Jamming and Bottling - August 2006

I have been busy trying to make the most out of the fruits that are coming in abundance at the moment. Unfortunately, I have now run out of reasonable sized jars - only have huge ones left - so all the fruits are now in bags in the freezer.

Marrow and Ginger jam

2Ib cooked, well squeezed marrow
2Ib sugar
8oz ginger in syrup
pinch dried powdered ginger







Cook the marrow until very tender then SQUEEEEEEZE out as much liquid as possible. Weigh it and use the same amount of sugar as you have pulp. Put it back into the preserving pan and add the sugar. Warm slowely until the sugar has dissolved and add the chopped stem ginger. Chop it as finely or coursely as you like it. Add a pinch, or a large pinch of ginger - again, your taste. Cook rapidly until you have a smooth paste - you are not trying to reach setting point, just a paste like texture. Bottle in sterile warm jars and seal.

Marrow and citrus curd











2Ib cooked, well squeezed marrow
2Ib sugar
4+ citrus fruits of your choice. Lemons and limes, 6+
4oz butter

Cook the marrow until tender in a little water then SQUEEZE it good and hard to get as much liquid out as you can. I put a plate on the top of the marrow which is in a collander and weight it overnight.Mash with a spud masher or blitz with a hand blitzer until you have a smooth puree, then into a large pan with the grated rind and juice of the citrus fruit, sugar and butter. Slowely warm until the sugar has dissolved, the cook gently until you are left with a smooth paste - took about 25 minutes for mine. You are not trying to reach setting point. Bottle in sterile warm jars and seal.

Tutti Fruitti Jelly (daughter number ones jam of choice!)

A selection of berries that you have available
couple of tart cooking apples
1 lemon

DAY 1: Place all the fruit in the pan. Peel, core and coursely chop the apple. Cut the lemon in half. Add these to the pan. Cook slowely for about 30 minutes so the fruit is all tender, the juices are running and the apple has completely turned to mooosh.
Bash with a potato masher, or blitz with a hand whizzer. Carefully pour the liquid through a seive, then pour the liquid through a jelly bag for a really clear jelly. I squidge and rub the mooosh as it goes through the seive to get maximum liquid and flavour. Then I pass the liquid through the jelly bag first, followed by the pulpy mooosh which I then leave to drip into a bowl overnight.
DAY 2: Measure the liquid and for every pint you need 1Ib of sugar. Gently warm the liquid in a preserving pan with the sugar, stirring well until all the sugar has completely dissolved. Now bring up to a rapid boil and cook until setting point in reached. Bottle in warm, sterile jars and seal.

Chilli Jelly

Roughly chop a big pile of apples - cookers and eaters - a lemon and a couple of chillis. Place it all in the preserving pan with just enough water to cover. This apple mix should be cooked slowely until you have a big pan of juicy mash. This is then passed through a seive or jelly bag. If you want it clear and sharp, through a jelly bag and don't squeeze, if you don't mind it with a bit more body, then give it a squeeze or a squidge. I now measure the liquid and for every pint I use a pound of sugar. The liquid and sugar goes into the preserving pan with as many chopped chillis as you see fit. I use a selection of whatever I have and I chop them, seeds and all in my mini blitzer. Slowely bring this up to the boil making sure all of the sugar has dissolved, then get boiling. BE WARNED, the steam is chilli flavoured and MIGHT make your eyes sting. Once it reaches setting point, bottle into sterile jars. I did some fancy by pushing a whole fresh 'pretty' chilli into the middle of the jelly. I also did some with some smoked praprika added at the end of cooking time. Made a lovely smokey chilli jelly.

Bottled Plums (Thanks Supersprout)









A bowl of firm red plums - de-stoned
Kilner jars or similar (Le Parfait etc.)
Fresh rubber gromits

Rinse out jars with boiling water, including lids, to sterilise. Wash fruit and pack into jars. Thump the bottom of the jar on the table as you fill it to get as many in as possible and pack tightly. Close the jars, but do not seal with gromits and place in the oven at 120c for approximately 90 minutes.
Make a fruit syrup - light is 4 oz sugar to 1 pint of water, more sugar makes a heavier syrup. Some juice will have come out and the fruit will have sunk. Take the bottles out of the oven and put them on a wooden or plastic board (to stop them cracking). Pour boiling water over gromits and funnel, to sterilise. Pour syrup to fill jar through the funnel. The fruit might rise a bit, but will sink later. Fish gromit out of boiling water, fix it on jar lid, and clamp or screw shut. Next day or when completely cold, unclamp or unscrew and lift by the lid to check there's a vacuum.

