- allotment
- allotment supper
- asparagus
- bees
- borage
- chard
- compost
- courgettes
- golden gooseberry jelly
- golden sweet mange tout
- gooseberries
- gooseberry jam
- greenhouse
- hanging basket
- lemon apple cucumber
- lemon verbena
- no-dig allotment
- onions
- purple basil
- quince
- radishes
- rose de roscoff onions
- shed
- snowdrops
- strawberries
- sweetcorn
- sweet peas
- tomatoes
- yellow raspberries
- zinnias
Author Archives: Ruth Paris
jewelled moments
Posted in Allotment
Tagged borage, gooseberries, marigolds, pink currants, purple basil, redcurrants, tomato crimson blush, whitecurrants
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flurry
The Farnham Allotment Show is always a happy affair; beautifully organised and populated by a wonderfully diverse cross section of local people, united by devotion to their allotments. I find it so sweet as we all arrive, carefully bearing our … Continue reading
Posted in Allotment
Comments Off on flurry
purple basilico et al
This lot was just a quick pick of young veg to add to a picnic salad – still tender enough to eat raw, chopped small and mixed with wild rice and a light dressing.
black hawk down
It was probably the finest plant I’ve grown this year. Funny how you can plant seeds from the same packet in exactly the same way, yet one develops into a much more vigorous and healthy specimen… This was a courgette … Continue reading
couldn’t resist….
Here’s pudding this evening, later macerated with golden caster sugar and served with a cool glass of Moscato d’Asti (first experienced at the wonderful River Café for my birthday treat last year, courtesy of my two darling daughters) – with … Continue reading
yippeeee
What a busy day; and how very satisfying to see things coming at last to fruition. Aren’t they gorgeous?! Only a short time before they are the first delectable courgette harvest. And what about the peas, only recently so threatened … Continue reading
Posted in Allotment
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asparagus trials
Trials and tribulations actually. I’ve been nurturing my asparagus bed now for 5 years and have yet to harvest any. I had done the deep trench thing, added drainage and delicately straddled the octopussy roots over a carefully constructed ridge … Continue reading
spring cleaning the shed
Tardis-like, my modest shed had somehow accommodated a massive jumble of ‘stuff’, much of it dirty from muddy winter days when tidy cleaning up was secondary to getting home to the Aga. But yesterday, the time had come! Here it … Continue reading
Posted in Allotment
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vintage terracotta pots
I was so happy to find these treasures at the Saturday market at Farnham Maltings this weekend, provenance an old manor house sale. The teeny ones are over 100 years old; auricula pots. They had all been stored safely in … Continue reading
bean structure, pea weevil & asparagus
Busy busy busy… so much to do at this time of year. On the plus side, seedlings are germinating in the cold frame, broad beans established in situ, all the beds dug and fertilised – and I’ve even managed to … Continue reading
Posted in Allotment
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secret snowdrops
I love it that the allotment plot is ‘hidden in plain sight’; right in the middle of an urban roundabout, yet completely invisible unless you know to look. Just inside the 5-bar gate the two trees I planted early last … Continue reading
back in action
Due to a mixture of laziness, other priorities and a pusillanimous reluctance to engage with the chill dampness, I have been sadly neglectful of the huerto over recent times. However, a delightful array of gardening Christmas presents filled me with … Continue reading
P.S. I did it again
… broke the fork, that is!! As my daughter Clara observes, “Mummy is insanely strong!”…
autumnal bounty
This year’s extended fruiting season has been an unexpected pleasure, with all sorts of wonderful produce, including a good crop of quinces on the tree planted just 3 years ago.
lablab purpurea rampicanti
Despite my dismal failure to get the remainder of my hyacinth bean seeds to germinate this spring, the lone survivor is making up for its lost brethern by taking off in spectacular fashion, putting its neighbouring sweet peas to shame. … Continue reading
dahlia, blackcurrants and red kuri squash
See the recipe page for blackcurrant jam – not including the dahlia (‘Juliet’), although apparently the tubers are edible… The red kuri squash has taken off and is madly climbing up its bean pole tripod, fruiting brightly.
Posted in allotment recipes, dahlia, preserves
3 Comments
the long view
My friend Gill recently remarked that she had not appreciated the extent of the allotment plot. So here’s my attempt to show the length; there are 12 raised beds, six on either side. And at the far end the shed … Continue reading
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