IN & OUT MARCH 2020

My old fridge was inherited along with my house from my late father back in 2013. It was a basic full sized fridge freezer in the old style, with freezer shelves up top and fridge shelved with door insert and salad box down base. It began to get rusty marks on the exterior and earlier this year the light died. I could have bought a new bulb, but decided to buy a new fridge.

The freezer compartment was almost empty - all my frozen food still remaining fitted into one grocery sack. The shelves in the fridge fllled 2 bags and there were still 2 bottles of wine.

The Coronavirus was begining to make some stores limit their services or shut - so I decided to rush my purchase a week ahead of schedule and popped along to Rustingon one Saturday in March. I discovered that they were still doing deliveries, so picked a fridge-freezer and arranged for delivery that coming Monday. This meant no coffee with Liz at her place or local countryside walk, but coffee and gardening at mine - and an extra part-used rice milk for the fridge.

The new item was delivered on time - just in time - for the next day the lockdown began, and I might have had to wait weeks if not months for its purchase and delivery.

The fridge was at the top - with a two-part salad tub, but otherwise much the same. A few times I have forgot myself and gone to open the lower compartment and found a freezer instead of my vegan cheese or wine, but mostly I have recalled where the two main features are.

The freezer now has 4 boxes rather than 3 shelves. I do not know why 2 boxes are odd - the one at the bottom having holes in and at the top labeled something different - but I am hoping this will keep my annual crops long lasting from one season to the next.

Finally, for today, here is the view of the bush and flower border in the back yard - after Liz and I tidied it up on fridge delivery day - after we had tackled the front yard, cutting it back ready to have the repointing company give a quote for use later in the year. During the last week of the month, I ordered in 10 bags of mushroom compost from Culberry Nursery and began to use some in the poly tunnel, some on the finished parts of the above border, and then take the half bags down the allotment to top up my strawberry beds.

IN & OUT JANUARY 2020

The new year began with the old stove dissappearing to be replaced by a brand new cooker. Liz and I went to Currys and put in our order for the removal of the old stove, and delivery and installation of the new stove, shortly after Christmas. The old stove was working - 'but'...

As you can see it was rusting and remained grotty even after a clean. The oven was slowing down - sometimes it cooked normally, whilst at other times it took twice as long for foods to roast or bake. It was also impossible to get the muck off the oven walls or floor - some of which was around a decade old and dads', not mine.

Saturday arrived, and I waited...

The order was on its way! Here are the before and after shots of my kitchen cooker space:

BEFORE...

& AFTER...

As you can see it is slightly bigger than the old stove - and a grey not white color. It is also spotlessly clean, without any dirt or debris from my late parents' use.

The model (FLAVEL Milano E60) has a glasstop, grill, and main oven with an oven light, fan and glass door. I am looking forward to using it as I do a lot of baking, roasting, etc.

VERDICT:

PLUS: glass door on oven. light in oven. clean. no rust. no dad-grime.

MINUS: stinks of chemical residue stench for longer than 30 mins. rubber 'seal' baggy and only stuck on in corners. unused to oven having a noisy fan.

IN & OUT OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 2019

Starting today's post is a picture of late October crops. The next photo shows some Bramley apples from our tree. Usually they begin to ripen in August, but this year I only had 1-2 before October. Now that it is November, they are all down - grabbed to eat or rotting til the birds finish pecking at them.

Down the allotment, the wet weather has hampered my ability to get a winter dig over done. I have made 4-5 beds and planted out the garlic, broad bean seedlings, shallots, and dispersed the overcrowded carrots. Once it dries somewhat, the paths need attention - I did manage to do the edges - and I then need to weed the planted beds and dig over the rest of the allotment plot.

In the poly tunnel, carrots, a few herbs and salad greens, and 1-2 potato plants are harvestable still - and I am overwintering 5 chili plants. I also planted some cauliflower seedlings and have potted up a dozen of these.

