Making jam from (stolen) plums

I was in charge of the shop all day on Friday!  The shop manager asked me to cover whilst she went to a music festival, so I had to open up, cash up and lock up all on my own.  It was fine and everything went well, we weren't that busy, but I got on with some jobs, including ordering lots of goodies from Shared Earth.  It made a change from my usual tidy-Friday routine.

I ordered a selection of winter veg and spring veg plug plants from DT Browns.  I could have sown my own, but I've been so busy on the plot that the idea of having a batch of plug plants arriving in the post was too tempting.  The winter veg plug plants arrived on Friday so I planted them out on Saturday morning.  I got 4 each of kale, cabbage, cauliflower and sprouting broccoli.  They came wrapped in white paper inside a cardboard box.  Chris had already prepared the beds, so all I had to do was plant them and water them in - you can't get easier than that!  The spring veg plants should arrive mid September.  It cost £11 + postage, so £14 altogether, which is a bit expensive, but not too bad if it provides us with veg all winter and spring.

I spotted this baby cauliflower.

Chris harvested all the onions on Saturday morning.  There was about 200 altogether, he washed them, then hung them up in the shed to dry out on some special shelves he's put up.

Me with the onions.

We harvested the pink fir apple potatoes which look weird but tasted very nice.

Picked some more toms.

In the afternoon we went for a mega bike ride, probably about 10 miles I reckon.  We saw a heron and a green wagtail and we stopped for an ice lolly.  We ended up on top of a hill and we got a bit lost so we had to turn back.  It started raining at one point and neither of us had taken any waterproofs - slightly unprepared but we'll know next time.  I was so tired and saddle sore when I got home, but I think the exercise must have done me good, we both enjoyed it.

On Saturday after the bike ride I made an allotment chilli with loads of veg off the plot.  It took a while to make (broad beans take ages to pod and then remove from their skins!), but it was worth it and I had it again for my lunch on Sunday and Monday.

On Sunday Chris cut the tops off the potatoes to allow the skins to thicken before we harvest them next week.

Our allotment neighbour's plum tree has snapped in half due to the weight of all the plums on it - it's such a shame, it's completely broken and will need to be chopped down.  The plums that were on it have started to ripen and they were just going to waste so I lent over the fence and took some home to make plum jam.  It was lots of fun making the jam and very easy too.  It didn't set as well as I would have liked, but it's fine for on toast.  It tastes delicious!  I think I may have got the jam making bug.  All I used was 1 pint of water, 4lb of plums and 4lb of sugar (it's quite sweet so maybe I could have got away with less sugar, it seemed like loads when I weighed it out).  I ended up with 8 jars, which was more than I thought.  I quite fancy making blackberry jam next.

The tomatoes are really starting to turn red now and we've already had a couple of good harvests.  They taste fantastic and I challenge any supermarket tomato to the taste test - I know the homegrown ones will win hands down!

 

Party on the plot

On Friday afternoon a co-operatives consultant came to the shop to offer advice on how we run the shop, it was a useful session and she made some good suggestions.  We need to make more money or we might have to shut, so something needs to be done.

We went ahead with the allotment party on Saturday afternoon - luckily the weather forecast said it would be dry all day so we decided to go for it.

Chris tidied up the plot and set up the cooking and seating areas.  And he cooked all the burgers, sausages and sweetcorn too, he was wiped out by the end of it. 

I made a soup for the party with lots of fresh veg from the allotment.  It was loosely based on a minestrone style recipe, and I followed a few of the steps in Marcella Hazan's Essential Classic Italian Cookery book.  I added spaghetti pieces, then served it with fresh basil, parmesan and crusty bread.  Mmmm.  I also made a chocolate brownie for pudding which seemed to vanish in a flash!

We picked lots of sweetcorn and BBQ'd it for our guests.  It tasted lovely - really tender, juicy and sweet.

I bought a box of organic cider, a tray of small bottles of beer and some fruit juice for people to drink.

