Digging & Dreaming

Urban Farming in Detroit

Amazing film from The Guardian on urban agriculture. Inspirational stuff!

Sorrel - A Spring Super Food

As soon as spring was in the air I knew it was only a matter of time before sorrel reappeared on the allotment. It isn't the most handsome plant by any means but it's always a welcome sight because it's the first salad crop that starts growing after the winter. In fact, it's actually tough enough to cope with the frosts that we can still experience into late spring / early summer making it a real winner as a reliable early leafy green.

Sorrel is a green leaf vegetable native to Europe. It is also called common sorrel or spinach dock, and is actually considered less a vegetable and more an herb in some cultures. In appearance sorrel greatly resembles spinach and in taste sorrel can range from comparable to the kiwifruit in young leaves, to a more acidic tasting older leaf. As sorrel ages it tends to grow more acidic due to the presence of oxalic acid, which actually gets stronger and tastes more prominent.

Young sorrel may be harvested to use in salads, soups or stews giving an amazingly zingy taste wherever you use it. If you are planning on using sorrel in salads, it’s a good idea to stick with small tender leaves that have the fruitier and less acidic taste. Young sorrel leaves are also excellent when lightly cooked, similar to the taste of cooked chard or spinach. For soups and stews, older sorrel can be used because it adds tang and flavor to the dish.

From a nutritional standpoint sorrel has high levels of vitamins A nd C. It also contrains moderate levels of calcium, potassium and magnesium meaning it packs a big nutritional punch for a little leaf. However, it is worth noting that it contains very high levels of oxalic acid meaning it may not be suitable for people with kidney problems or rheumatism. And when you first start eating it try it in small doses - it's got a laxative effect if you eat too much of it!

Happy Birthday Plot 45

It was around this time five years ago that we first got our allotment. I can't remember the exact date but I remember vividly being shown round the different plots that were available by Brenda, our Site Manager. She showed me a couple of different plots, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Typically for me I chose the most over the top and un-manageable plot out of the four that I was shown.

Plot 45 had been perfectly tended by its previous owner but it was at least twice as big as what I had imagined, included a beautiful pond (that I didn't have a clue how to look after) and, as the then chair of the Committee had put it:

"That plot is really unsuitable for a woman gardener. Much too big for them to deal with."

Of course that was like a red rag to a bull for me and made me absolutely determined to take the plot on, no matter how big and unwieldy it may prove to be...So, going into my sixth season as an allotment gardener, what do I think that I've learnt from my experiences on Plot 45?

• Despite what any book or newspaper column may try to persuade you, looking after an allotment takes alot of hardwork. Especially in the first year when you probably won't have a clue what you're supposed to be doing.
• Despite what any grumpy fellow allotment holders may try to persuade you, this hardwork is not thankless and boring. It will soon become some of the most satisfying time you will invest and, despite what they may also try to persuade you, you will be well able to deal with it.
• Listen to the old handers on your allotment site when they offer advice - they've got a whole load of knowledge that can really help you out cultivating your plot. However, don't feel that everything they say is right! Everyone grows in different ways and it's about each individual finding their own way of doing things that works for them.
• Listen to your soil and respond to what it tells you. It knows everything that it needs and the knowledge is all there for the taking if you respond to the way that your soil behaves and accept that this may not be the same as you're told it will behave in the books that you have been reading.
• And finally, enjoy yourself. Cultivating an allotment is a pleasure and a privilege that not everyone has access to. It is also one of the most satisfying ways you could hope for to spend your down time. Remember this above all else and you can't possibly go far wrong.

Thank You Rain!

Plot 45 looking great after a night of rain. Just what it needed!

Things I Love About Seedlings Part One...

I love the way that the tiniest seedlings already smell as strongly as anything of the plant that they will actually become. Take these little baby Basil plants for example, every time that I brush past them they smell so sweetly of basily goodness that my mouth waters to think of the pesto that I will be able to make in a matter of weeks. Gorgeous!

It Isn't All Good News You Know...

Sometimes looking at this blog and others that cover similar ground you could be fooled into believing that nothing ever goes wrong on allotments and gardens all over the country. I'd like to be able to say this was true but have to confess that I as much as the next blogger could be accused of missing out the gory bits, and only sharing my successes with the outside world. Okay, so I have shared with you snippets of information on the pests and diseases that I have encountered but, on the whole, the news has tended to be mainly good...

Well now, it's time to get a bit nasty and I want to share with you the brutal truth of this evening's visit to the plot. Firstly the resident rabbit has been munching his or her way through my parsnips seedlings that, until this point were doing pretty well. I wouldn't be so offended if he actually ate the leaves but the fact that he chews them up then spits them out really infuriates me. Then my squash plants that I promised myself would pick up when the weather got better still look dull and depressed, and the celery that I was so proud of a matter of weeks ago looks like it's giving up the ghost. Finally, and most annoyingly, I spotted the first signs of blight on my precious tomatoes in the greenhouse. I have pulled out the offending plants and hope that I've got in there early enough but I'm not holding up much hope because blight tends to be so persistent once it rears its ugly head.

