Doug's Days are Done :(

What an amazing year!  We set out to see what we could grow - and to see how many purple varieties of our food would succeed.

Doug's final hours

We've battled against one of the most bizarre, unpredictable growing seasons and in some cases this proved to be the downfall of our crops.  But we had some outstanding successes and we definitely achieved what we set out to do - to be able to go to the allotment on a Sunday morning, decide what we wanted for dinner, pick it and then have the most delicious meal of home-grown produce.

As first-time allotment owners a year ago, we really didn't know what to expect - both from being a member of the allotments and from being able to grow so much of our own food.  A year later and we are bona fide members of the Allotment Association and no longer the "new kids on the block!"

Two of our tomatoes!

The last couple of weeks have been extraordinarily emotional.  We decided quite some time ago that we would be able to make good use of a bigger plot than Doug and it was more than a month ago that one of the other plot-holders suggested we take his half plot because he was moving up to a full one.  However it wasn't until we had to start properly clearing Doug that it all began to sink in.  This weekend marked the end of an era (albeit a rather short one.)  

Parsnips!

We were suitably astounded that once the sun started to fight its way through the rain clouds in late July, our crops began to respond accordingly.  It was too late for our tomatoes - we eventually grew just four green ones - but we did get a final surge of growth from the Borlotti beans (purple stripe) and parsnips.  Our solitary sweetcorn plant is still growing but we've been told it won't survive a transplant so if it grows any more it will be a bonus.  Our beetroot crop (OK, maybe not purple but a gorgeous, deep red) was truly sumptuous.  We have discovered how delicious it is roasted with balsamic vinegar  as well as mashed with seasoning.  We now have a freezer full of our own vegetables - portions of cauliflower, broad beans and peas abound and are now joined by the parsnips and beetroot.  Not as good as freshly picked but still streets ahead of buying from the shops.

The new fruit patch

Lyta stomps down the compost heap!

So we spent the last two days clearing Doug.  We were fortunate enough that when he became ours last year, he had been lovingly tended by his previous owners and given to us in almost perfect working order.  We were determined that we should do likewise for his new owner.  And so we dug up all the parsnips, harvested the last of the Borlottis, moved our currant , gooseberry & blueberry bushes and the purple raspberries and transported them, along with the rhubarb and sweetcorn, to their new home.  We also potted up all our fragrant herbs and brought them back to Nigel - we are moving home soon as well and our new abode features a garden where we can have a proper herb patch within easy reach for regular cuisine!  We also had to transport, barrow-full by barrow-full our compost heap!  This proved exciting in itself; as I thrust the spade in at one point, I found myself with a family of baby mice on my spade as well as the compost.  Sadly, we're not sure if they will survive the disturbance but we did our best to hide them under a nearby lemon balm bush.  Finally, we dug Doug over, leaving just a patch of strawberries and a few herbs. 

Watering in the new onions.

Our new plot, Douglas, is quite close by (50 yards as the sparrows fly.)  He is double the size of Doug and has probably the most well-nourished soil you could need.  He does require a lot of TLC however so our time over the next few months will primarily be spent clearing and organising.  Just in case you're wondering, Douglas' previous owner operated a no-dig method of gardening, hence he was dug less....  Anyway, during our first visit this weekend, we have achieved all of the above transfers as well as planting some cabbage seedlings and two rows of onion sets.  The new season has truly begun!  In the next few weeks we will be adding broad beans and garlic.  We can order our potatoes for next spring and begin scouring the gardening catalogues for our next purple crops.... Once more, the world is becoming our oyster but this time it will be bigger and better! :)

Surveying his new plot!

Summer has finally arrived :)

Wow, what a difference three consecutive days of sun make, especially when there is the prospect of more to come.  We were all beginning to wonder what the strange yellow ball was in the sky and then something from the depths of our memories began to come back to us.... Warmth, light, SUN!

We spent a good three hours today tending to Doug's needs (some of us more enthusiastically than the others!)  

Purple Haze Carrots

Supper!