Plum/Greengage jam


4Ib de-stoned plums/gages
4Ib sugar
1 lemon

Place the plums and lemon into a preserving pan and cook until the fruits are tender and the juice has run. Fish out the lemon and add the sugar. Stir well until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring up to a rolling boil and cook until setting point is reached. THIS JAM WILL CATCH SO STIR STIR STIR!! Bottle in sterile, warm jars and seal.

Tuesday 5th September - Weather: warm but overcast

Yippee, the kids are back at school, so I arrived at the plot just before noon. Very muggy day but the cloud cover hardly broke. I did think it would rain a couple of times. Anyhow, the allotments are looking like tropical rain forrests, so let the weeding begin! Don't know why, but I started by pulling up all of the finished corns, snapping them down a bit and sticking them on the compost heap. Then worked my way along the strawbs. So many weeds the compost heap was soon overflowing! The big cooking apples have started to fall, so as I cleared around the strawbs, I picked up all of the windfalls that weren't to damaged and picked those on the tree I could reach. The other apple tree is good for eating and cooking, but the apples still resisted being picked, so I will leave them a week or two longer.

Took a break from weeding and filled my trug with tomatos again. Tonight I will cook all the toms I currently have at home down and get it frozen before they start going mouldy. Also picked yet more courgettes and cucumbers. Am at a loss what to do with all the cucumbers as they are coming so fast now! Also picked a handful of runner beans - enough for a couple of meals.

The squashes are all coming along nicely, considering a lot suffered in the drought and we lost several plants. I think this monster is called a swan guord. It is getting huge, and I have promised the children they can have one each to carve at Halloween - we like to be different! The melons are also getting bigger and bigger and I don't know if I should pick the biggest yet. I would hate to harvest it only to find it unripe. I guess whilst the weather is still so good, and the plant is still in active growth, I should leave it for the time being.

I have lots of things to sow, hopefully, over the next week and also my curly Kale. They will go on plot number 2 where the spuds were - which reminds me, now the top growth has completely gone on the Edzell Blues and Pink Fur Apples, I had better dig them up before any secondary growth starts, and the slugs move in!

Glad to say my globe artichokes 'Green Globe' are growing again. They have really suffered in the drought and completely died back leaving nothing more than a blackened stem. However, today I noticed that every plant has lovely new green shoots sprouting from the base. Now I feel guilty that I am planning to dig half of them up and shove them on the compost heap as I have decided we don't need that many plants as we don't eat that many artichokes! I will be giving the babies away to gardening friends who want them, and I might bung a couple in the garden as they make such stunning plants. I don't know if the cardoon will make a come back as he is in a similar state to the artichokes. Fingers crossed as I would be sad to loose that.

I have started to put together a spreadsheet listing all my seeds, sowing dates and comments so I can try and keep slightly more organised next year...famous last words! I also plan to sow at least 1 seed of every tomato, pepper and squash plant that I own, and any that fail to germinate will have one more sowing attempt, and if they still fail, I am binning the seeds as every year I seem to have a few that fail to come up. Anyhow, I have no idea if I can add a spreadsheet to my blog, but if I can, I will!

Sunday 27th August 2006 - Seed extravaganza!

This is just to post a list of seeds I managed to buy for 20pence a packet in Wyvales on Sunday. I had heard a rumour through the folks on the allotments for all website, so took myself down there with the family to investigate. Bargains galore!

