Finally some decent weather so much activity in the garden and on the allotment this weekend. Polytunnel weeded and watered, salad, peas, parsley and coriander sown, potatoes planted and compost heaps turned. The greenhouse at home is already busting with seedlings and bedroom windowsills filling up with propagators.
Spent most of Saturday and Sunday outside, sun on my back, surrounded by birdsong. Spring has finally sprung.
Purple sprouting broccoli
The last of last year’s planting is performing very well and filling the gap between winter and spring crops. I still have some improvements to make, but now have a proper supply of of fresh vegetables every day of the year. The recent very cold weather, snow and strong winds have battered most of the leaves beyond pleasant eating, but the chickens love them. After I’ve cut this central head, many more side shoots will be ready in a few weeks time.
I’ll be serving this later alongside some wild garlic and mushroom risotto. It’s very satisfying to be eating a meal that includes so much home produce even at this lean time of year.
Filling the hungry gap
This time of year is a mixed one for vegetable gardeners, with lots of sowing, planting and preparation but very little to actually eat. This year’s hungry gap is especially lean, as last year’s harvest was so poor and the winter’s stores are all but gone. We have a few pounds of onions and a small bunch of garlic hanging in the garage, there’s a few tubs of raspberries and blackcurrants in the freezer and have just cut into the last squash. The remaining potatoes sprouted beyond use a few weeks ago and I dug the last leeks on Monday.
There are a few very welcome greens still on the allotment, such as this purple sprouting broccoli, but even this suffered in the recent snow as it was so heavy, the plants got knocked over flat. I’ve been cutting this for over a month now and it keeps putting out these tasty little side shoots so I’m hoping it will keep going until the asparagus shows itself.
Signs of spring - frog spawn in my allotment neighbour Tommy’s pond. He has to keep it netted otherwise ducks and herons for the river at the bottom of the hill come and eat it. There are five huge clumps, some showing signs of turning into tadpoles already.
A conversation on Twitter about Lottery funding has prompted me to post these pictures of the small but very welcome lottery funded project at our allotments. The bottom four are from “before” and the top two “after”.
Like many allotments, we had a waiting list but unlike them, we had a patch of waste ground that looks quite pleasant in the “before” pictures, but was in fact a right mess of debris from the site’s former incarnation as a brickworks, fly tipped household rubbish, ash saplings and brambles that had defied various efforts to shift it manually. Furthermore, the top part of the allotments didn’t have a proper road, so in winter or wet weather, cars were getting stuck in the mud and it was difficult for people with limited mobility to access their plots.
I applied for a small grant from Awards for All and six weeks later, we had the good news that we’d been awarded nearly £5,000. A few weeks after that, the contractors were on site, clearing the rubbish to create eight new plots, digging out a new track and filling it with hardcore. New tenants have moved in, including the local primary school.
The funding came from Awards for All, the micro grants strand of the Big Lottery Fund. Unlike a lot of sources of funding, you don’t need to be a registered charity to apply, just an organisation with a constitution and a bank account. If you’re a new organisation or don’t have a constitution, contact your local community service council through the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.
Organisations can apply for up to £10,000 per year and the form is very easy to complete. Your project needs to meet just one of the four outcomes, but it’s easy to see how allotment projects would fit two or three:
The success of this project has whetted the appetite of my fellow plotholders and plans are afoot to apply again. I would really encourage you to give it a go - it’s not difficult and the staff at the lottery offices are very willing to help.
Savoy cabbage beginning to heart up
Just back from a brief but freezing trip to the allotment - I wasn’t there long but I got chilled to the bone and it took five miles of cycling before I thawed out. It’s really difficult to find the motivation to get down there in the winter so it’s heartening to see things growing like this cabbage - it’ll be a few more weeks before it’s big enough to cut but it’s looking good already.
Even in winter, there’s always plenty to do. The ground’s too wet for digging at the moment, but I did plant out four rows of garlic; I usually do this in the autumn and I’m not quite sure why I didn’t this year. Garlic needs several weeks of proper cold weather before it will grow so if you’re planting in spring, it needs to be very early before the soil begins to warm up. There’s more snow forecast tomorrow, so I haven’t netted it, but will fill the rest of the bed with onions in a few weeks and cover the lot with fine mesh to keep the allium leaf miner at bay.
Rainbow chard resurrected
I find February difficult; although the days are getting noticeably longer, it’s still very definitely winter with plenty more to come. Therefore, it’s always good to see signs of new life and new growth. Chard will stand all through the cold months, although its leaves get battered by the wind if its not been protected. Luckily, chickens aren’t fussy about that sort of thing. These new leaves will be ready to eat soon, then it will bolt and go to seed in April or May, giving a whole year’s production from just one plant.
Winter squash soup
A simple but delicious soup, perfect for snowy winter days. I’ve used one of my stored Crown Prince squashes and leeks retrieved yesterday from under the snow. Quantities are vague as it’s down to personal taste - for a big pot for two hungry people and a bit left over for lunch the next day I might use two leeks about a kilo/2 lbs of squash.
Ingredients:
In a heavy pot over a gentle heat, melt a good knob of butter and a slug of olive oil, then add the leeks. Stir and cook until soft, being careful not to let them burn. Add the squash and a couple of bay leaves, fresh if you have them, and stir well. Add a mix of half milk, half stock until the vegetables are well covered. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer until the squash is completely soft. Allow to cool slightly, fish out the bay leaf and puree until smooth, adding a little more milk and/or stock if it’s too thick. Put back in the pan and heat through, seasoning with salt and black pepper. You can add a swirl of cream or creme fraiche to serve and eat with lots of crusty bread.
Over a foot of snow fell here between Friday morning and Sunday evening. It’s been really grey and overcast even when it wasn’t actually snowing, but this morning, the sun began to peep out of the clouds, casting deep blue shadows on the soft, fluffy heaps in the garden. Having a day stuck staring at a screen writing a report to look forward to, I decided to walk to the allotment to get a bit of fresh air first. The air was still, the usual traffic sound muffled by the snow and the trees in the park looked beautiful with every single twig sporting a delicate coating of white.
There was a hard frost last night, but an experimental prod with a fork revealed soft earth underneath the deep snow and a thin frozen crust. I dug up a few leeks from their chilly blanket and can now look forward to a warming pot of leek and squash soup for dinner this evening.
Hazelwell Allotments - Birmingham University and Cadbury’s in the distance