I pulled up a few more carrots - strangely two more were displaying the split root feature of the first one we harvested. However, these were at least edible and one of them was definitely a Purple Haze.  The area is crawling with red and black ants (I disturbed at least four nests with plenty of eggs being hurriedly transported back underground by concerned adults.) I also thinned out the turnips, swede and beetroot so we had a good selection of root veg in general to add to our supper.

Pink Fir Apples & one Purple Majesty

Two meals of peas ready to go

Phil dug up the last two rows of potatoes and we came away with a rather nice haul of Pink Fir Apple and Maris Piper (the latter cropped very nicely considering the recent weather.)  Phil also gave several areas a good going over with the hoe.  Lyta concentrated on the peas and beans area, giving them a good weeding and collecting all the ripe pea pods.  I dug up as much as possible of the weed growth around the fruit bushes and then planted out a half dozen tomato plants we bought at the shop to replace the ones we lost during the recent deluges. 

I then picked a Lollo Rosso lettuce for our lunch and some of my sweet pea flowers.  We cannot believe how fragrant they are (not to mention purple and very pretty!)  Every time we now come into the lounge, we are greeted by a fantastic aroma.  Beats buying cut flowers any day!

These smell amazing!

Peas, sweet peas & lettuce

Finally, we had to water the plants!  No kidding, we actually had to use the watering can.  We took the opportunity to feed everything too, as we are reliably informed that the rain might have leeched the nutrients from the soil.  We were also given the "unofficial" confirmation of the next plot we would be getting.  We had requested a half plot upgrade and one of the committee members had mentioned his because he, in turn, is going up to a full plot.  Changeover is on 30th September.  Very exciting. 

Rain? What rain???

We popped down to see Doug very quickly this Sunday - I had to study so we couldn't stay long.  

There wasn't much we could do however.  The ground was sodden and digging it would have been pointless, even standing on it was ill-advised.

We are suffering the same problems as every other allotment-holder, gardener, arable farmer in the country - too much rain, vital nutrients being perpetually washed from the soil, not enough sun, not enough warmth.  We've had some amazing successes but we've also had some devastating failures.  Never, in the last four years of growing tomatoes in Nigel, have we ever failed to get good plants with a decent crop.  This year, we can't even get the plants to grow, let alone crop.


The turnips have grown really well, the swede have grown but not bulked out and were woody.  The beetroot has done as well, if not better than the turnips.  All in the same patch of ground and planted at the same time, so not sure why the difference in growth.  Behind them should be the tomatoes and aubergines.  Whilst the plants are mostly still there, they've not grown above 6".  Behind them are the parsnips, which are looking very healthy and further back is the area where we had to cut off the tops of all the potatoes to stop the spread of blight.  Such a mish-mash of success within a small area is baffling.

We also tried pulling one of the handful of carrots we managed to grow - literally no more than a dozen have survived from three packets sown.  It was a rather amusing shape but again was too woody to eat.

On the other side of Doug we had a good show from the brassicas.  The cabbages look like they're close to being ready to harvest.  But we had to pull up all the radishes because they bolted before bulking out.  Yet in the same patch, the peas are growing apace and seem to be thriving - along with the sweet peas which are truly resplendent.  

We have a single (possibly a second) sweetcorn plant coming through and the lettuce does look like it'll get bigger and better.  The Borlotti beans are finally showing signs of growth but we've lost almost all the dwarf french beans (again - third sowing lost) with only two plants surviving and even those are barely alive.  The herbs do appear to all be flourishing with one exception.  The local slugs and snails do appear to think we only grew the basil for their own delectation.... I was actually thinking more tomato, mozzarella and basil salad but since we don't have the tomatoes either, I guess it's not the end of the world!

In summary, it definitely hasn't been summery and some of the failures have been devastating but to have just some of our own grown crops in our kitchen, freshly picked when we want them is worth every ounce of disappointment.  Let's see what the rest of the "summer" has to offer :)

Purple Patch Pleasure!

I fear we're making all this sound too easy but it is so very much nicer to celebrate the harvests more than to moan about the failures.

It hasn't all been plain-sailing - we have yet to successfully produce a decent french or borlotti bean, tomato, or pumpkin plant and our carrots are sparse to say the least.  But the successes have been amazing.  So far, since the spring, we've harvested purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflowers (which were the envy of the whole allotment site,) broad beans, peas, garlic and potatoes, along with various fruits and herbs.  

