You win some, you lose some.

It sure has been a hot week here in London. I've been nipping down to the allotment in the evenings when it's been a bit cooler, to water and harvest crops.

My beans are still going for it and I've been freezing more as well as eating them. The courgettes are also pretty much continuous, good job I love them.

I tried making the courgette cake. It was really easy to make and it was delicious, quite like carrot cake. The recipe used mascarpone in place of the usual cream cheese for the icing and that made it even nicer.

One good thing about the hot dry weather is that I was able to lift my shallots and garlic last week and leave them on the soil to dry out.

Today I brushed off the soil, rubbed away the papery outer skins and transferred them to trays to continue drying.

I'm really pleased with the shallots but my garlic is pretty pitiful in size. I can hold the entire crop in one hand whereas my neighbour's garlic bulbs are each as big as a fist! I did plant it very late and hoped for the best but I will definitely be planting next years crop in the autumn to give it a longer growing season.

In the same vein, last time I promised a tale of woe about my failures. My biggest disaster has been my turnips. First came the pigeon attack, then some bolted (ran to seed) and when I pulled up the remainder their roots were miss shaped and bug damaged. I didn't get to eat a single one.








My pak choi initially did well but eventually succumbed to attack by something and had to be composted. I have planted more but the seedlings are being nibbled too and I'm not sure by what.









My salad has also been under similar attack by a discerning pest. First the little gems were munched and the rest ignored. Then when they had been decimated whatever it is started on the mixed salad leaves, which have a more bitter taste.

I don't think it is slugs causing the trouble since I have found no evidence of them, it looks like bug damage to me. I think it was flea beetle that got the turnips and the stems of the pak choi, but I don't know if they eat leaves?

Since I do want to be as organic as possible I have realised that I need to invest in some kind of barrier protection for my crops next year and I will be looking into this over the winter.

To end on a success story, my son is thrilled with his sunflowers, the tallest of which is 223cm (7 '4'') as of today. Here he is watering them last week when the tallest was 201cm (6' 7'') , it grew 22cm (9'') in just 4 days!

And his pumpkins are also doing brilliantly. We have had to extend the bed because the vines are getting so long. I've also been teaching him about the sex lives of pumpkins. To ensure pollination we've been taking male flowers and using them to fertilize the female flowers (easily spotted by the small potential pumpkin behind the flower. The results speak for themselves.

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.

Food Glorious Food

I've been enjoying a few more fruits of my labour this week.

I decided to dig up one of my Epicure new potatoes and found a nice little crop underneath. They were lovely, quite creamy tasting. Even my son, who is not that fond of potatoes, declared them delicious and polished off his share.

I cut a few heads of pak choi. More than I needed really because the rows needed thinning out after putting on so much growth when I was away. We've eaten some in a stir fry and I gave a couple to my mum.

I also decided that I would have to pull some rhubarb since I needed a machete to get through my gate. I used it to make a rhubarb grunt (like a cobbler) for my appreciative partner.

I haven't had a lot of time on the allotment this week so I've mostly been weeding and thinning out crops. While doing so I discovered that a couple of turnips in the first row were starting to bolt (flower) which was a bit disappointing. After doing a bit of research it looks likely to be due to water or weather conditions. They were also the ones that were attacked by the pigeons so maybe it just all got too much for them.

Other things are doing well however. I had my first ripe strawberry today and there are lots more coming. I also noticed that one of my courgettes, a round variety, has small fruits developing.

And my son is especially pleased that his pumpkins and sunflowers seem to have appreciated the feeding and watering he gave them and have noticeably grown this week.

Everything in the Garden is Rosy

I had an amazing time in Canada and was too busy to worry about the allotment while I was away.

I got home on Saturday and yesterday I went to see how things were. I was preparing myself to make a list of jobs that needed doing but found that my babysitters had done a fantastic job. Not only had the weeding been done but I had a new shed roof too!

Old roof with "skylight".......

And lovely new roof......

Many thanks to my mum & dad in-law for all their time and effort.

I can see a huge difference in growth after being away for 3 weeks. The potatoes have put on a good 30cm (about a foot in old money) and some have started flowering. I'm looking forward to seeing if some are ready to eat later this week. My carrots are looking good too. I previously put up a garden fleece fence around them to try and stop carrot root fly which are supposed to only fly close to the ground.

My pak choi seedlings are now plants. They are great in a stir fry and I'm looking forward to finding other ways to cook them too.







The Salad leaves are growing well, as of course, are the radishes. Although my son's hope of growing the world's biggest radish has been thwarted. The early ones that we left to grow on have just gone misshapen and woody.

I'm very pleased with my American land cress, an easier alternative to watercress. It has put on lots of growth and tastes lovely, very much like watercress.

My dwarf french beans are coming along nicely as are the turnips which seem to have mostly survived the attack of the killer pigeons. I had planted 6 different courgettes to see what would grow well and for a bit of variety. They have all survived, though a couple have not grown on so well. The outdoor cucumbers are struggling a bit too. It was a bit of a rush to get everything hardened off and planted out before my hols, but hopefully they will catch up.

Before I went on holiday I finished filling my second Bokashi bin and drained off the liquor that can be used as a plant food (diluted). Yesterday I got my son to water this solution around some of the plants to give things a bit of a boost.

