Flowers on the plot... The answers

Quite a few of you had a go at naming the flowers in the blog entry - although I think Susan claiming to have 16 of them within minutes of me posting possibly intimidated some people from entering ;>) And you all obviously know your stuff, but no one got them all correct. So here are the answers:

1. Daisy - not sure what kind they were there when I got the plot and come back stronger each year.

2. Potato, maincrop can't remember which variety!

3. Chilli.

4. Cucumber - Paris Pickling.

5. Tomato.

6. Foxglove.

7. Allium - of the flowering variety rather than one going to seed.

8. First sweet pea of the year.

9. One of the last Broad Bean flowers.

10. Dahlia - not grown these before.

11. Creeping Buttercup, an ongoing battle to stop them rampaging across the plot.

12. Carnation.

13. French marigold.

14. It's a squash plant, I can't remember which one but looking at the number of flowers I'd guess it's one of the courgettes.

15. Phacelia - self seeded and much loved by the bees.

16. Dill - which seemed to be one of the difficult ones to identify.

17. Sunflower, one of the dwarf ones.

18. Coriander.

Thanks to everyone who had a go, have to try and think of something else later in the year!

Flowers on the Plot

I was wandering round the plot today with the camera and couldn't help noticing the number of flowers out. Some of them pre-date my time on the plot, some of the are unwanted (i.e. weeds!), some of them are from the fruit and veg and some of them are flowers I've planted for cutting.

So I thought I'd have a little competition to see how many you can name. I say competition, there is no prize other than the glory! So here they are, and I'll give the answers in a few days:

1. They appear every year in the same place, nothing to do with me!

2. Surprising attractive flowers

3. With added greenfly I've just noticed!

4. Miniature version, but going down well so far.

5. The taste of summer?

6. Vastly under rated flower.

7. This one's cheating a bit as it's not out yet.

8. Almost there.

9. One of the last flowers on this plant, before the mice eat them?

10. New one for me, I'd never have got this one if I didn't know what it is!

11. It's all I can do to keep these from taking over the plot.

12. One for the wife.

13. Hopefully keeping the nasties out of the polytunnel.

14. Small at the moment but soon it'll be trying to take over the plot.

15. This one looks quite spooky.

16. Small and delicate.

17. Just about to explode into life.

18. Last and possibly not the best photo, but it's a challenge!

Good luck!

Wot no snow and ice?

Well OK I was lying about the ice, but it had defrosted enough to do some work down on the plot to do some work. Strictly speaking it was too wet to be doing much, but you know, time, opportunity, etc.

Just after arriving I spotted an interesting looking bird in the tree. It then helpfully flew down to the plot not long after. Sadly I was too slow with the camera and my knowledge of birds isn't so good, but chatting to the neighbours later they seemed to think it could have been a sparrowhawk. Sadly it didn't seem to be scaring any pigeons away. I finally find a use for the tree and the council are going to get rid of it...

Having chopped down the rose bush came the task of digging out the root. I've never like roses! Some time later, most of it is out. The rest is going to rot in situ. Hopefully. I tidied up along the wall where the rose was, weeding as best as possible in the conditions. I discovered a couple of blackcurrant bushes I'd put in a couple of years ago as rooted cuttings from the old blackcurrant  bushes. Seem to be doing OK, although couple probably do with being moved.

Wot no rose bush?

Further down is the 'triffid' aka the loganberry (the sprawling mass to the left of the picture above). It's doing its best to take over that side of the plot, so much so I'm going to have to consider putting in some wires to hold it back. Or train it, if you want to get technical. It's also started to root in various places where has touched the ground. I have cut these away from the main plant and planted them a bit further away to get it to spread along the wall further - which I can't imagine will be too difficult. I also game one away to Tim on the plot below, along with a few Jerusalem artichokes - along with suitable warnings of their 'effects'.

In amongst the attempted weeding - mainly of the creeping buttercup - I cut down the raspberry canes. I was in two minds about whether to dig them up due to their poor performance last year, but they've had a reprieve for now - and I can't remember why! I pruned the redcurrant and gooseberry, putting some of the cuttings in the ground to see if they take for new plants. They could both do with moving, but I'm not really sure where to!

So more weeding, moved the decaying dead rat (fortunately no pics!) and off home. Quite a few people around and stopped for a chat at the end, which was a mistake as the sun was going down by this stage and easy to get cold!

There's a buzz about allotments

I popped down to plot no. 1 this week to plant some garlic, tulips and alliums. Having ordered the tulips and alliums a while back I'd been putting off planting them as I wasn't sure where to put them. A quick inspection of the bulbs showed why keeping them in the warmest room in the house isn't the best idea ever... It also helped to sort out where they were going pretty quickly!


I also arranged to meet Gary, a fellow plot holder, down there to hand over some apples and the Association hedge cutters. Gary's also the bee keeper down on site, and when I wandered over to his plot he was inspecting his hives having treated them for varroa mites.

Now I've been around the hives a fair bit, and even seen them when they were swarming earlier in the year so I wasn't too bothered about being around a few metres away. Well until he got to the new hive he'd been given after it had been abandoned...       

Opening up

Not looking great

They're not happy!

What you, the reader, can not see if that (a) only one of us is suited and booted for bee inspections - and it's not me! - and (b) I'm getting further away as I take these photos. They weren't a happy bunch in this new hive and the inspection didn't last long before we both ended up at the other end of the plot with angry bees following. Only one of us got stung though and it just goes to show that wearing the full bee suit, veil and gloves doesn't always help!

It's an allotment blog, what were you expecting?

You just can't beat picture of soil!

This is where my strawberries used to be and has now been properly dug over with some leaves, the remains of a bag of manure and the remains of a bag of rockdust added to the soil - as seen above! Now just have to decide what to put here...?

Confused Strawberries

Over at the freshly weeded (honestly!) new strawberry bed - OK I still need to sort the runners out - they're happily flowering away??? So I moved a bit closer to get a photo and was a little surprised to see strawberries!

 

Can't see them ripening up now though - LOL.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen...


The apple challenge continues - the challenge being to use as many apples as possible in as many different meals as possible. Apples crumble was a big hit - although it would have been better with toffee as well (according to my son's friend) - but sausage and bean casserole (with sneaky bits of apple), not so good. But that was more to do with the sausages to be honest. Slabs of apples sauce are in the freezer - it doesn't take much cooking for them to turn to sauce - but the biggest hit to date (with the kids) has been apple fruit leather.

After a quick cook on the hob, followed by a quick blitz with the blender, it only needed the 20 hours or so in the oven...

I'm thinking maybe the mixture was a bit too liquid when it went in the oven? But it turned out OK in the end and the kids both took some into school to show their respective classes and give some away. The remaining 'sheet' rolls up quite nicely and should store in the fridge for a while yet - certainly longer than it's going to last!

I'm dragging the rest of the family off to the RHS Harlow Carr 'Taste of Autumn' event this weekend - waiting to see which day looks best on the weather forecast first - to reveal all on the apple tree, with luck. Speaking of which, picked another 50 or so the other day, still plenty left... Currently storing the good ones on top of the wardrobe and in the outhouse, may need to find more room soon!