Back to the usual British summer weather. As I type this, the rain is pouring down, and the wind is howling. But luckily, before this all happened, I have managed a harvest or two. I had a friend ages ago who got me a rhubarb bush/tree/hedge which has loved the weather. Along with the bags of potatoes that I planted, the harvest has been not too bad. Tomatoes have been disappointing, but so many things are this summer. The allotment is looking a lot better, but I will save that for another post; in the meantime just enjoy the harvest.

Well not only have I spent the week in some of the most amazing scenery, eaten some of the greatest food I have ever tasted, and taken possibly the best kitty photo ever, I received a phone call to let me know I finally have been offered an allotment.

Now I realise this is probably not as exciting to read as it is to type, but this has never really been about what excites other people, just what excites me.

I am especially looking forward to growing corn; I had no idea this was a feasible option, but as you can see from the photo above, it is quite common over here to grow your own corn.

So as soon as I return to England, I will be endeavouring to get everything sorted on my new plot of land. Not even sure if there is anything that can be planted now that won’t just die before it can be harvested. I foresee parsnips in my future. Obviously photos will be posted as soon as I get them, so hang tight for updates. Peas.

This is mainly going to be a quick introduction to Tumbling Tom, my new tomato prodigy, and my unalloyed joy at finding out that most of the solar lights that may or may not have been left out through some gnarly weather, still seem to work.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Now before I introduce you, it is worth mentioning what a tricky time it was finalising a name. Everything needs a name, and I wanted these two to have names that would stand the test of time.

After trying Penny and Roni, they didn’t seem to fit, especially as I have also been joined by Ronny and Reggie, the blackcurrant trees. So filibustering aside, please say hello to Princess Plum:

And, of course, Rhuby:

Now all we need is some summer type stuff going on, and maybe some more room around the place. It does seem that all the strawbs survived the winter outside, and we have a lot of them; I can see eight pots full from where I am sitting. Just sadly that so far haven’t been lucky with fruit, but here’s hoping this year will be different.

Also worth mentioning, although probably not necessary as the only person reading this is well aware of where Rhuby and Princess Plum have come from, but obviously a big shoutout to MBZ for my fantastic birthday prezzies, and lets hope I can find a recipe for rhubarb and plum crumble by the time they have done their thing.

Incidentally, and don’t worry, this post is drawing to a close eventually, but the cover photo here is Princess Plum as she is today, budding all over the place.

I will start this with a quick preamble regarding what is probably one of the greatest gifts I have received in recent years. After a conversation with a lass in the pub, I was informed that there was a company that would send people potatoes in a gift box. I did not believe her, and for some reason gave my address to a near total stranger, with her promise of a spud in return.

Many weeks, even months later a box arrived, and lo and behold, a spud in a box, accompanied by the smallest bottle of whisky money can buy.

Well obviously I did not have the heart to eat this pinnacle of potato-hood, but could not think of a fitting plan for him. eventually, my own innate laziness came to the rescue, along with time’s slow progression, and the spud of spuds gave me the answer, by sprouting some shoots.

So I had no choice but to do the honourable thing, and ensure he became spud and sire of spuds.

So there he is, taking his rightful place, so all we can do is wait and see how well he performs. Obviously I will let you know, and you are welcome to mash if they turn out ok.

Ok, it’s Valentine’s day, so I have taken the time to get out into the garden and start thinking about getting my ducks in a row this year, rather than deciding halfway through the year that I was going to grow stuff.

To this end, I found the collection of seeds from Silvester and planted them out in a propagator tray. I then found a pack of garlic chives seeds, so who wouldn’t wanna have that in their lives? So they have their own little soil homes until they decide to poke their heads through.

I was surprised how well the strawbs seem to have coped with the winter and rain, so it shouldn’t be long until porridge and strawberries for breakfast. Hardy little buggers, but I assume the slugs are just as hardcore, so will have to find a way to deal with those homeless snaily bastards as soon as the weather improves.

Also on the bright side, literally, although the sun hasn’t managed to shed enough light to light my shed, it managed to give a little life to my string of completely rubbish pineapple lights.

As Autumn wraps us in her chilly embrace, and the prospect of Winter’s icy fingers soon to be running down our spines, it was time to clear the garden of what remaining foods it would give up.

The first to give up their hidden gifts was the two potato plants that had survived. Although we have proved that it is possible to grow spuds in pots or other utensils, i would recommend you simply don’t.

Technically there were eight potatoes, but that seems a generous description of the tiny ones. It will not dissuade me from trying again next year, but was disappointing as I hoped for at least two meals out of them. Next up were the carrots, and they were the opposite as far as numbers were concerned, even if they were a little bit little.

At this point I decided to test a carrot and a spudlet. Boiled them both quickly for a few minutes, and gave them a munch. The spudlet was amazing. So tasty. The carrot was a little disappointing at this stage, but i do like my veg sweet while this fella was determined not to follow this simple guideline. The rest of the afternoon was spent disposing of the poor souls that hadn’t made it. This cull produced a couple of ‘cucumbers’, although nothing like you would see in the supermarket. And the last batch of tomatoes of the year. Also three garlic nearly-bulbs were kicking about in the soil.

All in all, not a bad haul, especially as there are still some salad plants not quite ready to give up for the year. Celebrated this bounty with fish and boiled garden spuds with garden mint and shored up with shop peas and a spud or two. You could tell the difference between the store bought and the fresh ones; they were worlds apart. Can’t wait to do it better next year.

This is Sylvester, my first tomato bush. I have a tendency to name things that most people wouldn’t bother, but I feel I take more care of things that have names. Sylvester was a rescue tomato; rescued from Lidls to form part of the founder membership of the veg and fruit garden. It seems like months ago, which it was, and in all this time he has just got bushier, and he has so many teeny tomatoes that he is a delight to have around the place.

Only issue I had with him; the tomatoes don’t seem to be ripening. They have been yellow now for weeks. They aren’t getting any bigger or dying, they are just sitting there being yellow.

This has been worrying me for a while so I eventually checked back with his growing instructions. Lo and behold, Sylvester produces little yella fellas.

So tomorrow, I am looking forward to a BLT using my homemade cheese and onion bread, bacon, with the L and T straight out of the garden.