I'm sure that all you growers out there can relate to the feeling of the visit to your plot when it feels like it's just one bad thing after the other. Fortunately my flower bed is thriving in the heat so I was able to pick this glorious little posy of flowers to console myself in the face of so much bad news. Lovely aren't they?

A Little Bit of Heat

We've had a bit of hot weather up here in Manchester so suddenly all the plants that need a bit of heat are coming on a pace. The cucumbers and tomatoes have put on a growth spurt and the chili peppers that are in the greenhouse produce more flowers and fruit everyday.

If you are growing stuff in the greenhouse like chilies it's really important to remember to open th door everyday so that the bees can get in there to do their job of pollinating. If you don't you'll have loads of flowers but no fruit and there's no fun in that! And if you're growing chilies on a window ledge inside you'll have to play the part of the bee yourself. Get a light paint brush, use it to gently brush each flower, then move the pollen from bloom to bloom to make sure all of them are pollinated. Ahhh! The things we do to get a successful crop in the garden!

If all this goes well for us this year there should be well over a hundred chilies to be eaten so we're thinking of popping them into jars and making a spicy chili oil. Any tips out there from people who've had a go at making this before?

Comfrey the Wonder Plant

Comfrey is a wonderful thing. It isn't the most handsome plant but it has so much to offer that every gardener and grower should find room for some on their plot. As you can see from this picture bees adore it, but it also makes one of the best liquid fertilizers that you could ask for. All you need to do is cut the plant down and fill a bucket loosely with the cut leaves, then cover it with water, put a lid over it and leave it for a couple of weeks. Some people also weigh down the leaves with a brick but that's up to you.

When you uncover the potion it will look and smell awful but, diluted with water, it is a wonderful potassium feed, perfect for any potash-hungry crops. Comfrey is this nutrituous because its deep roots are an amazing accumulator of potassium. As well as making fertiliser you could try adding comfrey neat to the compost bin or using it as s a nutritious mulch under roses, tomatoes or gooseberries.

Try to get a bocking variety as other cultivars can be real bullies and spread all over the place. I have two beds of it on the allotment and wouldn't be without it to help keep my plants happy, strong and healthy.

Best Newcomer

I like to keep myself on my toes on the allotment by having a go at growing new things each year. This year's newcomer is celery.

I planted the seeds in a heated propagator in February and finally the seedlings are nearly ready to go outside. Apparently they are really sensitive to any drops in temperature and will bolt if it gets to cold so that's why I've let it so long to move them into the big wide world.

I am growing a self blanching celery that means, unlike more traditional varieties, they do not need to be grown in trenches or be earthed up. I've got my fingers crossed that they transplant successfully because, if I manage to grow them, I'll be able to make my favourite Minestrone Soup with all home grown ingredients. Without proscuitto of course in our house of vegetarians!

Has anyone else tried growing celery? Any suggestions for success?

Introducing - This Year's Tomatoes

Once again I'm growing a variety of different of different tomatoes this year. I started them off about a month ago in a propagator at home and now they've been potted on and moved into the greenhouse at the allotment.

Purple Ukraine is a large purple vine tomato. They grow on tall plants which set trusses of really large, deep purple plum tomatoes the size and shape of a goose egg.

Costoluto Fiorentino is a vine tomato which produces large red ribbed tomatoes. Its is from the gardeners of Florence in Italy and is similar to the Costoluto Genovese from Genoa.

Gardener's Delight (Supersweet Irish Version) is a cherry vine tomato with a very sweet flavour. It is smaller than real "Gardener's Delight" but supposed to be very good none the less!

Both Pink Plum and Plum Lemon were seeds that came in my selection from the Heritage Seed Library. Pink Plum is supposed to do exactly what it says on the packet! Plum Lemon was originally obtained from an elderly seedsman at the Kalitnikovskiy Bird Market in Moscow. It  is supposed to do particularly well in cooler climates and shorter seasons

Amish Paste  is a giant plum tomato from the Amish community. It produces nice red fruit about the size of an apple that can weigh up to 1lb each.

Finally, Scattolone is an Italian plum tomato similar to San Marzano, which I have grown in the past. It is perfect for cooking, especially in pasta sauces.

I really like growing tomatoes - can you tell? The greenhouse is certainly going to be very crowded this year... And if you haven't planted any yet? Don't panic as you will still have time if you get them in before the end of the month. I'll keep you updated with how mine get on as they grow.