Lots of people came to the party - we had 3 babies on the plot at one point.  The weather stayed dry and there was even a bit of sun.  We stayed on the plot until it went dark, then we had to go home.  Unfortunately we didn't see the full moon rise as it was too cloudy.

Our friends picked fruit and veg to take home with them and everyone seemed to have a good time.  My feet were killing me by the time I got home - it was a busy day running about getting everything sorted.

On Sunday we chilled.  Chris went to the flea market but I stayed home and washed up the pots from the BBQ, then deheaded the flowers in the gardens at home. I spotted lots of caterpillars on the nasturtiums.

Then we went to the allotment for a proper clear up.

I watered and fed everything in the greenhouses and made sure all the top shoots were off the tomatoes to encourage the tomatoes to ripen.  I picked some more veg.  Below are some sungold cherry tomatoes and a large constuluto fiorentino.

The weather has been disappointing and mostly wet.  We're halfway through August and we've not had many red tomatoes yet.  It's a shame.  There's so many green ones and if they all ripen at once I won't know what to do with them all!  I guess I'll have to make soup and pickles/chutneys and give away what we can't eat.  Pictured are some green tigerellas.

I made a tomato, garlic and basil sauce from the Marcella Hazan cookbook, I followed the recipe carefully, and it turned out really well.  It tasted pretty authentic and to say I only used a few ingredients it turned out a lot nicer than bottled pasta sauce. There's lots of good tips in the book about what type of ingredients to choose and how to cook things like pasta properly.  I love Italian food, last Wednesday night we treated my Mum to an Italian meal out and it was really delicious.

I've put an application in for another job at work, working in the parks department developing activities in the parks.  Fingers crossed I'll get an interview and then I can find out more about the role and see if I fancy making the change.  I've been in my current job for 5 years, so I feel like it's time for something new.

I've been out on my new bike a few times (it's been raining some nights).

We've had quite a lot on socially over the past few weeks, so I'm ready for a quiet one this coming weekend, I feel as though I've over socialised, so my introvert side is a bit put out. 

I've been working on a tender for the art/community project that we've got funding for at the shop, so that's been taking up some time in the evenings.

I'm loving Thomasina Miers' 'Mexican made simple' TV programme.  She had a fantastic pinnie (apron) on last week, which has inspired me to make some pinnies of my own, and I ordered a Simplicity sewing pattern for aprons today.  More on that next week.

I've got a bike!

Two of our friends popped by unexpectedly just after tea on Friday evening.  So we sat out in the back garden for a bit, then took them down the allotment for a look around.  I got carrried away with the organic cider.  By 8pm I'd drunk 2 bottles and was drunk (it's strong stuff - 7%).  We came home and watched half of the film Submarine, but Chris fell asleep so I turned it off. 

On Saturday morning we went to pick up my new bike.  I got a Giant Revel 2 in grey.  We took the front wheel off and brought it home in the car boot.  It was raining though so I didn't go out on it straight away, but Chris had a little whizz round the block to check it was OK.

On Saturday evening I went to a BBQ with my mum (she asked me to go along for some company).  I didn't know many people there and it was a bit of a drag, full of lots of 'straight heads', well, that is, people who probably think I'm odd for not being the same as everyone else.  To be honest I was glad to get home.  I purposely wore a long black witchy dress, ha.

On Sunday I set off for the allotment about midday and stayed there until 4.30pm.  I gave everything a mega weed, feed and water.  We've invited our friends around for a lunar Lammas BBQ next Saturday, and we're going to harvest the corn and have a get together, so we want the allotment to look its best for our visitors.  Chris strimmed the overgrown paths and I filled two beds with leeks.

I treated myself to two books off Amazon - Marcella Hazan's ‘Essential Italian Cookbook’, which is very thick and comprehensive.  I've already picked up a few tips.  And I got ‘Off Camera Flash’ by Neil van Niekerk which I haven't really looked at yet.

