Welcome to our plot!

I'm Hazel, and in Nov 2006 my friend Jane and I took on a half plot at Hill Allotments, Sutton Coldfield - we want the satisfaction of growing and eating our own fruit and veg, and to improve our diet (and fitness!).

This is the story of what happened next...........

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Getting Pickled...

It’s been another week of picking produce – how fab is that! I’ve had a couple of bags of RUNNER BEANS (Reg-next-plot) & CLIMBING FRENCH BEANS (blue lake) in the week, & when I got to the Hill yesterday, Jane & Paul were busy filling a bag each & before I left I STILL picked a half bag of French beans that they’d missed!

We dug up the first full sized PARSNIP (white gem) which is destined for roasting for a family meal at Jane’s today, & I sent her off with a couple of TURNIPS (snowball) too. For my tea I picked some small BEETROOT (woden), which I roasted (was a bit heavy on the ‘dash’ of vinegar – but you live and learn!), & had some pink fir apple potatoes given to me which are so delicious I have immediately put them on the ‘must do next year’ list!

I also have some RADISH (saxa 3), one of the last LETTUCES (mixed) – good job I have another row nicely growing away – a few SPRING ONIONS (white lisbon) & a TOMATO from the plant here at home so I will be enjoying a salad tonight!

I did some weeding where it needed it – including plot D (potatoes as was) & there really is no getting away from the fact that we have a MOLE at the front of the plot! It’s quite surprising considering the pretty high resident cat population that we have at the Hill, & I do hope that having a mole doesn’t trouble the legumes that are going in that bed next year.

There’s not that much that can be sown in September, but I did put in short rows of RADISH (saxa 3), PAK CHOI (riko f1), SPINACH (samish F1), SALAD LEAVES (oriental mixed) & ROCKET, & back at home have sowed a dozen jiffies with CAULIFLOWER (all the year round) for over wintering. I hope that they do more than the ones which are in the ground at the moment.

And for this week’s preserving experiment, we have Spiced Pickled Runner Bean pickle. I managed to find some Kilner style jars in Tesco (under a pound each!), but the pickle has to ‘mature’ for a month which is a shame as by the time I find that it turns out to be delicious, the runner beans will be over…

3 comments:

  1. nice parsnip!! ive just pickled a whole load of capers but not exactly sure what they are good for! but hey waste not want not!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Think we may have gone overboard with the parsnips - say 2 per foot in a 20 ft row (plus 4 x 4ft rows), and we use, say 2 per wk, that's going to keep us going for ever, nearly!

    Well done (I think!) with the capers - I wouldn't recognise one if it bit me on the nose! However, I do know that Delia has them down as 'essential storecupboard ingredients'.

    Look forward to hearing what you do with them!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nasturtian seeds (not sure on the spelling) so im told by teacher Barry. I tried them raw and nearly blew my socks off. To say they're a taste sensation is an under statement. Try them, i dare you!! Anyway i like anything that can make me wince so i raided Barrys plot for as many as i could be bothered to pick and pickled em!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...