It looks like chocolate cake…

It tastes like chocolate cake…

It just happens to have 300g of beetroot in it. I wonder if my food processor will ever be the same again?

With thanks to Jill Dupleix, whose recipes always work and are a joy to make.

So what with one thing and another, we’ve not spent much time on the allotment this past fortnight. However, we’ve had a very productive evening tonight. First of all, Adam painted the shed with it’s second coat of green. Looking good!

Jen has done a bit of harvesting with mega beetroot, carrots, beans and tatties all coming home with us. The potatoes were more productive than they’ve been, suggesting that our first harvests were probably premature. The bed has been prepared for the next crop. Not sure what to risk doing- brassicas need a firmer ground than freshly dug potatoes leave so I may transplant more leeks into there.

Our cucurbits (oo posh word) are doing well. The butternut squash is doing it’s thang, it must have grown 50cm since Saturday and there are lots of fruit- I just hope that at least one ripens. Meanwhile the pumpkins have massive leaves and lots of flower buds so hopfully we’ll get something for Halloween. And the courgettes show real signs of being the prolific cropper everyone else goes on about but I have yet to witness.

So all in all the past soggy week has been good fir the plot. I’m still very nervous about tomato blight though… I notice that the guardian allotment blog was also on this theme today. Keeping things crossse

The first butternut squash

Adam’s pumpkins

The view this evening

A green shed

The top of a carrot

Tonight’s harvest

Well surprise surpise the weather men did get it wrong after all! So much for the heavy rain that was forecast. I spent a good 4 hours at the allotment sorting out the door of the shed, that unfortunately did not fix the problem. So it will be back to the drawing board. I did manage to sort some bits inside the shed as well.

Since the weather was so bad lastnight I had to wait most of the day before the shed was dry enough to paint. After 2 hours and 30 minutes the shed was looking good painted in forest green. It looks like the martians have landed at the allotment!

Sadly I had no time to tend to the weeds that have sprung up over the last week. Maybe Tuesday…..

Finally here is a picture of the shed.

After a manic week the shed has not progressed any further than what it was when we left it on Sunday! Looking at the weekend it does not look to be a good one to try and paint it unless the weather people get it wrong again.  I suppose there is a hope they might get it wrong but the clouds massing outside do not look promising.

I might have to work inside the shed instead to make some places to hang things and a work bench for the end of the shed. Lots of ideas but very little DIY Skills!

Below are the stages of the shed being built, from the first 9 slabs to the almost final product (just needs paint and gutters now). It took about 3 hours the get the base level because the ground was so uneven.
Enjoy the pictures

The first carrot has been pulled up out of the back garden and was lovely on a salad tonight.

The shed has arrived!! After 4 hours work it’s alive and kicking.

So the time has come for me to admit defeat on broad beans. In between the birds, the mice, the blackfly, and this week’s hot weather, they’ve all gone (both the autumn and the spring planted ones) and left me with, er, nothing. Oh well, better luck next time.

On the other hand, the beetroot is looking amazing. Remind me, what am I supposed ot do with beetroot again? I think I might try chutneying it. The squashes are putting out their first runners (I’m sort of hoping they take over everywhere) and I don’t think I’m imagining the first signs of flowers on them.

I’ve also just been given a copy of Dobies Autumn/Winter catalogue. Tempted to have one last go at potatos, putting in some quick maturing varieties for the autumn. Here on the sunny south we should be able to go frost free til November…

Carrots in the back garden are looking good and there are tomatoes. And we spotted our first chilli which was quite exciting. And I *might* have got some horse manure in return for some seed potatos… watch this space!

The time has come to pick the blackcurrants in the back garden. Slightly off topic from the allotment but since they have worked well this year I might try to grow some down at the allotment next year.

This year there was only one bush but I got 142g out of it. So next year with more bushes hopefully even more jam. This year will be one small pot of jam but it should taste lovely.

Some pictures of the refreshly picked currants.

Pictures directly from the allotment with my new phone.