Sweet pepper - Jumbo
Sweet pepper - Big Banana
Chilli pepper - Prairie Fire
Chilli pepper - Joes Long
Chilli pepper - Hot Tepin
Swiss Chard - Bright lights
Climbing bean - Goldfield
Tomato - Supersweet (x2)
Tomato - Gardener's Delight
Tomato - Gartenperle
Tomato - Marmande
Parsnip - Lancer
Parsnip - Javelin
Parsnip - Tender & True (x2)
Herbs - Sorrel
Herbs - sweet basil (x2)
Pea - Jaguar
Marrow - Tiger Cross
Broccoli - Autumn spear
Broccoli - Summer purple sprouting
Lettuce - Clarion
Lettuce - Salad bowl (x2)
Lettuce (organic) - Ice King
Lettuce - Iceberg set
Rocket
Chinese cabbage - One Kilo
Radicchio - Versuvio
Brussels Sprouts - Red Delicious
Brussels Sprouts - Bedford Fillbasket
Brussels Spouts - Falstaff
Cucumber - Prima Top
Carrot - Purple Dragon
Carrot - Healthmaster (x3)
Mangetout - Oregon sugar pod
Onion - Bunton's showstopper
Onion - Brown Pickling
Courgette (organic) - Dundoo
Courgette - Parthenon
Courgette - Defender
Kohl Rabi - Logo (x2)
Pumpkin - Hundredweight (x3)
Leek - Musselburgh (x3)
Cauliflower - All the year round
Cauliflower (organic) - Goodman
Calabrese - Hydra
Calabrese - Autumn spear
Swede - Brora
Swede - Angela
Aubergine - Moneymaker
Aubergine - baby rosanna
Spinach - Scenic
Celeriac - Monarch

Not a bad list huh! This should keep us very well stocked on the allotment next year!

Friday 25th August 2006 - Weather: bright and breezy

A flying visit today as mum is over and was babysitting whilst I took the chance to pop to the plot to have a little pick. All of that lovely rain means the waterbutts are all full, but it also means the weeds have gone CRAZY! I couldn't believe it. The bindweed is the biggest thug of all and has been quietly making itself at home in the pumpkin patch. But I shall not worry - the urchins go back to school in just over a week, and then I will be able to spend as much time as I can over there getting rid of it all.

As I am in the pumpkin patch I can report that things are looking good. Not as many squashes as last year, but still plenty! Picked another bucket full of cucumbers, and the courgettes have started again thanks to the rainfall. I have several crown prince and a grey one whose name escapes me. Plus the swan gourds have grown to huge proportions! I shall take my camera next visit. There is a turks turban and a couple of others, so enough for us. The runner beans that run along the middle of this plot are in full bloom again, once again thanks to that rain, so it looks like we will get a nice late bonus harvest from them. Also the late peas I sowed have had a growth spurt, but I don't know if they will come to anything as they suffered such a check in growth because of the drought. Some flowered when they weren't even an inch tall. I shall monitor them and if they just sit there doing nothing, when I clear the squashes, I will just dig them in. The leeks have started to bulk up and I am saving loo roll inners to experiment with blanching the leeks. I know it has worked for others. The last major thing on this plot are the toms, and wow they are fab! Picked a lovely trug full, but they are slow to ripen. Picked the first beefsteak - Omar Lebanese. These are fab beefies, although incredibly ugly!

Over on the main plot things are really slowing down now. The second batch of sweetcorn has all but finished so I can start oiking them out. However, the good thing is the black and white radish and the mixed lettuce leaf that I sowed last visit are all up already!

I really do need to spend some quality time on the plot pulling up what has finished and raking the rough ground down. I am tempted to sow even more seeds in September as I reakon most quick to mature things like salads will do the business long before the weather turns.

Saturday 18th August 2006 - Weather: Sunny but breezy

An early start once again and I was on the plot before 8am (had to pop to Asdas (ggrr) first). Only had a couple of hours spare, so the first job was picking. Eight lemon cucumbers - that rain did the squashes to power of good! A handful of french beans, dozens of cherry toms - both yellow and red, couple of flying saucers (oh okay, pattypan squashes) and a bowl full of blackberries. Checked the waterbuts, and they are all full which is very satisfying. Last job was to dig and rake the old carrot bed. It dug beautifully, again thanks to the rain and I was able to rake it down to a very fine tilth. I sowed a row of white mooli winter radish, a row of black long winter radish (both great in stir fries and salads), a row of redball beetroot, a row of winter lettuce and a row of mixed leaf salad. I don't have any fleece now as it was all on it's last legs so it ended up on the compost heap - so before the weather gets nippy, I will get some so I can protect these as necessary. I still have red and green kale to plant and late French beans to get in. Also want to sow more spring onions and regular salad radish. Am contemplating sowing a couple of rows of carrots under fleece to see if I can harvest a crop for Christmas dinner. Now the weather is cooling, I am hoping that they would get away quickly before the weather really turns.