I also ordered some oils from Neal's Yard - vetiver and a de-stress blend of ylang ylang and neroli. Mmmmmm.

Delicious malteser tray bake

We went to a barbeque at my friend Emma's house on Saturday night.  I got a bit tipsy off organic cider.  She made an ace malteser tray bake cake.  Here's the recipe - it's so simple to make.

Malteser tray bake recipe

melt 4oz butter with 2 tablespoons golden syrup in a saucepan, then take off heat

melt 100g - 200g chocolate and mix half into melted butter pan

bash up 300g ish of digestives and mix into melted mix.

mix in a large packet of maltesers (grab bag or box size)

pack into a greaseproof tin

pour over rest of choc

refrigerate

cut in squares

enjoy!

Emma's garden looked brill - she had a bath with a running tap as well as a hammock.  We should definitely get a hammock for the allotment.

I've been looking at wallpaper for a feature wall in the living room, but Chris isn't convinced.  I've ordered some samples to see what they're like in real life.

I took Monday off work and I spent most of the day down at the allotment tidying around and weeding and feeding.  I picked all the garlic and shallots.  I also picked the Japanese onions, but they were tiny, so I'm not sure I'll bother with them next year, I might as well just stick with the maincrop onions, they grow much faster and bigger.  One of the cucumber Emilie plants had wilted and died so I had to pull it up.  The pumpkins are growing like mad, but not many fruits have set yet, some rotted when I didn't pull the flower off in time.  The marrows outside are growing like mad, they're trailing all over the place.  I picked some peas, beetroot, spring onions and onions too.  The peas were delicious!

There's still no red tomatoes - we need some heat!  I've just a few little sungold cherry tomatoes so far.  All the rosadas are still green...

We've had quite a few allotment teas this week.  We've had champ, onion gravy, sausages and peas.  And cheese and onion mash pie.

The Awards for All funding for the shop has been confirmed, so we're getting to work on this and we’ll be issuing a tender/press release soon. 

The voucher for my bike has arrived, so I'm going to pick it up this weekend, I can't wait to get my new wheels!

I went to jigsaw club on Wednesday and it was a nice evening so we did the jigsaw outside until the light got too low.  But it was a really hard jigsaw, with lots of sections the same colour, so we didn't finish it and it wasn't much fun!

We watched the first 6 episodes of the Muppet Show which were lots of fun. I love kermit and most of his pals - with the exception of Miss Piggy who I don't one bit, she really gets on my nerves.

You can see for miles at the top of Jeffrey Hill

On Friday night, for some crazy reason, I thought it would be a good idea to start tidying out the box room which is full of clutter.  I didn't get too far - apart from taking all the boxes out of the room and making a right mess of the rest of the house!  I need to go through the boxes and it's going to take some time to do a proper job of it.

We nipped to the garden centre on Saturday morning.  I was looking for some baby winter veg plants to fill the gaps left behind after picking the potatoes.  They didn't really have anything apart from some wilted leeks, so I bought 3 pots and they reduced  them to £1 for all 3 - bargain.  Once I got home I gave them a good water and they've come back to life again, so I'll get them planted asap.

I picked some sweet peas.

The flower in the back garden are looking good.

Steve's been enjoying sleeping in the long grass we've left uncut for him.  It's his own little jungle.

It was hot and sunny on Saturday so in the afternoon we nipped to the allotment with a beer, with the intention of just having a potter and enjoying being down there.  I had a tidy around and checked everything was doing OK.  One of the cucumber plants has wilted.  The melons are growing but there aren't any fruit, yet in the greenhouse at home I've two melons coming along nicely.  Melons are a hard crop to grow - not one for the beginner. 

I remembered that I'd sown some cut flower calendula, I was wondering why they'd grown so tall in the greenhouses, then I realised they’re tall because they're meant to be cut and placed in a vase.  I picked a bunch full and they look great in a vase in the shed.

Some of the garlic tops had died off on one variety so I harvested these.  The garlic was so lovely and white once we peeled off the top layer, and it tastes amazing too!

