Allotment Lady Goes East

17 July 2006

Yes I am back from our weekend of sun, sand, and sea. I was whisked away to the East Coast of Norfolk to sunny, sandy Hopton on Sea where we stayed at Potters Leisure Resort. Just a quick update as I am out this evening.

Although in the 80f’s there was a light sea breeze which made it bearable. Met some great people – who just happened to live near where Pat grew up and went to school, so there was a lot of ‘do you know so and so’ and ‘did you know that’ conversations going on.

The surprise was sprung on me at short notice (which is why they are called surprises I know), so I was a bit apprehensive about going, having lots of things to do, and pounds and pounds of fruit that I had to process which I would not have picked had I known! Peak harvesting time, drought, chickens and so much to do – so I felt a bit under pressure – until I thought, ‘What can be the worst thing to possibly happen? Which was - that the lettuces would bolt, the crops would curl up and die, the chickens would miss free ranging for hours each day and rebel by eating all their eggs - (You can imagine the sort of thing can’t you).

I decided that if any or all of the above happened, then it wasn’t the end of the world, life goes on – and at that point (the day before departure) I looked forward to going.

Of course all the chickens were safe in their long runs, well stocked with more than double the water they would need and enough food to feed a flock for a week! The first thing I did when I got home today, was to go visit the bantams, and to get some empty egg boxes and go up the allotment so visit the others.

Of course they were fine and not clamouring to get out, they had drank only a quarter of the water I had left them, and a fraction of the layers pellets in their new big feeder which releases more food as they eat it, ensuring a continual supply of food.

The egg count I expected was only short by one egg, and none had been eaten or pecked. I let them out and they didn’t seem too bothered about coming out and had to be tempted with a lettuce. They ate that and went back into the run, which is shaded and cool so I gave them another couple of lettuces, changed their water although it didn’t need doing, and will go and visit them tonight when it cools down a bit.

The allotment was looking very sad – well they all are in this heat. Not a breath of wind and 83f . All the squash and courgette plants had wilted leaves which revealed the courgettes that need picking – dozens! If I didn’t know from past experience that in the evening when it cools down a bit, they will perk up, I would have thought that they were lost for sure. The poor peas look to be in a very bad way too. A number of my lettuces have bolted – having not been watered all weekend – but the chickens will do well with those, as they just love them. The mixed salad leaves have faired better though. The runner beans were a bit floppy but the manure trenches that I made over winter were worth all the effort – or else they would be dead for sure.

The foliage on the early potatoes had drooped over and looks like the same pattern as that of the onions ripening in the sunshine.

I didn’t have time to pick and process raspberries and loganberries for a couple of days before I went – and those lovely juicy fruit seem to have shrivelled – the water content in them having almost evaporated by the look of things. Still I will have some Autumn fruiting ones to come – hopefully – and a small crop of blackberries too with a bit of luck.

The tomatoes are holding up well considering the heat and the drought, but if we do not get some rain soon, I can’t imagine how they will survive.

But as I said earlier – it is not the end of the world – and the enforced rest, lovely walks along the cliffs and seashore, running along the headland where the waves were crashing against the sea wall and soaring up into the sky like white frothy fireworks before raining down in torrents onto the anyone walking along at the time, was a challenge that I just had to take – and despite Pat saying that I would get soaked – I am pleased to say that I did not get one single drop of seawater on me – and it was so much fun. It’s great getting older – you can do all those silly things that you never got a chance to do in childhood, and don’t give a jot what people might think.

I could write reams about the lovely time I had – but this primarily is an allotment blog – so I am sticking to just that. Except for..........

a few photos for those of you who live abroad and like to see pictures of the UK.


Just a few seconds behind our holiday bungalow - these trees have been bent by the winter winds over the years - straight off the sea.


Just past the trees to the left - two minutes from our bungalow to the cliff top



This is the walk down when you get to the edge of the cliff



The beach was deserted as far as the eye could see - and it reminded us of Australian and New Zealand beaches we have visited. Such lovely weather.



This is a zoomed in shot to try and catch the waves breaking over the sea wall - we were about half a mile away so it was not clear. I didn't take my camera out the next day when I played 'chicken' with the waves.

Apologies for the quality of the following photos - taken from the passenger seat in the car whilst driving along the lanes home - no places to stop unfortunately so taken through the windscreen - bumpy roads too!

The coast road home - one side the sea and the other the flat lands of farms and fields.


Same coast road - Norfolk is famous for its many windmills - this is just one of them by the roadside.


Almost home - back to rural countryside, with combine harvesters ambling along the lane just around the corner - the 'lead' land rover could have given us a bit more warning of the giant in the middle of the road. No photo - too much of a suprise!

The hole of the Mole?

It has been unbearably hot, and yesterday even I couldn’t do any work up the allotment except to spend an hour first thing in the morning so that the chooks can have a good run around and scratch in the soil, then back in their big run in the shade.

I let them out again last night from 7.30 until almost 9pm as I went up to water the urgent plants that need to be kept ticking over – but when I say water, it is not a can full per plant, but about 2 litres for each one. My water tanks are all but empty, maybe one more watering or two at the most and that is scooping out the dregs at the bottom. I covered them with black plastic to stop evaporation – and if I am honest, to make it a bit more difficult if anyone took a shine to my water as the water levels really did go down fast.

It was so hot last night whilst I was watering, you would never think it was late – in the middle 70’s f. The sun was still shining at 8pm when I took these photos.

This is where I did the muck spreading the previous day. Four inches deep, and at the rear you can see the side of the huge compost bin.

It is rich, dark, and wet, and not a bit smelly at all. It was layers of green matter,horse manure, and shredded paper, - nature did the rest. I did this last year, but looking at the dry soil you would never have guessed it. The worms took it all down over the winter.

More than 36lb of goosberries from those four little bushes (in front of the rhubarb) in the left of this picture and on the right of the other one, is all the proof I need that the hard work pays off handsomely.

