Autumn into Winter: Squash and Jerusalem Artichokes

There’s snow on the ground and I’m still eating food grown in the allotment or garden almost daily. The plot keeps producing chard, turnips and herbs: rosemary, thyme, sage and what’s left of the oregano. There are jars of chutney in the cupboard, pots of red and white currant jelly, blackcurrants and redcurrants in the [...]

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Romanian Courgettes

I notice that C&F is now available in Romanian thanks to Google: I was struggling enough with Italian, wondering whether to call the Tromba di Albengas ‘Trombi di Albenga’. Here they are before harvesting – I think the lighter-coloured spots are frost damage: A further question is what to do with them next, since they [...]

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Evening Sunflower

This is the only survivor from this year’s beleaguered giant sunflowers:

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Dahlia, Now Deceased

Five days ago I planted out my sunflowers and the one cactus dahlia (out of nine seeds), shown above, that germinated. By last night the dahlia had disappeared – I found the battered remnants of it nearby – I think the wind got it.

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Spring Progress

Still no proper internet access from home, but spring goes on and so does work at the plot. (I am fortunate enough to be able to use another computer occasionally.) As a result of not having chance to play around with the new WordPress photo uploader, some of these pics could be better placed: I will edit [...]

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More Spuds

I dug up yet more King Edwards on Sunday and wonder how many are still in there, since the bed will soon be needed for something else. Their tendency to disintegrate when boiled seems lessened by our unintentional ‘overwintering’. I traded some with a friend for a piece of Scottish smoked haddock and heard later [...]

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February?

Finding Osteospermums in flower in February must be unusual. This monstrously unappetising radish would be unusual at any time of the year. Clearing the beds (late again!) for spring planting, we found more vegetable surprises: a small handful of baby beetroot. Emerging crocuses are what I’d expected to see, with a little luck (and less [...]

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New Year Potatoes

This is the first week I’ve given the allotment any serious thought since the late autumn, sitting down to make a crop rotation plan and a list of tasks to accomplish before spring sets in (to follow in a later post). Just as I was planning which potato varieties to order for this season (with [...]

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