On Saturday night Chris treated us to a meal out at the local Italian, which made a nice change.

We went to the car boot sale on Sunday again.  I got some fabric and 2 cookery books - Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food, which is surprisingly pretty good and would make an ideal gift for someone new to cooking.  I also got Gino D'Acampo's the I-Diet which is great as well - I paid £1 for them both.  Chris got some books and some wood for carving.  After the car boot we stopped off at a local river and had an ice cream.  Then we had a drive to a viewpoint called Jeffrey Hill, we could see for miles, and as far as the sea.

I went to the allotment with my mum on Sunday afternoon to pick some ingredients for a Thai green curry.  We got some broad beans, garlic, chilli and peas, and she took some peaches, a lettuce and some spring onions.  On the way out we nipped into Barbara's plot which she's recently taken on since the last plot holder passed away.  She has a few DIY greenhouses, one of which houses an amazing grape vine which is absolutely full of bunches of grapes.  Someone said the vine started off as a cutting from my Dad's vine, as he was really into growing grapes, to the point were they called him the 'vine man'.  I wish I'd have seen his vines.  Barbara's done me a cutting and as soon as it takes I'm going to get it growing in one of our greenhouses.

Sometimes it drives me a bit mad at work.  I work with four other girls and one is pregnant so they go on about babies all the time.  And if it's not babies it's weddings and wedding dresses.  They also eat lots of rubbish food e.g. diet coke, msg crisps, ready meals, ready made mash.  I suggested someone baked their own fairy cakes the other day and they said they'd rather just buy them from the shop.  Ohhhhh.  I really feel like the odd one out.  I mentioned it to a friend and she said they're just muggles, but it doesn't help.  How can people not care about the food they eat, what's in it and where it comes from?  It doesn't make sense to me?  It such a contrast to the people I know at the shop, where they understand about food and green living, at least I feel like I fit in there.

Anyway, on a brighter note, I've ordered a new bike!  My employer has signed up to the cycle to work scheme which means I'll save about 40% off a bike.  I visited a few shops before I settled on the Giant Revel 3.  I just need to wait for my voucher to come through the post then I can go and pick it up!  I'm going to cycle to the allotment then come home the long way round - it'll help me get fitter if nothing else.

My mum came across this potato which has a face!

The first rule of Jigsaw Club

It was chucking it down (again) on Saturday, which is always a bummer at weekend.  So we went to a local model shop and Chris bought some model equipment from the model train set section.  He got some moulds, some little bushes, tiny people, tiny traffic cones and a bunch of other stuff.

My Mum was back from her holiday in Spain, and she brought me back a mosaic owl, a cool beaded bracelet and some saffron.  I need to find some recipes that use saffron now.

I bought the first gladioli of the year.

The wet back garden.

Because of the wet weather I decided to do some knitting and made a start on these ‘owlings’ gloves.  I’m building up to the owls jumper.

We bought the Trailer Park Boys box set so we’ve been watching those – they’re sooooooo soooooo funny. 

We also watched Lee Mack’s latest comedy stand up DVD (not as good as the first one), and the best of Victoria Wood DVD (also not that great).

I had a play with my flash and experimented taking some shots of our living room.

We nipped to the allotment on Sunday and watered in the greenhouses.  We also picked some potatoes, peaches, a garlic and some onions.  The peaches may be small but they’re absolutely delicious!

On Tuesday night I went to ‘jigsaw club’ at my friend’s house.  This is basically a chance to get together and have a catch up whilst doing a jigsaw.  We did a glow in the dark Harry Potter jigsaw which was only 500 pieces, but pretty tricky due to lots of plain black areas.  I’m enjoying the parallels between jigsaw club and my favourite film Fight Club.  So we’ve come up with the following jigsaw club rules:

- One jigsaw at a time.   

- Jigsaws will go on as long as they have to.

 - If this is your first night at jigsaw club you have to finish the jigsaw. 

  

But I think we should forego the no shirts, no shoes rule!