The other day when I was planting yet more climbing beans to replace the ones that refuse to grow (this is my fourth attempt), I found out the possible reason why. I stuck my dibber into the mulch and soil and it disappeared!!!!

I made a big hole to retrieve it and found that there was a tunnel beneath the surface. And everywhere I stuck my dibber, just a few inches under the soil was another tunnel. Probably a mole or two. After that I was more observant and found the same thing on the potato plot, and at various intervals.

You might remember that there was a murder on the lottie earlier in the year when I discovered the body of a mole where my raspberry canes are. And there was me feeling sad for Mr Mole, but happy that there were some, as it meant that at last my plot had lots of worms to aerate the soil – I had been lacking in worms due to the neglect of the site with not a bit of compost or manure being put on it for years, so that the soil was compacted. Do moles eat bean seeds I wonder? And other seeds or plant roots?

I didn’t spend yesterday being idle (apart from an hour and a half having my nails manicured and painted.)

I had picked 16lbs of gooseberries that needed cooking or freezing. I topped and tailed them all – have you ever done it? It takes hours, and is worse than watching paint dry – but at least it was the last of them. I gave a neighbour some for a crumble, and made 8 jars of gooseberry seedless jam.

I had some more jars given to me; they were coffee jars – Dowe Egberts – with lovely glass and plastic stopper tops.



Despite making a great seal, with the heat of the jam it was not possible to create a successful vacuum because the tops popped off. So I used the good old faithful cellophane and elastic band to seal the tops. I will keep the stoppers to give away with the jars as once they have been opened they will be able to reseal them with the tops.

Had the morning off today, too hot to work and needed to go into town for an hour. Once home though I have been topping and tailing blackcurrants, almost 13lbs once prepared – these have been frozen in ‘jam making’ quantities for future use. I am all ‘jammed’ out at the moment and I want to save some for other combinations.

I will not be able to post on here over the weekend – very busy doing other things which will prevent me being sitting here tapping the laptop.

Don’t desert me though as I will be back on Tuesday or maybe even Monday if I can get the time.

Not like me I know – but it is our Wedding Anniversary, and Pat has sprung a nice surprise which will force me into taking a back seat up the allotment and doing something completely different instead!

I am at the point of meltdown

It is so very hot here - it us unrelenting and I do not know what to do to keep cool apart from lots of cool showers - not rain unfortunately.

So here I sit before you with pretty painted nails - pearly pink actually as I am a girly person although you would never guess would you?

Here are a few photos that I promised from yesterday - and I mean a few for a change.



Here is my little shadow Ginger, forever by my side and helping. Well she always thinks she is.



She watches my every move intently, then joins in and has a go herself.


The only trouble is, because she faces me when she watches what I am doing, she digs and scratches up the soil mirror fashion - so in fact she earths up a big pile on the potato that I am about to dig up. No wonder it takes me so long!


This is the 'unseeded' Loganberry and Raspberry Jam. But this year the raspberries are so much smaller because of lack of rain, so the seeds are smaller too and some of them have slipped through. Shame as it took four pounds of them and almost four pounds of sugar too, and ages sieving it. It sure is tasty though The hats are only temporary and will be pretty material and nice labels. The jar on the left is a coffe jar and the one on the right is or was a sauce bottle. They both took well over a pound of jam as they are rather big bottles. (They did get washed, sterilised and then scalded with boiling water, then the water tipped out and they were put in a medium oven to dry, then used hot.) By going to all that trouble ensures that you can use any jars whether they have had curry paste, beetroot or pickle, and there will not be any trace of a smell left. That's the beauty of glass.

I have to go up the allotment tonight as I haven't visited it yet today. I like my girls to have a lovely run around and scratch - they will love all tha manure I put on yesterday.

Must remember my camera. I am so tired I could go to sleep - I have had an incredibly busy day - but as it is not about the allotment or gardening you'll mot be interested.

Off for a sit down for an hour before I go off into the wilds of deepest East Anglia. I expect the 'tractor men' will be up there tonight - or not - but the football and Wimbledon are now a memory!

Up and about early this morning - have 16 pounds of gooseberries to cook and pounds and pounds of blackcurrants, so won't be spending much time up the allotment. I have got the afternoon off, as I am giving my hard working hands a treat and having a manicure.

Off to water some tubs at home - then slaving over a hot stove.

Thanks very much for the link to the crete site Karen. I am going to cook the chicken recipe off their recipe page and also the courgette one. Just hope that the village shop has feta cheese if not I will have to improvise

Must dash or I will not get everthing done.

Such a busy time I have had today. I am glad to be sitting down at last.

I thought that I would make an early start up the allotment, but as usual got side tracked.

I spent most of the morning digging up a row of Colleen early potatoes and they are just beautiful. I also had a couple of Robinta plants that I dug up too. I filled a potato sack – not a 25kg but a smaller one so I don’t know how much they weighed. I didn’t get time to take any photos, but will try and do so tomorrow.

Before I headed home, I then spent an hour or so spreading a huge compost bin of last year’s horse manure, now really well rotted, over the bed that has the rhubarb, gooseberries and young asparagus plants. It will serve to keep the weeds down, and give them all a good feed, and also hold any rainfall (if it ever comes) and help to prevent the evaporation of it.

The compost was really wet, which was a surprise. I expected it to be damp underneath, but not sodden. The ground is so dry and like concrete, it will do them a power of good. It looked really great when I had finished it – but I was exhausted. Pat phoned whilst I was puffing and panting having just finished doing it. Very heavy work!

Once again the chooks kept me company, but I had to put them in their run whilst I was muck spreading as they got in the way and dived on every barrow load and were in danger of getting ‘speared’ when I was spreading it. They will have a good rummage in it tomorrow. They are still laying three lovely big strong eggs, so I reckon that the egg eating episode is over and done with.