Overall, after the fabulous week of rain we have had, everything has really perked up. There are fresh flowers on the runnerbeans and squashes, my late 3rd sowing of sweetcorn is now standing over 4 foot tall and has flowers and the greens are looking lush and turgid.

Saturday 12th August 2006 - Weather: wet and windy at 7am!

Well, set the alarm for 6.30am and by 6.45am my flask was made and I was all kitted up for a couple of hours work on the plot. I knew it had been raining in the night, but when I looked first thing, it had stopped. So, opened the front door...and it was coming down in sheets! GGRR. Okay, quick re-think. Found my raincoat, grabbed a hat and headed off for the plot anyhow. By the time I arrived it had stopped raining and the horizon looked bright. Now, really, honestly, I am not complaining about the rainfall. No siree! My allotment is now so dry that I decided to dig the spuds whose foliage had long died down, and the ground was dry as deep as I could dig! In places, the soil was dust like. Even after the rain we had, enough to half fill my water butts, the ground was bone dry after just a couple of centimeters as you can see (hopefully) in this photos. The ground on the left was untouched, the ground on the right had my valour spuds dug out. So very dry. So spuds - I dug valour, sante, desiree and lady christl. Valour was very disappointing. Very low yield of small spuds, but no damage, and we had them with out Sunday salad today, and they were very tasty. However, I don't know if I will bother with those again. The others were all excellent - good yeild, no damage, pest or disease and some whopping big tatties! Can't yet comment on flavour.

After all that digging, I was exhausted so did some light picking for a while. Picked a couple of handfulls of runner beans, couple of cucumbers, a few tomatos, and my first dozen corn on the cobs! Very pleased with my corn plantation after last years complete failure. These were sown in pots by the children and planted out in late spring. They have really grown tall and each plant has at least 2 cobs, some have 3 and I spotted at least 3 canes with 4 cobs! Plenty for the freezer. The minipops have also been a great success as daughter number one doesn't like big corns, only babycorns, so they are a must for next year.

It looks as though we will harvest around 8 melons - cantaloupes I think. And there are at least 3 watermelons, which will have loved this rainfall.


The cardoon and sunflowers are in competition who can get the tallest. I am thinking about taking some of the cardoon home in the autumn for the garden as it is so spectacular.

Saw Old Jack, he was over picking runners for his Sunday roast. He told me that a couple of people had given up their plots as they didn't have the time. I am sure they will be snapped up as there are 8 people on the waiting list. As one of the plots is next to mine, I hope it will be used as the weeds are slowely but surely heading my way!

That was it - step daughter needed collecting and son had a party, so I was home by 11am, just as the rain came in again. Looks like the forecast for this coming week is wet and windy. Glad of the wet, not so keen on the wind.

Thursday 10th August 2006 - Weather: overcast and breezy

Well, back from our two weeks holiday in France and of course, things are looking pretty rough on the plot. We did pop up to see how things had faired on Sunday 6th and picked a lot of cucumbers, courgettes, runnerbeans and frenchbeans. The beans had all gone over and were very fat, which should have been disappointing, however, I podded the beans when I got home and they were glorious. I cooked one batch up and made a delicious cassoulet, I also made a tasty mixed beans salad, and the rest will be going into a mexican style bean salad for the weekened. The sad thing is, all of my lovely lettuce have run to seed, and any seedlings that were up and growing, are gone. It does make me incredibly sad and I hate to see areas of the allotment bare. However, I really must accept that this is the way with my plot - not having access to water on tap is a real issue, and even with several waterbutts, keeping the plot properly watered is really impossible. If seedlings come through, followed by a hot day, they frazzle clean off. I am going to try to grow more, earlier in the year, then sow and plant nothing in July and August, then start things off either at home where I can look after them for planting in September, and try sowing again in September. I have always sown something late in the year, like chinese greens, and fast growers like radish, but I am going to try more - after all, we don't get frosts until after Christmas, so with the help of fleece and cloches, I should be able to keep things going.

However, this evening was a flying visit really, just to see if anything needed picking. Came home with a couple of small white cucumbers, a lovely pattypan, a handful of runners, 2 mini corns, a goodly batch of tomatos, who really are thriving with no water at all, and some pink fir apples and valour spuds, which were only really dug as a test to see how things were underground. Dry, that is how things are underground!!