We nipped to the allotment on Wednesday night to feed the plants in the greenhouses.  I also stripped off the leaves below the first truss on all the tomato plants to help ventilation.  We picked lots more goodies - onions, spring onions, more peaches, Emilie cucumber, blueberries, beetroot, carrots and the first few tomatoes – sungold and sweet million (I left one for my Dad). 

The sweetcorn is thriving and the cobs are swelling.

I had toast, organic cheese (from the shop) and a sungold tomato for supper.

As for the tomatoes, the choc cherry is doing well, the Ildi has loads and loads of flowers, I’m expecting it to produce crops of cherry tomatoes like bunches of grapes. 

Ferline and alicante are doing well, as is sungold.  Marmande is not doing as well (not as tall).  I had to pick off some rosada in greenhouse at home as they had a black bottom, maybe due to the damp weather.

I woke up on Thursday morning and took some scraps of cheese and some seed out to the bird table.  Imagine my shock to see the bird table knocked to the floor and a large pigeon dead on the floor next to it.  The poor thing has been attacked and killed by our cat Steve.  It was only a matter of time before he caught a bird, he's always stalking them.  Chris is going to make a taller bird table to help keep the birds safe.  What a shame for the poor pigeon.

My sweetcorn growing tips (how my sweetcorn became the envy of the allotment site)

Thanks again to my Dad for passing on these great sweetcorn growing tips.

• First of all I grow my sweetcorn in the border soil inside a greenhouse – it performs much better here than it does outside.
• I sow 2 sweetcorn seeds into a large peat pot and place them into a greenhouse propagator (you only need a propagator earlier on in the season when the temperature's cooler)
• Once the seedlings pop up and are about 2 inch/5cm high remove the weaker seedling
• Once the seedlings are about 6 inches/15cm tall plant them into the border soil
• Plant the peat pots directly into the border soil (sweetcorn doesn't like its roots disturbing)
• Remove the top part of the peat pot (it can act as a wick and stop water getting to the plant), ensure the pot is buried under the soil
• Plant the sweetcorn 12 inches/30cm apart in a grid pattern
• Position the plants so the leaves are parallel to the greenhouse path - otherwise they'll take over your path when they’re bigger
• Watch out for slugs when the plants are small (use some organic slug pellets)
• If the plant tilts when growing straighten it out gently by supporting it with soil around its base
• Be careful not to damage the roots when hoeing - sweetcorn doesn’t like its roots being damaged
• Feed weekly with liquid seaweed
• When tassles (strings) appear on the cobs tap the plants to ensure pollination takes place (dust/pollen will fall off the top of the plant onto the tassles)
• Feed with (organic) tomato food once the cobs start to swell
• Once the cobs swell keep them well watered
• Pick the sweetcorn when the tassles go brown - don't leave it too late or they will go off
• You can tell when the corn is ready by inserting your nail into one of the niblets (can't think of the right word!) and if the liquid comes out milky it's ready
• Only pick cobs when you are ready to eat them - the sooner you eat them after picking the sweeter and fresher they'll be
• Grow one variety - don't mix varieties as they'll cross-pollinate and you'll get strange results
• My recommended sweetcorn variety is Lark
• Grow some squash underneath the corn (they grow well together) and squash help to suppress weeds.  You'll need to hand pollinate squash under glass and watch out for the flowers rotting the baby fruit.  Squash plants get huge in the greenhouse so space them out well.
• Place the cobs in boiling water and boil for 7 minutes.
• Eat with plenty of butter, salt and pepper.
• Buy some of those corn holders to help you eat your corn.

My sweetcorn always ends up taller than me and tastes amazing, so much better than supermarket corn, it's also a very easy to maintain crop, when compared to melons or tomatoes. Happy growing! I hope you found these tips useful. Please leave me a comment if you have any of your own tips to share.

The sweetcorn is taller than me!

