Tag Archives: allotment

Squashes, success, Uncategorized

Plot Pumpkin meets his fate

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With two of the three plot pumpkins already having met their fate: it was time that my last one met it’s fate. Having survived Halloween, it has been hanging around for a while.

 

The process involved chopping, roasting and adding the combination of pumpkin, tomato and a bit of home grown chilli to an onion base. With this recipe, I have only used half of the 6lb fruit.

The youtube clip is here.

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After roasting, we did this.

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The recipe is fairly straight forward. Having peeled and chopped the pumpkin it was then roasted with an assortment of spices. Once cooked through, this was added to a base of onions, ginger, onions and cumin that had been sweated off. Adding water and simmering till tender, the pumpkin became tender and was then blitzed with a hand blender. The one difference in this soup compared to ones made previously, was the addition of home grown fenugreek for additional flavour. There were also some frozen home grown chillies in there too.

If you hold a second, I will be posting the other half, where we curry Bruno!

Books, success, Taking stock, Uncategorized

World Book Day 2016: Thursday 3rd March

I hear it’s World Book Day tomorrow; the global celebration of literary fiction, of characters that inveigle themselves into our imagine to loom larger than life, and of the passion and pride that authors feel when their words are read and enjoyed.

Admittedly, these were my second. third and fourth thoughts after thinking of my own book and how I could plug it all day tomorrow. Not the most appropriate thought I suppose when there are books for every taste and interest that should be celebrated. I wrote mine as it corresponds to mine, the fortunate thing being that there are people out there for whom I hope it is useful. I enjoy having a vegetable patch, and I wanted to share the lessons learned from it.

It is less than seven months since I published #Plantpottales, and I am trying to think of what to do next. There is a current work in progress, with slow and steady progress being made. I do have a self imposed deadline that I am working towards; and two months in it is feeling rather tight already. I don’t write full time, I don’t even play on the plot full time; so it is shoe horned into the real life. This makes having a monthly quota a challenge, and I have a long list of things I want to write and put into the work. It’s a move away from non-fiction; I am trying to use my imagination and a thesaurus to create a work of fiction.

But I would also like to write another non-fiction gardening book. The thought has entered my mind of late. It will have recipes in it, certainly. I have a list! Of the assorted jams, jellies and chutneys that have been plot experiments. (I’m going to be cautious here and tell you that I am not a professional preserver but a hobbyist, so don’t be expecting full scale rules and regulations for health and safety et cetra. Keep yourself and your kitchen safe, all right?).  Whilst I have the list of recipes, I will need to reflect on what I put in the book proper. This means devising a list of chapter headings in the same way I did when developing #plantpottales. Some serious reflection is required as to what I want to put into it; knowing what I had put into #plantpottales.

This is the first-I think-World Book Day that I can experience as an author. I might be self published, but an author nonetheless, and I like to think that #plantpottales is one of the many books out there that will be appreciated not just tomorrow, but also beyond. The growing season has but just started!

With two possible, projects for the coming year, I can only hypothesis what world book day 2017 might be like.

Taking stock

First day of Spring…Allegedly

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And also St.David’s day, by the way. So Happy Feast of St.David to the Welsh Contingent.

I knew Spring was coming, the plot Daffodils have bloomed and burst with a splash of yellow bisecting the plot across the middle. Granted, they bloomed about two weeks ago, but that was something of alarum call that positive things were on the way.

Then  I looked out the window this morning, and saw greasy fat raindrops sliding down the pane. I had been double checking that we hadn’t been snowed on, so rain was okay; more so than a possible blanket of snow. I don’t snow was predicted per se, but I had heard rumours of discontent that we might get some and therein have difficulties coming into work.

No snow, but miserable raindrops as Spring kicks off. What might this mean then for me, and the plot?

potted up
Potted up chillies

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Prairie Fire
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daffodil!
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As you can see over the last few weeks, seed have been sown and germinated. And oh look, a daffodil. Whilst this is small progress, I do feel that I am about a month behind where I might be. I think this is caused by the fact that the chillies were sown a little later than usual, and the tomatoes are definitely out of kilter. As March arrives like the proverbial Lion, I need to checklist the growing season plan. Mum has already asked when I am going to sow ‘Running’ Beans, with that my mind is also wandering towards this years Psychology Sunflower challenge and sowing sunflowers. By April, will be time to sow Squashes and courgettes. I still have yet to sacrifice last years Ghost Rider Pumpkin. I will aim to do that in the next few weeks, it’s starting to look as though it is pouting.

Potatoes! I forgot about the spuds. These are waiting in the wings, whilst I source some bags of ‘orse poop. A few tried and tested varieties from previous years have been retained and the seed potatoes will be sunk into raised beds at the next available opportunity.

 

tomatoes, Uncategorized

Sowing tomatoes 2016

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We’re running a little behind scheduled! Looking back at this point last year, it would appear that I behind where I should be. The chillies are definitely smaller, and I am only getting around to sowing tomatoes. That was the job for today! There are quite a few jiffy pellets sown, more than usual. If they don’t end up on the plot, I am sure that they will go to happy homes. All being well, I will put these into the open ground of the plot, rather than in the poly tunnel. Last year all of the tomato plants were in there, and the subsequent yield was far lower than expected.

