Brimington Show

Don't forget that Brim Show is on Saturday, 25th August at the Community Centre on High Street.  There is a section for all-comers so don't be shy.  You can show off your fantastic lotty veg or have a go at the Homecraft Section

It's worth going for the refreshments alone!  Fab cakes!!!!!

Members' Discount Seed Scheme

The Kings Seeds colour catalogues have now arrived. Get your copy from The Shed this Saturday!

The sun's out at last!

Spent a whole day on the plot yesterday without getting wet! 

This wet weather seems to have suited the blackcurrants and gooseberries though and I spent a happy hour yesterday gathering them in.  I suppose jam is inevitable, although I rather fancy making a blackcurrant cheesecake.





Blight seems to have arrived and several people are reporting that their potatoes are affected. If you've not been spraying against it there's nothing much to be done once it's arrived except to remove affected foliage which you can burn or take to the tip. Don't compost any blighted potato or tomato foliage.

My first job of July

To make and install a raised bed, or rather my husband's first job


Here it is in all its splendour, made from roof beams from our recent loft 
conversion


Planted up with Minicole cabbages, Bolognese courgettes, calendula
 and a stray celery 


So, what to plant in the other half. I hear Algy has some swede plants to hand. 

Flaming June!

Humph!  I can't remember a worse June on the allotment. I've hardly spent hardly any time at all there.  I seem to have spent most of the month looking outside at the rain, muttering and cursing.

Still, it's over now and as I look out of my window this morning I see not a bad day in prospect.

Unusual basil

Basil is an easy to grow, tasty herb. This one is the lettuce-leafed basil, or foglia di lattuga to give it its proper name.  This was raised from seed in a pot on the windowsill.  It's delicious, a bit milder than the sweet basil, and the size of it lends itself to wrapping up mozzarella or ricotta  before adding to the pasta sauce etc.  

You can see how big the leaf is.  It's as long as the kitchen roll!

Tumbling Tomatoes

Here are my tomatoes hanging from the rail on my plot.  I like to ring the changes and try different ideas out, and I thought growing on the flat was rather samey, so decided to sling the bag over the fence and plant a tumbling tomato on each side.  Whether it will work or not remains to be seen but it looks ok at the moment 

*&£$*Y RAIN!!!!

It's so frustrating not being able to get anything much done on the plot at a time when there's so many jobs to be done, not least of which is re-sowing of all the no-shows!
Oh well, spent the day indoors making fabulous bread and a belly-warming lamb and puy lentil casserole
If the rain does stop for a while tomorrow I plan to be potting up tomatoes. Another job on my lengthening to-do list

On my list of seeds to be sown is this little beauty. Long red onion of Florence which is the sweetest onion, cooks up a treat and caramelises beautifully, for those of us who enjoy a tart!  I used it for my many trays of roast veggies last year and it's always first on my list of things to grow.  The foliage is long and lush and you can eat that too!  I have a few in the plot at the moment and they were doing well.  Before the floods that is ..

Aaaaaagh my spuds!

Algy if you're there mate please be a brick and rescue my pot potatoes. I think they might still be enshrouded by a cocoon of fleece, so possibly roasting nicely!  If you happen to be passing could you please liberate them
(see large brown pot on the decking)

Tara a bit

Losing the Plot!

That made you sit up and take notice!

Not a problem on our site, for the moment, but the sword of Damocles still swings menacingly over our heads, so this light-hearted look at the thorny issue of councils robbing allotment land - with a play staged by the Mikron theatre group - is a chance to sit back and have a laugh at the goings-on

This is a recent quote about the play, which is being staged on allotments and pub car parks up and down the land so try and catch it if you can. I think the nearest it gets to Bolsover is Southwell and West Bridgford in Notts. Check out Mikron's own website for further details

"Losing The Plot is a light-hearted comedy about an allotment, its people and its culture. Threatened by the intervention of the council trying to move the site, the allotmenteers have to band together to resolve the problem"

Hardening off ...

... all sorts of veg on the plot hardening off ready for planting out.  The red cabbage and Tenderstem broccoli are already in but still loads of veg waiting in the wings.  More tender stock like the courgettes, pumpkins, squash and beans, oh and sweetcorn of course!  

Welcome to the new blog. A place to chat about the plot when you're not actually on it!

Not much happening on my plot today, or yesterday for that matter. I spent most of the time hunting for my specs!

I expect most of us have loads of trays of plants backing up, waiting patiently for a window in the weather so they can be planted out.  I hear it's going to be fine and warmer tomorrow so make the most of it