Anyhow, my question for today is, why is it I can be at the allotment all day, and be alone, and not get spooked or worried, and yet I pop up in the evening, and even though it is still daylight, every rustle of leaves, every movement spooks me? Of course, to make matters worse, whilst I was digging the spuds I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and two sexy young foxes were looking at me from 2 plots along. I reakon they were last summer cubs - or maybe early this year as they were small and incredibly lean. Also they weren't really ginger, more blonde! Very very shy because as soon as I stood up they darted back, and as I said hello, they fled into the undergrowth. Oh well, good to know they are around as it will certainly help with the vole, mouse and rat population!

So, nothing to report - the plot looks sad, barren and dry - but then so does everyone elses so it isn't just me. On the upside, I am going to have a HUGE crop of toms, I will harvest at least 4 melons, there are some squashes, although the weather has taken it's toll on them, and the spuds, although small, seem to be plentiful and without damage. I plan to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday and get down there to start clearing and tidying and getting ready for the rain that apparently Essex is going to get on Saturday. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me that we have good, constant, wet drizzle for the whole weekend!!

Tuesday 18th July 2006 - Weather: 37', clear sky, no breeze, melting weather!

It was only a quick visit today, well, it was so hot what do you expect! Considering I was only up there at the end of last week, I was amazed at how quickly things had grown. Filled my basin with raspberries, goosegogs, blackcurrants and jostaberries. Another bowl full of peas and mountains of The Prince French beans. Over on plot number two I picked quite an armful of courgettes, I'm sure they weren't there last time I checked! And finally, cucumbers! I grow the apple cucumbers as there is then no waste as daughter number one eats them whole. There are loads to come. Runner beans are plentiful. Probably not doing as well as they should, a drop of rain would be super please! The last thing to pick was the first babycorn. I wasn't 100% certain when to pick, but I seemed to remember the idea is to pick them before the tassles are dry, and sure enough, a lovely long slender baby corn - I can't call it mini as it was over 20cm long. Daughter number one had it with her tea, fresh and juicy, just cooked.

Thursday 13th July 2006 - Weather: overcast and humid

Strawberry sort out day! They have finished now, sadly, so the plan of attack was to clear all the old straw and rough foliage, try to direct the runners, pot some of the runners up for an A4ALL buddy, and oik out some of the old ones along the back that didn't fruit at all. A long job, but not to hot thanks to the thick grey cloud cover. Wish it would rain! The strawberry bed should have moved forward by about 3 foot come next spring, if the runners all behave and grow where I have pegged them!
I seem to be spending more time harvesting at the moment that planting or weeding, which isn't a complaint! So, yet more peas, first proper picking from my runner beans 'Enorma', a goodly harvest of french beans, the majority being the extremely prolific 'The Prince', couple of very lllooonnnggg spring onions, 3 black skinned courgettes, half a dozen good sized turnips and beetroots, and although I promised I wouldn't, a pile of rhubarb!


Had a good weed and tidy around the globe artichoke plantation. I am quite tempted to shorten the row by a half next year as we don't eat that many artis, and they are huge! I may dig some up and take off the babies, pot them up and overwinter them in the greenhouse, then offer them out as they should be a good size and productive.

Looks like blight has hit some of my volunteer spuds. I cut down the foliage and dumped it behind my shed. Hope the toms don't suffer as I am now out of Bordeaux, and I really would prefer not to dust them again. They are looking great - upright and healthy with lashings of fruit....keep your fingers crossed for me! I was hoping to get in amongst them and tie them up and remove some side shoots and lower leaves, but as I had handled the blighted spud foliage I decided to stay well away from the toms rather than spread it from my clothes and tools.

Weeded 'The Pumpkin Patch' and examined the various friuts. Loads of courgies to come - yellow, black and green, pattypans showing themselves, round courgettes, melons and cucumbers. I reakon I will be able to pick 4 or 5 cucumbers by the middle of next week. Wish the people with the plot next to my pumpkin patch would pay their plot a visit as there are lots of weeds that have been in flower and are now going over, and a good gust of wind and you know where they will all end up!

Redcurrant Gin recipe taken from Sensational Preserves

(For you Greenhouse Girl, and others who have more redcurrants that you could shake a currant bun at!)