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Click here for the youtube channel version.

The range that we have sown today is as follows:

  • Aisla Craig
  • Marmande
  • Tigerella
  • Yellow Stuffer
  • Money maker
  • Black Cherry
  • Latah

I was ably assisted by mum, who requested that we have the staple of red, round tomatoes. She kindly put all the seeds into the jiffy pellets after I had labelled them. You can’t see her on the video, but I assure you that she was standing there waving her hands at me to make the video longer! May be next time!

 

chillies, Experimental Chillies and be;;s, Uncategorized

Chillies 2016: Phase two potting up

As well as cooking, the second batch of chillies have been potted up having waited for a good week or so.

Prairie Fire
Potted up chillies

 

These are still very delicate looking, and all being well will start to bulk up in the coming weeks.

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There is an alternative link here.

Will be keep an eye on these, there is no plans to sow any more. There are over twenty small pots now sat on the window sill; so that will mean a rather busy poly tunnel if all of the plants stay in there.

Horticultural Obbit Channel, Mama H recipes, Squashes, Uncategorized

Cooking Honey Bear squash: Indian Style!

Today, after much deliberation; Mum announced ‘Punam, I have sacrificed your pumpkin!”

The pumpkin in question was actually a squash, and it is called a honey bear squash. Having been sacrificed, we then had to cook the thing. So we did.

This is the link for the first part, a quick dash through the recipe.

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It actually didn’t take too long to tenderise the squash and mum even added some frozen home grown fenugreek.

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There is an alternative link here for when it had cooked through.

 

 

ebook, paperback, petal'spottedpreserve, writing

#Plantpottales: The Global Gardening paperback!

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It would be amazing to get support other gardeners as we approach the new growing season here in the Northern Hemisphere. My own experiences have been documented both here on the blog and in the book.

‘Playing with Plant Pots: Tales from the allotment’ charts all of my discoveries, the positives and the pitfalls of growing my own fruit and vegetables on the allotment.

You can find the book in both paper back and in ebook forms. The links to the UK amazon and kindle sites are on the right hand side of the blog.

A reminder though, of where you might find the book:

 

The link for Barnes & Noble can be accessed here

Another thing that is really important to me, is supporting independent book stores Sadly, there isn’t one here in Birmingham, England! Or at least not one I can find anyway. I am determined to find one. That said, I am working with Serendipity Books and More in the US. At the moment, they are the only store in the USA that physically stocks and sells copies of the book plus some of the Petal’s Potted Preserve Merchandise.

So if you are in the US, would like to support not one by two small independent business and are trying to develop green fingers, why not check out the store without walls as developed by Serendipity Books and More.

 

serenditpy

Serendipity books and more: Plant Pot tales

chillies, Experimental Chillies and be;;s, Uncategorized

Potting up 2016 chillies: Phase one

Potted up chillies
emergent phase two chilli babies

Upon the window sill the chillies were getting a bit leggy. To stop them keeling over I have potted them up into small pots. I have done this using normal multipurpose compost. It is still a little cold and these are somewhat pampered chillies.

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You can find the you tube links to the videos here and here

The seedlings that we have at the moment are:

  • Devil’s rib
  • Jalapeño
  • Hungarian Hot Wax
  • Orange scotch bonnet and habanero

I have potted thee seedlings right up their pair of seed leaves. Hopefully this will act to anchor them in position. There are still some seeds that are waiting to crack in the heated propagater and three more babies have been retrieved to be potted up at a later point.

 

chillies, Experimental Chillies and be;;s, Uncategorized

Chillies 2016: Emergent seedlings

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Devil’s rib
Jalapeno’s

The difference a heated propagator makes. It didn’t take long post transfer to have seedlings. Okay, so the jalapeños had started to crack already; but having the extra heat has certainly improved matters. Both rounds of chillies are sat in the heated propagator so all can be observed and germinators fished out.

Over the last two days, with one jalapeño being  welcomed into the world it was followed by three other pellets. They are very weak and baby like; very fragile looking. I have taken them out of the heated propagator now and positioned them on a window sill where it is relatively  warm and there is an acceptable amount of light. I will keep monitoring them as it is still rather cold and these could easily shrivel up and die because of that.

Not only have the jalapeños germinated, one single solitary devil’s rib has also cracked through its seed case to come alive. This is a new one for me, and I have high hopes for it. Then again, I have high hopes for all the chillies! These are the first come through, and I will be watching carefully to see what others start to germinate. And trust me, I might be watching them patiently; but I do get a bursts of commentary from Mum the minute anything green exists the seed case and unfurls itself from the white pocket.

Horticultural Obbit Channel, Preparation, Taking stock, Uncategorized

Petal’s Horticultural Obbit youtube channel

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You can find it here:

At this stage I am not that skilled with creating videos and uploading them. I have however been trying to create them for a while. I am hoping, that in the coming growing season I will be making some more and adding them to both the blog and the channel. I tend to upload them to youtube anyway, so that I can use them on the blog.

At the moment, the channel only has a few bits and pieces. The endeavour is make things varied and as useful as the blog might be. Sometimes, you can read as much you want; but seeing something and hearing something is a little more useful. Trust me, as a teacher; that makes sense to me.