The plot overwhelms me in the summer, and life's so busy even without it. And just as the blog and the allotment are supposed to motivate each other, so allotment-guilt perpetuates blog-guilt, and vice versa, in a paralysing vicious circle.
But two things have happened so exciting I had to write at least a quick post to tell you.
I harvested my shallots!
18 planted, 64 harvested. Doesn't seem like a bad turnover. Now I'm going to have to find somewhere to store them. The house is too warm, my onions told me last year, but if I put them in the shed I'm worried the rodents will get them. We have a pretty bad rodent problem.Do rodents even eat onions?
And look at THIS!
Ok, so the plants don't look too healthy. Not sure why - it's not nearly destructive enough to be blight and I'm pretty sure they're getting enough food and water. But anyway I've eaten a good handful of the very first Nomegrown tomatoes now and they're delicious. A little thick-skinned (is that just down to variety?) but delicious!The toms on the allotment are doing pretty well too, and despite my complete inability to prune them they're carrying a pretty decent amount of fruit.
The beans are doing incredibly well, and so is the sweetcorn and most of the squashy things. Two of my obelisks are covered in spaghetti squashes, the pumpkins had made a break for plot-domination and started over the top of the cabbage-patch netting when we returned from another holiday recently, and I swear we carried home nearly my body-weight in courgettes the other day. The cucumbers aren't doing so well, unfortunately, though this small-but-perfectly-formed specimen was delicious (the difference between shop-bought cucumbers and homegrown ones is astounding).
First year I grew them it was in grow bags, and I've just never had such good results since. I think next year I will have to try growbags again!
7 comments:
Gday Nome, just popped in to say hi, Home grown Veg.very tasty, I dont think Rodents it onions, But not 100%sure on that...
Looking good, nice crop of shallots and toms!
The shallots and tomatoes look great. The thick skin on the tomatoes are probably the variety. Most commonly available tomatoes are the same varieties farmers use, and thick skins for easy transport is a common trait.
Are you still planning on coming to the food growing get-together 20 September?
http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog/?p=386
If you would let me know I would appreciate it. If you still aren't sure, that's okay, but I may offer your seat to someone else after 1 September. I don't really think that will be an issue because it seems like there are enough seats.
If you're interested in trying some heirloom tomatoes, I'll probably have some self-saved seeds with me in Oxford you could have. I'll probably post some pictures of the tomatoes soon.
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I am thinking of getting a blog!
Nice blog. I know we're on your suppliers links list, but wondered if you fancied trying some of our bits and pieces for free? If you are please get in touch using the contact form on our website. Regards Stephen from Victoriana Nursery Gardens
i've found outdoor tomatos get tough skin while greenhouse tomatos are less likely, but variety definatly counts. Onions in my shed that belonged to the old allotment older were eaten by rats...Big rats.
The answer to the onion and shallot problem is, in part, to hang them - mice can get up to hung onions but it's more difficult. To double their problems, you can hang the hanger from a hanger - put a hook in the shed beam, hang a metal coathanger from it, and hang the onions etc from that - it requires real determination for a rodent to negotiate that set of slippery and swinging obtacles.
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