The weekend's harvest

Things are really starting to take off now which means that we can eat something other than broad beans and eggs. Talking of eggs, production has eased off. We are assuming it is the broody/moulting season but it at least gives me a rest from cake making for a while.

We dug a row of early potatoes, some carrots from the greenhouse, fennel from the greenhouse and the garlic that was planted in the Autumn as well as the first couple of beetroot.








Add to this two more boxes of broad beans...








A box of strawberries and a box of raspberries....







A big basket of new potatoes, I call that a meal and a half.







The new potatoes deserve a bit of an explanation as I realise that scale is not clear here. New potatoes are supposed to be small and sweet. Although sweet with lovely skins that just rub off, they can't really be described as small. This basket was too heavy for me to carry.

The harvest begins

I have said before that I learn something new every year. Well this year I have learned that you only need one trailing tomato plant per hanging basket. This one is destined to produce a bumper crop as evidenced by the number yellow flowers already.




No, your eyes didn't deceive you, there are two ready to pick.







Last year was disaster for broad beans - not so this year. I can't keep up with them. The plants are starting to go over so I have pulled up a load and sat with a cup of tea shelling them. It is amazing that I got almost a full tub of composting for a shoe box full of beans.





Another change from last year is the strawberries. I put it down to the duck bedding placed around them early in the season, but the plants in the bath and the old wheelbarrow are really producing beautiul fruit. With all the sun we have had recently they are ripening faster than we can eat them. Thanks to my new toy - the ice cream maker, there is no worries what will happen to the surplus.



And still the beans keep coming. I have now harvested about a quarter so a few pounds to go.

Artichokes

In a mad moment last year, I bought a packet of globe artichoke seeds. Now this year, we have three enormous plants which are covered in flowers.

What I didn't consider at the time was that I had never eaten globe artichokes so didn't know if I liked them and also that I didn't have a clue how to cook them.

Well, now I have a solution to my second problem which will (hopefully) solve the first as well.

Yesterday evening I met a previous colleague for a drink after work and we agreed to meet at Carluccio's in Canary Wharf so she has a couple of weeks before she starts her new job (she is a lawyer). Well, if you have been to Carluccio's you will know how irresistible the shop is and I was drawn towards a book called ‘Complete Italian Food’ which had wonderful descriptions of all the traditional Italian game, fish, vegetables, pulses, eggs etc so decided to treat myself.

Here is an example:

Duck eggs
Duck eggs with their distinctive pale blue colour, can be easily distinguished from other eggs. The have a rich pale yellow yolk with an intense flavour. Duck eggs can be used in place of hens eggs but the stronger taste gives a more powerful result.

Globe artichokes
[full description of all the varieties of globe artichoke, where in Italy they come from and how to prepare them] The variety I have are La Mamma which are ‘usually boiled and eaten leaf by leaf until the fleshy heart is reached, with the hairy choke being discarded.’

Amongst the recipes there is one for Frittata Di Carciofi which for the non-Italian speakers translates as Artichoke Omelette. How spooky is that as I just happen to have a spare 30 eggs!

Summer is on its way

Never mind what the date is, you can tell when spring has well and truly spring and summer is on its way but what is available to eat.

We have a glut of broad beans but now have some early carrots to go with them.




Even better than that - I am not sure if you will remember that I planted two potatoes in a tub in the greenhouse in February, well, here is our first crop. Enough for two meals and the words cannot describe the taste. The ones that I planted early in the ground are coming into flower so it won't be long and we will have our first real crop.





Talking about gluts - 10 ducks are lovely but when we get between 8 and 10 eggs a day we have a bit of a glut. I do get some strange looks on the train occasionally as I bet I am the only commuter that regularly has half a dozen eggs in her handbag.

I managed to use them all up, in some form or another, last week, we have sold two dozen, I have used 15 today but still they keep coming.

Just in case you are wondering, I have increased the quantities in my batches so it is now 5 eggs to 10 ounces of butter, sugar and flour, so rather than 15 eggs, I have 60 muffins. Luckily Katy popped in with her apprentice so that was 8 muffins gone in a very short time!

Bartering

Which is worth the most, a box of duck eggs or a cauliflower?

