ALLOTMENTS, HIKING AND ALL THINGS GOOD
d, while putting on my wellies, that I was wearing my favourite socks. I was to be proven right.....
This wee video is just 1 min long - check it out.....Okay this isn't great - no Stephen Spielberg am I. But at least you'll get the idea. It was taken on Saturday before the really nasty weather hit - goodness knows what it's like now! Eek. I didn't even go on Sunday morning because I was a little too nervous.
There'll be another (better) video later in the week - of our plot. Bet you can't wait.
and links profided (as usual) for those of you who can't get enough spud knowledge!
reland due to starvation and disease. Even compared to modern famines it can be said to be more destructive as it lasted for 4-5 years (!) as opposed to the more common 1 or 2 growing seasons. Around one eight of the population of Ireland suffered and 2 million had to emigrate to survive. Of course we are all aware that the devastation was caused by potato blight - or to give it its proper name, the fungus Phytophthora infestans. Which we still get to this day and indeed our allotments suffered from it this summer, though cutting back the stems at first signs seemed to halt the problem.
and then on to America again, to complete a circle. There is much more to this, but I'm bored and I'm sure you don't really mind me skipping head to nutritional values....
It also has healthy benefits in the form of but not exclusively: Vitamins C , B and B6, Potassium, Folic Acid, Iron and Zinc. Plus they are low in fat and Calories - hoorah!! And Holy Moly I didn't know it but it's the UN's International Year of the potato (IYP). Surely we must celebrate?! You know I heartily recommend the British Potato Council's website there is so much info and recipes etc.
m its predators, are generally concentrated in its leaves, stems, and sprouts. Exposure to light, physical damage, and age increase glycoalkaloid content within the tuber; the highest concentrations occur just underneath the skin. Glycoalkaloids may cause headaches, diarrhea, cramps and in severe cases coma and death; however, poisoning from potatoes occurs very rarely.' 
viously realised that a whole plot for instance is too much and now we are getting people in who will take that unwanted half, gladly. One of them is Leslie, a nice friendly chap who came over to say Hello. He has just received his keys and will be in Field C. So Welcome to him! Good Luck too, we all remember what it's like to start a fresh!
new plots in Field C are also being marked out in preparation of handing over to more brand new tenants. We're growing FAST!
nds (a time which is precious to us all - especially those who have children I'm sure).
2 Pak Choi, 4 baby Lettuces, 3 Parsnips, 1 Leek, a massive handful of Parsley and 4 gorgeous wee Turnips. I was very happy, let me tell you.
The Pak Choi was used in stir fries (I was heard to proclaim "It's like real Pak Choi" - what an eejit) the Lettuces were eaten by me with a little cranberry sauce (more about that later) and last night Andrew made the best dinner ever with the rest and some couscous (which we'd grow ourselves if we could darn it!). He simply roasted the parsnips, leek and turnips and mixed it all up with couscous and lots of lovely flat leaved parsley. The only other ingredients were Ras el Hanout (Moroccan spice mixture) and a little salt and olive oil - Heaven!
So to the lettuces. They are growing away beautifully under one of our little mini polytunnels and are so tasty, especially lifted young like this. I am genuinely surprised at how well these little tunnels are doing, they were a good buy alright and to think, I almost doubted their necessity (apologises Andrew!).
Yes, the cranberry sauce and lettuce mixture. This comes from the 1st meal I had when we arrived in Krakow, I was so impressed by this dish I wrote it down in a notebook whilst eating it (never done that before). It had a Lettuce mix of course but added to that was grilled chicken strips, cashew nuts, Sunflower shoots (!) Basil mousse, a few perfectly ripe cherry tomatoes and Cranberry sauce. My socks were blown off - simple but my my so tasty. (If you've never had Sunflower shoots before - they taste a little like firm/ripe melon, beautiful.)
Poor me I had hardly any of those ingredients but I made do.
We aren't the only ones to be enjoying the success of their lettuce. These ones are so cute in their little rows; they were planted in between corn until recently. I don't know the names of this lovely couple but they gave us a very big handful of said baby sweetcorn a few weeks ago and it was gorgeous - green fingers on that plot alright.
They aren't 'real' polytunnels but Andrew brought home some used Water Cooler Butts from work and cut their bums off. They have been very effectively used as cloches for 2 of our Parsley plants. Look how this plant was trying to escape (that's before I chopped it down for dinner, hehe), goes to show you don't have to pay for purpose made stuff, eh?