This afternoon I made some Loganberry and Raspberry seedless jam with the fruit I picked yesterday – just over four pounds. Tonight I spent hours top and tailing 16 pounds of gooseberries. About half of it I us to make some seedless gooseberry jam, and the rest I will freeze for later until I can get some more jars. I am thinking that I will put an advert in a couple of the village shops.

I picked more courgettes today, and gave some to my friends, but there will be so many on the next weeks. So many thanks to Redwitch, and Karen for the recipes. I might use rusks instead of bread – I have lots of it after ordering some for my sausage making, and there was a minimum order – which will last me for years, so I am thinking up ways of using it.

I must go and strain off some more gooseberries that have been cooking whilst I have been typing this.

Til tomorrow then.

Yesterday and today I have had a busy time up the allotment – so what’s new about that I hear you ask.

It was a miserable weather wise, and rain was threatened but never arrived. It didn’t put off though. It was windy and cooler so much more comfortable to work in.



I planted two rows of raspberry canes just two years ago, and despite following directions to the letter, they have gone ‘mad’ and unfortunately they got an infestation of bindweed in amongst them. Seeds blown from neighbouring plots, alas, nothing I could do about that to prevent them growing. In the open beds I keep digging the seedlings up, but in spikey raspberry canes it is hard to see them.


I took drastic action to try and solve the problem. I cut all the canes down from the row next to the fence which was the worst affected. This year has been a bad year for raspberries – well the ones not in my fruit cage, as they are small due to the drought conditions. I left short stems above the ground as I would like Pat dig them all up for me. They are notorious for spreading, but I never realised quite how much, and there is only so much that we can freeze, and preserve and give away. So now that I am more in control of my site, I will be getting rid of some of the plants that are not working.

I will leave about three in the second row and move the autumn fruiting ones in the winter so that they are in just one row. Either side I will sow grass paths, which will serve to keep the weeds, especially bindweed under control, will look nice and will give me room to pick the berries from either side comfortably.


My three chooks had a great time running to eat the berries that fell off and scratching around in the lovely soft manure mulch and finding insects. The followed me about and got under my feet, pecked my boots to get attention – great company.




Adelaide and KoKKo dustbathing

I also picked some more courgettes – 25 of the melon shape ones – that reminds me Patsy, I haven’t looked up the name of the variety yet – will do that tomorrow. This variety is really prolific, so I shall be busy making ratatouille to freeze and using them in other ways. Any ideas anyone?



There were more tomato plants to sort out which are outside the netting ‘tent’. I have been removing the lower leaves to conserve any moisture that the plant gets. The little tomatoes need it more than the lower leaves, and there are plenty more on the plant for photosynthesis. They have put on quite a bit of growth despite the lack of water, but desperately need some rain.

The grass paths that I sowed earlier in the year have failed. One grew a lovely new thatch, but the sun has burnt the grass and it has died. The grass seeds never really germinated on the other path, you can see the grass seed on top and the weeds are starting to take hold – so I will have to weed those, and will leave the paths until autumn, before I sow again.

I picked some loganberries and raspberries from inside the fruit cage; it still surprises me that every other day there are always plenty to harvest.

The replacement runner beans are just showing – so too the broad beans that I planted in error. The climbers are being eaten – probably by slugs – so putting a bit of rhubarb in the planting hole before you put the bean did not work this time for me.

Today I decided to take it easy and harvest the last of the gooseberries and blackcurrants. It turned into a marathon job. I just thought it would be picking the gooseberries from the one bush in the cage that I hadn’t harvested yet. I got a big bowl full of that one. The blackcurrants yielded two containers, they take ages to pick but are really worth it.

Then I decided to have a look at the four other gooseberry bushes next to the rhubarb bed. I thought that I had done a really good job of picking all those – wrong. There were tiny little ones that I had left, which had turned into nice big juicy ones – I got a full carrier bag of those – plus lots of scratches to my arms. Yes I did wear long sleeves and thick gloves, but the always seem to get me through or between my clothing and gloves. My back, and especially my old knees are really painful. It is all bending down this harvesting lark. The berries all seem to hang underneath the branches and as they fruit on old wood you have to really reach down into the bushes or under them.

I did have a nice incident which ‘made my day’ apart from the antics that the chickens get up too that is. I was sitting on the ground, with my work clothes on, plus a big white hat to shade my head and face from the sun. There was a deep rumble above and when I looked behind me then up, it was a huge low flying airplane, a blue grey colour. It was so low that I could see the man in the cockpit. I think that it might have been an ‘old’ plane, as it looked that way. I waved to the pilot as it went past, and kept looking at it waving – and guess what – this huge plane slowly dipped it’s left wing then straightened up and carried on its course. When I first saw it happen I thought that it was going to change its course but it didn’t. I sat there smiling to myself whilst picking the gooseberries for quite a while.

We are not far from several air bases, so I am used to seeing fighter planes screeching over the field high in the sky in tight formation. They go so fast that by the time you hear them, they are almost out of sight! We also get low flying helicopters sometimes the men are sitting on the side with their legs dangling out – they wave back too.

Just spoken to Pat and he said that it flew low over the golf course (it was heading in that direction) and his friend said that it was a Viking. The name meant nothing to me, but it was really sleek and beautiful aircraft with really wide wings and a long spike on the front of the cockpit. Like something out of an old movie.

I had been up there so long, that the chickens had eaten their full of fruit and insects and had done all the exploring that they wanted too, and had headed on back to their run for a spot of lunch and sunbathing.

So I took the hint, and shut them up for the day, with a handful of apple and pear cores, and headed off back down the allotment.


Shallots put out on a grid to catch the sun and dry ready for storing

As I passed the shallots bed I pulled them all up, so let the courgettes have more room. They were not growing any bigger and the tops were drying out, so it was time to lift them.



I bent over the stalks of the onions too as I passed – they had grown to a nice size and if I leave them much longer they will only go to seed. They can ripen in the sun now. Eight rows - they do make a nice pattern though don't they?