We had a shop board meeting on Wednesday afternoon.  Since the disagreeable director has resigned things have run much more smoothly.  This is how it should have been all along -  the current directors are all diplomatic and reasonable and no-one throws a huff if they don't get their own way.  One rotten apple can spoil the batch, or however the saying goes.

We treated my Mum to an Italian meal out on Wednesday night.  She normally cooks for us on Wednesdays so we thought it would be nice to give her a break and take her out for a change.  The food was yummy, I had garlic mushrooms stuffed with cheese and sundried tomatoes, followed by tuna and onion pizza, and chocolate fudge cake for dessert.  Mmmm.  We all seemed to enjoy it.

We visited an organic cheese dairy on behalf of the shop on Friday afternoon.  We got a bit lost on the way - it was about 15 miles away in the Forest of Bowland, right in the middle of the countryside set amongst lovely scenery.    We had a brief tour of the facilities and we got to sample their cheeses.  The organic cheddar was particularly good.  We placed an order for the shop and the stock should arrive this week.  The new fridge is really boosting sales, so hopefully the cheese will help push things along even more.

My sister and her family came to stay in the Forest of Bowland again this weekend, so I was back there again on Saturday.  They booked a week in the same cottage they stayed at back in April.  I arrived on Saturday afternoon and we went to a local farmers show.  We saw some prize winning horses and cows.  We looked at lots of stalls selling locally made food and crafts and I bought a hand made ceramic squash leaf ornament.  My nieces took part in an origami workshop and made a paper frog.  They also made some sand art in bottles.  In the evening we had a meal out at a local pub, and I had scampi and chips (the veggie selection wasn't great). 

On Sunday we went to a storytelling fair at a local school.  I watched some local women spinning wool and a lady making a rag rug.  There was a hog roast for lunch and no veggie option whatsoever (unless you count cakes and sweets)!

When we got back from the fair we went on a drive into the Trough of Bowland. Driving through the winding narrow lanes we saw pheasants, rabbits and a bird of prey flew out of a hedge - I wish I'd have taken my bird book so I could have identified the different birds.  I should have taken my binoculars too, as well as taking more photos, I wasn't on the ball.  Further on into the trough it gets quite hilly and high and the views are amazing.  We stopped off next to a stream and had a paddle.  Then we drove home past the Inn at Whitewell, which looks like a wonderful place to stay.  I must save up and treat us to a night there, if I spent a little less each week at the supermarket we coud afford to stay there for my birthday. 

Outside the cottage there was lots of wildlife too.  I saw dozens of swifts, a woodpecker, and lots of other birds I didn't recognise. 

On Monday we went for a walk near the cottage and waded up a stream in our wellies. 

I also played table tennis and darts with my nieces, and we borrowed some bikes and went on a bike ride.  It's made me want to get a bike, I used to love cycling when I was younger.

I took some goodies from the allotment with me - rhubarb, gooseberries, new potatoes, cucumbers and a few broad beans.  My sister made a rhubarb and goosebery fool.

When I got home the garden seemed to have grown loads, even though I'd only been away for a few days.  Apparently people at the allotment have been commenting on how well the sweetcorn is doing, it grows so much faster under glass than it does out in the open.

I was hoping  there might be some tomatoes ready but there's only one orange one on one of the sungold plants at the allotment.  I've been taking it easy with the tomato food, I've a feeling that over feeding can encourage magnesium deficiency (leaf yellowing), and so far (fingers crossed) I haven't got any yellow leaves.

The sweetcorn is taller than me.  The onions are swelling.  Some of the broad beans are ready.  When I got back from my break there was about 8 cucumbers on the cucino plant - I would definitely grow this variety again.  In fact, I'm tempted to say it's the only variety I'll grow.  I guess I'd better give the cucumber Emilie a chance first, they're still not big enough to crop yet.  There's flowers on most of the peppers in the greenhouse.  I'm still loving the sweet genovese basil, it tastes so fragrant and strong compared to the stuff you can buy from the supermarket.  This is the only variety I'll grow next year, the other mixed basil plants aren't anywhere near as tasty,

I wish I'd have sown more night scented flowers - there aren't any ready yet.  But the sweet peas have just flowered, so I can enjoy their scent instead.

