Autumn Clearup

Well its that time of year again when the vegetables are nearly done and the beds need digging and weeding and covering ready for next year. I love this time of year, and feel especially close to the seasons and to the land when i am up on the plot in autumn.


The honeysuckle has grown so huge that it is pulling down the support frame and covering the apple tree nearby. I have pruned it hard back and hope it will recover. I have cuttings growing just in case!


Bonfires help to get rid of some of the trimmings, some can be composted and some have to go to the tip to be composted there.



Of course some crops are still doing well, autumn raspberries crop until the frost or December, whichever is first. Beans, courgettes, sweetcorn and cabbage are still there to be used. Leeks will be ready soon, as will my pumpkins, in time for halloween. The last apples can be used up in the next few weeks too.

Happy gardening!

Preserving!

A bumper plum crop this year has resulted in much preserving and hunting down of receipes for plums. Of course fresh plums are lovely, as is plum crumble, plum tart, plum pie, plum cobbler and stewed plums. Eventually though with a freezer groaning with plums and friends refusing to take any more i made jam.

The receipe was very good...

Plum Jam
2.7 kg (6lbs) plums
2.7 kg (6lbs) sugar
knob of butter

Put all plums and 900ml water (1.5 pints) into a preserving pan and simmer until fruit is very soft and contents of pan are well reduced. (about 30-40 mins)

Take pan off heat, remove as many stones as possible.

Add sugar and stir, heat very gently until sugar dissolves. Add butter. Bring to boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.

Pot and cover.



Jam was not enough though to work through my plums which filled a crate. I hunted through some old receipe books and made chutney.

Spiced Plum Chutney

3lb (1.35kg) Plums
3 largish onions
1lb (450g) Cooking apples
1lb (450g) Seedless raisins
1lb (450g) dark soft brown sugar
1lb (450g) demerara sugar
2 cloves
2 pints (1.25 litres) malt vinegar
3 cloves garlic
2 heaped teaspoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons salt
2 small cinnamon sticks
1oz (25g) allspice berries - i didn't use these as i couldn't find any


Stone and halve the plums and put in large pan
Peel, core and chop apple and add
Crush garlic and add.
Add ginger, raisins, both sugars, vinegar
Sprinkle in salt and stir
Put cinnamon, allspice, and cloves in a bit of cloth, tie up and put into pan

Bring to boil and then simmer for 2-3 hours. Stir regularly to prevent sticking.

Put into steralized puts and keep for 3 months before eating.

This looks fine, but doesnt use many plums. However i had plenty of apples and onions too!


I still had many plums and now even my own family were refusing to eat them and so i made plum ketchup. This is actually rather good although a faff to make,but it has the benefit of using a lot of plums!


Plum Ketchup

8lb (3kg 600g) plums
8oz (225g) currants
1lb (450g) onion chopped small
2oz (50g) salt
1ld (450g) demerara sugar
2 pints (1.25 litres) distilled white vinegar

tie the following up in a piece of gauze

6-8 dried chillies
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1/2 oz (10g)root ginger crushed a bit first
1/2 oz (10g) allspice berries
2 garlic cloves peeled.

Stone plums and put in pan with currants, onions, and bag of spices.
Add 1 pint (570ml) of the vinegar
Bring to boil and simmer until soft

remove spices and liquidise the rest of the mixture until perfectly smooth. (You can sieve it too)
Rinse pan and return puree to it with bag of spices. Add rest of vinegar,salt and sugar.
Bring to simmering point and cook uncovered until reduced to about 3.5 pints, or 2 litres. (about 1.5-2 hours)

Prepare the ketchup bottles (old glass ones or preserving bottles) Boil them and their tops. Pour ketchup into bottles while they are still warm. Put the tops on but do not tighten them.
Put bottles in a pan, add warm water up to 4cm or 1.5 inches from the tops. Bring water to boil and boil for 10 mins.
Transfer bottles to a wooden surface and complete the sealing.





Now i just need to sort out my apples......

Other Plots

There are over 80 plots on my allotment site, and they are all different. Here are some of them.


The traditional plots usually consist of two long beds either side of a central path. These are then divided by the different crops that are grown.


A few years ago small beds became very popular, and many people converted their plots. Here is one that is just being done. These are supposed to cut down on digging as there is no need to walk over the earth, which does not become compacted. It is also easier to weed and maintain. It reduces the available space for growing vegetables as more paths are needed. I find that weeds grow up around the edges of the beds and they are hard to eliminate.


Some plots are rampant with growth. Even if there are weeds it is still possible to have crops of fruits and vegetables. It is surprising how quickly nature gets back control of an allotment!


Some plots are just beautiful. These dahlias are lovely.



and here is a bumper crop of beans inspite of the bad weather we have been having!

Allotment Diary July 2007

It has been raining for ever and I havn’t been to the allotment as often as I should. I have been visiting family and doing extra hours at work, and to be honest, my poor plot is looking neglected. We seem to have rabbits at work, and they have polished off my peas and my carrots.
Still I have been picking the blackcurrants and have dug up my garlic to dry.