The answer is they have equal worth in the bartering system and, if I didn't work for a bank and rely on money to keep me in a job, I would lobby for bartering to be the way we should trade.

I really wish I could grow a cauliflower like that. I have put up every defence imaginable but somehow my brassicas are getting eaten. One slight problem I have is that I lost the labels as to what they are so it is possible that, what I think are cauliflowers are actually sprouts. The only thing that is certain is the red cabbage. There are two left that haven't been eaten so fingers crossed that the make it through to Autumn.

A family of gardeners

I am so proud of my offspring that they have followed in their mothers footsteps and happy to get dirt under their fingernails.

Katy has put the building skills that she learned at Hillview to good use, and her and Terry have made a fantastic wall at the back of the decking which is the perfect size for a railway sleeper seat on the top. Their standard of rendering is fantastic. So next the pond, including a fountain, all hand built in lovely Hampshire.

The lawn has been taken up and a lovely round lawn is in the process of being made.

Puts me to shame how much they achieved in a week.

Now off to Kent where the garden is coming along beautifully. It was greatly helped by it being Tonbridge Home and Garden show last weekend where plants were incredible bargains.

All in one weekend, the lawns were shaped, the beds planted, the riased vegetable beds built and filled and the lawns moved.

I would imagine a few well deserved Kentish ciders were consumed after that lot.

The first crop of the year

After the period when we have been living off leeks and eggs, we have a first crop of the year - broad beans and salad. In fact we have so much salad that we are having two meals a day with salad. The broad beans are delicious and sweet. This is the crop from the greenhouse which should keep us going until the ones outside are ready for picking. The outside ones are about two inches long at the moment so wont be long. For those of you who like to know scale, they are on a dustbin lid.

I have flowers on the tomatoes so it wont be long until we have something to go with the leaves.

Egg update

Some time ago I provide you with photos of all 10 ducks (sadly we lost Florence a couple of weeks ago), today I have photos of 10 eggs all laid this morning. Your mission, should you wish to accept it is to match the duck with her egg!

We are regularly getting 10 a day now so good news that every duck is laying. We have 5 white and 5 blue. There is a huge difference in size and they seem to be getting begger as the summer wears on. The big one in the picture must have been a bit of a strain to lay and is flat on one side. We think this must have been because they are soft when laid and harden within seconds so it must have been so heave that it flattened on the bottom. What a relief that must have been!

The snowduck

We were awoken this morning to a clap of thunder and looked out of the window to find a covering of snow.





By 8 o'clock it was more than a covering and looked like we had cushions on the chairs. No amount of weather stops us gettting up and out to the ducks and it was evident that we were the first people up and out today.





It was beautiful to see the virgin snow all over the allotment so we did the rounds, leaving of tracks and making sure that there weren't any tracks of undesirables (foxes and rats).






The duck compound was completely covered in snow and it was quite dark inside. They weren't in the slightest bothered by the snow but were very confused as to where the grass and mud had gone. We made the mistake of trying to know the snow off their roof, not realising that, as it was netting, it would all fall through when disturbed, straight on our heads.



They did have a little but of trouble walking as the snow was deeper than their legs were long, especially Daisy and Maisy who must have had chilly undercarriages. It hadn't bothered them though as we had nine eggs this morning.



Even the owl had a covering of snow!
















As true allotmenteers we realised that it was far too tempting to leave all that building material lying around so we started building a duckman.






He certainly drew attention as he was right by the gate to greet all those hardy soles who braved it today. He difinately wasn't an Indian Runner but could pass as a Campbell.






It was amazing when we returned to put the ducks to bed at 7pm as you wouldn't even know it had snowed.










......and snowduck was looking a little deflated.

This years potato hawk

Ther pidgeon season is upon us so out comes the potato hawk. Thanks to Maisy molting, we have a lovely white model this year.

In order to get him to dangle at the right angle, I tied him to the top of an eight foot cane and pushed that into the ground at about 60 degrees. Low flying hawk as he is only about 5 ft off the ground but if he keeps the pidgeons off I am happy.

What to do with all these eggs

If you are lucky enough to have ducks that lay nine eggs in one day, here is what you do:-

A traditional Cornish recipe is 'Stary Gazey pie', well here is the Hampshire version 'Clucky Cwacky Oinky pie'. The main ingredients are Chicken, Bacon, sausage meat and eggs.

