Why is there bread in my watering can?

Sometimes when I visit the allotment before work I find random items of food in my watering can. I've found bacon in there and I've found jacket potatoes, but usually it's bread. Who is stopping by my plot for breakfast but leaving their food only half-eaten??

Allotment update

I'm on holiday today but I got up nice and early (thanks to the cat) and headed over to the allotment for a catch-up.

I'm really behind this year - I've hardly sown or planted anything - but thanks to my recent strategy of concentrating on permanent/perennial/self-seeding crops there's still quite a lot going on!

My fruit bushes are beginning to flower; I have blackcurrants, gooseberries and some raspberries which spontaneously appeared in one of my large pots. My plum tree has bloomed and is already bearing lots of tiny green fruits. I bought a little "patio" apple tree a few months ago - lots of leaves on that and it looks quite healthy, but I won't get apples this year. I've also got a small crabapple with red foliage which I grew from a tiny seed, and two more babies from a juicy apple I ate at some point during the winter. One day I will have apples galore but for now I just have a selection of pretty trees.

The little fig tree I bought last year has (mostly) survived. One of the branches seems to be dead, but the rest of the plant looks quite healthy. There is even a tiny round fruit (or flower bud?) on it...



The jerusalem artichokes are already up (a very reliable perennial crop) but my globe artichokes don't seem to have made it. I should have protected them with straw over winter. The rhubarb made a good start but is looking quite slug-eaten and still too feeble to harvest. I really have no luck with rhubarb! My mint bed is looking brilliant already, but the wild water mint seems to be bullying the garden mint a bit! I also have lemon balm in there, which is looking good. Lavender, rosemary and thyme are all doing well in their respective giant pots and tryes. Happy self-seeded things include rocket, cornsalad, parsley and chives. And there are LOTS of wild edibles too including nettles, sorrel, ox-eye daisy, ground elder, hops and this morning I even found what I think is a morel mushroom (I left it alone though).



So far this year I've sown carrots, beetroot, runner beans (under cloches), a few herbs and a few weeds. I did actually sow weeds - I have a whole bed devoted to burdock. I'd really like to try it (you can eat the roots) but digging up wild plants is illegal. Let's hope they all survive the slugs!

Happy Spring!

This is a cherry plum in full bloom :)

It lives!

I visited my allotment (in the rain) yesterday, and was pleased to find that my rhubarb has survived the winter. Normally the frozen waterlogged ground gets the better of it. I might actually be able to eat some this year! The best lunch I ever had was stewed rhubarb with a poached duck egg. Yum......



February half term is traditionally when I start to actually put some effort in after winter. The nights should now be light enough for quick visits after work. Everything is starting to grow again and it makes me happy!

Lumen prints

I've been experimenting with lumen prints. They are made on photographic paper without the use of a darkroom or any chemicals...

Christmas part two and new year part one

I am rubbish at keeping my blog up to date. Oops! Must try harder.

For Christmas-plus-birthday I got a brilliant present from my Dad: a food dehydrator. It's yet another kitchen gadget, of course... but to be fair I do use *most* of my kitchen gadgets... really I do!

Anyway, it's quite exciting! So far I've only used it for simple things, like dehydrating fruit to go with my breakfast cereal (apples are the best). I imagine it'll really come into it's own later in the year when I'm desperately trying to preserve all of summer's bounty. I think it'll be useful for making christmas gifts too. I'd really like to try candied fruits and flowers, and also fruit leathers (which get mentioned so frequently by foragers). When I make something exciting, I'll post pictures!

Since Christmas I've had very little time for allotmenteering, because mornings and evenings are so dark and I'm usually busy at weekends. I think I'm obsessed with sunset times though - I've been watching it get lighter and lighter every evening since mid-December, and now I'm just about leaving work in daylight again. This makes me happy! Soon I'll be able to visit the plot on my way home, and then the crazy gardening year will begin once more. Can't wait! :)

Christmas Part One

This year I managed to grow enough Blackcurrants to make a batch of jam. Hurrah! These little jars made ideal presents for my Dad and Nan. The alcoholics in my family got Greengage & Victoria Plum Vodka.



I also knitted scarfs (scarves?) but that's another story!