I will need to get the onions soon



Other things are surviving, or even growing a bit, like the runner beans,



Sweet peas





Cabbages, although a little munched by caterpillers…



Courgettes are becoming marrows rather too quickly with all the rain. Any courgette receipes would be useful, but not marrow jam, its just too grim!



Of course my pond is still ok, a little covered in weed and in need of attention, but full of bugs and frogs and damselflies.


Today I saw bank voles making a nest in a deserted corner. I expect they will be munching all my peas and beans later, but I think I am ok with that, how hypocritical, it is because they are furry, i bet i wouldn't feel that way about a gang of slugs!

I tried tomatoes in grow bags this year as I get blight on the plot. It hasn’t worked – I think I haven’t watered them enough.

Happy Plotting!

Penwortham Allotments protected from development

In spite of rumours to the contrary, all Penwortham allotment sites have the full protection of the law with regards to their development. They are all statutory sites and this means that they cannot be used for any purpose other than as allotments unless it can be proven that they are surplus to requirements. This means a substantial proportion of the plots must be vacant.

Benedicta Peters from the urban green spaces team in the Department of Communities and Local Government confirmed
"Consent is not given unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that the local authority has done full investigation into whether the plot really is surplus; for example they've taken into account their waiting list and have advertised extensively"

The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners confirm this interpretation of the law and explain


In 1998, the Select Committee Enquiry into allotments resulted in the report The Future of Allotments in which the Select Committee expressed concern about the level of allotment site disposals and the implications this would have for the predicted increase in demand for allotments in the future.

Concern had been expressed by the Select Committee that the criteria for assessing disposals were too weak and too many disposals of allotment sites had been permitted. This did not sit comfortably with the Urban White Papers commitment to the protection of urban green spaces, including allotments.

In September 1999, the Government Offices were issued guidance by the Government on allotment policy and casework. This included a section on the procedure for dealing with applications to dispose to statutory allotment land under Section 8 of the 1925 Allotment Act.


Adequate provision will be made for displaced plot holders, or that such provision is not necessary or is impracticable;

The number of people on the waiting list has been effectively taken into account;

The authority has actively promoted and publicised the availability of allotment sites and has contacted The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners

In February 2002, the Planning Policy Guidance Note 17— Sport, Open Space and Recreation was strengthened and the criteria clarified by adding that

The allotment in question is not necessary and is surplus to requirements

The implications of disposal for other relevant policies, in particular development plan policies, have been taken into account.

It is clear from this that it is not sufficient to offer an alternative site to allotment holders and that as long as the allotments have 100% occupancy and a waiting list they cannot be disposed of under current legislation.

Rumour has it that Preston City Council wish to restrict the waiting lists for their two sites in Penwortham to Preston City residents only. This would reflect the increasing demand for plots, and if this goes ahead then there may be a case for more allotment sites in South Ribble to cope with current demand.

Grow Your Own – Allotments hit the silver screen!

A new film, Grow Your Own has been released which centres on the allotment and the part it can play in forming communities from individuals. It is based on a real project to give Balkan War refugees allotments in Liverpool. Gardening as therapy for those who have experienced real trauma is increasingly recognised as beneficial, as The Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture has found in its work with torture survivors. Those involved in the charity’s natural growth project find it easier to talk about the past outside, on one of the projects allotments.

Grow Your Own follows the lives of the plotholders over a year, and focuses on the changes which ensue when two new tenants arrive: Diveen Henry’s widowed Zimbabwean émigré Miriam (with son in tow) and broken, Chinese mute Kung Sang, who’s unable to care for his two kids. As the seasons pass, the elder tenants and their new neighbours begin to connect and, inevitably, grow along with their produce. The full review can be seen here

Allotment diary May 2007

I cant believe I am doing my diary for may and it is the middle of June. I guess that I have been so busy planting and watering things that I have not had time to write about it! It has been really dry on the allotments during May. I tried to water as much as I could, but like many people did not make it up everyday. I am not sure whether I should just give up on my carrot seeds, but think I will give them another couple of weeks to appear. I have sown them 3 times now. I have seen a couple of tiny seedlings, which have disappeared. Slugs? Mice? Birds? Aliens? Who knows!

Other than this things are doing ok. My peas are a little yellow, and I think it is magnesium deficiency so I have put some epsom salts on them. I don’t get such a good crop as other plots. I need to go and ask what the trick is!

It looks like a bumper year for fruit.

Strawberries are just beginning to ripen



Plums are blooming



Currents are ripening



Apples are looking good.


Onions and garlic need some rain really to swell them up a bit but they are ok, courgettes are settling in.

We have dug up the first new potatoes, we used to wait until June, but by the time we get to the end of them they have become floury and are more prone to slug damage. We dig them up so early we need 3 plants for the family, but they do taste good!

The allotments are looking lovely, foxgloves and iris giving splashes of colour. Most people have a few flowers on the plots to encourage the bees and those butterflies!

On the pond the lily leaves are up, but no flowers yet. The tadpoles are getting fatter. We have seen damselflies on the pond, two types, the blue ringtail and the emerald rubyspot. It is such a peaceful and relaxing place to be, and there is nothing more stress busting than an hour by the pond with a good book! Why not put a pond on your allotment or in your garden? The . BBC website tells you how.