Christmas at the Allotment
Snow at the Allotment – Christmas 2009 Home-grown veggies for the perfect Christmas Dinner, using your garden to decorate your home, the gift of growing, what to put on your your list to Santa and how to escape the chaos for a bit of allotment time. Here is Don’t Crop Me Now’s guide to a perfect Christmas at the Allotment!
November Allotment Tour
A tour around our plots in Manchester (UK) looking at what crops are growing over winter and a sneak preview of our Summerhouse building project!
Freekah grain salad with celeriac leaves
One gardening fail leads to another cooking adventure! Back in October I posted about my abundance of celeriac leaves on our Facebook group. I have never grown celeriac before and my plants simply did not swell up at the roots. So, my creativity has been challenged in trying to make the most out of this crop.
Beans for drying: a discussion
Butter beans 
Bolotti beans 
Cobra French beans
Beans, sometimes called “pulses”, are the edible seeds of the legume family. In the UK the term ‘bean’ often includes the pods of the legume plant; runner beans and French beans are popular on allotments all over the country, but growing for eating the seed is less common.
I have become quite interested in growing bean seeds as they store well, are very low maintenance crops and are a good source of protein. Here I discuss our experiences so far of growing beans for drying and my plans to expand the varieties of beans for drying that we grow for 2020.Corned beef hash with potatoes and root vegetables.
Winter is such a fab time for tasty veg on the allotment. One of my favourite winter vegetables are parsnips. Easy to grow (once you get them germinated!) and they can be stored in the ground right through till early Spring which means easy access to a great ingredient for winter cooking!
Last week I dug up this rather large parsnip. The variety is Gladiator which is very reliable. Grown in a ‘no dig’ bed, started in toilet rolls and transplanted – all the ‘no goes’ of traditional gardening methods! Another blog post maybe?
After a Sunday roast, and leftovers made into soup, I still had 3/4 of the beast left so I have a few meals planned this week to use the rest!
Firstly we have a corned beef hash with potatoes and root vegetables.Brussel Sprout Pate
Brussel Sprout Pate Recently on the ‘Feed Yourself for £1 a day’ Facebook group there was a conversation about ‘Brussel Sprout Pate’. I do love sprouts, especially homegrown ones, so I thought I would have a go at making my own version.