Organic Allotment

Who needs a freezer?

We don't have a freezer at home for lots of eccentric reasons but who needs one with the weather we've been having? Finally we've had some real hard frosts at the plot over the last few mornings which has been just what the soil was waiting for! However, this kind of frost isn't without its drawbacks... I went up to the plot on Sunday morning to pick some goodies to take to my boyfriend's parents but everything was frozen hard with it impossible to dig a leek or cut a cabbage.

This is how the purple sprouting broccoli looked and, if I say so myself, I think Birdseye would be jealous of frozen veg of this calibre. However, you may notice from the picture that the pigeons have been the ones having most enjoyment from the broccoli this year, pecking all the goodness out of it at any opportunity, which is a real pain. The plants this year were the biggest and strongest we've had, and the pigeons have taken a real fancy to them which has never been a problem before. I can assure you that next year they'll be netted like all the rest of our brassicas. I don't mind sharing anything with local wildlife and normally argue that there's enough to go round everyone but this time I have to be tough because we haven't had a look in and psb is one of my favourites off the allotment. Any other suggestions for pigeon diversion?

The Last Fennel

The first year on the plot I tried to grow fennel without any success - it was too hot... then not hot enough...then too dry...then too wet...the days were too long...the days were too short...Basically fennel's as fussy as anything and every single one I planted bolted - incidentally they do look really nice when they bolt and flower but that doesn't exactly win any points in the kitchen department. This year I started the seeds off in pots in late spring in the greenhouse and didn't plant them outside until after the longest day as they are very sensitive to the shortening days and will bolt if they are planted out too early. The weather was on my side with regard to watering and, if anything, they were too wet. I think the only problem was that the soil wasn't quite rich enough so the bulbs didn't end up as big as I'd have liked - the cool weather won't have done any favours in this respect either. Despite all these hurdles I did end up which I nice haul of fennel, the last of which I picked this week- small but perfectly formed and they taste fantastic.

Also in the picture is the last of the chicory which has been another success story this year and grown really well. It's an acquired taste because the leaves are very bitter but added to other lettuce in a salad it gives a real kick.

The Carrots are Ready

Jo was on a really mission this year to try and grow carrots. Unless you buy organic ones they're one of the most chemical soaked vegetables you can find, alongside lettuce, so he was really determined to try and grow our own.

As with many allotment sites carrot fly is rife on ours so it's impossible to even think about growing them without some kind of protection. The first attempt was in an outdoor bed with fleece making a fence around the sides of them but this was a total failure - the fleece kept blowing away in the windy weather that we had is spring. Carrots are also very fussy if the soil isn't fine enough for them and clearly our soil wasn't fine enough because not a single one germinated but he was still determined and Jo set to preparing our next carrot bed.

It was in the same place as we'd already tried but he really worked the soil so it was as fine as it could possibly be, adding loads of sand to make it even finer. This time they were still covered in fleece but more in a cloche style so the carrots were totally covered. It's also really important that the fleece around the edges is well bedded into the soil as well because if those pesky flies can find a way in they certainly will. The main problem with this was that it was so secure that it was hard to see what was going on with the crop so we had to make a couple of holes to peep through, letting us keep an eye on the couple of seeds that actually germinated. A second failure!

The final attempt was in the greenhouse. We've got a big wooden planter that we grow early courgettes in so Jo decided to have a go at planting them in there in a mixture of new and used potting compost and finally...success! I'm not sure how well they would have done in a hotter summer because the greenhouse has remained relatively cool this year but this time round it's worked perfectly. The carrots taste brilliant and we've got enough to keep us going at least some way into the autumn. Delicious.

Success At Last

Just to recap this year... The potatoes got blight, the pumpkins and squash drowned, the courgettes refused to grow, the weeds prospered.. Finally there's success in one of the crops that we planted. Our San Marzano tomatoes have really come up trumps which is very satisfying - especially as we tried to grow them with no success what so ever last year. It's been a while since the little green tomatoes appeared but finally we've had enough sun to ripen them and the results are glorious.

I have to be honest and confess that I can't take credit for them though. My boyfriend Jo has taken charge of the greenhouse this year so they're all down to his hard work, though I have managed to slip some chili plants into the corners which are coming on great guns as well. I'm just hoping that we can make use of all the tomatoes (either through eating or giving them away) before we go off on our holidays in a couple of weeks. The gardener's perennial problem of going from famine to feast strikes again.

Elephant Garlic

All things considered 2007 hasn't been the best year at the allotment. The weather has been so wet and cold that lots of things have struggled or given up the ghost totally - the only thing that's really prospered are the weeds. Despite this our elephant garlic were a real success when we picked them - absolutely huge! We're just waiting for them to dry out before we start using them though we did try one whilst it was still green which was delicious.

Strictly speaking Allium Ampeloprasum is actually more closely related to leeks than garlic so it's taste is much mellower and sweeter. I'm really looking forward to getting started cooking with them in autumn.

Bring the Garden Home

I planted these beautiful tulips on the allotment with the full intention of using them as a cut flower to brighten up my house. However, when it came to the crunch, they looked so good on the plot that I couldn't bring myself to pick them, especially because I knew they'd last twice as long in the ground as in a vase of water. So the tulips were saved!

Despite this I do like growing flowers for cutting but have tended to grow ones where taking the flowers will stimulate new growth. With plants like dahlias, calendula, sweetpeas and nigella the more you pick the more the flowers keep coming! In fact, with something like sweetpeas, if you go away for a weekend and they don't get picked you'll come home to find they've all gone to seed. So, as a rule anything grown from a seed gets to come home and anything from a bulb stays put at the allotment.