Now we're turning our minds to how we store everything - the idea being that whilst eating our produce when it's in season is great, being able to enjoy it later on the year will be fantastic too.  We have a large seletion of books  (probably too many) but each has their singular attraction and we've gleaned assorted methods and recipes from them all.

Next on our picking list was the shallots, which have now been fully pickled, thanks to a great recipe from John Harrison's book (he of http://www.allotment.org.uk - a veritable fount of information) It'll be a while before we can taste how good they are but so far they look and smell much better than anything available in the shops.  

Today's foray was one of hard work.  We've not really been doing much proper work on Doug for a few weeks - a few other things seem to have cropped up (no pun intended!)  So off we went this morning, knowing that we would spend quite a few hours tending to Doug's every need - otherwise known as weeding, digging, weeding, cutting, weeding, thinning, weeding, edging, weeding and finally, more picking!  And we're still not done.  But Doug does look much better than he did last week.  

To be fair, we did pop by very quickly yesterday to pick all our ripe soft fruit.  We came home with a bowl of strawberries, red and black currants and purple raspberries.  We then used them to make our first Summer Pudding - not a perfect example but delicious nonetheless.  We know next time to have more fruit, to wait for it to be riper and then we will have the perfection we crave.  

Phil harvested all of our red onions (as close to purple as we could get) and we've brought them home to our coldframe to dry - there's more rain forecast apparently, which is odd because it hasn't rained for ages.... NOT!  He also thinned out some of our purple radishes and put in some netting for our peas to climb.  Meanwhile, I thinned out the turnips, swedes (not too confident about these growing well) and the beetroot.  There are signs of at least two (count them, TWO, not two rows, just two!) purple carrots growing but not many more!  

Phil also dug up two rows of potatoes, one of Pentland Javelin and one of our Purple Majesty.  We had a few of the Pentland Javelin for tea and the rest are now stored in potato sacks in the shed, along with the garlic which we hung up yesterday.  The bikes have never smelled so good!

And just to prove we're doing our bit for the bees, Doug also now boasts some really stunning purple sweet peas.  I never really managed to succeed with these in Nigel so am really thrilled that Doug has produced such a vibrant display.  

And that's shallot.....

Who says the old ones aren't the best?!

Not true however, as we still have a long way to go and so much more to plant, harvest and enjoy.

We had a very quick visit this evening.  Last weekend wasn't particularly conducive to spending time outdoors, especially since I was also full of cold and Phil was helping his brother to move house.  So we went this evening just to check that everything was still OK....and decided to harvest the shallots.  We also managed to find a few decent sized turnips and I thinned out a few of the swede as well so next week's stew will be very tasty!

Today's harvest - shallots and a few other bits.

We do aim to return at the weekend as everything is now growing very fast, including the weeds which are now positively rampant!  The grass paths need taming and the pea shoots we grew are now so big we need to put in supports so they can grow as full pea plants!  Let's hope the rain holds off for a day on Sunday so we can get it all done....

NOM! NOM! NOM!

Wasn't sure if we were going to make it down to the allotment this week as the weekends been a bit busy. Yesterday we were down at Lympstone so that Mary could abuse herself over a 17k endurance run, and she's still suffering today. Then this morning I went off for a couple of hours fishing as the new season started yesterday as well.

Anyway, we finally made it down there and were very relieved to see that the allotment site hadn't ended up over the rainbow with all the high winds we've been having. In fact it looked positively blooming to be honest.

As Mary was suffering with some pretty good aches and pains I took a chair down for her to relax in and be Director of Operations. I then set to and pulled up the remaining broad bean plants which she then stripped the last of the beans from.

Next it was up with the garlic and then I laid a bed of straw down to leave the bulk of the bulbs to dry on . A few that split when they were lifted came home with us for use over the coming weeks. By which time the remainder will be dried and stored.




The pea plants which had struggled so far are really coming into there own and we now have no caulis left on the allotment as I picked the last one this morning. We've also started lifting potatoes. Nothing major crop wise but they taste fantastic and we grew them ourselves.