Tis an easy one - 1 1/4 pounds redcurrants
10 oz caster sugar
27 fl/oz bottle of gin

Crish the currants with the sugar, then transfer the mix into a jar. Pour in the gin, cover and seal. Leave in a cool dark place for 3 months, shaking daily for a month, then just when you remember.

Strain, then I pass it through a muslin bag to get rid of as much sediment as possible. Bottle - if you can!

I guess you could then use the pickled currants in something...what I don't really know, maybe a triffle or pavlova. I shall be buying my bottle of mothers ruin tomorrow to get the brew under way.

Tuesday 11th July 2006 - Weather: hot and sunny

No, no, didn't get to the plot, this is just a quick YIPPEE as what do you know, after I hoped and prayed to good Ole Mother Nature for a drop of the wet stuff yesterday on the arid plot, it drizzled here for a good couple of hours in the early evening, and then on and off all night! Hopefully when I get to the plot over the next couple of days it won't just be lush weeds that greet me!

Monday 10th July 2006 - Weather: humid and overcast

Today I realised what the most important tool is to the humble allotmenteer... the thumb nail! As I was snipping of peas, then beans, then dead heading some cosmos and squiding a slug, I smiled and decided I had better start taking better care of this tool! It does come in awfully handy!

A bit of a late start today as I wasn't sure if the motor was going in for it's MOT, but I got up there by 10am. Jack was already hard at work stripping out his peas, which was to be my first job. The last of the Kelvedon Wonder needed getting out. I sowed some spring onions where they had been, and this has now filled the bed that the peas were taking up, so I have a third over to pak choi, and third to turnips 'Snowball' and a third to spring onions 'White Lisbon (winter hardy). Glad to report that the pak choi and turnips are up already. Could really go a drop of rain to get things moving!

Mananged to fill my trug once again with peas and french beans, and a few runner beans to! Again, a drop of rain would really do the trick and get all of those baby runners nice and long.


Thrilled with the sweetcorn plantation this year. Last year was a total failure, so this year the kids sowed the corn seeds for me, and now there is a lovely strong bed of corn plants. Already they are standing 3 foot tall, and there's no sign of any flowers yet, so fingers crossed we could be harvest 3 or 4 cobs from each plant!







We visited the plot with the kids on Saturday for an hour and they had picked a lot of the fruit for me, but there was still masses to pick. It has been a great year for the humble currant and I am going to look for some different recipes to use them. Last year I made redcurrant gin, which was delicious, but maybe not the best way to use the fruit. Some will inevitably end up in jelly or jam, but I really would like to try something else. Will have to investigate!

Dug up my kestrel tats as really they should have been earlies, but we have had so many volunteers and the row of Nadine, that I really haven't needed any, and I didn't need these, but what I did need was the room as I had a tray of Leeks 'Autumn Giant' that I wanted to get planted. I have grown a lot more leeks this year as we had a real allium shortage last year thanks to the white rot wiping out my main crop onions. Anyhow, I don't know if this Kestrel bed was particularly stoney, but just take a look at my comedy spud!

The courgettes and pumpkins are finally coming on and I picked the first round courgette. Rain please, same story, a drop of rain and we will have a major glut on our hands! Not that I am complaining as I can't wait to bake the delicious courgette bread again. Of course, hardly any of my squashes have labels...again...as the permanent pen I used turned out not to be permanent enough! Next year I will get me one of those glass pencils to do my labels.

For a change, I thought I would wander around and take some photos of the flowers on my allotment as there are lots, and you do overlook the flowers when the veggies are all growing like mad. The yellow osteo has appeared from nowhere, and I like it a lot, so he will be coming home with me in the autumn to over winter in the greenhouse and propogation. The cardoon is now way over 8 foot, and still growing! It is a monster and the first thing you see when you enter the site. My sunflower is 6 foot, and although not a record breaker, still a good height.
The tomatos are doing okay and have been dusted again lightly with Bordeaux mix to try and prevent blight. I don't think I will dust them again. The fruits have started setting nicely so now I just have that long wait ahead, waiting to see the first hint of colour. These are Reibenstraube (or words to that effect) and are a cherry with a distinctive lemon shape.