Clucky Cwacky Oinky pie

Make pastry using 8 oz plain flour and 4 oz margerine. Line a deep dish. Bake lightly.

In a deep frying pan or wok lightly fry, small chunks of chicken, short strips of bacon, little balls of sausage meat, one chopped onion, a handful of chopped mushrooms and a tin of creamed muchroom. Add mixed herbs if desired.

Hard boil 4 eggs

Once the eggs are cooked, cool and shelled, place them whole in the pastry case. Pack the chicken mix around them then cover with the remaining pastry.

Lightly brush with beaten eggs.

Place in the oven at about 200 until the pastry is browned.

While that is cooking you make a lemon and lime cake.

Lemon and Lime cake

Make a standard sponge mix with 8 oz self raising flour, sugar and butter and 4 eggs.

Grate the lemon rind finely and the lime rind coursely. Squeeze both the lemon and lime and add all the juice and rind to the cake mix.

Bake until done (I am sure there is recipe that says how long but until a knife comes out clean when plunged into the middle)

There you have it - nine eggs and full tummies.

Don't forget the vegetarians, so if you have still have four eggs left over from yesterday a red onion, sweetcorn, tomato and goats cheese quiche is a healthy alternatice.

13 eggs used in less than an hour.

Ducks and strawberries

Do ducks and strawberries mix - I should say so.

I have decided that growing strawberries in the ground isn't a wise move as the ducks seem to live them so much, so I have transplanted some into a discarded wheelbarrow. Some people throw away the strangest things, but we saw its potential. What I didn't appreciate was quite how tall some of the ducks are, and they can still reach.

I think these may be what is known as a sacrificial crop!

I have a contingency and have filled the bath with a mixture of manure and soil with a layer of duck bedding at the bottom, and planted 25 strawberry plants. No, not the bath at home, the one on the allotment, although it has given me an idea for more space as Nick always has showers, I am sure he wouldn't notice.

The Gate

Having struggles for the last year with a pallet propped up against the hole in the fence into 53, Nick has made it into a gate.

It is a rather wonderful gate, of the type seen regularly in Norfolk.

The new greenhouse and update from the allotment and the kitchen

The new greenhouse is up and secured. The beds are being built on either side and the staging is in place at the end.

Not wishing to miss an opportunity to get sowing I have been filling the shelves on the staging with pots and trays with seeds. So far we have: Broccoli, Chard, Calabrese, Kale, Savoy Cabbage, Cauliflower, Leeks, Rocket, Spinach, Chives, Sweetcorn, Courgettes, Basil, Sunflowers, Lettuce and a tub of peas. This is in addition to the Peas, Salad leaves, Beetroot, Potatoes, Broad Beans, Carrotts and Artichokes that I have in the first greenhouse. The small greenhouse with the plastic cover has three Tesco canvas shopping bags planted up with potatoes, three tubs of Jerusalem artichokes, 8 tubs with Canna lillies and some sweet peas. And you thought I spent all my time at the allotment drinking tea and watching ducks.


There is not a lot happening in the ground at the moment as there is still the risk of frost but here is a long shot from the top of 52 showing the three greenhouses, the bean sticks that I have put in place and the globe artichokes. Talking of which, one has globes already which is a great surprise.






I am not sure how but I seem to have two different varieties of globe artichoke, one that is in flower and one with very silver leaves. It will be interesting to see how they develop as the months go on.








Looking back the other way, I have covered one bed to try to warm the soil. I have sown some carrots, beetroot and fennel as well as putting a row of onions in. As soon as the weather warms up I will remove the cover so that they can get the rain as it is not easy crawling in to water.






We seem to be averaging 6 or 7 eggs per day from the girls and I am just about keeping up with using them, although we have given away or sold quite a few. It is interesting how many people have never eaten duck eggs but reluctantly give them a try. They all come back with comments on how delicious they are and I think we are going to have some regular customers. One day this week we were shocked to find 10 eggs. I am inclined to belive that we may have missed a couple the day before as they have a habit of burying them in the bedding.