Lastly, for today, I'd like to mention our Leeks and how we've been blanching them with bits of drainpipe. It was found way back in the spring in a little stream along with lots of other dumped household stuff and we thought it might come in handy - we were right. I have an intolerance to 'real' onions but can eat leek, so it's an important crop for us. Using the collars around the young plants makes them grow up to have a longer, thicker white bottom half, where most of the flavour is. Gosh, I'm full of tips today! (This pic doesn't show our best ones but it gives a good idea).
Okay, if you can get sound on this video - I make a comment saying it is kind of fun. Getting mucky in your wellies is - that's what I meant. Not being scared about where you put your feet.
n colour of bright red. It can however be found in an abunadance of colour varieties - just showing how popular it is. These include white, yellow and even blue (Himalyan). They are grown for their glorious flowers and seed heads but are also beloved by Bees who use their pollen, Bakeries for the gorgeous seeds and Drug lords for the Opium (a Narcotic formed from sap released by immature seed pods of Opium Poppies [Papaver somniferum] DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!)
th - eternal sleep. But they also connected them to the promise of resurrection. In Commonwealth countries the Poppy has been adopted as a symbol of remembrance - for those who died in the 1st World War and all other conflicts since then. Paper or plastic Poppies are worn on the lapel, (or attached to little wooden crosses or made up into wreathes) up to and including the 11th November when the end of the 1st World War is marked with a minutes silence. Having ended at 11 o'clock on the 11th Day of the 11th Month 1918.
hort but very interesting background to the 1922 factory of disabled ex-service army men and women who assembled rembrance poppies and in fact still do to this day. However we can not take credit for the idea as it came primarily as a result to Colonel John McRae’s poem “In Flanders Field”, leading an American lady to start the trend in 1920. (The poem can be found on the Wikipedia page).
It's the Corn or Field Poppy that is used at this time, as it grows best in poor, untended soil. After the horrific battles of the 1st World War, poppies were found to be growing all over the trenches and battlefield scars of the fields, a sign of life after such carnage and also of blood, which would have soaked the very soil they grew in.
eds can be eaten, think of the lovely poppy seed cake and bread crusts topped with seeds. However, beware, unconfirmed experiments suggest that eating a lot of the seeds can lead to false positive drug tests for opiates!
nd the 3rd one from the back garden, which hadn't been used since we got the lottie anyway. 
ich drops a tonne of leaves every autumn. This is the last year of its life - it's really not well at all any more and the wall beside it is falling down too. I got to gather up the fallen leaves and was enjoying doing it, but the excitement went up a major notch when i was presented with the leaf sucker-upper/shredder machine! I love boys toys so much. I gathered up 2 big black bags of shredded leaves for the plot.
During my wanderings at the weekend I came across a very hard working gentleman in Field B. Forgive me, as I have a head like a sieve - but I believe his name was Douglas. I somewhat crept up behind him in order to get my photo, not the nicest thing to do - I'd hate it if someone did it to me - but he heard me anyway and I got this lovely, smiley face welcoming me to its owner's plot. 
Just before I arrived over there he had cleared out his potato bed, a job he hadn't been looking forward to - due to the blight we all got over the wet summer. I guess he was expecting some mushing, stinky crops, but like us he had cut off the foilage at the 1st signs of blight and thus had a wee surprise. Happy, healthy little potatoes to take home for dinner. (I laugh at the Tesco bag).
g out seedlings. My, the ones which had been moved were weird! All the roots had tangled up around each other and one carrot was actually 3 twisted together. The other ones however were glorious. Perfect. Funny though, just after lifting this one, Douglas noticed a beetroot, he'd forgotten about. Goodness lifting it was a very pleasant surprise - it was huge! Look at his face.Being very much into eco-friendly allotmenteering I was intrigued my the little turf wall all around the plot. I thought it was covered in weeds, howev
er it was actually lovely little alpines, planted into the overturned sods! They were all taking and some were even in flower, what a lovely idea - to look at and for insects to feed upon. In another corner there was an elorabate bug house - logs with many holes drilled in them and stacked under a thigh-high stone doorway, in front of which lay a little pool for (hopefully) frogs etc.
