Alan's Allotment

After much anticipation, I've just sat through the first episode of Mr Fearnley-Whittingstalls new series. In preparation for the event, I prepared and cooked a shoulder of lamb using the recipe in his Meat book for our Sunday Roast which I can wholeheartedly recommend.  Cooking time was spot on - 30 mins at 230oC followed by 18 mins per 500g at 160oC. The shoulder was prepared with 8 garlic cloves and several sprigs of rosemary pushed into the meat. After the first 30 mins, a glass of white wine was poured over the joint, and 10 mins from the end a glass of water added to deglaze the roasting dish. I also threw in a handful of redcurrants for the gravy. I didn't need to add anything else to the gravy - it was delicious! I thoroughly enjoyed the programme and it was great to see one of the recipes I posted from his previous book making its debut on the programme. Although, I do think my version looked slightly more colourful than his if I say so myself....

After pondering a thread in which fellow allotmenters were discussing 'lessons learned this year' I got to thinking... Coriander seems to be one of those herbs you either love or hate - a bit like Marmite. Angela Hartnet has named it 'The Devils Herb' and this view is subscribed to by Tim Lovejoy on Something for the Weekend too. I must agree with them...I hate it too. But I have a very strong contender for second place - What do you think of giving second place to the Jerusalem Artichoke? To be honest, I think the only reason anyone chooses to grow it is because they are given a few tubers from a 'friend' and they stick them in. Does anyone actually buy tubers? Once they're planted, one feels quite proud as they shoot up, give a lovely yellow flower, and all from those couple of gifted tubers. But then what do you actually do with them when you harvest the hundreds that come from that small handful you were given back in the spring? A nice recipe is fou...

Monty Don advocates that any gardener worth their salt shouldn't need to purchase a gym membership. After the number of wheelbarrows I carted to and fro over the past week, I don't think I'll need the gym in a hurry. We had a delivery of manure yesterday at the allotment. As it never lasts more than a week after it's been delivered, I had to work quickly to secure my haul. I dutifully put several beds 'to bed' for the winter all tucked up under a thick blanket of manure and mulched the raspberries, strawberries, currants, gooseberries and rhubarb. All in all, I made it about 24 barrowfuls that got put down. I know putting down a manure mulch is a contentious issue...but ours has a lot of wood shavings in and isn't too concentrated so I go with it. It keeps the weeds down over the winter, adds humus and nutrients to the soil and the fact I get a good harvest the following year means it can't be doing that much harm. Now it might have been OK if my b...

It's finally arrived! I'm glad I got so much work done last week and saved the remaining tomatoes. I'm currently watching a big black crow ice skate across a puddle on the top of our silvered garage roofs. Jobs for today will be getting out all the summer bedding, which, to be fair has had a good old stint. Mid October to still have Nasturtiums, Marigolds, Poppy, Poached Egg Plant etc. still in flower ain't bad!

Someone told me this week, the reason vegetables are seasonal is so that you don't get bored of them. By the time they're back in season, you'll have had enough of a break and be ready to enjoy them again. I thought it was quite a nice way to look at things. However, I do think marrows may be an exception to this rule! I've been 'lucky' this year...the dry weather in May and June meant a lot of my squashes didn't make it so I haven't had the usual glut of courgettes and marrows from the plot. I know by this time in the year, some of you are regretting the decision to pop another seed in back in the spring.  For an alternative stuffed marrow try this... Peel and cut marrow into 1" thick rings. Meanwhile fry off a red onion with some diced spicy chorizo sausage. Add a handful of peas, some mixed herbs and some cous cous and mix together to make the stuffing. Fill the marrow rings with the stuffing. Cover with foil and bake for an hour. Check ...