By Phil, on October 6th, 2013 We didn’t plant onions this because we’ve always had trouble with them going mouldy and not storing well but this recipe is good for using lots of them. It’s one that I learnt from Chilean friends when I lived in Madrid.
 About two kilos of onions in a wok. 
Chop slice and dice more onions than will fit in you biggest frying pan. And then some more. Have a little cry to yourself if you need, try not to lose any fingers by chopping and crying at the same time. Fry them slowly in oodles of Spanish olive oil for as long as you have time for. I use two or three oodles, you may want to use less. Remember the more slowly you fry them the sweeter they will be. You can add some chopped celery or garlic if you want, but with that many onions it won’t make much difference. When they are turning golden, and have reduced to a size that will fit into you flan case, add a glass or so of Chilean white wine. Keep cooking until most of this has gone. Add some arrowroot to get a sort of golden gloopy mess, maybe add some paprika. Add enough grated cheese to hold the whole lot together (it can be a fair amount, but this is an onion tart, not a cheese and onion tart) mix it up and decant into a pastry flan case someone else has made. Stick it in an oven at 200C to brown. Let it stand for a while to cool before serving, otherwise it’s a bit on the sloppy side. Serve with chips and brown sauce (or a salad if you prefer) and the rest of that bottle of Chilean white wine if you still have it (if not a Rioja will do) and remember where you where when you first made this.
By Phil, on September 29th, 2013  Eaten. Not by us. This had been our best year for sweetcorn. We try sweetcorn every year but only one year in two do we get any. This year we got loads, we’d had over half a dozen cobs up to last week, really lovely sweet stuff, and a dozen or so more on the way. No more, all stripped down to the core.
By Phil, on September 22nd, 2013 Harvested beans (pulled up the runner beans), potatoes (about half now up), leeks (the first mature ones) a few carrots, broccoli, some sweetcorn, turnips, courgette & marrows.
Grass needs strimming, otherwise looking good.
     
By Phil, on September 22nd, 2013 Mostly we have been harvesting. Loads of beans, some really nice broccoli, chard, couregttes/marrows, red cabbage, and latterly sweetcorn, as well as the usual potatoes, turnips, beetroot.
 
By Phil, on August 11th, 2013 Harvested french and runner beans, one courgette, two lettuce, a carrier bag of chard and a couple of plants worth of both types of potatoes and a few more carrots.
Second and third sowing of carrots are coming up (nantes 2 and berlicum, from late June) Don’t know if there will be time for them to mature, though they are only a couple of weeks behind last year’s.
Summer rasps and strawberries are over, as are broad beans. Grubbed up second row of broad beans.
Sowed 2 rows Spring Hero cabbage where broad beans were (bed C) and a second row of chard next to the other two rows of radish (one of rudi one of french breakfast) and a row of valor lettuce where garlick was (all bed D)
Watered sweetcorn and squash especially, put cardboard tubes on musselburgh leeks to blanch the stems. Strimmed all grass.
By Phil, on August 4th, 2013  The day’s harvest, 4 Aug 2013 Todays harvest was lettuce, pak choi (from our neighbour), french beans, broad beans, chard, spinnach, red currants (4lb), black currants, garlic, carrots, baby leeks (thinnings), turnips, courgettes. (Not shown: some wonderful raspberries and strawberries that didn’t make it home.)
Also cut the grass, did a fair amount of weeding. The garlic s now all up, as are the over-wintered broad beans and the spinach (which went to seed before we got much from it).
 Bed I, courgette, squash and sweetcorn Quite happy with how things are going this year. The courgette squash and sweetcorn in all look good, and the french beans are now beginning, though the dwarf beans are a little too little.
 Bed C, French beans
By Phil, on July 28th, 2013  Blackcurrant vodka in the making A couple of hours at the allotment today, harvested 2.5lb blackcurrants. These were put into one normal and one medium kilner jar, and covered with Vodka. In a few months we will have blackcurrant vodka.
Also brought back lettuce, courgette (well, marrow), brad beans, strawberries and raspberries (both very nice), and potatoes (sarpo mira, which are ready) .
By Phil, on July 21st, 2013 First visit after about 3 weeks due to holiday, during which time there has been lots of sun and not much rain. We weren’t expecting good things, but were very pleasantly surprised. For one thing, looks like a friendly neighbour had been doing some watering for us. Thanks! We did lots more today.
Pretty much everything looks good. Potatoes are healthy and flowering.
Most of the beans are looking OK (though the dwarf beans haven’t really got going), and the lettuce is ready.
The garlick is ready, the leeks OK (thinned out the musselburgh that we started on windowsill, the last lot sowed direct into the ground failed), radishes were ready a week or two back, but still (just) OK, the spinach is heading to seed but still (just) OK, chard, turnips and beetroot looking good.
The brassica and parsnips are looking good, but needed weeding.
Berries and currants looking good, though we should have tied up the raspberries as some of them have keeled over. Sweetcorn, squashes and first lot of carrots all good (but later sowing of carrot have failed)
Brought home loads of lovely red currants (4.5lb!), strawberries and raspberries. Lots of broadbeans, a courgette on its way to being a marrow, baby leeks and small carrots (thinnings), and giant radishes, some garlick, and a couple of lettuces.
Big difference to last year.
           
By Phil, on June 16th, 2013 Planted out all the brassica we had sown indoors, in bed E. Also planted out courgettes, squashes and sweetcorn in bed I. Were given sprout plants which we also planted. Of all the brassicas the red cabbage which were planted direct in April are looking the strongest
Were given some lettuce plants which we planted under bean wigwams.
Sowed Musselburgh leeks direct into ground next to other leeks in bed D. Also sowed radishes, spinach, chard, beetroot and turnips to fill bed.
Caged the fruit. Which are looking rather good.
Thinned out the carrots and sowed a second tub of Nantes 2. These are planted in some sandy soil I got from the excavations to bury a power line through the car park, with some leaf mould at the bottom, and mixed with ashes.
Earthed up potatoes and weeded. Bought a strimmer, so now (after a few frustrating false starts) the allotment is a bit more photogenic.
 Currants coming along nicely  The fruit side  The veg side 
By Phil, on May 27th, 2013  Erik the Gnome has been on our allotment for about 10 years now, keeping an eye on it while we are not there. In the summer he hides in the brambles so this is the last month that he is easily spotted. 5 May, planted Nicola Potatoes in bed A. Sowed sweetcorn in modules on windowsill.
19 May, in bed C: planted out beans that had been grown in pots. 1 row dwarf french (snap bush), 1 row climbing french (neckar queen); on other side of each wigwam sowed seeds; sowed double row of runners (scarlet emperor on left from shed, best of all on right).
22 May, only one courgette is showing so sowed a few more in each pot.
26 May planted out pandora leeks that had been sown in modules in bed D.
Other row of pandora leeks sown direct are coming through and looking good.
In bed E, have two rows of about 8 parsnips come through, and six red cabbage from earlier sowings. Sowed a few more parsnips and cabbages to fill gaps and covered cabbages with net to keep birds off.
Beans planted previous week look frost damaged but alive. Carrots are showing.
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