Redcurrants made into Jelly within 12hrs

It was another overcast & showery day today, so more harvesting had to be done, but also had to harvest the Redcurrants as they were ripe & ready.
















There was at least 4lb of Redcurrants on our one and only bush.












So less that 12 hours after harvesting Redcurrant Jelly was made.
Lovely on New Potatoes, Pork, Beef & Lamb.







Other harvesting done today:
Mini Cauliflower
Curly Kale
Petit Pois Peas & Mange Tout
Round Courgette
Lettuce
Broad Beans
Raspberries & 2 Final Strawberries.

Thanks for reading/returning, look out for next weeks up-date.
Ian x

A fatastic days work on the Allotment

Lovely weather today, not too hot & yesterdays wind had dropped too. So a busy time ahead,
This photo shows our Pea & Bean patch, this years Pea crop has been great especially the Petit Pois, harvesting every day now.
The frame in the foreground contains Curly Kale & Mini Cauliflowers.




Main job today was to dig up some more Charlotte Potatoes, to release extra space for more crops as the potatoes had done their stuff loosening the soil, it's ideal for Carrots.









So two rows of Carrots have been sown, under fleece, as a barrier against root fly and also some Leeks (on right).

Here's a tip:
You can plant most things after potatoes except Brassicas (Cabbage etc).







Also had to drastically cut back one of the Black Currant bushes, as it had developed 'Big Bud' disease. But removing it has given the Red Currants more space & in less shadow so should ripen sooner.
We have harvested over 7lb of Black Currants from the remaining two bushes, now made into Jam.
Also weeded the Raspberries to aid ripening.



So this is today's haul:
Black Currants
Strawberries
Raspberries
Mange Tout & Petit Pois Peas
Lettuce
Broad Beans
Garlic
Mini Cauliflower
Charlotte Potatoes (out of shot) & Flowers too.

So it has been a busy but satisfying day on the plot, lots done and lots harvested.
There is still lots more to come too, I love our Allotment.

Thanks for reading/returning next up-date real soon, so watch this space.

Ian.

Independance day on the Allotment

Today has been a slightly odd day, weather was a bit disappointing, dark sky with rain clouds, but it mostly missed us, only a very small shower for a minute or two, but very windy.

We were greeted by one of our neighbors who asked if we had noticed anything missing from our shed or plot, which after a quick look around we found nothing missing. It appeared that over Thursday/Friday someone had visited our site and helped themselves to Fruit & Veg from several plots and some sheds were broken into too. Our neighbor had all his Gooseberries taken, another a whole Bush of Blackcurrants, Redcurrants taken from another & Asparagus too. After our Rhubarb was taken several times we were concerned that whoever it is knows where they can get FREE fruit & veg and we were right :(
The committee are working close with the local Police, so hopefully after this spate of thefts, Police patrols will be stepped up and the thief caught.
So knowing thiefs are about we harvested as much as we could.
In this photo there is about 4lb of Blackcurrants, 2lb Strawberries, Raspberries, 2 types of Lettuce, a Cucumber & Mange Tout.





We also harvested the Garlic as it was ready anyway, see below for a great idea for hanging it to dry.

There were 2 Onions also ready to lift.





We use a sock/underwear drying hanger to dry our Garlic & Onions







So today was just a Harvesting day, also dug up some more 'Charlotte' Potatoes we plan to sow some more Carrots (under Fleece) in the space left, as the soil will be light after the Potatoes have done their stuff :)

Thanks for reading/returning, sorry the start was a bit sombre, but it had to be said. Look out for next up-date.

Ian.