Anyway, I've nothing planned this weekend which makes a nice change.  I can relax and do my own thing, without any social commitments!

I ordered another Joe McNally book.  I got the 'Life guide to digital photography'.  It's pretty basic stuff, but it's good to hear the basics from Joe's point of view, I've already picked up some good tips and I'm only a few pages in.

I've also been reading Joe McNally's blog, and Scott Kelby's blog, both of which are great.

Thoughts of knitting

It's at this time of year I almost wish the weather was getting colder, because it gives me an excuse to knit. Knitting has sprung to mind because I've come to work in sandals and my feet are freezing! I wish I had a lovely warm pair of socks to put on. I don't like having cold feet. Patons are apparently discontinuing their eco wool chunky which is a real shame, it's such a lovely wool. My friend has sourced a yarn made from banana trees which is very soft and fluffy. I've just spotted cascade do an eco wool in loads of brill colours, but I'd need to check first to see how soft it is, I don't like scratchy wools. The Freedom eco wool was very scratchy and I wasn't too impressed with it.

I really want to make this owl jumper. I would treasure it forever and it would keep me sooooooo warm.

Ice lollies in the garden

It's been another lovely sunny weekend.  On Saturday we sunbathed in the garden and listened to the radio, had ice lollies, played with the cat and generally chilled out and made the most of the nice weather.

On Sunday we went to a local car boot sale.  I bought a Ladybird book that I owned as a child, called 'The Night Sky', which inspired my interest in astronomy.

I also bought some more owls and 2 fishermen ornaments for the shed at the allotment.  

After the car boot we popped to a pub called the 'Swan with Two Necks' for some lunch and a quick bevvie.  Then we drove up Pendle Hill, stopped to look at the view, and called in at a garden centre before heading home.  It was a fun trip out. 

On Thursday night I went to the shop's annual general meeting which was held at our local library.  Quite a few members attended.  All the directors had to address the group and say their name.  Luckily this is the only time I was put on the spot as I hate talking in front of groups of people!

On Saturday night my friend had a summer garden party.  I baked some brownies to take with me.  We drank mojitos and ate some delicious African stew and pilaf which my friend had made.  She got the recipe from an ace African cookbook that I recommended to her.  We had a bonfire and music outside, and most of us borrowed a poncho to keep us warm.

I booked Monday off work.  I spent most of the day at the allotment tidying around and weeding and trying to keep on top of things.  Blackfly has attacked the broad beans - it's my fault for not nipping the tips off once the first beans appeared.  I've taken the tips off now, but it's probably a bit late as the blackflies have already made themselves at home.  Whiteflies were also on the beetroots, as well as whiteflies/greenflies on the marigolds in the greenhouse, as long as they stay on the marigolds and off the tomatoes then that's fine by me.  Maybe all this hot weather has woken them up.

I picked the first new potatoes, some beetroot, lettuce, rhubarb, spring onions and gooseberries.  I got home and made a gooseberry, rhubarb and cinnamon crumble.  I followed the recipe in the 'Garden to Kitchen Expert', which is an ace crumble topping, it's a bit flapjacky and it tasted delicious served hot with cream.  Mmmmm.  For tea we had new potatoes and fresh mint, (tinned) garden peas (the allotment ones aren't quite ready yet), roasted beetroot with thyme, and fish fingers (because there was nothing else in!). 

The greenhouse at home is becoming more like a jungle - I always try to fit too much in!

I finished the 'one ball wonder' gloves in the purple/green Patons eco wool chunky.  I wish I'd have taken my Noro leg warmers to the garden party because my ankles were freezing by the end of the night.

I ordered Scott Kelby's digital photography books v1 v2 v3 - they're great, and I'm making my way through them pretty quickly.  I also got his digital photographer's guide to Adobe Photoshop CS5.