I did something today that I don't normally do, and that is water the plot! I only watered my baby leeklets and seed beds where germination either hasn't started or has just started. It is incredibly dry on the plot now, hard and dry to a spades depth. Fingers crossed the forecasters have it right and we get some rain over the next 24 hours. Here is a photo of the stream, or the dry stream! You can see my little pallet bridge and the sunken bin which normally I use for topping up my waterbutts. There hasn't been water flow now since May. But even in these arid conditions, somethings just want to grow - my fortune peas have germinated quickly in the warm rough ground and will hopefully provide us with a late pea picking as the weather starts to turn chilly.

Thursday 6th July 2006 - Weather: Hot and humid with short showers

Well, this morning I had the pleasure of accompanying year two on a trip the Priory Arch. Very pleasant, although the sky was dark and there was a light breeze. Could rain be on the horizon?

By 11am I was on the plot, and all was looking rather wilted, but still growing, just slowely. Glad to see the pak choi and kohl rabi I sowed has all germinated. Nothing yet from the spinach or the artic lettuce, but they haven't been in a week yet. Picked a cabbage and an iceberg lettuce - both have really good firm hearts so the cabbage will probably end up being used as coleslaw and the lettuce as a green salad mixed with other leaves.

First big job was to remove the last of the early onwards peas as they really had finished, and I wanted the room to sow another row of turnips. Look at these beauties that I pulled. These are called 'Snowball' and I got the seeds from Alan Romans website, 50p a packet. The ground was totally dry and crust, so I gave the area a couple of cans of water and waited for it to soak in before watering the seed drill.

Next out were the broadbeans. There were so few pods left, and as soon as they were getting to any size a critter was helping themselves, and as I found a sneaky hiding packet or Red Samuri carrot seeds, they were prompty evicted! I did leave the roots in because I assume as they are a bean, their roots have nitrogen fixing nodules, which will re-release the nitrogen as they break down.

The Alderman peas are now ready, and they are such good value. Huge thick long pods, each one with at least 10 large peas in. I have decided that next year I will only grow alderman peas and forget the shorter ones. I managed to fill my large trug with a mixture of broad beans, french beans, peas, and the first 2 runner beans!

Trying to plan for the winter, I decided to oik out a patch of beetroot and sow a nice row of spinach 'Bordeaux'. The young leaves are great in salads, and the older leaves are handy winter greens.

Right, head down, into the fruit cage! I managed to get stung on nettles, scratched on raspberry canes and prickled by gooseberrys, but my reward was a trug full of rasberrys, strawberrys, redcurrants, blackcurrants, gooseberrys and jostaberrys. I am hoping to make a summer pudding to take with us on Sunday when we go visiting. The redcurrants are amazing, masses of them! The blackcurrants, although black they could go another week really, same with the jostaberries. The red gooseberrys are in the sun, so they have ripened and are fat, squidgy and delicious, but the green ones are still a month or more away as they are in the deep shade of the apple trees. I might think about moving them over the autumn, or at least take a dozen cuttings, so if they take, after the bushes have fruited next year, get them out.

Had a little wander around plot number two. Everything is growing and at last I can see courgettes. Looks like the glut will begin next week! Grabbed the last of the overwintered onions as their stems were bent. Then gave all the tomato plants a good dusting with Bordeaux powder. Hope blight doesn't strike. There are so many young fruits coming, I would hate to loose them all! Some of the tops of some of the spuds have started to really die back now, so I guess I should think about digging those. Thing is, we have sack fulls of new spuds from the volunteers at home, and we haven't even tried the Nadine spuds I dug last week!

It is great this time of year when the harvests are plentiful, but I do seem to spend hours when I get home sorting it all out, freezing and fridging it all! Here you can see my frozen garlics. I do this because the allotment suffers from terrible white rot and usually my garlics rot, and you can't see the damage until you break open a bulb to find all the cloves shrivelled and rotten. I skin the cloves and put them in my little blender, then whizz them up until they are finely chopped. They are then pressed into my flying saucer shaped ice cube tray (it is meant to hold a slice of lemon in your ice cube) and put in the freezer over night. Once solid, they are tipped out and stored in a tuperware box in the freezer for use as and when I need it.

Friday 31st June 2006 - Weather: Hot and sunny!