Just had one last job to do and that was to lay the shallots out to dry.

Too many eggs? Not for long.

Yesterday I decided to do some baking to use up some of my eggs. I got three from the bantams, and three from the girls too.

I gave Pat half a dozen eggs to take to his golf partner – as he loaned him a trolley when Pat’s broke – it was only minor and now is repaired. Two of my neighbours have had eggs too, but now the girls are back on track I will have a surplus now and again.

I made a Victoria sponge cake which will be sandwiched together with some of my home made jam or jelly, and fresh cream. For the moment it has been frozen. For that recipe I weighed the eggs in their shells and added the same weight in sugar, butter and self raising flour, added a teaspoonful of vanilla essence, and a pinch of salt. I used four large eggs for that.

I also made a loaf cake with fresh raspberries – something that I have never tried before – fresh fruit incorporated in a cake. We have just had a taste test – and ended up having two slices each.

It is a melt in the mouth kind of cake, a soft sponge and the raspberries do just melt in your mouth, to give it something extra. It would be lovely served warm with custard or fresh cream, also cold with ice cream or cream.


The picture is a bit blurred – sack the photographer! It must have something to do with the honeycomb colour of the sponge and the photo lookes like the cake is bumpy or cut roughly. But in reality it was cut straight revealing the raspberries and it was incredibly soft and light and moist.

I think that I might try it with loganberries or later blackberries and apple – and as it is such a nice textured cake, I am going to use it to make some cup cakes – and some in moulds for puddings – like mini bowls and serve with a raspberry coulis. It should freeze well too.

Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try.
Ingredients

175g butter
175g caster sugar – golden is nice too
350g plain flour (sifted)
1tsp mixed spice
1tbs black treacle
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda dissolved in 2tbs milk
1 lemon – juice and zest
250g fresh or frozen raspberries

Method

Rub the butter and flour together to breadcrumb stage.
Add the sugar, lemon, treacle, and eggs, until mixed.
Add the bicarb dissolved in milk
Lastly fold in the raspberries taking care not to keep them whole

I used a 2lb loaf tin with a cake liner to make life easier - ready for cooking.

Bake on 170c fan/180c oven for 45 minutes
Reduce heat to 140c fan/or 150c normal oven and cook for a further 20-35 minutes.

I checked mine after 20 minutes and it needed cooking for 30 minutes before it was just done and the scewer came out clean.


Allotment posting may not be done until tomorrow morning!

Couples that play together, stay together

An old wives tale – but so true.

At the weekends if Pat isn’t bowling, and if we do not have visitors, then he comes up the allotment with me. He does all the heavy stuff that I have been banned from doing and today was no different – but I usually get to do some of the heavy stuff too as one person can’t lift some things on their own.

We inherited with the plot amongst the 6ft weeds lots of junk, and amongst the junk were big plastic grids with metal edges.

At the time we dragged them from all over the plot and put them in a pile. They are too big and heavy to put in the car. Today, after thinking about them a lot, just piled up and bind weed finding them, we decided to do something with them, so we have made a path behind the fruit cage.

I laid plastic sheeting down a year or so ago, to keep the weeds down and to have somewhere to put more of the junk until we had time to sort it – out of sight out of mind syndrome. But when you have so much to do you have to prioritise – and my priority was to clear the weeds and plant things in their place!

Now though, there are no weeds behind the fruit cage and a nice pathway – great. We had one large one left over so that has gone right down by the hedge where I pulled up all the tall stinging nettles to allow me to get to the cultivated blackberry that I planted my first year up there – and now is full of flowers so hoping for enough for some apple and blackberry jam – and some puddings. I have a big elderberry tree, and the flowers are now finished and the berries are forming. Shame I don’t drink or I would be into all sorts of home made wines.

As usual the three chooks did their usual morning march around the estate. First stop the inspection of the flower borders, up and down the grass paths between them and in and under the flowers looking for goodies.

Next stop, a late breakfast of gooseberries for them, then through the gateway for blackcurrants and raspberries, and the odd jostaberry. I left them to it, as I had to be outside the enclosed area to harvest raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries from in the fruit cage. As I was waylaid by Pat’s calls for advice or help, it took me most of the morning to pick the raspberries and loganberries, and I never even got to those further down the plot or the currant bushes that urgently need harvesting.

Whilst working behind the fruit cage we heard a tapping noise, a bit like the hammering of a woodpecker or several people knocking nails into wood. It was only later that Pat discovered that it was the girls. I obviously hadn’t put the front hatch on the compost bin properly and they had managed to somehow knock it off and were happily exploring its contents.

When I looked they were obviously full as KoKKo was lying on her side, legs crossed eyes closed dozing in the sunshine by the runner beans. Adelaide was doing the same but in the shade of the potato crop, and Ginger was having a dust bath in the gap between the rows. Such a lovely sight.

I went to see of there were any more courgettes to pick and there were lots – but on the way I got side tracked and went into the netted area to pick some mange tout, but most of them are filling out with peas, so I shall leave them to pod up. I did pick a couple of pounds of some of the later crop of mange tout though, but I am going to leave those to grow too. I also have some Kelvedon peas – we just need some rain to swell them.

I then examined the tomato plants and spent an hour tying them up higher up their stems as they have grown so much in a couple of weeks. I pulled off the lower leaves too, so that the little amount of water they do get can go straight up to the tomatoes now forming. There were lots of picking off the shoots at the leaf joints too. Still with around 70 plants up there it is bound to take so long. They are desperate for some rain. The little we had yesterday has not made the slightest impact.

By this time I was shattered, we had been up there for over four and a half hours, and did not get home until almost three this afternoon. Pat is always amazed that we rarely see anyone at the weekend up there – or any sign of any work having been done either. Guess it must be Wimbledon keeping them transfixed.

