Harvesting

A Leek Tragedy

September 18, 2011
A Leek Tragedy

Today’s trip to the allotment was a disaster of mythical proportions. A plague of juicy maggots reduced an entire bed of leeks to this pitiful harvest. I have to confess that I rarely do well with my leeks but I’ve never seen them as bad as this. They are completely peppered with holes, riddled with [...]

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A Guilty Harvest

August 8, 2011
A Guilty Harvest

It’s been an incredibly productive season. Today we bagged up 3 sacks of assorted spuds and loaded the car boot with beans galore. It all feels vaguely sinful. The freezer is bulging, I’ve cooked dishes to last a week, I have beetroot roasting for a delicious chutney and still we have buckets of beans left [...]

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Garlic, Bugs and Curses Galore

June 19, 2011
Garlic, Bugs and Curses Galore

What’s happening with the weather gods? The rain has come too late for a bounteous crop of spuds but is perfectly timed to ruin my garlic bulbs that are desperately in need of a good sun basking. I had a tricky decision to make this weekend. The ground was sodden and with no respite promised, [...]

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Dashboard Dehydrator

September 20, 2009
Dashboard Dehydrator

I got quite carried away last year and came very close to investing in a £100 dehydrator for converting my courgette glut into dried stock granules. As it happens the glut never really arrived so I had a lucky escape and am happy to plough my money back into seeds for next year. The harvest [...]

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Many Hands

August 19, 2009
Many Hands

Summer holidays have been decidedly child oriented this year, so you have to grab your allotment opportunities when you can. Despite having two car loads full of soggy and tired teenagers I managed to persuade them that my plot was the perfect stop off before heading on to our barbeque destination. That’s a tricky sale [...]

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Spring Panic

March 9, 2009
Spring Panic

Absolutely stunning spring morning, shamefully wasted away in bed, and then followed by an afternoon trip to the plot, accompanied by a flurry of soggy hail – my favourite. I’ve slipped into my usual March panic. The year is galloping along and I feel as though I must be behind. Surely I should have seeds [...]

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Amanita Fears

January 19, 2009
Amanita Fears

I went to the plot this weekend with the intention of digging over acres of land ready for mammoth spud burying activities on Good Friday but the ground was too soggy for me to bother. I did a bit of shed tidying instead and laid out a load of the bargain seed potatoes that Dad [...]

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Oyster Imposter

January 10, 2009
Oyster Imposter

I did a quick flit to the plot this weekend to harvest roast ingredients and to rescue the developing mushrooms. I was surprised to find a beautiful chestnut fungus occupying the place where my foetal oyster mushroom had appeared only days before. I obviously got my logs labelled incorrectly and these were actually the shitakes. [...]

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