November Frost

The beans, achocha and nasturtium have finally given up.

Still going strong

 Surprisingly the allotment is still providing Summer veg.  There hasn't been a frost so the Achocha is still going strong.  We have had some good quality beans too.

Edible lupin seeds

I enjoyed them as fresh beans this year they taste a bit like edamame beans. These pods I left to dry but I think I'll eat them fresh again next year instead.

All our own salad

Salad from the allotment

Nasturtium leaves
German Mountain Spinach
Sorrell
Indian cucumber
Tomato
Chives
Mint
Borage flowers
Nasturtium flowers
Marigold petals

Home grown

We grow a small amount of salad and herbs at home.

Foot long bean

This is the second year we've tried red noodle foot long beans and this year we have a bean.

Fig Harvest

Five years on and at last a fig harvest. I don't really like fresh figs but fig and cashew cheese pizza is fantastic.

First Bokashi bin ready

Filled up and left for two weeks our first bokashi bin full is buried.

It smelt really nice which is unbelievable as we had put a lot of leftover cat food in it. Cat food in a normal bin smells terrible after just a couple of days.

Bokashi juice - so excited!

Who'd have thought you could be excited by smelly bin juice. It's nearly as exciting as the first worm wee!

Finally as the first bin is in the two week fermentation stage I've been able to draw off some liquid. It can be used as a liquid fertiliser diluted or neat as a drain cleaner!

Plug plants doing well

In order to have more time to rejuvenate the soil we have decided to buy some plug plants this year. They are doing well. Kaibroc, Atlantic and Kale, Westland Winter.

We intend to grow from seed just a few of our favourites, blue banana squash, achocha, cherokee beans, Aztec broccoli and maybe a few new plants such as Yin Yang beans.

Snake pit

Lifted the lid of our kindling bin at the allotment and found a grass snake huddled up with slow worms! They disappeared down into the pile. Checked again later in the day and they had come back up to the top again.

Tree Cabbage

We've had great success with the tree cabbage. It smells dreadful when cooking but it's great to have a supply of virtually big free cabbage leaves. Pick from the bottom and the plant keeps growing taller. 

You can also pull off the small plantlets that form at the bottom. 

The tree cabbage will grow for two years a great no hassle addition to the plot.

Start of the harvest July

This was the first large enough harvest to feed us without supplementing with a veg. box.

Courgette Chutney

Having run out of courgette chutney I've made some more. I'm hoping I've used the same recipe.
Also in the picture is the sourdough loaf using a loose bottom cake tin so I can actually get the loaf out.

Plug Plants

To have more time to actually get the growing areas in a better condition we're experimenting with plug plants. The first lot have arrived salad for the trough and kale and Kaibroc for the allotment.
I realised that they would need to be covered and don't have a spare cover so they are in little holding pots.

Morning Watering Straighter Beans?

While The Scarecrow is on holiday I've been watering first thing in the morning and it seems to suit the beans.

Is this an insult!

Mmmmm

Best Beetroot Ever

We planted the beetroot in between the plants in a block of bush beans.

Best crop with leaves we can actually use.