My harvest today was raspberries, and loganberries, mange tout and tennis ball size yellow and green courgettes, some long ‘white’ ones which are very pale green, and a black beauty.

It looked more colourful after it was cooked - and the lovely textures. Crunchy mange tout, smooth and creamy courgettes, soft onions, and wonderful tomatoes. I just love colour - as you no doubt have noticed. It really gets my taste buds going.
Lunch was a quick throw together meal, of new potatoes, fresh salmon, and a mix of mange tout, diced courgettes, onions, and tomatoes – and boy did we need it.

I just want to show you this as an example of the different ways of growing things.

It is not a criticism of a neighbouring plot, but this example was an eye-opener for me, and convinced me that I was going about things in the right way.

Here are rows of potatoes amongst the weeds, an example of how the men with machines plant theirs.


It looks very neat doesn't it from a distance. The weeds have grown more as I took this photo a few days ago. This plot has been ploughed several times this season, until it looked like dust. Trenches were made with machines, and potatoes were dropped in, (not chitted beforehand, and I was told that it wasn't necessary, as the farmers plant theirs the same way in fields.) I can see the logic in that, and conceeded that I had probably wasted lots of time doing things differently and would try this way next year......but later now they have grown....


There are three potato plants in this photo amongst the weeds - can you see them?

Once or twice a week between the rows it is rotorvated, and the rows of potatoes are left untouched. They are planted exactly in the same way and same place as last year and the year before. These potatoes were planted several weeks before mine.

Mine were planted in April at Easter, and this photo was taken on the same day at the same time as those photos above.


Over winter I barrowed lots of well rotted manure onto the area where I intended my potatoes to grow, and I had rotated my crops - last year I grew potatoes down the far end of the allotment. I kept my seed potatoes in my shed and let them chit for a couple of months before they were due for planting out. They had short strong stems, and I rubbed off any extra ones growing out of the bottom.

I dug the manure in around February and March, and in April, I got my friend to deeply rotorvate the bed which ensured that the manure was deep down, and evenly spread. He also made the trenches for me. I laid newspaper in them, then planted each potato by hand, chitted end upwards and filled in the trench as I went.

Since then I have earthed the potatoes each time they grew through until all the threat of frost had gone. Apart from that I have been hand weeding between them and in between the rows. Mine are the same distance apart as the rows in the top photos. The difference being that the foliage on my plants is now touching and shading the gaps, and keeping down almost all the weeds.

I am getting 2 ½ lb per plant of potatoes off my earlies 'Colleen' – the other plot holders have dug up a few plants and have not had enough for a meal, and all of them are not much bigger than marbles.

So if seeing is believing, I and Pat, have now seen the difference with our own eyes.

Incidentally I am the only person who grows their potatoes this way out of all the plots - and I am getting at least twice the yield from my rows than they are getting from their long rows. My potatoes are also very much bigger.

I expect that by the time the main crop is dug up though, the yields might well be the same as they all have a longer to grow.

A day of the fruit harvest

It is 5pm and I have been on my feet almost all day, so am taking time out to type up my blog.

I was up and out at 9am to go and see the chickens – collect three nice brown speckled eggs all intact and strong.

I moved a struggling pumpkin to a new site and watered it will, and planted up another that I had at home and thought it was a hollyhock – well the leaves look the same when they are small – it was only when it flowered that I knew – so perhaps somewhere amongst the courgettes I will find a hollyhock growing.

A dash back home, posting another couple of Wanted Jam Jar posters through doors, then a visit to the bantams before my cooking marathon – well it seems like it at the moment.

Pat was off playing golf and I had all that produce that I picked yesterday to utilise.

I took it out of the fridge and cleaned and weighed it all.

7lb blackcurrants
2 ½ lb redcurrants
4oz wild strawberries
3 ½ lb raspberries
1lb 10 oz jostaberries
3lb loganberries

I decided to make a summer fruits jam as I couldn’t make hedgerow jam as the apples and blackberry season hasn’t started yet – and I want to make everything from my home grown fruits.

For the summer fruits jam I used blackcurrants, redcurrants, wild strawberries, raspberries and some loganberries, then made the recipe up and it worked a treat. It made 6 ½ jars full. These jars are all sizes the minimum about is 1lb in each jam jar, but I am also using coffee jars, tea jars, peanut butter jars, beetroot jars, and kilner jars – and they all vary in size some of which take almost 2lb of jam. Of course all have their labels removed, and I wash them, sterilise them in boiling water and then put them in the oven on 100c to dry out and keep sterile. Once they have pretty ‘hats’ it will disguise their lids and they will all have labels on them and look uniform. I had once again ran out of jam jars, I had even raided my cupboard and put any half used jars in smaller containers so that I could use those jars.

So with the rest of the fruit I made a lovely huge casserole mixture of summer fruits – this time to use in summer puddings in the winter or steamed sponges, pies, or crumbles. A mixture of all the above cooked but each fruit added a little while after the other variety so you get the whole juice of the currants, then some juice of all the berries but a lot of them retain their shape, so that you get a mouthful of mixed fruit. Not only does it look colourful – it tastes of hot summer days – just the ticket in December!

Pat came home and I made a salad of all our home grown stuff, and new potatoes etc etc.

He told me that there were a couple of jam jars left in the porch – so off I went again.

This time I used the jostaberries to make jam. They look like a cross between a gooseberry and a blackcurrant, and taste like blackcurrants with a bit of a gooseberry kick. Very refreshing and different. I included some green ones that hadn’t quite ripened as there were no recipes for jostaberry jam that I could find. Logically they must have lots of pectin in them as they are not very sweet so I would not eat them raw on their own. So I just added their own weight in sugar and cooked them the usual way you make jam.

Here they are at setting point. The colour of the juice changed from a wishy - washy green then pink, to a gorgeous deep and rich looking dark red when it had cooled and set. It made 3 jars of jam and looks great with some of the fruit remaining whole like translucent marbles of shades of green to black.

