Bean there, ate that.

Finding time for the allotment, let alone to blog, has been a bit tricky recently. However, now that the baby I'd been fostering has moved to his adoptive family I have a bit more free time.

I'm always sad to see children go but I'm taking a break from fostering over the summer so I can look forward to spending more time at the allotment and with my son.

I had only been managing one or two short visits per week to keep things ticking over and harvest ripe crops, but since the little fellow left last week I've spent 3 days getting the plot back into shape.

The whole plot has been thoroughly weeded, especially the paths which were a low priority when I hadn't much time. We finally had a delivery of bark chips from the council so I've been fetching barrow loads up from the car park to start covering the family/work area at the back of the plot. And today I painted my shed, cleaned it out and organised the inside.

My trug has gradually been getting fuller as more crops are ripening.

4th July - pak choi, carrots Parmex (round) and Royal Chantenay, Land cress and my first courgettes de Nice a Fruit Ronde.

13th July - Blue salad potatoes, Ulster Sceptre new potatoes, carrots, spinach beet, french beans and courgettes.

18th July - Spinach beet, Epicure new potatoes, carrots, courgettes and french beans.

I hadn't been to the plot for 5 days during the adoption introductions so there was quite a lot of picking to do when I got back. In particular I picked about 900g (2lb) of assorted courgettes and 1.5 kg (over 3 lbs) of french beans.

I've frozen most of the beans, which introduced me to the joys of blanching vegetables, although there is a debate on the net about whether blanching is always necessary with modern freezers. Therefore I've also frozen an unblanched pack as an experiment.

As for the courgettes, so far I've made roasted baby veg, courgette soup, spicy courgette veggie burgers and courgette frittata. And today I had to pick a few more so I'm thinking about trying a courgette cake recipe.

Not everything is going well however. I've had some crop failures (more about that in my next post) and one night last week the allotments were broken into. About 80 of the plots were searched and some vandalised. Mine was targeted but fortunately the only damage was to a section of fence which had been kicked in. They obviously took one look in my messy (as it was then) shed and left it alone.

Not much was taken, nobody keeps anything of value there, but some people had the contents of their sheds turned inside out and their crops damaged. I can't write what I really think of the selfish idiots that did this, it's not printable. But I can write that the Allotment Association and plot holders have been fantastic. Many have seen it all before unfortunately, but everyone helped out their neighbours. It's one of the things I like about having an allotment, the friendliness of other plotholders and community spirit.