Allotment geekery

It has been a good year on the allotment and we're pleased with what we have managed to grow. There is definitely room for improvement, next year we are going for volume especially with broad beans, carrots and parsnips, but that is next year.  In the past month or so MozzyMr and I have been working hard to preserve as much as possible because last year too many tomatoes and beetroots went to waste.

Preserving beetroots is easy if a little time consuming.  MozzyMr and I aren't mega fans of pickled beetroot so we went down the boil and freeze route.  Boil the beetroots in slightly salted water for two hours (!) once done dunk in iced water and rub the skins off (love this bit, huh huh huh huh so satisfying).  Once properly cooled dice or slice, bag up and freeze.

As you know we have been making a lot of tomato sauce, which is lovely but can be a bit samey. This time we roasted our tomatoes with garlic (home-grown of course), a bag of the frozen beetroot and dried oregano.  Once wazzed up the sauce was a beautiful raspberry red, and once sieved it was super smooth I can't wait to use it as a pizza sauce.

Allotment prep for spring

Saturday was great.  Every first Saturday of the month after 12 noon we're allowed to hold a bonfire at the allotment.  Being the first of the year we thought we would make a bit of a celebration of it, so we prepared homemade soup, rustic bread and a cheeky tipple or two...

MozzyMr got the fire going with some of the weeds and general detritus we've gathered up whilst preparing the allotment for spring.

Once the fire got going and the sun started to set we were grateful for the warmth it was pumping out!

A number of friends and their children joined us so there were plenty of shouts of "Train!" (as we're right next to the track and they go by every half an hour or so), sticks and digging holes in the mud.

Of course there was a little something for the adults to help keep the cold at bay, the hip flask; most useful allotment item to date.  Having said that next Saturday the scarecrows mum and dad bought us for Christmas are going to go up, at the moment they malevolently guard the hallway and freak the cat out.

So excited to be preparing the allotment for sowing hopefully as early as February.  Having crossed the "old" line some time ago I have no qualms settling down with a hot chocolate and a fruit and veg seed catalogue.  So far we've ordered golden beetroot, zebra and black tomatoes, purple potatoes, butternut squash, yellow courgettes, sweetcorn, and lots of chilli's.  Nom nom.