Having run out of jars yet again, the loganberries that were left, I placed on parchment paper, laid them out on trays to be frozen individually – that way I have a more diverse choice of what to use them for over the winter.

I now have a total of 40 jars in stock for gifts or for sale and I have made 55 ½ jars all together. I have a few in my cupboard that are just for us.

I have given it a lot of thought and have decided that if I can make 75 – 100 jars of jam, that I will have a stall at the ‘Good Causes’ Christmas Fair in the village and donate the money to a charity that is close to my heart. But it all depends if I can make enough to make it worth the while for paying for a stall and making a reasonable amount of money for the charity. If not I will donate them over the coming year to fundraising events in the village. Cakes and preserves are always a sell out.

At 12.37 today we had a shower of rain. Nothing to write home about, and it took an hour before there were enough drops to all meet up and make the paths wet. It then stopped, then started and gently rained for another half an hour, and since then we have had sunshine. At least it means that I need not go up the allotment at 9pm tonight to water my tomatoes and squashes. Hopefully the peas, beans, and other plants will have had a drink too. I have lot so mange tout I need to pick and freeze.

The loganberries should be frozen by now, so I need to pour them into a container for the freezer - then make some labels - and I wanted to do some baking to use up some eggs - but I feel rather tired and it has got very hot again, so I might take a rest once I have finished all the washing up.


One of the two trays of frozen loganberries. I can highly recommend frozen logaberries on a hot day - I have just eaten two - and they are like really juicy cold sweets and so refreshing.

I think I have earned it today - Pat has been asleep in front of the television 'watching' the mens semi finals. I expect that when he wakes up he will be flicking to text to check the results.

Allotment Lady's faithful little friend

Today dawned dull, with rain forecast so you can guess where I was headed –it would be good to do some harvesting before it came.

First stop the girls, and two eggs but no real sign of any being eaten. I have been giving them some supplements in their water made by Battles. It looks the colour of redcurrant juice!

I let them out and decided to move the run over near the trees so that they get some extra shade. I had to get a strong screwdriver and a hammer to lever the tent pegs that hold the run down, the ground is so hard. Amazingly the grass paths that I sowed last year, and the meadow too for that matter is lush and green, everything else is turning yellow. Once again, although forecast, no showers of rain for us today.

The chicken’s water containers go green in a day with this incredible heat, so I wash them out each morning, and keep bottles of fresh water up there all the time – at least 8 litres, and usually more.

I have been putting extra Oyster shell and also aviary grit in their feed, which they have been eating, so their shells will be so thick hopefully, that a pneumatic drill will be needed to get through them. I also have some golf balls in the nest box – at one person’s suggestion, so hopefully the combination will work.

I have been letting the ‘girls’ have the run of the fenced off allotment – not just the garden and fruit area but right through. It is so nice to have their company, and they seem to enjoy mine.


Come on girlies.

All three came running along after me, and Adelaide does a funny low flying run as she gets distracted easily so then has to hurry to catch up in case she misses anything.


Today, Ginger kept by my side like a little faithful dog.

I was fruit picking today, and they were eating the raspberries that I dropped and some ripe ones that were on the ground - they make a nice little clean up team. I keep thinking how the bantams would love it up there; but with two broody hens and Pumpkin not the least bit friendly, it would not be practical to let them roam. The big hens are so tame, and always come when I call, so no problem wherever they are – even when I can’t see them or hear them, I just call and the start ‘talking’ to me and come running.


Adelaide and KoKKo went off for a wander on their own, and Ginger kept me company. Bok Bokking talking to me, pecking my wellies and shirt when she wanted my attention. I know that she is a really naughty hen – out of all three of them she is the one that gets up to most mischief, but she is so friendly.

She was with me and never left my side all the morning that I was in the fenced off area – about four hours.


She kept standing between my legs looking at what I was doing - this photo was not easy to take believe you me! I was looking at her upside down!

When I was on my hands and knees looking for ripe blackcurrants, I would watch her and she would find the ones underneath for me, which I could not see. She wasn’t of course doing it for me - but to find a nice ripe one for herself to eat – of which there were many.

When Geoff came the other side of the fencing to talk to me – all three of them rushed over to inspect him – then KoKKo and Adelaide wandered off t eat more raspberries, but Ginger stayed put.


At one point I went back to the shed, then started picking some loganberries which were outside the other fruit cage, and Ginger stood by the corrugated fence patiently waiting for me.

When I returned the other two wandered up and all three started pecking at a plastic compost bin. I couldn’t see what they were pecking at – no visible insects – but maybe there were, and I just couldn’t see them.

It kept them amused for a full fifteen minutes, then I opened the front of the bin for them to have a poke around in the compost for ten minutes before it was time to pack up and go home. Once again I just had to call them and they came running and flapping the 270 feet back to their run – which was all nice and clean and fully stocked with food, water, a small lettuce, some apple cores, and a bit of spinach!

I haven’t weighed all the produce that I picked today – but there was so much Pat had to help me unload the car.

Shallots -2 carrier bags full
Blackcurrants - ½ a carrier bag – 5 or 6 pounds and so many more to pick too
Raspberries - 2 large containers, three pounds I should think
Loganberries – a big bowl full - 2lbs at least
Redcurrants – 1lb or so
Wild strawberries – just enough for tea
Lettuce and salad leaves too – we still have plenty of potatoes.

I had a wheel barrow with them all in – they were too heavy to carry. It really is great to get such a yield and at last the past two years hard work is really paying off.

I noticed that there are more mange tout to pick, a late crop of broad beans, all the currents and berries except redcurrants (which are now more or less all picked) still have lots of fruit on the bushes to come. With the berries, it seems that the more I pick them, the more they grow.

I now have to find the energy to cook or freeze them tonight!

Where is that rain they forecast - not here!

I don't believe it.-.Rain!