Then final harvest of today was the strawberries. I think this is the third lot we've had from our plants and I know there are still many more to come. I have to admit that they taste fantastic but it is a great shame that I recently discovered that I may be lactose intolerant so this weeks crop will have to be eaten without the usual lashings of cream. Still taste bloody good though!

Next week it will be all three of back on site and there will be some major weeding and tidying up to be done, as well as more picking to be carried out. Hopefully we will be starting to do some pickled onions with our own shallots.

You win some, you lose some.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make. A fortnight ago we were sweltering and couldn't drink enough water. This week we were in danger of either being blown over the rainbow into the land of Oz or having to build an Ark and take in two of each animal (except maybe the Welsh!).

I had intended to spend this morning fishing but after arriving down at Sandbanks there was the distinct possibility of me needing some ruby slippers to get home again so I gave that up as a bad idea and went home so that we could all head off to the allotment.

Things there are a little bit odd at the moment. We are either succeeding beyond expectations or crashing and burning. 

Successes - Purple sprouting broccoli; what a marvellous and tasty veg. Cauliflowers; we seem to be the only people on the allotment site that can grow them, pure beginners luck. Broad beans; so sweet and tasty it's untrue. Strawberries; there is a god and I reckon he loves strawberries.

Failures - Carrots; but then to be fair no one seems to be having any luck this year with carrots. Tomatoes; I don't think we're going to be getting any this year, the slugs seem to be enjoying the plants though!

Meanwhile back in Nigel we've had a nice few potatoes out of the potato sacks. Nothing spectacular but enough for a few meals. We've still got three pots worth of spuds that have so far managed to avoid the ravages of the slugs and snails (if they weren't such good food for other animals they wouldn't be coming on the Ark either, they could stay with the Welsh!).

I think the chillis might just be a bit of a fail as well. The plants have grown brilliantly and flowered but so far no fruit. They have been smothered in greenfly though (another candidate not to make it on to the Ark at this rate). We've given the plants a bloody good washdown and some food and will be trying to pollinate with a small paintbrush if there's no sign of fruiting in a weeks time. Please keep everything crossed as I love my chillis (not as much as I love my wife though x).

Anyway, I have dinner already prepped for tomorrow; chicken with herbs, garlic and onion, potatoes, peas and beans. Do you know what? Forget what I said earlier, when you're eating fresh homegrown fruit and veg it's all a victory!

Hot town summer in the city

Well it was a long hot morning but my goodness, it was worth it today. The morning started with us being over at Kings Park at 0900hrs to get some free compost from the council - thank you very much!

We then headed down to the allotment with the mindset of getting some serious weeding carried out. We took down with us six litres of water just to make sure we didn't get dehydrated.

Once there I set to work clearing out the purple sprouting broccoli plants as they had gone over; but I have to say we got our monies worth out of them. I then dug the bed over and then dug in one of the bags of compost we had collected that morning.

Whilst I was clearing and digging Mary and Lyta were having a good bash at the weeding; a thankless and back breaking job at the best of times. Why the weeds grow faster than the veg is any ones guess. After a couple of hours of this we took a water break and and then did some harvesting.

There were a couple of cauliflower to pick, bigger than Lyta's head, some broad beans that were so sweet and we also picked a "wet" garlic and some herbs. There were also a few rogue potatoes that had come up as well. For dinner this evening we will know the exact provenance of everything we eat. There were several gallons of water ferried back and forth in watering cans to thirsty plants today as well.
 
Our final act was to plant some rocket and mustard in the freshly vacated bed and some more parsnip to go with our surviving ones planted earlier in the year. Next Saturday we are going to be planting some corn (maize), just half a dozen or so to occupy the rest of the empty bed over the summer. Barbecued corn-on-the-cob anyone?

A quick visit..

Lyta and I cycled down to see Doug today whilst Phil was away.  There wasn't too much to do.  

Lyta managed to dig up a large amount of horsetail (yes, more of it) and helped to trim the grass at the front of the plot without decapitating the marigolds!

