Apologies for no posts for such a long time, but we are hoping to get onto the allotment once the snow goes so we can get growing for the summer! 

I have found many new recipes over the last few months and will be posting them on here soon, so keep checking regularly for updates.

We therefore spent a good few hours triming and pruning until they were all able to have enough room to grow properly and for the green tomatoes to get the light and ripen.

Even though we had been lax in looking after them, we have had a good harvest of tomatoes so far and at least we have learnt a few things for next year!

Now we have to let them dry in a warm place and them we can attempt to string them up and resist eating them all in one go, hopefully they will last us until winter.

This recipe is taken from the Times Magazine.

Makes 12 small cakes

150g Green gooseberries, topped and tailed
50g caster sugar
170g butter
250g icing sugar
135g ground almonds
60g plain flour
5 medium egg whites
2 tbsp undiluted elderflower cordial

1. Heat oven to 180c and grease a nonstick 12 hole muffin tin.
2. Put the gooseberries and sugar un a pan with 2 tsp of water. Bring to a bubble and simmer gently for approx 5 mins, until softened and just popping open. Drain liquid and put fruit to one side.
3. Melt the butter in a pan.
4. Put the icing sugar, almonds and flour in a bowl and mix. Stir in the egg whites and beat vigorously for 10 seconds. Pour on the melted butter and beat everything together untl thoroughly combined and is a smooth batter.
5. Divide the mixture between the muffin holes and put in 3 or 4 gooseberries. Bake for 20 mins. Once golden brown around the edges and still slightly unset in middle remove from oven and brush 2 – 3 times with the elderflower cordial. Leave to cool for a few minutes in the tin then remove.

With not much effort the weeds had gone and we were left with lots of soil and roots.

Soon it started to look a bit more like an allotment as we marked off beds and paths.

Now although still overgrown on one side, being tamed with carpet to keep the weeds down, it is a fully functioning plot.

I hope that we will inspire many other people to give it a go, just a bit of time and lots of hardwork it’s soon very rewarding!

Before

During

After

This year, instead of planting potaoes on the allotment, we started them off in the greenhouse and planted them in containers. If this is how you’d like to grow yours then all you need is a suitable sized container, making sure it is at least 30cm across and deep, we used old royal mail bags cut down. There are lots of choices out there for using as containers and you don’t have to buy those that are sold for the purpose as they are often quite expensive , instead you can use an old compost bag, large plant pots, or even those large reuseable shopping bags you can get may be ok, just remember to put holes in the bottom for drainage.

You will need to get some seed potatoes from any garden centre. There are different types which determine once planted how long it takes to get a crop. First earlies are usually ready in around ten weeks, second earlies in around 13 weeks and maincrop after about 20 weeks. We have decided to grow a first early variety called swift, and second early type called vivaldi (Sainburys sell these and they are lovely when roasted) and maris piper for a maincrop.

Once you have your seed potaotes you need to chitt them. This means placing the potato into an egg carton with the stubby shoots pointing upwards and place them on awell lit window sill. When the shoots have turned a deep purple colour they are ready to plant out, usually mid-March is about the right time to plant earlies and you can plant the maincrop a few weeks later.

If planting into a conatiner put a small amount of manure at the bottom, then add 10cm of compost. Then make a hole and place seed potato into it, with the shoots pointing upwards. Cover with compost. First and second early potatoes should be planted about 30cm apart. The maincrop, being the heaviest cropper, need a bit more space so plant them about 40cm apart. As the seeds start to grow cover the leaves with more compost. Keep repeating this process. The potato tubers will be ready to harvest once the plants have flowered. Although it is also best to go by how many weeks it has been since planting as not all types freely flower.

Serves 2

4 – 6 crumpets
2 medium eggs
Salt and pepper
Sunflower oil

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and season
2. Dip the crumpets one by one into the egg mixture, making sure to push the crumpet down into the egg so that you get lots of egg into all of the holes.
3. Add a little oil to a frying pan and heat. When warm enough place the crumpets into the pan. turn over after 1 minute. Remove to plate after another 1 – 2 minutes.

Very small seedlings!

Well the fruits of our labour literally are coming true now, as we start to see all our seeds growing and turing into proper plants! Its very exciting to see how such a small seed can grow into something so big that we can eventually eat! So far we have sown seeds in the greenhouse, such as beetroot, spring onion, lettuce, parsnips, cabbage and broccoli. Once they were established we transplanted them outdoors according to the instructions on the packets.

We also sowed outside some onion sets and garlic bulbs which are really growing well, and we will hopefully be able to harvest them in the autum.

Look at them now!

There’s no rest for the wicked though as we set off today to plant more seeds to ensure continuous supply for things such as lettuces and beetroot.

Check out the recipes pages if you’re harvesting your first veg and have a surplus you are unsure what to do with!