Early this morning about a mile out of the village boundary, we encountered a really heavy storm, with the lanes flooded. (rural area so no drains and the water comes off the fields and floods the road). A few miles further on it had been and gone, then a few miles after that and all the way to Norwich the rain was so heavy that it was almost like night, and the windscreen wipers on full pelt could not cope with it.

Flash flooding on the roads too. Pat dropped me near the entrance to the department I needed and I got soaked just walking the few yards!

We didn’t mind though, as we were so grateful that at last our gardens and allotment would be watered.

The rain hammered down all the time I was in that department (well over an hour) and was still raining hard when I went to the next – then to a lesser extent on the way home.

When we got to the village we could not believe our eyes – not a single drop had fallen. The lanes were dry and dusty, the sun was shining, perhaps it had dried the rain up? We had to go past the part of the village where the allotments are, so we stopped off to collect the eggs THREE UNTOUCHED AND ALL BROWN, and not a drop of rain had fallen there. I can always tell even if it is a smidgeon as I have some rubber tracks that the previous tenant had left down the bottom amongst the weeds and I have used them as paths between the three raised beds. They were bone dry. We couldn’t believe it!

I was so pleased with the chickens that I gave them a whole lettuce and some spinach to eat.

I could not resist picking our first courgettes this year – a new variety that I decided to try out.

If I hadn’t had been so hungry I would have taken a photo of the ratatouille I made with them. It was so colourful. I cut up the courgettes into chunks, added some of my red onions, and a couple of my shallots, added large red tomatoes (organic but not mine yet), and big roasted red peppers that I sliced up. The bright yellows, shades of reds, and green was truly pretty. Having put the oven on to cook the ratatouille, I decided to roast the rainbow trout too. A nice simple lunch – but very tasty.

By now it was late afternoon and no a cloud in sight, so I stayed indoors – and made blackcurrant jam – four large jars – I love how the colour turned from pale red to really dark when I boiled it up with the sugar. I thought that it might be black (I haven’t made blackcurrant jam before and didn’t realise that the juice was red.) It reached setting point quite quickly and I am just going to have some on a doorstep of my crusty bread.

Pat is out bowling – and so I am going to indulge myself – feet up with a good book – fan going to keep me cool – and perfect peace. No football, no tennis, no noise.

Thanks for all your lovely comments – I will answer them tomorrow – just need a bit of a rest tonight.

Glad to hear that the rain came down on some of you – hopefully it will be our turn tomorrow. I will still go up the allotment to let the girls out to play – maybe pick more courgettes, and just soak up the sights, sounds, and smells – which will be a bit strong and the gigantic pile of piggy poo, really hums when it gets wet!

Jamming Sessions

Thursday, Friday, Monday, and today, apart from working up the allotment, I have been busy cooking jams and jellies.

To make jellies, you have to cook the fruit, leave it to strain overnight, add sugar, then cook again – I had four sessions doing that, and made four jars of redcurrant and four of gooseberry jellies.



Redcurrant Jelly - so clear you can see right through it.

Yesterday and today I have been making raspberry and redcurrant jam – until I ran out of jam jars.

That seemed to put an end to my preserve making – until I had a idea.

I made a ‘Wanted Jam Jar’ poster and put it through some of my neighbours’ letter boxes.

This resulted in 8 jam jars, left in my porch within fifteen minutes! If I end up with a mountain of them Pat will surely moan – but I can always recycle them.


But I have cooked 20 lbs of the fruit I harvested up the allotment - but with more to do.

Here is a selection of what I have made.


Raspberry and Redcurrant Jam


Gooseberry Jelly - turned from green to pink, once it cooled


Redcurrant Jelly - when you hold it up to the light is so clear and like a ruby.

All I need to do now is to make labels, buy some material for frilly 'hats' to make them look pretty. I still haven't finished making fancy tops for the other 20 or so marmalades, jams, and chutneys I did with all the rhubarb.

80f here at 8.30am - not working up the allotment today

Went up the allotment very very early today and collected the eggs. 2 perfect and one partly eaten - by Ginger - caught her in the act. Despite all the extra calcium I have provided her egg shells do seem thinner than the others and the egg is paler.

They don't lay their eggs at the same time every day - otherwise I could go up there at 7am or whatever time. The other day Adelaide did not lay until 11.30am.

As I am usually up there 4 or 5 hours a day lately, I can frequently check up on them.

It is so hot today that I am not going up the allotment to work. I need to weed a bit of my front gardens, and have lots of fruit to process - either cook, or blanch and freeze.

Off for breakfast.

What a scorcher – 31c today. I was only going to be up the allotment for an hour harvesting but………….

I just wanted to pick some blackcurrants that would be ripe to make some more jam (haven’t told you about the jam making yet as it will take a time to type it up and insert the photos).

It was just before 10am, the girls had laid me 2 eggs and eaten 1 – it was sticky inside so I knew! The ones that were not eaten were brown and strong!

The girls made a dash for the rhubarb patch and I gave them some redcurrants that I had used last night and they just loved the seeds.

I left them doing their usual scavenging, and eating gooseberries, the odd red and blackcurrant on the young bushes which only have a few on them, and some raspberries poking through the middle fence. Happy little noises from them as they found something else new to each and ‘talked ‘ about it to each other.

As I got to the fruit cage, the first thing I noticed were that the raspberries poking through the netting were ripe – so I ate a few – lovely and warm and juicy. Once inside the cage, I realised that there were quite a few, so thought I had better get a container and picked them – nearly 3lb at the weigh in this afternoon and just from a few canes.

Then I noticed so redcurrants still on the bushes and picked those – these were ones right in the middle of the bushes in the main stem but right at the bottom – so they took me about an hour to gather the 6lb that I did.

Whilst doing so I spied some nice ripe strawberries – decent ones this time – so had another 2lb of those. Which lead me around the back to the loganberry that has escaped through the netting – these are like great big elongated raspberries which remind me of a miniature bunch of grapes – 1lb of those too.

