Well, I went up the allotment this afternoon and did a whole 3 hours which is the most I've done in a long time. I dug about three square metres, planted my RED BARON onion sets and harvested some RHUBARB, LEEKS and my one and only CAULIFLOWER. So Cod with creamy lemon sauce, leeks and cauliflower for tea!
While I was up there I made a major decision, one I thought I'd never make. I decided to only work half my allotment this year, I'll cover the other half in carpet and anything else I can find to keep the weeds down. There are a few reasons for this...
No1. My neighbour Kate has 3 beehives. Now, I love bees, I think they're great, plus I luuurve honey and was given some by Kate last summer which was delicious...BUT...I'm terrified of the little blighters. They're a particularly frisky swarm and love nothing better than chasing you around your allotment and trying to sting you. This means you don't actually get a lot of gardening done as you spend most of your time running about Benny Hill style..cue the music. So I'll work the other end, further away from the bees.
No2. I've got a really bad back and could barely get into the car after todays jaunt. (It's a bit better now...going to soak in't bath).
No3. I don't really have the time to do the whole plot, people have been telling me this for years but I'm stubborn and wanted to prove I could do the whole thing, (which I did), but I just can't this year for the above reasons :0(
So there we go...I've admitted defeat. I'd rather have a smaller beautifully kept plot than a big huge untidy one. I've still got 12metres x 14 metres so that's plenty. I'm going to work on my bedding plan this evening and will post it up when I've done it. (Bet you can't wait! Good grief I need to get a social life!)
6 comments:
That looks a really tasty harvest. I wish i had space to grow some veg.
Well, there's half an allotment going in Northamptonshire...but it might be a bit far to push your wheel barrow :0)
You can grow most veggies in tubs and containers, they did it on Gardener's World last year.
My tummy is now full of leeks, cauliflower and cod! Any ideas of what to do with Rhubarb...other than crumble?
Strawberry-rhubarb pie is yummy.
The veggies look fabulous. Actually, I can't quite think of anything funner to do then plan the vegetable plot!
Rhuburb fool, ice crea, or put in a cake. I think I might break the wheel out on my wheelbarrow all the way tp Northamptonshire. At least though it would be well out of the way of my monster dylan the flower pot bunny. He ate all my purple sprouts and cabbage, I had in pots. I don't think they where doing that well anyway as they dried up super fast from being on a very sheltered south facing patio. I'm going to stick to gerainums this year with hanging baskets over the top, to stop Dylan chewing.
Wow, what a marvellous crop! Isn't it rewarding? But it really is a constant battle to get anything grown, especially with an allotment which isn't usually handy for 'just poppping out'. We are about to start the annual weed battle, which we should have sorted last year. There was a recipe for mackerel with rhubarb sauce in the Times a few weeks ago which sounded nice. I make it into chutney myself.
Ooooh thanks for all the recipies! It is a war against weeds...still, it'll be worth it...I hope!
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