 

The beans we planted last week were dead (cause unknown) so Lyta used the poles to plant her Borlotti Beans.  We'll try with the french beans again next week.  At least the marigolds appear now to be taking and growing.  And the beetroot, turnip and swede plants do look to be going from strength to strength and will need to be thinned out soon.  The potatoes are all looking good and growing so they should produce a reasonable harvest.

I dug in the two new herbs from Otter Farm - the Hot & Spicy Oregano and the French Sorrel. These are both very exciting, the sorrel tastes almost as good as the wild wood variety and the oregano has an amazing aroma to it.  We just need to get chives and basil to grow and we should have a very comprehensive selection.

There's no sign of last week's carrot and cut-and-come-again plantings so we'll see if anything has come up next week.  I did lay a small sprinkling of slug pellets down in the hope that we weren't too late!!!  

Our pride and joy continues to be our brassicas.  We picked our second cauliflower today, along with more purple sprouting broccoli.  At least four older/more experienced plot holders said they couldn't get cauliflowers to grow so ours are quite a talking point amongst them *proud face*

We are still eagerly awaiting the end of June when we can start to harvest the garlic and onions.  They are all looking so very healthy and we can't wait to get our first taste of them all.

Next week, we'll be back with Phil and without the sulky teen, so there will be more work done (allegedly!)

Long Hot Summer

For those of you worried about Seedney the Window Sill, be not afraid Seedney is well and thriving with my Babies of Hotness.

At the moment we have two Early Jalapenos, two Orange Habaneros and a Dorset Naga. The heat of chillies is measured on the Scoville scale. Jalapenos generally rank between 3,500 and 5,000 scoville units. Habaneros come in at approximately 350,000 scoville units, as you can see things are heating up. The Dorset Naga is special, once ranked as the hottest chilli in the world, it comes in at a whopping 1,000,000 scoville units (yes 1 million).

Now I eat jalapenos on a regular basis with no problem. I've tried habaneros and have to admit that they are pretty hot. The question is "what am I going to do with the chillies from the Dorset Naga?", and the answer is I'm going to try at least one of them just so that I can say I have.

If anyone would like some chillies to try please let me know. I'm hoping the jalapenos will be along soon, both plants are already in flower so it shouldn't be too long.

A great surprise puts us back on track..

On Sunday last week it was raining...pouring...deluging... it was a tad wet!  We didn't go to see Doug, seemed a little pointless.  We did a brief visit on Tuesday after work (thank goodness for the lighter evenings now) and were relieved to find no lasting damage from the recent wind/rain/hail/frost etc.

 Today was a very different matter.  We had more marigolds and a replacement batch of purple french beans to plant out, along with some replacement carrot seeds and other seeds for our "cut-and-come-again" section.  We also needed to do a considerable amount of weeding.  Our plot appears to be teeming with horsetail - one of those delightful weeds which is almost impossible to eradicate.  Phil and I between us spent nearly two hours hoeing and on our hands & knees pulling up a variety of weeds.  The upside was that during my weeding, I discovered some parsnip plants which had survived and a considerably larger number of beetroot plants than I had expected to see, I even found a solitary leek!  Almost all of the potato plants appear to have now sprouted above ground. It could prove to be quite a harvest!  Some of the fruit bushes are beginning to show signs of fuiting too, the rhubarb is going from strength to strength and the strawberries are definitely in full bloom.

Phil sowed a row of purple carrots and a row of orange ones (the last two rows simply never even materialised!)  He also planted the marigolds, while I put in a row of lollo rosso lettuce, a row of radishes and inserted the beans next to the wigwam which Phil had erected.  I also topped up the beetroot row with some extra seeds in the gaps.

Phil's final task was to harvest some more of our delicious purple sprouting broccoli.  While he was doing this, a few bees arrived to take advantage of the yellow flowers so we decided to keep it outside the netting.  While he was putting the netting back over the cauliflowers however, we had our biggest surprise.  Three, count them, THREE cauliflowers ready to harvest.  We had no idea they were even close to being ready but there they were, large as life.  Absolutely amazing!

  We're really loving this growing lark :)

A bit of a cog in the works...

We learnt something important today: you can indeed use too much slug repellent.  For once, more is not better [sigh.]

