Simple Supper

The Allotment has rather taken a back seat since I started working at Houghton Lodge but after work today Sammy and I found time to pop up and harvest some Courgettes for supper. They were rather large! But look yummy. Everything has very much appreciated the rain over the last few days (including me!) and veg looks lush and ready to eat.

One of the white Onions has gone to seed and looks gorgeous, I am really enjoying the towering seed pods around at the moment and think sometimes they are prettier than the flower before them.

Sammy took some snaps despite feeling a bit poorly.

Quick trip but well worth it to check out what is going on and to get food. Yum can't wait for supper, pork chops, pots from our home garden and courgette from the plot.

Schools out for summer kids

Schools out and the boys wanted take out Fish and Chips. I suggested eating them up the plot as I needed to water so the combination was bliss!

Peas and Courgette for tea, Risotto I think Neil is conjuring up tonight (I am upstairs doing this whilst small boys keep coming out of bed to tell me they are hot, there's no point trying to do anything downstairs!)

It is just gorgeous up there in a breeze. It has been 26 or higher today and around 6pm it hasn't really cooled so very unusual for us and we are trying to get out in it.

The calm before the (courgette) storm

It's preposterously hot and the courgettes are loving it. It won't be long until it's courgette pasta on Monday, courgette curry Tuesday, courgette salad Wednesday... And I for one don't mind. The fact that there are a few varieties this year will be lovely. They'll go nicely on the plate with the potatoes that look like they are nearly ready with leaves all dying down. Either that or they have been ravaged by some potato-eating beasty, which isn't out of the question. Also surviving the beasties nicely are the squash which are coming along well and starting to really spread out. My favourite survivors are the artichokes though, towering over the the whole plot like floodlights at a football stadium And to think we thought we had pulled them all up last year. As my dad said when he visited at the weekend "plant one artichoke and they're with you forever". And again, I don't mind one bit. They'll roast up nicely with those courgettes...

first (well second really) veg! yip yip yipee

Popped up the plot with two reluctant, hot tired boys on way back from school (car carked it yesterday and is in the garage). Complete with guitar, Louis played some tunes, (Oh when the Saints) whilst Sammy rearranged rocks and I did all the watering!

We had our first Beetroot yesterday, neil made a gorgeous salad with it. Today we picked our first Peas, never before grown at Bugs and My Robot Top and a lettuce which snuck into some seed trays at College. We had sown Tagetes and re-used compost from sowing Lettuces before! So we got both and that was a nice surprise.

Courgettes aren't far off and the Pots look ready to pull. And we're off!

Family visit

Hot, hot hot and such a great change! I managed to get us all up the plot after supper to water the poor dry plants. Lou worked with great excitement as he hasn't been up in ages and Sammy wanted to take pics. He took some great ones!

The plot looks so good at this time of year, everything looks strong enough to survive beasties, drought and anything else that comes it's way. We ate some peas (Sammy is trying new veg at mo on his sticker chart and concluded he didn't like them), we pulled up some Beets and the potatoes don't look too far off eating.

A great trip, even the apple tree looks OK with much watering. We popped to the pub after and Sammy said "that's what he had always wanted", so there you are. Good chap.