The Edible Garden Show 2014

Today I went back through my old stomping grounds to Alexandra Palace in North London to attend The Edible Garden Show.  I was given two tickets to attend and managed to persuade Mr R to come with me.

The Grand Hall was filled with rows and rows of stalls all selling things or educating people about the world of growing your own food.  The show itself was sponsored by Maldon Sea Salt who have been harvesting salt from the sea in Essex for over 130 years.

Maldon Sea Salt sponsored the kitchen theatre and I watched chef Phil Vickery turn a bag of frozen peas into three delicious recipes to celebrate Spring!

We wandered around and met some lovely people and I was given some very interesting products to trial on the allotment and reiview for you at a later date.

There were loads of stalls with chickens and every thing you need to keep them and look after them and then enjoy your own home produced eggs.  I really fancy keeping chickens (there are a couple of people keeping them at the allotment!) but Mr R says absolutely not! But of course watch this space - I never take no for an answer!! There was also this beautiful fellow to say hello to!

Mr R was particularly taken with the Wolf Garten range of gardening tools. One handle and interchangeable tools. We bought a grubber and handle but the sad thing is that Mr R leaned the handle against something when we sat down and forgot to pick up the handle so we won't be trying it out tomorrow on the allotment!

I had a chance to listen to Christine Walkden giving a talk about making the most of your vegetable patch and learned a few new tips. It was nice to say hello to Christine after her talk because we worked together many years ago at Capel Manor Horticultural College. 

After quite a few hours of walking around and talking to loads of very interesting people Mr R was ready for a refreshing cold drink and a sit down.

 

I will be writing in more details about some of the products we got at the show and I will also be cooking with the Maldon Sea Salt over on my food blog.  But for now, a cup of coffee and a browse through all the catalogues I picked up today!

First tasks

This time last year I was asking myself what on earth had I ever done getting involved with my allotment however today is our first day there for the season and it was absolutely beautiful day, the  sun was shining it was warm about 16°C.

We went up there with a few tasks in mind but first we stopped off at Homebase and I used my Christmas voucher and bought myself a little rotary push lawnmower which I've wanted for keeping the grass down around the areas we have yet to cultivate.  My two jobs for the day were to plant out the early potatoes and to plant at the raspberry canes, both of those jobs are done and a whole bed was forked over and fed some compost and some local horse manure. I gave it a quick once over with the new mower in between the veg beds which is going to make keeping neat and  tidy a lot easier.

I'm looking forward to really getting stuck in and growing all our vegetables for the coming season!

2014 Here We Come!!

Part of the fun this time of the year is thinking of all the great seeds to buy in readiness to plant indoors in preparation of the time to plant at the allotment!

For Christmas I got some funky seeds and plan to plant them to see what grows.  As I am also a writer of a food blog the idea of growing my own food is very exciting!

Have you ever seen purple tomatoes? Me neither - this should be fun!
 

I also got these great looking kits.

 

Cocktail Garden Kit has everything I need to get started with Mint, Lime Basil, Lemon Balm, Borage and two I have not heard of before; Agastache and Cucamelon!

 

Funky Veg Kit has Purple Haze Carrots, Yellow Courgettes, Striped Tomato Tigerella, Red Delucious Brussels Sprouts and Brightlughts Swiss Chard.

 

And finally the Hot Chilli & Sweet Pepper Kit contains Chilli Peach Habanero, Chilli de Cayenne, Chilli Pepper Jalapeño, Sweet Pepper Corni di Toro Rossi, Sweet Pepper Etiuda and Sweet Pepper California Wonder!
 

Each kit contains starter growing pots, peat blocks, plant markers and full sowing and growing tips.

 

The kits are by Plant Theatre and are great gifts for those who love gardening like me.

I will of course document how I get on as the growing season progresses.

The kits and seed packets were Christmas presents and I was not obliged to blog about them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting Ready for Next Year

There is always mixed emotion in any garden or allotment at this time of the year.  I am sad to pull up the remains of the plants that fed us so well during the summer but also excited at the preparation of the ground so that we will be able to plant straight into it in the Spring.