An abrupt start to the day, number one son managed to get stung on his back on the way into school! Boy did he scream. I think it was more the fact that it was so unexpected. It wasn't a wasp, but it was a fly of some sort. As I lifted his t-shirt to see what he was screaming about, it flew out and away. A big hive appeared in seconds followed by a huge red welt. Fortunately I always have piriton in the car because of daughters allergy, so 2 spoons of that, and a kiss to make it better, and he was okay again. Number one daughter had her assembly this morning so after a lesson on the Great Fire of London, I set of for the plot.

As usual, noone there but the scarecrows. Picked a few peas and a plenty of broad beans and then set about digging up the row of Nadine second early spuds. Well, Rosemary Connley can stick her aerobic workout where the sun don't shine as digging spuds in the hot Essex sunshine certainly got me sweating...oh no, girls don't sweat, we glow, so I was positively glowing! Filled a carrier with lovely sized, clean spuds. No slug damage or eelworm, or anything else come to that. I also filled yet another carrier with mixed volunteer spuds. We are going to look like new potatoes before long! The ground turned beautifully where Nadine was growing, so I raked it over and decided to sow a patch of carrots. I broadcast sow carrots rather than sow in rows. I know this probably doesn't fit in with the rotational plans, but they will be out for Christmas, and needs must when you have mouths to feed! I also sowed a row of late peas 'Fortune' where I dug the last of the volunteer spuds.

I weeded a little around the various squash plants, and because of the success of the pumpkin seeds which germinated directly in the ground, I plonked another few in....Lemon cucumber and round courgettes. Still plenty of blackfly on the runners, but only on one plant. I am contemplating oiking that plant out, but then if they all stay on that one, then I can use it as a sacrificial plant to protect the others. I also have baby tomatos at last. I know some people are already getting colour on theirs, but they tend to be greenhouse plants, these are in the open, and the fruits are just bigger than marbles at the moment. I dusted them last week with bordeaux to keep the blight at bay, I will do it again next week on the new lush growth.

Back on the main plot...time for some lunch, which I forgot to bring so I made do with some freshly podded peas, lettuce and a cup of coffee. I decided to cut back some of the early onward peas that had finished and I carefully dug over the area - about 4 foot long - and smoothed it over. I have left the pea roots in the ground to return the nitrogen they absorbed whilst growing. Here I sowed a short row of Pak Choi. I normally leave these veggies until August because they bolt so readily, but I thought as they are in the dappled shade end of the plot, and because the broadbeans and alderman peas are also providing some shade, it must be worth a go. Then, in the dappled shade of the apple tree, I sowed three short rows of arctic lettuce - an iceberg variety which stands well through the winter. Then, to be honest, I just pottered around. Did some weeding, did some picking of this and that, thinned out the yellow Australian lettuce, one of which I gave to Daughters teacher, and admired my handywork.

The views from the plot are great at the best of times, over the farmers fields, but at the moment they really are pretty as he has a field full of linseed and it is in full blue bloom. I have often seen blue fields around here and assumed they were lavender - now I know otherwise.

Picked a selection of berries. Mine are a lot later than other people who have reported that they have already harvested redcurrants and gooseberries. My gooseberries are in the shade of the apple trees and therefore are a good month behind sun lovers. Fine by me, when everyone elses are gone, I have mine to enjoy! The strawberries, dare I say, are becoming a bit of a bore! I now have about 4Ib to make jam with in the freezer, and about another 2Ib in the fridge, which if I don't use up soon, will going mouldy! Might try bottling some - mum did one year and they were gorgeous. Thinking that I could do some little fancy bottles to do for Chrissy pressies.

I guess it will be a week now before I get back to the plot. As we haven't had any rain, the weeds are slowing, but so are my freshly sown seeds! Come on Mother Nature, it is still Wimbledon fortnight, the least you can do is provide us with a drop of the wet stuff!

Just to show off, here is my garlic plait. I wasn't planning to plait them this year as thanks to the white rot, they normally deteriate after a month or so, however, I went over the bulbs very carefully, and they all look in tip top health. I have about a dozen bulbs left that are small, or damaged or have mini bulbils up the stem, and I will get them used, or frozen first, then go onto these lovely bulbs. These are purple Wight which I have been pleased with for the past 3 years, however, this coming garlic growing season I am going to try something completely different!

Back home in the greenhouse I have a selection of seeds sown for late summer planting, and the first to rear their beautiful heads are the coloured kales. These are curly red and green kales meant for our Christmas dinner. Nothing like wishing the summer away!