We got to Doug today to find that we had lost our entire selection of tomato and french bean plants as well as our second attempt at growing a pumpkin and another complete row of marigolds! The two rows of carrots have just never materialised and the beetroot is looking suspiciously sparse...

We are, however, undeterred.  More of the potatoes are beginning to peek out above the soil and manure, the purple sprouting broccoli gave us another fine harvest and the broad beans are already showing signs of producing some good pods.

We took the time to give the areas of failed planting a good dig-over and most of the rest of the plot a thorough weeding.  The grass edges of the path have been neatened and the peas propped up again.  
We've planted a third batch of marigolds, a few of the ecinacea plugs and a patch of wildflowers to help encourage the vital insect life.  

The herb patch is continuing to thrive - we just need some recipes for lemon balm as this is clearly growing much more quickly than we expected.  The garlic and onions are all still looking excellent.  The fruit bushes appear to be flourishing and we had a new fruit - a jostaberry - recommended to us (another purple/black fruit so bound to be a winner!)

Once we got home, I planted another batch of both types of tomato and will do the same with the french beans.  All is not lost, we'll just be a couple of weeks behind but that's not such a big deal since the weather has been so cold recently there wouldn't have been as much growth as there was earlier in the year.  I'm sure our next post will be even more positive :)

Doug the Allotment: It's all kicking off!

Doug the Allotment: It's all kicking off!: Well we're back from holiday and back on the allotment, and everything is sprouting up all over the place! And for those of you who think we...

It's all kicking off!

Well we're back from holiday and back on the allotment, and everything is sprouting up all over the place! And for those of you who think we're neglecting Nigel he's doing fine. In fact the potato sacks and pots are going great guns. Hopefully in a month or so from now we will be eating our first purple potatoes! I'm very excited!! As for Seedney the window sill he's doing very well growing my babies of hotness!

We harvested another basket of purple sprouting broccoli yesterday and turned it into psb and stilton soup - and bloody lovely it was as well. We also used mint from Nigel and rosemary from Doug to cook some new potatoes and roast lamb yesterday. It all just tastes that little bit better when you know where (some of) your food has come from.

Most of our time yesterday was spent planting new crops. We have extra French beans and a Borlotti bean, that Lyta planted at River Cottage, growing now as well as three types of tomatoes. I'm just hoping they survive the late frosts we're getting. Mary also planted some marigolds as apparently they help combat white fly. Anything that gets rid of parasites is good with me!

We picked up a horseradish plant as well the other day and I planted that out as well. I love horseradish sauce (there's a shocker) so I'm looking forward to that growing and then making a sauce to see if I can blow the top of my head off!

You may notice in some of the photos that we I have become rather obsessed with slug pellets. It's just that I'm paranoid that after all of our hard work we will start to loose stuff to the damned slugs and snails. We've just planted out another pumpkin plant as the three we had planted out previously were eaten down to the ground. You could barely tell that anything had even been there!

Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for reading and hopefully more to follow next week.

Today was a momentous day, and in honour of that I'm writing in purple, we harvested our very first crop from our very own allotment. Yes, we picked purple sprouting broccoli from Doug today. And bloody Delicious it was as well, especially when served with a blue cheese sauce.

We spent most of the morning watering our crops, due to the incredibly warm weather we've been experiencing recently. We also covered over the brasiccas, beans and alliums to hopefully prevent the butterflies and pigeons devastating all of our hard work.

I was looking back over some old photographs earlier today and it was amazing to see the tiny plug plants we had put in five and half months ago now either ready for harvesting as in the case of the broccoli or coming along really well like the cauliflowers and savoy cabbages.

One of the most amazing things we noticed this week was that the peas we were growing in the greenhouse had already started to set pods. We were advised to nip these out so as to encourage further growth on the plant.

It really is a fruitful time just now with the soft fruit bushes coming along very nicely and potatoes starting to shoot and showing signs of doing very well indeed. We've also got five chilli plants on Seedney the windowsill now from Seaspring seeds that were bought at River Cottage last weekend; they are two jalapenos, two habaneros and a Dorset naga. The naga tops the scales at a million scoville heat units and I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it!

Anyway we will be back on Doug on Good Friday to do what we can before we head off on a well earned break down to West Bay.