When I first started at my allotment in the cold and the wind I admit to having those thoughts. What have I agreed to? What on earth was I thinking when I agreed to work this 'lawn'?

And here we are at the end of the first growing season and I have not regretted a single moment spent up there.  Of course, I do admit, that we have had a fantastic summer weather wise but the sense of achievement is absolutely fantastic!

Mr R had to be dragged up to the allotment under threat of death and starvation in April and May but by July he was insisting on popping up after work to make sure everything was well watered! He is now even planning for the Spring!

There is still loads more digging to do over the next few months weather permitting. We still have to cut back all the blackberry bushes and burn the pile we cut back but we have learned so much and are looking forward to next year!!

Onions are planted and will stay safe under the fleecy stuff until they are a bit bigger and the birds can't get them.

But not everything is finished growing for the winter - sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli continue to fight the elements. Don't know if we will have these ready for Christmas but they will certainly be ready for harvest in the new year.

 

My plan at the moment is to get loads of the rest of the digging done before Christmas and covered over with carpet or heavy plastic to keep the weeds from re-growing.  We are also cutting back all the fruit at the far end of the plot to find out exactly what is there.  Mr R treated himself to an incinerator to burn all the debris and of course the ashes get dug back into the ground.

 

 

When we have it cleared we will put down some mulched wood fibre to keep the weeds down and try to do some training as the new fruits grow next year. 

 

 

 

 

I also have an apple tree courtesy of Waitrose to plant there too.

 

And the most exciting times are ahead.  Thompson & Morgan the seed specialist have sent me their 2014 catalogue so I can spend hours planning and designing my vegetable growing ready to order my seeds and get planting in the new year.

I also want to thank Thompson & Morgan for the seeds they sent me at the start of my allotment journey!

Pumpkin time!

Hard to believe the summer is over and it's autumn.  Time to clear out vegetable beds, cut back old growth and its.....

PUMPKIN TIME!!

I never planted pumpkins but somehow these little plants came up amongst the beans and courgettes. The leaves looked like courgette at first but it soon became obvious they were not! 

Little green globes started to form and then grow and I decided to just leave them and see what happened.

They grew and grew and then started to ripen to orange a dead giveaway they are pumpkins!

In the end we have 10 lovely round, orange pumpkins waiting to be picked.

I have promised BoyG he could pick one next weekend and if Miss Lizzie comes she can have one too.
 

The biggest will hopefully last till Halloween and I can carve it out but the others will become roast pumpkin, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin jam, jelly and chutney to remind us of them throughout the darkest days if winter!
 

Next year I will plant some and nurture them where I actually want them to grow!

Pumpkin soup anyone??

Summer's Bounty

I love my allotment and even Mr R has come to want to be there, to carry out the day to day tasks that keep it running.

This year we have eaten more vegetables than ever and they were all free!  We have had courgettes in every form possible, baked, steamed and made into cake. I have written about lots of the food I have made and will be writing about the recipes for other things too. Check them out here.

But the deep shiny black star of the show is the fantastic crop of blackberries! 

I have so far made over 25 jars of jam,

blackberry and coconut cake,

blackberry pie and today made blackberry chutney.

I have also made blackberry vodka

and blackberry Bacardi

I made a visit today and although I thought the blackberries were slowing down they have had a new spurt - there are thousands of them still to pick! And still they keep on growing! 

When we get to the end of the month the bushes will be cut right back to encourage growth for next year but it will also give us a chance to encourage the blackberries to grow in a more civilized way next year. Wish me luck!

The end is insight!

This time of the year there is still plenty of work to be done on the allotment!

I popped up there this morning and before I knew it 3 hours had gone by! I hadn't done anything major but just a bit here and a bit there.

One of my current tasks is to clear and add manure to the herb bed.  I had planted a couple of permanent herbs but used the space in between for radishes and peas so as not to waste space.  Today I put in a new Oregano plant.

 

I am also extending the herb bed so I can plant lavender, for lots of uses but mostly to attract bees and butterflies to the plot.
 

Next week I will be joining up two smaller beds getting them ready for onions!.

There is so much to do, I must remember the coffee next time and I can stay longer!