The harvest

I know I keep on about the harvest but it still amazes me that we are actually getting product from the allotment. Every day there is something new. Yesterday it really felt like we were reaping the benefits.

A hugh cucumber, courgettes, pes, beetroot, a couple of carrot thinnings and loads of fruit. More raspberries, more loganberries and we have discovered the gooseberry bushes that were overgrown on 53 are dripping with fruit, one bush green cooking berries and one laden with red sweet berries.

As our blackcurrent bushes are first year we will not have any fruit so Ted gave us a couple of branches of one of his bushes laden with hugh currents.

I have cooked together some of each fruit, with a teaspoon of sugar and a table spoon of water to make a tasty sauce to go on our ice cream this evening - can't wait!

If we can get that amount of fruit from a derelict plot (No 53) imagine what next year will bring when we have it up and running and a strict prunning regime in place. It is really overgrown still and is not helped by Frank's enormous cherry trees, which don't actually product many cherries and the few that it does are eaten by the pigeons, so we need to do some careful planning to align the bushes and trees to get maximum sunshine and drainage.

I feel quite smug about our acheivements especially when you realise that it has been less than five months since we took on the plot and Ted tried to persuade us that No 13 (Jerry's plot) would be the easiest option but we insisted on these. He passed by yesterday and did actually say how good it all looked. Coming from Ted that is the ultimate accolade so we have given ourselves a well deserved pat on the back.

Anyway, back to those peas. I am always worried that there is a hugh pile of pods but not much in them. There was the odd maggot but along with a hugh bucket of shells for the compost heap (full of nitrogen so very good for the soil) there was a good crop of peas. These are for the freezer and there were enough young ones for out salad lunch boxes and supper this evening.

Salad lunch boxes comprise of four different types of salad leaf, spinach leaves, rocket which is so mature that it either blows your head off or anesthetises the inside our your mouth so that you lose the power of speech for quite a few hours after eating, beetroot, peas, new potatoes, cucumber and the first tomato of the season. The only think that is not home grown is a little bit of cheese which I found in the back of the fridge.

The tomato was hiding in the greenhouse and is barely a mouthful. It had to be photographed but strangely it looks like one of those retro ketchup bottles that are all the rage again if anybody is looking for ideas for birthday presents. Maybe that is a sign that it is a perfect tomato!

Talking of tomatoes, and not neglecting what is going on at home, we have a hanging basket near the front door which is looking magnificent. I think the reason for its success is that it gets the left over water from the flask and water bottle that we cannot do without at the allotment. Every time we get home they are emptied into the basket so I am sure that the warmth of the water does it good rather than the cold stuff that comes out of the tap or water butt.

Along with the traditional petunias, trailing geraniums and lobelia, I included a couple of trailing toms. They are loaded with little toms which are still green but a bit more warmth and sunshine they should soon be glowing red. I only hope that the postman can resist helping himself in the mornings.

Finally, but possibly most importantly, today is Rebecca's birthday and at 25 finally a grown up. Also today I am no longer twice her age - not sure if that makes me feel good or not.