Potato trial the Results................

PWEW!... what a summer it’s been there hasn’t  been enough hours in the day to do it all so I apologise to you all  for my lack of updates over this period, but I am back now and there is lots to tell……

One Quick thing I would like to say before I go on is the Olympics over the summer what a fantastic showcase, working at a hotel next to an Airport close to London I was privileged to meet a lot of the volunteers and even some of the Olympians and they were very inspirational one lady in particular stays with me her name was Jessy she was from Australia and had come over to the UK to help volunteer during the Games she was fantastic and if all were like her then we truly hosted the best games ever…..

Well down on the allotment its been all go, last year was my first year as an allotment holder and I thought that was hard work due to the lack of rain all year, but this year has been even harder, rain rain and more rain most of the summer then nothing until today has made most crops struggle.
Take my tomatoes I only had my first ripe tomato 2 weeks ago and as for the cabbages and cauliflowers down the plot they just didn’t get going.
There has been some good stories though my green beans that were on the verge of disaster have produced a MASSIVE BUMPER crop and they are delicious and the pumpkins & squash have just run riot and have taken over the plot!
I dug up my main crop spuds over the weekend and I was a little disappointed but pleasantly surprised in the same breath. My santé that I grew with great results last year were a disaster this year but here are the results

As you can see the soil was like rock, I nearly went out and hired a pneumatic drill!

Potato	Yeild
Maxine	3.4KG
Majestic	10.8KG
Sante	3.5KG
Ryecroft purple	6.8KG
Lady Balfour	16.7KG

 

Maxine: only had 5 seed potatoes left over after the frosts got to them so not a bad result all the potatoes were good size and no real scabs or evidence of any wireworm

 Majestic: a good crop of potato and really please with it they were a little inconsistent in size but overall really good and will grow them again

 Sante:  very disappointed with this crop this year this cropped very heavy last year but this year nothing but the potatoes that it did produce were VERY big

 Ryecroft Purple: this is the most pleasing crop, only had 5 tubers left after the frosts but they cropped really well and as they were one of the oldest varieties so was very interested in eating them. I had some last night as roast potatoes they were amazing crisp on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. I am going to save these just for roast potatoes

Lady Balfour: the last minute crop saves the day I only brought these as I lost so many due to the frosts in Feb and what a crop really good size the only down fall was they had a bit of wireworm so I lost about 6kg due to that so it would have been over 20kg if there were none.

 So overall not to bad should be enough to keep my little family going until the New Year. Next year I am going to go back to growing just 3 different variety’s but I have some thinking to do as to which ones……..   

Have a great week readers…………..

 

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"I'll be back!"

To all my regular readers,

I haven’t had chance to post much lately, what with the Olympics (working at a Hotel) and then a family holiday things will resume as normal soon thanks for being patient

Potato trial: second early potatoes

Today is the turn of the second early potatoes, those of you that regularly read my blog will know that my first earlies were a bit of a disaster. You can read about it here…
I didn’t hold much hope for the second early potatoes because of the poor showing of the first early potatoes. I did have the British Queen first early still to dig up as I left these a few more weeks in the hope of a bigger crop. And I also found a second container at the allotment with more Winston in so these may have a better crop also; I forgot I had 2 containers with them in! Bonus!! The second early potatoes are Dr Macintosh and Doon Pearl both old heritage varieties and I was particularly looking forward to trying the Dr Macintosh I just love the name from the first time I saw them on the website JBA I knew I had to grow them.

So first up was the British Queen, I was pleasantly surprised with them, as I only had 5 tubes left after the sub-zero temperatures back in February took half of them away.  In total I had a crop of 1lb 8oz enough for a few feedings for the family and all the tubes were of a good size.

Next up was the second tub of Winston. The first tub back in May was very poor with only a handful of potatoes but the second crop lifted today was much better, infact some of the tubers were very large almost what you would expect of main crop potatoes. Total weight was 2lb 7oz not to shabby at all.
Then onto Doon Pearl, they produced some really nice sized tubers and again I only had 5 tubers left after the February frosts got to them they produced a crop of 1lb 10oz.
Lastly was the Dr Macintosh the crop I held in high hopes “drum roll” they produced 2lb 15oz of potatoes I was very chuffed and they also produced the most consisted in size also.
So after I got them home and cleaned them up, I decided to cook a few of each off to see what ones tasted best.

When cooking freshly dug potatoes if quite important to SLOWLY cook them bring them to the boil then finished them at a low simmer this will stop them from falling apart,

Out of the 4 the best I feel was the Dr Macintosh they were really fluffy inside and not to waxy and had a really earthy taste, I don’t know why these are not a common potato? I would really recommend these to anyone who fancies growing something different.

