Unofficial retrobike allotment thread....

[The History Man]

How much room for rhubarb?

 

[Tad]

Well looking at the veggie patch the great broad bean glut of 2013 has begun. Does anyone have a decent recipe for these? I only planted them on a whim as I got a 3 pack of seeds from Poundland, broad, tendergreen and borlotti, the latter two look a bit crap to be honest but the broads have gone mental. Started them off on the inside of a jar lined with blotting paper on the kitchen window and then planted out.

I have no idea what to do with them and want to enjoy scoffing them.

Beetroot's coming on well, should keep me in beetroot soup for the winter

Cheers.

 

[The History Man]

Lightly boil, toss in vinaigrette and a little chopped garlic. Add any of the borlotti and butter beans and enjoy with salad, grilled chicken etc, new pots. Yum!

I take it you know all about purple foods?

 

[Silvergoat]

How much room for rhubarb?

I've got 8 clumps in a bed about 12x15ft. They need to be spaced a good 3ft apart as they're quite 'bushy' once established. They like a nice rich soil but the crowns need to be proud of it to avoid waterlogging. I've got some new ones coming along in some tubs meanwhile. Here's some more info:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/t ... arb1.shtml

 

[The History Man]

I'd rather have rhubarb than straggly raspberries! I shall speak to Mrs HM presently. Just picked her up from the pub.

 

[grumpycommuter]

Sounds like everyone is having loads of veggie fun. Not harvested anything yet as we started quite late but the beetroot is looking fab. I'll get some pictures posted up tomorrow. I'll try and get a picture of the well too.

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Fixies:

I think this is the recipe, can't quite remember. Just mess with ingredients unti you get one you like.

Lots of broad beans! Boil until just cooked.
Lemon juice.
Fresh mint.
Garlic.
Salt and pepper.
Possibly a little natural yogurt and paprika.

Basically this is a sort of pâté to be enjoyed on toast or in sarnies. So, put the cooked beans along with everything else apart from the yogurt into a food processor. Pulse (ha!) it, you aren't looking for a paste, you want a bit of texture and add a little yogurt if you think it needs it. Eat now or leave in the fridge to allow flavours to develop.

 

[The History Man]

Broad bean guacamole!

 

[Silvergoat]

Fixies:

I think this is the recipe, can't quite remember. Just mess with ingredients unti you get one you like.

Lots of broad beans! Boil until just cooked.
Lemon juice.
Fresh mint.
Garlic.
Salt and pepper.
Possibly a little natural yogurt and paprika.

Basically this is a sort of pâté to be enjoyed on toast or in sarnies. So, put the cooked beans along with everything else apart from the yogurt into a food processor. Pulse (ha!) it, you aren't looking for a paste, you want a bit of texture and add a little yogurt if you think it needs it. Eat now or leave in the fridge to allow flavours to develop.

mmm, nom – I can see this being combined with chorizo in some way.

 

[Silvergoat]

Good Lord! Things are shooting up! Still spraying the bind weeds, the potatoes are up to my waist, beans are rattling up the canes and we have toms...It's also chuffin' hot but i'm suprised how little watering is required now things are established.

Had a chat with the good lady last night and it occurred to us that this allotment should be useful. We took it on because we thought it would be fun, some fresh air for the kids etc...Now things have been a touch tight financially in the Grumpy household. We decided when we had kids that one of us should stay at home as long as possible and seeing as i had the largest wage the good lady was picked for the job. Roll forward seven ish years and suddenly the allotment, rather than being a fun project is now seen as a genuine method for saving some pennies. So next year we will be planning carefully and really making it work....

Hows everyone else?

Hi Karl,
Got a forest of spuds now, plus a forest of grass/weeds after along working week. And after a motorway-melting weekend, a lot of watering to do.

Went to RHS Hampton Court on Saturday which was blisteringly hot all day – it was 26℃ at about 9.30 am. The weekend before that we went to Ardingly Smallholders show.

We started on our first allotment back in March 2001 after months of horizontal rain and confusion between the site sec and council. At the time, my mrs was was working full time whilst I was temping/freelancing as and when jobs came in. Funds were tight, but with plenty of down time between work, I could crack on at the allotment. It was great, as I was at the allotment every day all day almost. We soon found that we could go some way to balancing out the lack of funds with our own produce. I learnt a lot with the spare time between jobs – how to cook, bake and preserve using our produce, thinking carefully about food and planning menus for lunches and dinners for a week ahead. This further encouraged us on our journey into self-sufficiency, embracing 'off-grid' thinking and towards cutting down our dependency on supermarkets. A major leap forwards for us was getting chickens three years back. We endured the crank hippy "Good Life" jibes, but for us it was about research, being more informed, living in a smarter less dependent way. I think it helped with managing and repurposing our funds better. Now we're both working full time, finances are easier but the downside is less time of course. But we're still going down that 'self sufficiency' road and we'd never give up the allotment – there's just no going back now. Plus we enjoy it, despite the hard work.

Good luck with the carefull planning. From what I've seen so far, you've got a really decent good sized plot and you're doing well with it.
H