Autumn standstill

So most of the plot is dug. We did a little more on the weekend but really, there’s not much you can do in autumn, is there? Apart from order manure (yuck) and strim the grass, like our neighbouring allotmenteers. Still, the first little green things are appearing in our brand new beds (Garlic Marco and Onion Radar – horrible names) and we sowed Broad Bean Claudia last weekend, too. Those haven’t appeared yet, but assuming they haven’t been eaten by robins, pigeons or mice, or trampled on by our neighbour when he was strimming, they ought to, soonish.

One thing I can do, though, is plan. (deputy gardener doesn’t do much by way of planning. He can, however, parrot growth information about carrots and broad beans, annoyingly.) After measuring, constructing, and checking for the sunlight, we now have a full-blown plot plan. Springtime’s crops have homes – and as soon as I have redrawn the sketch without the crossings-out, I’ll scan and post it.

The next part is choosing seeds from the catalogues. I must admit that I veer towards the ones with pretty names – Broad Bean Claudia and Pea Greensage, Rudolph Radish and Christmas Cabbage – but I need some kind of tactic, otherwise I’d just be overwhelmed by choice. And deputy-gardener says that I can’t order the vegetables that grow to look like rude body parts. Some of the seed companies offer small starter-sets, but these don’t include all the things we want to grow. So where do we start with, for instance, five pages of carrots? How do we choose between dozens of potatoes and thirty types of squash? I also know that whoever writes the descriptions may well be leaving out negative information about each species. So perhaps some types of squash are hungrier than others, and perhaps some of them need far longer to ripen. But – partly because of space and partly because of spin – the copy won’t always mention everything. Anyway, I don’t expect it to. But I would like a bit more guidance on choosing. You know – “you really can’t go wrong, unless you go on holiday for six weeks, with these vegetables”.

So there we are. Back to choosing the prettiest names, I suppose.

Other jobs for autumn:
Digging the Cutting Flower garden
Installing water butts (we bought one at the local dump for £3 yesterday!)
Improving soil and covering for winter
Sowing hardy pea seeds
Building cold frames
Saving up for a greenhouse.

Under attack

 After a weekend’s worth of hard work from our faithful volunteers, this is what the plot looks like!  You can see the frame for the fruit cage there on the right, followed by an 8×6′ space for a greenhouse, and some beds without boundaries further down.  To put it in perspective, I guess we have now structured perhaps half or two-thirds of the plot.  The bottom part, where the ground ends in a pointy triangle, is reserved for cutting flowers – no raised beds there, just some cute picket fencing (because I am a girl).   Across the back (running horizontally below the photographer’s feet) is a 40′ bed for beans (broad and runner), and behind that is a raised bank, into which I will be planting apple and plum trees.   And in the bottom left of the picture you can see the onion and garlic bed (covered with netting), from which my little darlings have started to sprout!  God bless their little green legs. 

All plotted out

Check out all that dirty potential! So here it is.  After months of boring everyone witless, we’re boring ourselves to death with rakes and shovels.  Plenty of raking, digging, manuring, boarding, and bracketing – full weekend, not such a full blog. 

The plot is very slopey, in both directions, which is confusing our plans.  We have been arguing over which direction our trendy raised beds should point.  We finally agreed on the direction for the first three:

 

Holly absolutely loved it – all that space, so much to pull up!  Harvey would have loved it just as much.  Plenty of sunshine all day for lying around after you’re all run-out.

We have been blessed with the most wonderful weekend (weather-, not back-wise).  On Day 1, we arrived at about 11am.  After panicking a bit about where to start, and arranging a nice (too) big place to sit, we managed to dig over and build some beds – a long one along the back for runner beans (and the early broad beans, which will be going in at the end of the month), and two shorter ones (for root veg, I think). 

The allotment holders are very friendly (or nosey), although they appeared mostly to be picking and eating, not weeding like us.  (I suppose it’s the time of year, sigh).  Richard gave us an assortment of seeds, suggested onions if we wanted to get something in the ground, and boasted about his strawberries (just finished fruiting).  Two teenage boys locked themselves in a shed, and didn’t come out for a couple of hours.  Muriel and Stephen told us that after years of intensive savoy production, our plot is all cabbaged out, then boasted about their squash and raspberries (STILL picking).  We looked at our bare mud and wished vegetables were faster. 

By 7pm Holly was licking her lead hopefully – even she felt she’d been out long enough.  We sat on our £4 garden chairs and looked at what we’d done.  Then we walked 100ft to the other end of the plot, and squinted hard to try to see the beds we’d done.  Three red hot air balloons passed overhead, and we waved, and ate dark chocolate.  Then we went home for baths and boil-in-the-bag dinner.

On day 2 we went to the garden centre (again).  We taught the parakeet how to wolf-whistle on command.  We asked the fencing man how much it would cost to gravel over 25sqm.  (£150)  Then we filled the car with planks (again), unloaded at the plot, dug a lot more and built another bed, scattered chicken poo on everything that didn’t move, planted onions and garlic, and stretched some 75p netting over the top.  Pretty good for two people who are making it up as they go along, huh?

The pumpkin season

Unfortunately, not our plot!

Pumpkins and squashes are some of my favourite vegetables.  Every year I’ve ordered a mixed squash box from Riverford farm, piling them prettily in the kitchen until the time comes to hack them up.  Fortunately, there’s plenty of space on our new plot for a sea of pumpkin plants – even if I do have to wait a whole year.

Here’s our favourite way to eat pumpkin or winter squash:

ROAST PUMPKIN PASTA
2 handfuls tagliatelle
1/2 pumpkin, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into chunks
1tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper
1tbsp good butter
Goat’s cheese or feta: 1 packet (about 200g)
1 handful pinenuts
1tbsp fresh sage leaves

Boil the tagliatelle until al dente.  Set aside.  In a large baking tray, combine the pumpkin chunks with the oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Smoosh together with hands, then roast for 20-30 minutes until golden around the edges.  (The pumpkin pieces are irresistible like this, so be prepared to make a bit more than you need!)  In a large pan, melt the butter, and add the pine nuts, frying until toasty brown.  Add the sage and let it crisp for a few seconds before tipping in the pasta.  Warm through and add half of the cheese and most of the pumpkin, reserving a few pieces to scatter over the top.  Dish onto warm plates and top with the rest of the pumpkin and cheese.  Yum!

PS. I promise – new plot pictures tomorrow.  We start digging at 9am sharp!