I am sure you have missed recipes from the allotment so here is the latest and the one that I find uses the most eggs.

Leek, brocolli and goats cheese quiche

- Line a quiche tin with pastry
- Lightly boil the leeks (having removed all mud and slugs) and brocolli (removing the wrapping as we have to buy it after the rabbits ate all ours)
- Tip them all into pastry case
- Beat four duck eggs and pour over the leeks and brocolli
- Add blobs of goats cheese
- Bake in the oven until brown and the eggs completely cooked
- Eat with home made chutney





I have decided that it is time for the bottles to come out. I have a couple of trays of little gem lettuce that need planting out so the first role of the bottles is mini-greenhouses.

Do ducks make good pets

A quote from www.duckeggs.com

Ducks make great pets. I think they're the best kept secret of the pet world. Many people call them the "dogs" of the bird world because they are smarter than many birds and are loyal. When they imprint on you, they will follow you around just like they would their mother.

And then there were 11

Last weekend was the poultry auction in Salisbury and we made the mistake of going. I have always wanted a white duck and there were listed a few runners including three white females, so we went along - we now have Jemima and Jessica.

Jessica has taken a while to settle and seemed to be pining for a couple of days as she would stand and stare into space, but has settled down now.

She is a bit of a loner still and a bit of a perfectionist in her appearance. She is careful not to get muddy and spends ages preening herself.












Jemima on the other hand is a real mud-bunny. If there is any mud she will be digging in it so here is a picture of her at the auction before we brought her home.

The only difference between them is that Jemima has a black line on her beak and Jesica has slightly more orange feet.



Now, I hear you say, seven ducks plus Jessica and Jemima only makes none. Well, a slight problem at the auction was that we couldn't agree on which white ducks to get as I loved the Indian Runners but we had discussed having a couple of Campbell's as a contingency for the winter as they generally lay all year round. There were three lots of two female White Campbell's so.......






Daisy and Maisy

Maisy is in the front with the pinker beak. They look down their beaks a bit at the Runners and can't understand why they are so scatty and have to run everywhere, but they soon learned that they know the best spots to forage and where to lay your eggs.


One of the problems we have now is that we are averaging between 5 and 8 eggs a day but they look so lovely as there are so many shades of duck egg blue and white. The Campbell's lay slightly smaller eggs as are very white compared to the others.




Now for the allotment. Everything is slowing down with the cold weather. The greenhouse if full to bursting with seeds started off, including some carrots in pots, a couple of tubs of early potatoes and salad leaves. So, when we were helping at the allotment shop at Old Basing last week, and I spotted a sign saying greenhouse available, there was no alternative but to ring.

We are putting it on the area still covered with black plastic on 51 so the two greenhouses will face each other.

We have got the frame up and hope to have the glass in by the end of the week.

We have spent the last two days helping Matthew and Rebecca move from Wimbledon to Tonbridge (including a lorry load of plants) and it was lovely to see them in their new home, but back to the reality of greenhouse building tomorrow.

A nice warm bath for Apple

We have been worried about Apple over the weekend as she is very heavy looking and lying down a lot which is a sign of discomfort.

I was so worried yesterday that I decided that she was egg bound and action was needed. So as I am sure you will know, the best cure for most things is a nice warm bath. We brought her home in her box and ran her a nice warm bath. We gave her a rubber duck to play with but, after a couple of poos in the bath she didn't seem too keen on playing. We dried her off, oiled her vent and settled her down in her box for the night.

This morning, there was a lovely blue egg in the box and she looked so much happier.


She was a bit frightened of the flash so here is another one in subdued lighting.

Who's for a nice tasty worm

Since we took over 53 we have had a tarpaulin over an area of the ground and this is where we have stored our wood and wire, but this weekend I decided it was time to see what was going on underneath. All the weeds and grass had disappeared and there was lovely dry soil which dug beautifully. This is going to be a potatoe bed.

What I didn't realise was that as I was digging I was bringing the worms to the surface. It was like kids in a sweet shop for the ducks and the robin. All dived in and anything that moved was eaten. They don't seem to understand that worms are beneficial to the ground, all they know is how tasty they are.





Florence and the robin come face to face for a showdown over a particularly juicy worm.