Rewind The Film

It’s here! The new drone video of the site, courtesy of Colin de Fraine. 

I hope you agree that the plots are looking amazing from all the different angles. How dry it is though! Still no rain, so thank goodness for the borehole and generator to pump our water.

From Monday it’s National Allotment Week and we’re having a vote for the Plotholders Choice Award for the favourite plot. I hope lots of people join in and next Sunday we’re having a bring-your-own picnic for the prize-giving. We’re not quite ready for an open day with Covid cases still high, so this is the next best thing – also takes less organisation!

We haven’t had any rain all week and aren’t expecting any at least till Friday – hope it stays dry on Sunday for the picnic!

The dry earth makes digging the potatoes easy and they emerge clean, with no slug damage so far – it makes a nice change. These are Nicola potatoes. The tubers are mostly quite small. They’re tasty hot or cold. We’ve had them boiled, as roasted wedges and mashed. 

I had the carrot, fennel and spring onion with mayonnaise in a roll for lunch – yum yum. Only one Florence fennel looks like it may bulb up quite big – nothing like you see in shops though. They are mostly going to seed but are still good as a flavouring.

I enjoyed the last of the pulled Salad Blue potatoes with French beans and these smoky not-chicken bites. They were a tasty snack and added a bit of extra protein to this colourful little lunch.

Green beans, whether runners or French beans, are well and truly on the menu now. The French beans are  Blue Lake climbing French beans. And the cucumbers are just beginning to join most lunches. 

Mmmm, cheese and cucumber sandwiches… we just bought some fancy cheddar cheeses from the monthly Hungerford Food market along with some more garlic oil. I also couldn’t resist buying a couple of pots on the plant stall, including a salvia for the flower patch by our bench. Talking of which, that’s where I’m going now.

The song title is provided by the Manic Street Preachers. Go on, why not take another look at the drone video? It’s only 2½ minutes long.