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"Know Your Onions"

It’s been a good year for me anyway with my onions, normally with wet weather I find onions not to do so well, but this year I have had a bumper crop, only had 4 onions go to seed and they were all red Barons. Last year my onions were well pathetic, in fact the worst of all the crops I grew. I was determined to get a good crop this year.

I want to pull them now in case the rust that affected my garlic appears again and ruins my crop of onions.

I know onions don’t like to much water so this year when we had a spell of persistent wet weather I covered them over so they wouldn’t get to wet, I think it has paid off some of the bulbs are huge.
I haven’t the room to dig them all up just yet as I have them drying in the shed hung up over some rope. Normally I would dry them outside over a ladder but you need sun for that (it’s a big yellow thing that sits in the sky and makes things warm and helps plants to grow…so I have heard!) and this wet weather will not help them dry out! I am hoping the other half I have left in will be ok for another 2-3 weeks them I can pick them and dry them too.

Once they are dry I am going to have a go at platting them like you do with garic I have read that this helps them last longer and store well like it, you never know unless you try right?

Onions are such a versatile crop and to me as a chef, I couldn’t imagine a recipe without it in I am really looking forward to cooking with my first proper batch of home grown onions.

How’s your onion crop this year???

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French beans or No French beans?

Just a short visit to the allotment this week, to pick a few things quick tidy up and check over to see what’s what. The French beans planted a few weeks ago are looking very sorry for themselves very yellow and not really much growth, after a closer inspection the soil! Well I should say mud/clay I may give royal Dolton a call to see if they want to buy the ground….will make some cracking plates. I was also thinking of making myself a Masai mud hut and doing away with the shed. On a serious note, my beans have far too much water than they can cope with and no sun to help them grow, I am going to give them a few more weeks and if nothing changes weather wise and condition wise I will pull them out and cover the soil to try to dry it out.
On the other hand this weather has made my courgettes romp away I have had my first pickings today and can’t wait to eat them tonight.
The strawberries are still going strong and have had another good picking today, may get one more next week if I am lucky.
My raspberries have done really well this year; they were planted last autumn and won’t really get the best from them until next year but I did get a few from my summer raspberries and going to knock up a raspberry crème brulee tonight for dinner:

The recipe I am going to use is:

600ml double cream
50g golden caster sugar
1 vanilla pod stripped
8 egg yolks
They are really easy to make simply bring the cream and sugar to a slow boil then whisk the egg yolks together then pour the hot mixture over the eggs and whisk then add the vanilla pod.

Place the raspberries in the bottom of your ramekins then top up with the mixture bake in the oven in a water bath (a roasting tray with water in it) this will stop them from burning or splitting they will take about 20 minutes to set. Remove from oven and allow to cool, and go cold. Cover the top with icing sugar and place under a grill to caramelise the top and give a crunchy top.

Hope you enjoy it if you chose to make it………

Let’s hope this weather improves sometime soon.  

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learning from my mistakes...

Last year my Brassicas didn’t really come too much, I planted cabbage, sprouting broccoli & Brussels sprouts I had a few cabbages but the  sprouts & broccoli were a disaster, so this year I want to try to do better and actually get a harvest from them.

The first mistake I made last year was that I planted the sprouts and Broccoli far too close to each other and didn’t allow room for growth and for air to get between them. Also I didn’t stake them until they were mature so it was hard to get them growing straight. Also they were completely infested with black fly to the point where I just gave up on them and pulled them up and burnt them.

So this year is going to be different the first thing that is different is I actually grew them from seed rather than them given to me by a friend secondly I have given the soil a really good digging over added some lime and also loads of egg shells crushed up, this will give them a boost of calcium that they need when growing.(read my earlier post about the egg shell)

I have also given them a lot of room to grow I have only put 4 or 5 per row and in the sprouting broccoli case only 4 per row I will give them 2 weeks then they will all be staked and tied in at an early stage to help them grow tall and strong

I have also got a bottle of washing up liquid ready diluted down in a spray to get the black fly before they start a lot of people suggested this to me last year so I will give it a bash this year.

Lastly I have netted them from the start, I didn’t really have a problem with birds eating them last year but i am not taking any chances.

So that’s the brassicas planted out for another year let’s hope I get to try the fruits of my labour this year…..

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The GreenHouse affect.......

Thought I would give you a update on my greenhouse activity’s thus far for 2012, I am growing 5 different varieties of tomato this year, yes yes I know I said I was only going to grow 3 but when confronted with a stall selling seeds for 25p who can resist right?

the early sowing of gardeners delight I sowed in February to try to achieve an early crop has flat out failed probably down to this fluctuating weather were having (there’s always next year)
But 4 of the 5 varieties have developed flowers so hopefully a few weeks from now I will be eating the first tomato of the season.

