Allotment Diary 2011 Me: 50.5 hrs He: 46.5hrs

No more building work happening in the last couple of days - boo hoo - I am so impatient!

We had some showery weather which halted the work - nice for the garden though.

I have been busy up the allotment and in the garden and little plastic greenhouses, I don't' sit still for long!
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Sadly I didn't take my camera a couple of times up the plot, but never mind - I will try to remember to take it the next time we go.

We have been having bonfires, weeding, and having a fruit picking marathon which is now finished.

We picked a total of eleven pounds of gooseberries, and five pounds of blackcurrants - we won't miss out on fruit crumbles through the winter that's for sure.  No redcurrants this year - I had to give the bushes a very hard prune - but they are very healthy with the promise of lots next year.

Hmm - blogger refuses to add my photos - ah well another day tomorrow.

Today we spent two and a half hours braving the heavy showers, to be rewarded by sunshine - really refreshing - but we got soaked.

 We achieved a lot though - weeded the potato bed of thistles, which took rather a long time to dig out - but the soil is wonderfully rich and soft now due to all the showers - so it was very satisfying to get all the roots out.

Mr Lottie -  had a great bonfire - I had lots of boxes in my craft room to dispose of, and we had a big incinerator type basket up there full of weeds - all gone now!  Lots of luscious ash to keep for the beds there.

Oh bother - I wanted to show you my very first crop of strawberries which I have been growing in my garden.  They are really big fruits and I am so proud of them - silly isn't it getting a lot of pleasure from something as simple as home grown fruit.

I have never had any success before when growing them up the allotment - there were always creatures great and small - and slugs - despite my taking all the necessary precautions!

I have had four pounds - eaten two pounds and turned the rest into strawberry jam.  It's truly yummy and tastes so different from the shop jam.

I made my jam using 2lbs of fruit, chopped cos they were big, 2lbs of granulated sugar, and 4 tablespoons of lemon juice (one big lemon) - it was so easy to do!

I just cooked the fruit until it simmered, added the sugar, and cooked until that had dissolved, then added the lemon juice and boiled it until setting point.

Fiddlesticks - it still won't load the photos.

I have been having fresh strawberry smoothies - made with natural set yoghurt, with a bit of skimmed milk as it was so thick, and a handful of strawberries and two tablespoonsful of oat bran all whizzed up in a blender.  Makes a great breakfast and I have lost weight too!

Well I am giving up on this post as blogger is going a bit daft - will be back in a day or so!

Guess what I am having for tea?  A slice of bread and home made strawberry jam, and cooked raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and strawberries with thick yoghurt and a swirl of honey on top!  Scrummy

At last - it's working again

 

Yummy strawberries

 

Strawberry jam.  With the sunshine behind it you can see that all the strawberries are in a big clump - I forgot to stir the contents of the jar before lidding it.

It doesn't alter the taste though - it's still delish!