One thing that is doing well is the rhubarb that I rescued from being chucked on my neighbours compost heap back at the end of march. It was a double crown but I didn't divide it because I wanted to see how well it did. I planted it next to my gate, which was the only place I could think of at the time. I'm now having trouble shutting the gate it's so big. I didn't intend to pull any stems this year to let it build up strength, but I'm going to have to, which will please my partner who is a rhubarb fan. In the autumn I will divide it and move the crown nearest the gate elsewhere.

Finally, here are my son's giant sunflowers, which have also grown about 30cm. He gave them and his pumpkins an extra good watering with the feed solution yesterday so we're looking forward to some whoppers.

First Harvest

I've reaped my first harvest, a lovely bunch of radishes. I ate them for my lunch in a mixed salad, and very nice they were too.

I'm off on my hols tomorrow. I'm going to Canada for three weeks, so I've been busy getting the allotment up to scratch before I go to give it a fighting chance of not suffering too much while I'm away.

The plot is looking pretty good at the moment. Most of the seeds I've planted are growing and I've now planted out the plants I started off on the kitchen window sill. Hopefully they will survive while I'm away. The pesky pigeons had been attacking my turnips but my son and myself made up some snazzy bird scarers to see them off and it seems to have worked.

My son wanted to grow giant sunflowers and giant pumpkins. We planted sunflower seeds and they are now sturdy seedlings and we cheated a bit and bought a couple of pumpkin plants from the allotment association. The pumpkins are doing well and if you look closely they are already starting to produce female flowers with little potential pumpkins behind them.

One of my allotment mysteries has been solved, I've met my neighbours. And no, I was wrong, they don't garden at night, just at different times to myself it seems. My mystery tree has now stared producing fruit and I'm still not sure what it is. Any ideas?

My potatoes are doing well and I'm really looking forward to eating some yummy new potatoes with butter when I get back from my holiday.

I have employed a couple of babysitters to keep an eye on things (my partners parents) and I'm sure they'll take good care of the plot for me. They have both been so helpful in getting the plot started and with their continuing support, I'm really grateful to them.

I'm sure it will be a fantastic holiday but I will miss the allotment and worry about what's happening on it.

How much will everything have grown when I get back? Will it all survive? Will my son's plan to grow the world's biggest radish come to fruition?!! Come back in three weeks to find out.......

Hard work and mystery

It's been a busy month with school holidays and sick children but although I haven't found the time to post I have been hard at work on the allotment.

It really seems to have paid off digging the plot over thoroughly and removing as much as possible of the pernicious weeds. Some are coming up, including the dreaded bindweed, But these have mostly been small weak specimens that are not too difficult to dig up and remove. Another plot holder just roughly dug his plot and covered it in straw and now there is a forest of bindweed shooting up all over it! (Thank goodness it's a few plots away from mine).

I've now finished digging over my plot and have been preparing the beds for planting next month. I've dug trenches for my french beans and planting pits for my courgettes and outdoor cucumbers, all of which are growing merrily on my kitchen windowsill. I've also covered the beds with a straw mulch to keep down weeds and retain water.

From the end of March I've been direct sowing seeds and was disappointed that nothing seemed to be growing. Last week on closer inspection I found that they have germinated, along with a good crop of annual weeds. So I've been busy weeding, thinning out seedlings and sowing more. I'm trying to sow secessionly every 2 - 3 weeks so that everything isn't ready at the same time.

I've planted a strawberry bed, thanks to my mum giving me some strawberry runners. I need to get a few more plants to fill it and think about netting. I'm told the local birds will gobble up the lot given half a chance.

I got my partner to turn the compost heap (there are advantages to being head gardener!) and was pleased to see it is breaking down well. My first load of Bokashi waste seems to have worked ok too. It was covered in the right kind of mould (white and fluffy, not green) and smelled like it was fermenting. I added it to the heap as it was being turned.

Finally we end with two mysteries.

My mystery tree is in full blossom. It's had lots of admirers but no one seems to know what it is. It's probably a crab apple, but hopefully it's something else that we can actually eat.

The other mystery are my neighbours to the left, who I've never met. I'm on my plot at different times and days of the week and in 4 months I've never seen them. Every now and then there has been signs of work being done, more so recently, but no sign of anyone doing it. I have a theory that they are gardening at night.

Spud-I-like

Today I planted some of my seed potatoes which have been chitting on my kitchen windowsill for the last month. Chitting is basically exposing them to light so that they start to develop shoots before they are planted. This gives them a head start and is said to produce a heavier crop.

In the box are Epicure, Ulster Sceptre and Salad Blue. The first two are new potatoes, known as earlies because they mature faster. The third, as the name suggests, is a salad potato which has a blue/purple flesh.

I've been working out a planting plan for my plot and realised that the crops I have already selected fill all the beds I have prepared on the left side. So although I was intending to cultivate only half the plot this year I have decided to go ahead and use some of the right side too, I hope I'm not being too ambitious! I've been able to put in a few hours over the last week and dug over a large area for the potatoes (removing loads more bindweed - grrrr!).

My plot neighbour, who is the Allotment Association secretary, recommended preparing trenches for the potatoes similar to the method for runner beans. I've been warned before that the soil dries out in warm weather and she said this helps to retain water and nutrients and gives a much better crop.

So over the last two days I have dug five trenches, lined them with newspaper, then straw (free used bedding delivered by the local stables) and piled in compost from my bin on the plot.

Trenches in progress...

And today I finally got to plant the potatoes (helped by my son).