I finally got around to the first blackcurrant harvest by which time it was gone 1pm, so I gathered a few pounds and was going to ‘call it a day’.

I picked a lettuce for the girls, and some sorrel and gave them a call – I just love seeing them running along the path, in a funny waddle-gait and Ginger takes a run and a flapping low flight to get there first. They couldn’t wait to get in their run and get at the goodies I had previously put in there for them.

The lovely long sun shade cover, really works a treat and after a feed, they were lying on their sides in the shade dozing. Nice life for a chicken isn’t it. I too sat in the shade and just watched them, and looked and day-dreamed – for about 10 minutes before deciding to have a go at the last little patch of weeds that grow through the hedge at the field end. So I spent the next hour pulling up the tall nettles and cutting down the dock weeds and managed to clear it all. I can now get to my blackberry in the hedge that I put in a couple of years ago as a little tiny cutting and forgot about it. This year, despite this drought, it has really grown and looks wonderfully healthy with really big pretty pink flowers. It is a cultivar rather than wild, but has thorns – really big ones, but I am hoping that the big flowers will mean big berries. I just love apple and blackberry crumbles, pies, and jam – but doubt that I will get lots this year. Another nice surprise!

I covered up my big water tanks behind my shed with a large sheet of thick black plastic which I used to keep patches of my veggies beds clean when I am not using them. It should send out a message to whoever is using them. They still might have the cheek to use my green water but that has a tap on it – but I hope not – that is my last reserve of water and I am almost of out water now.

I discovered some more cut fencing – this time at the top of the strong 5ft high small gauge chicken wire that runs about 100 or so feet along the main vegetable area. It is buried a foot deep. At two of the posts the wire has been cut down from the top about 12inches and it was sticking out – that is how I noticed it. I thought it was dangerous as I could take someone’s eye out or give them a nasty scratch. So I have bent it back to make it safe. At least the rabbits haven’t learnt to pole vault yet, so the latest bit of creative wire cutting hasn’t made much difference. I think someone must have a new toy and just likes playing with it. I shan’t take any notice – I am sure that they will get fed up before I do!

It really is unbearably hot so you will forgive me for not putting in lots of photos or typing much tonight.

By the time I got home at gone 3pm and showered, we had a very late lunch – but it was worth waiting for – crispy home grown lettuce, salad leaves, herbs, potatoes, garlicky, herby chickens thighs, (organic chicken of course from my friend) but sadly not home grown tomatoes – yet!

Warm strawberries from up the lottie with evaporated milk (Pat loves it, but I would have liked cream or ice cream). He did make up for that, by bringing me a choc ice later though!

I wish I could sit still and just wilt like everyone else, but I had the fruit to deal with.

I have been making gooseberry jelly, redcurrant jelly, strawberry and redcurrant jelly; these are clear ‘jam’ which is great. They can all be used as jams, or used to glaze fruit, or meat, great for flans – and a spoon full added to gravy in the winter works wonders! Raspberry and redcurrant jam ingredients are all weighed and will be made tomorrow, followed by blackcurrant jam – and jelly perhaps – depending on the time and energy I have.


Some jars of gooseberry jelly that I have been making. I love the way the colour has changed from green to pink, and the fact that it is so clear that you can read a letter through it! - And no bits - but I might making gooseberry curd or jam which might have a few bits in it!

I also want to make mint and gooseberry jelly – wonderful with lamb as a sauce or for basting.

And of course I should mix up batches for summer pudding mixtures, and to freeze for winter use.

Off for a rest – well it is getting on for 10pm!

Too hot, too tired to type

It has been 95f here today and yesterday was about the same - some of the roads are melting too!

It is far too hot for me to type up recent events. We went up tonight at 9.30pm to water the essential plants and it was still sweltering. Someone's been helping themselves to water from my tanks - and a quick look on you know who's plot and damp patches around some lettuce and sweetcorn and onions tells me that I do not need Inspector Poirot to solve this mystery. No wonder the water was going down fast!

The chooks were still up so I let them out for a play - and guess what - 2 brown eggs and one peach one with slit in it - a strange - almost as though it had been stabbed with the tip of a knife. Hmmm

When I walked down that end I saw a rabbit rush out of the flower beds to the fence on the other side and disappeared through it. I couldn't believe my eyes. After letting the girls out for a mooch about, I went to take a look. There was a huge hole cut in the chicken wire - bigger that an football. If I didn't know better I would have thought that I have been sabotaged. Or maybe I have. This hole was too huge to miss. And considering I walk past it several times a day, and had done a thorough inspection tour when I found the last hole, it was definitely not there then.

We were up there Friday evening, and I missed Saturday as it was so hot and I have visitors. I knew the girls would be alright as they have a shade over their long run and get the shade in the afternoon. They have a big food hopper now, that will last them at least a week, and also water containers so that they have 6 litres of water, so I knew they would be fine for one day without a visit.

So I had to repair the fence before I could water - put another length of very close mesh fencing in front to the other, bent the wire all along the bottom for 6 inches and pegged it in places to the ground - will put more pegs in later in the week.

The original fence is buried a spade deep to prevent from tunnelling under - which they don't. Clever these rabbits nowadays - they can now eat their way through chicken wire!

Isn't it great that the rabbits have eaten all the bottoms of the rudbeckias - we can walk in and out them now and have a dig


A wander aroung the flower beds - doing the insect patrol


They have inspected the flower beds and are just finished off the broad bean bed - next stop the gooseberry patch


On the dig around the mulch on the baby asparagus plants - they are always good for an insect or two.



Come on you two, there are lots of gooseberries here - I just saw a pigeon fly off - so if they can eat them so can we


How right you are for once Ginger



All this foraging for food is hot work isn't it - I am going to take a rest


They all have their favourite rhubarb plant to hide under and have a siesta - wish I could too.


Come on girlies time for lunch