gardenR

2019 recap Hi all, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. I have been very busy with the allotment and garden :) It’s been a very productive year and I am loving my allotment! In 2019 I successfully managed to grow loads of funny coloured potatoes, onions, cabbages, chillies, tomatilloes, asparagus, raspberries, strawberries and loads of other things that were all equally yummy. I grew way too many courgettes and broad beans!

Okay – so it’s been ages and there’s a lot to update on. Allotment Things are growing pretty well. Growing the plot at the moment are: - Purple rain potatoes - Pink fir apple potatoes - Maris piper potatoes - Broad beans (lots of them, clearly I was very eager with the sowing of them) - Peas (including shiraz mange tout and a few other varieties) - Squashes/ courgettes - Sweet corn (though it’s looking quite sad) - Pak choi - Kohl rabi - Radishes - Beetroot - Romanesco cauliflower - Brussel sprouts - Onions - Very dead garlic that didn’t grow very well - Leeks - Tigeralla tomato plants - Strawberries - Dwarf French beans and runner beans

It’s been a while, but rest assured I’ve been beavering away in the garden and at the allotment. Sowing/ Planting I had soaked some seeds for germination a couple of weeks ago, but I accidentally dropped the box and now I have no idea what is what. Doh! There were courgettes, squash, cucumber, sweetcorn and cucamelon. I potted them up anyway and tried to guess the labels. May be time to start again.

Minimum temperatures are rising and seeds are germinating. This is the time of year I really look forward to; I can plan what I will grow, and then watch it slowly turn from my imagination into reality. Well, some sort of reality. Usually not quite how I’d planned. But still, exciting times are ahead. Allotment I spent this weekend planting up the garlic and onion sets that I’d started off in the greenhouse at the allotment.

Hello. It’s been quite frosty recently, so I’ve been sowing seeds inside and making a complete mess with perlite. A few years ago, we had a terrible infestation with compost gnats when I reported a dragon tree, so I wanted to avoid that again this year. My bright idea was to buy loads of perlite and start the chillies and tomatoes off inside. I used this during my PhD very briefly and it was grand.

Allotment news I’ve been up to the allotment this weekend and managed to clear away most of the remaining plants left by the previous owner. I now have a mostly cleared plot. Just some more weeding to do before it is totally clear, but I hoed all of the beds, so I’m hoping the frost will nip them dead so I don’t have to. There are some Calendula (AKA English marigold) there, which I intend to keep.

Allotment news It’s official: I am now renting an allotment! I went for a look on Saturday and was told a quarter plot was rough 8 x 8 m2. I also had a choice, which was nice. Plot was chosen: I was tempted to take the plot with lots of raspberry canes, but decided against it because there was more work than the other one. Here are some pictures of the plot!

Plans I’ve been beavering away at getting plants sorted and making plans for this year. I’ve already ordered some seed potatoes online (patchseedpotatoes.co.uk), from the motherland (N. Ireland). I’m quite excited because they are unusual varieties: - purple rain: second early. It has purple skin and flesh. I tried similar from Lidl last year and they were delicious and weird looking on the plate. Purple Rain: image from https://www.patchseedpotatoes.co.uk/product/purple-rain-seed-potatoes/ Highland Burgundy red: this potato has red flesh, hailing from Scotland.

So I’m back - I have been altogether rubbish at keeping it updated in the summer. Too much fun was had between entering a new decade of my life, graduating (finally, I can use my Dr title and revive all those dying plants) and drinking lots of beer. There was also some gardening too. I finally made some wins in the garden: I successfully grew cucamelons and chillies! I know I didn’t grow the chillies from seed, but I’m taking it as a massive win!

In my last blog post, I promised a recipe for chive pesto. I stumbled across the recipe when I was searching for what to do with a large amount of chives; most of the suggestions were “sprinkle on soups” or “use in an omelette”. There’s only so many omelettes and soups a person can have before they go off. Plus, I wanted to make chives the main feature – not have it as something thrown in at the end.