of one of the little blighters..

I had to pick the leeks early and salvage what I could. I was quite disappointed because they were doing well up to that point. It's yet more proof that I need to invest in pest barriers for my crops, although right now I feel like I should just get a giant net and cover the whole plot!

I also had another wild visitor one quiet evening

This photo was taken on my neighbour's plot but the fox investigated several plots, including mine. I've found footprints before and wondered how foxy was getting onto my plot, now I know.

My patty pan have finally given up so I've composted the remains and cleared the bed. A couple of things are still hanging on but most things are pretty much finished now. Unfortunately I didn't get around to planting winter crops this year. I've put in some spring cabbages my mum gave me and I made sure they are covered to keep the pests off.

There is still plenty of work to do over the autumn and winter preparing for next season. As well as clearing the beds and adding soil improvers I need to get the rest of the plot up and running. I left some of the ground covered for my first year but I'm going to be working the full plot from next year so I need to dig the soil over and make a few more beds. Covering it should have got rid of a lot of the weeds but I know that is the side where my nemesis bindweed is still lurking.

If I feed the soil, the soil feeds me

Despite the growing season winding down, the allotment is still supplying a lot of our fresh vegetable needs.

The patty pan has so far escaped powdery mildew and is producing plenty of fruit. The french beans have been having a second flush and the tomatoes are ripening in spite of the lack of sunshine. I also have a couple of rows of sweet baby carrots left, baby corn, pak choi, spinach beet, spring onions, cucumbers and salads.

Added to the stuff I'm still picking I have stores of onions, shallots, garlic, plenty of potatoes and a drawer full of frozen veg in my freezer.

It's very satisfying knowing I've grown all this food, but there is always room for improvement. Over the summer I noticed that some other plot holders had bigger and better crops than mine and I've been chatting to people and getting advice. I think the main thing I need to work on is soil improvement, adding organic matter and fertilizers.

To this end I've been building up my compost heap all summer and mixing it regularly. A couple of weeks ago I turned it out and found beneath the top layer I had some lovely compost ready to use. I've also got a couple of bin bags full saved from earlier in the year.

And then, while picking blackberries in the car park area last week, I made an exciting discovery - mature manure! (Yes I know most people don't get excited about manure). It was the tramped down remains of the old communal manure heap and seems to have been overlooked in a quiet corner.

I decided I'd better grab some before someone else found it so I abandoned the tasks I'd planned and spent that morning shoveling manure and fetching barrow loads up to my plot instead. It was hard work and the short steep slope up to the plots from the car park area seemed to get longer with every trip.

But it was worth it. I now have another compost bin full of lovely crumbly manure.

In a few weeks time, when I clear my beds, both the compost and manure can be added to the soil to improve it's structure and fertility.

First bonfire of autumn

After a dismal August it's already feeling autumnal down on the plot. I've been clearing my fences of unwanted weeds like bramble and bindweed and had a bonfire today to get rid of them.

The beds are starting to empty as I harvest crops and the summer gluts are over. The courgette and pumpkin foliages are suffering from powdery mildew and looking a bit sad. I haven't had any courgettes for a few days now, although the patty pan is still performing well.

I did get around to trying stuffed patty pan, and some courgettes for comparison.

These are green patty pan, round and Lebanese courgettes, which are club shaped. They're par boiled, scooped out, then stuffed with onions, chopped courgette flesh, breadcrumbs and grated cheese. They are pretty tasty, especially the patty pan.

The pumpkins have stopped growing and are turning orange:

9th August

30th August

I haven't measured this big one yet but it must be around 1.3m (4'3''). The final height of my son's sunflower was 289cm (9'6''). Some of the sunflower heads have ripened and the birds are already feasting on the seeds (this is the sunflower from 11th August post).

If the birds are eating my sunflowers at least I feel less guilty for picking the blackberries around the car park for my blackberry and apple crumbles!

My thoughts are turning to what needs doing over the coming months, preparing the rest of the plot and planning what to grow next year.

I recently found out that I came just in the top half of the points table in the site's best plot awards this year. I thought that was quite good for my first year and out of around 200 plot holders. But next year I want to do better.

Oh crabs!

When life gives you crab apples, make crab apple jelly.


So my mystery tree turned out to be a crab apple as suspected. It's beautiful deep pink blossom was much admired back in the spring, but since I discovered it was a crab several people have wondered why it was planted on an allotment?

The answer, I think, is that it was intended to fertilize an eating apple tree that used to be on the plot.

I've been in two minds whether to keep it or not. It's an attractive little tree and the local wildlife enjoy it, but I can't eat the fruit.

Before I condemned the tree I decided to have a go at making apple jelly. Lots of cooks think it's best made with crabs and they do contain lots of natural pectin, the stuff that makes jelly or jam set.

The fruits, like the blossom, are deep pink, both inside and out. I picked all those that looked sound, which was about 3.5kg (6lb) of fruit.

To make the jelly I first washed and halved the fruit, cutting away only the bruised or damaged parts. The whole fruit gets used, cores, seeds and all.

It's then put in a large pan (I did it in two batches) with 300ml (1 pint) of water for each 450g (1lb) of fruit and brought to a gentle simmer. The fruit needs to cook for 20-30 minutes and is squashed with a wooden spoon or potato masher to release the juice.

The pulp is then put into a jelly bag strainer and left to drip for several hours (I left mine overnight).

Apples can have a second cooking to release more juice, adding half as much water 150ml (1/2 pint) per 450g (1lb). The pulp is strained again and the juice added to the first batch. I got about 3 l (5 pints) of juice.

To make the jelly you need 450g (1lb) of sugar for every 300ml (1 pint) of juice. First put the juice in a pan (not more than half full) over a gentle heat. When the juice is quite hot add the sugar and stir until it's all dissolved. Then turn up the heat and boil rapidly (called a rolling boil).

To test when the jelly reached setting point I used 2 methods. Firstly by temperature, using a sugar thermometer. It reaches setting point at 104-5 °C. I also used the saucer test. A blob of jelly is placed on a cold saucer from the fridge. Once the jelly has cooled the surface should wrinkle when pushed with a finger.

The hot jelly is then poured into sterilized jars and topped with wax paper discs and lids.

I ended up with 10 jars of beautiful pink jelly, and it tastes delicious. I like it spread on toast and have also used some in a sauce for pork chops.