The fridge has arrived in the shop and takings have doubled!  I bought some scrummy smelling houmous which I can't wait to try.

I've been getting into BBC Radio 4's food programme.  I listened to an interesting show about sustainable fishing, as well as one on milk.  We're trying to find a milk supplier for the shop, but we've only found a raw milk supplier so far.  I'm off to visit a local cheese dairy with the shop manager next Friday, which I'm really looking forward to.  We need to source a good egg supplier too.

I watched the film Neds, it was pretty good, a bit harsh in parts, but worth a watch.

Finally, it's officially summer!

It was the summer solstice on Wednesday but it was a wet and miserable day.  I hope it's not a sign of things to come.

The weather was pretty much the same on Saturday, and we couldn't decide what to do, so we nipped into town because we wanted to get out of the house.  I bought some seeds from Wilkinsons, they had 75% off, and I saved £18!  I got the tomato 6 pack again (usually £4, but only £1 after the 75% discount), American land cress (meant to be like watercress, which I love), rudbeckia Irish spring, old fashioned sweet pea, dill, night scented stock, a fancy variety of geranium, and 2 packs of spring onion elody (which you can plant as late as September).  We came home and watched Robot Chicken Star Wars and fell asleep on the settee.  Then we ordered a curry and watched Family Guy Star Wars (which I thought was better than the Robot Chicken version).

Instead of taking photos this weekend I read Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Book 1.  I read it cover to cover and I loved it.  It's full of loads of brill photography tips.  I would highly recommend it and I can't wait to read 2 and 3 (I ordered the box set).  I also ordered Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure, which looks good, but I haven't started it yet.  I must stop reading about photography and start actually taking some photos!

It was boiling hot and sunny on Sunday.  We nipped to the flea market in the morning and I got a crystal owl and frog for only 40p, and Chris bought a mini birdhouse (too small for a real bird) with wind chimes underneath.  They've all gone in the shed.

We weeded the squash and pea beds - the weeds were getting out of control.  The outdoor squash aren't doing too well, especially compared to the ones in the greenhouse which are huge now.  I hope they pick up soon, otherwise there'll be no courgettes and marrows this year, which would be a real shame.

The peas are coming on well and a few baby pods have appeared.  I picked the first 4 spring onions - they were very crunchy and tasty.  We've harvested lots of strawberries and red and black currants too.

There was a huge frog in the pond, it made us both jump.  I spotted a tiny baby frog in the squash patch when I was weeding, so Chris carried it over to the pond.  The tadpoles are massive now and look like mini frogs with huge tails (a bit lizard-like).

I planted some kale and cauliflowers in the empty spaces near the squash and peas.  I also planted out 28 leeks - 7 rows of 4.  I made a 6 inch hole using a dibber, then trimmed the roots of the leek to 1 inch, and trimmed the tops off too.  I dropped the leeks into the 6 inch holes and then filled each hole carefully with water, about 1 inch of leek was peeping out of the holes once I'd finished.  I've used this technique for the last 2 years and had really good results.  I normally grow the variety called 'Bandit', but when I got to the seed packet this year I'd run out, so I think this time I've grown Musselburgh.  I hope they do as well as Bandit did.

All the beds are full now, and it's just a case of weeding, feeding, watering and harvesting.  It's been easier this year than it was last year, we had a lot of structural work and digging to do last year, which really added to the workload.  I'm looking forward to everything being ready to eat, especially the tomatoes.  Speaking of which, I'm worried that the weight of the tomato plants (once they're full of fruit) might be too heavy for the greenhouse (the tomato strings are tied to a wire along the roof of the greenhouse).  I don't want to risk damaging the greenhouses.  I might replace the strings with canes instead.  There aren't that many tomatoes on the plants yet, so I've got a week or so to decide what to do.

Here are some pics from the allotment.

I ordered Miranda series 1 off Lovefilm and watched it all in one sitting - she's very, very funny.  I can't wait to see series 2.