The 5 varieties that I am growing are:

·         Gardeners delight (cherry)
·         Golden Pear (pear shaped yellow cherry)
·         Alice Craig (normal)
·         San Mirzano 3 (plum)
·         Alicante (normal)

The anticipation of the first tomato of the year only builds once they have set and start to fatten and ripen and there truly is nothing like the first tomato picked from the vine, the warmth when you pop it into your mouth then then it bursts like a firework of flavour……Mmmmmmm.

I am also growing sweet peppers and aubergines too, the aubergines are coming along nicely but we need more sun please! The peppers have started to set some fruit so I have given them a feed today. Hopefully the peppers will be as good as last year. So over all the greenhouse is looking healthy and hopefully won’t be long before some things are ready to pick..

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My First Garlic Havest

this year I had real high hopes for my garlic I had grown it before but only on a small scale and didn’t really know what I was doing and the outcome were small bulbs of not really a lot! But I am a little wiser now and did my research last year so I was prepared from the start. My regular readers will know that I got my garlic going in November in a well prepared bed of compost and fertilizer, and it really came on well throughout the winter months I did worry a little when we had the snow in February, but if anything this made it stronger.

But a few weeks ago because of all this wet weather and low temperatures my garlic started to develop rust only in small patches at first but then soon engulfed the whole crop (see last week’s blog post) so I asked about to my fellow bloggers and most told me to lift it to prevent further damage.

Today was the day like I said at the beginning I had put a lot of hope into this crop this year as I do love garlic. The results were great, all the bulbs had formed cloves and most of them were fat and juicy. Once I peeled of a few layers of the damaged foliage I discovered they were still very healthy underneath so I do hope they store well. I have found a grand spot in the garage at home and hope they dry off well.

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Potato trial: The First Earlies

What a hectic week, SO busy at work right now not much time for the plot so yesterday on my day off I made the most of the fantastic weather and spent the whole day on the plot.

So much weeding to do its depressing, so the first job of the day was to weed over the bed to plant the aubergines and the fennel and celeriac. I am very impressed with myself this year as almost all my vegetables have been grown from seed and not brought from a nursery (which I admit I did last year a bit) and I am particularly proud of my fennel and celeriac’s both look very healthy and strong young plants so a good crop is forecast. And my aubergines I have planted some outside and some in my green house at home. The weather is normally quite good down here in East Anglia so I planted the aubergines out, but with this summer I don’t hold my breath.

I also weeded over the carrot patch as the weeds had gone mutant! Unbelievable the size they reached in 10 days! I also set about sowing a few more rows of carrots ready for September.

I gave my onions and Garlic a quick hoeing over too and I noticed that my garlic had what looked like rust over it, can anyone tell me what this is?? And I hope they are still ok to eat as they really look like a good crop this year!

One of the tasks I was really looking forward to was the potatoes and my first part of my potato trial for 2012. Today was the day for the first earlies………. The excitement I had turning the pot out onto the wheelbarrow I was like a kid in a sweet shop! But the excitement soon turned to disappointment my first tub which was Ulster Classic really didn’t crop much at all 520g to be exact. But I still had hope for the Winston and British Queen but upon turning out the Winston I was disappointed yet again this time only 390g total. I have decided to leave the British Queen a few more weeks in the hope of a bigger crop. I never really grow first earlies as I have always have a poor crop but I thought this year would be different………….I was wrong.

But on a good note, we ate them that evening with salad and a piece of poached salmon and they were absolutely beautiful they tasted so creamy especially the Ulster Classic I would go as far as to say one of the creamiest new potatoes I have eaten if all my potatoes taste a good as this I am in for a real treat this year…..

 Have a cracking week folks…

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Sacre bleu...its a French Invasion!

Today is Bean day. The wife and I made good use of the halt in the rain to get 2 hours down the allotment, so we got the bean frames up and the beans in.

The past Sunday we dug the bed over ready for the beans and put loads of manure on plus it got a good load in the autumn too. The ground wasn’t ideal as it was very muddy but today is the only day we could get down the plot so we had to make do.

This year I haven’t grown any runner beans from seed I am simply going to pop the seed in when the bamboo structure is erected, not sure what the results will be like but that’s part of the fun of the allotment isn’t it?

I have put in 3 rows of French Beans in Blue Lake, Daneile and one don’t know the name of, and I have also put in a row of Borlotti beans which I really enjoyed last year.  I have never grown Blue Lake before but have read that it’s a good cropper and very good for eating so fingers crossed it will be tasty I will keep you posted

Last year when I erected the bamboo structures I didn’t put any side braces on and when it got windy they decided to fold in on them self’s so this year after watching GW I saw Monty put side supports on his structures so I have done the same and it really has made the whole structure very secure. Something I shall do from now on with any structure I erect.

An update on the potatoes after using the hay to earth up they have shot up and are looking really healthy (although I think this weather has had a hand in that) won’t be long now till the first earlies will be ready for digging up.

Happy gardening everyone…

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