In the garden, nothing has happened - due mostly to the rain. The bonus to this is that the pond is filled up without me needing to toss a can of water in every day or two.

Indoors I have done a little spring cleaning - but not having any major projects in mind til the repointing gets done next year, nothing exciting in the DIY trend has gone on.

Finally, another mini-diy/decor topic. My clock broke so I went to Owens (a local family firm I highly recommend) to buy a new wall clock. Here it is in comparison to the one we had before - a Dad left over - and in situ on the wall.

Next, it is back to the plot as December repeats November's 'wet n windy' weather status, banning most jobs most days. A few times over the first half of the month I have been able to pop down to tidy up, plant seedlings, and attend the compost bin. I also planted some of the cauliflower seedlings and fixed the overgrown path.

Here you can see the front of the plot - where the shallots, garlic, broad beans, and replants have gone in along with the ready to harvest leeks. You can also see 2 strawberry planter frames - the new ones acquired when a former nearby plot holder left.

The next shot is down the left hand side of the plot - showing where I haven't and have dug out the next seasons beds. My final shot for this post shows down the other side, behind the shed - you can see where I have and have not removed weeds & where I planted out 4 cauliflower seedlings...

IN & OUT OCTOBER 2019

As you can see, underneath the plastic boards and plastic tablecloth, the wooden surface was spotless. I just needed something to cover it with that was easy to wipe free of soil, liquid, sauce, crumbs...

I began, following Liz's instructions to go an inch or two at a time and smooth out any bumps, lumps, or air bubbles...

I managed to get it almost perfect on the surface - with no bumps or lumps and only a couple of very small air pockets. But...the corners where it joined underneath the tabletop to stay in place got a bit tricky. I wasn't sure how to fold/cut it to ensure it stayed stuck right and neat.

I persevered and came upon this as the result. It is fairly neat underneath and very neat on top - and a considerable improvement in both look and ease of clean to the former set up. I then adjusted the top of the table with items I store there - leaving a clear work surface for my next cooking and crop preparing ventures.

There you go - success! Meanwhile, my eggplants were not growing well. Down the allotment, they suffered from the wind and pest damage and had not reached the stage of flowering, let alone fruiting. At home, in the poly tunnel, a burst of flowers has arrived - the first falling off...and I am wondering if they are too late to give me any fruit this year - probably. I have never grown them before - at least, not successfully - only into 2-3 inch plants that failed to progress. This is therefore the best so far from my efforts - but far from the 1-2 fruits per week objective I aimed for. Maybe we will have another burst of late warm sunny summer - or maybe next year...

IN & OUT SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2019

Late in September, my crop of zucchini was still ongoing and the gentleman I work for weds and Thurs PM gave me his hazlenuts. I also had 2-3 apples from the bramley tree and a half dozen from a fellow plotster. As you can see in my next picture, some of my corn turned out well and some did not. I think it looks like mommy and child growing in the same cob with a pappy corn.....lol.

My first shot of the new month is of crops gathered from the plot; a couple of second growth strawberries, the last 3 misshapen corn cobs, included. As you can tell from the next picture, showing my windowsill at the start of the new month, I have an array of crops drying out ready to store or ripening up ready to eat. This includes my first ever crop of lentils - though I only had a few...

The second weekend of the month, and I had gone to the tip with Liz - whilst chattering over a coffee afterwards, it was decided to also pop into the DIY store as we both had small projects in mind. Liz wanted to paint outdoor plant containers and I wanted my kitchen work-table easier to clean until such time as I could afford a kitchen station with which to replace it. THIS is the answer Liz came up with when I asked if it were possible to tile a wooden table...

This being the table before I began, I am sure you can see that although the wood below is kept clean - the table coverings are gross and difficult to 'wipe over' clean after use or spills. I was fed up of tablecloths that rucked up under a surface wipe and plastic boards that got gunk underneath...

Just taking off the plastic boards shows you what less than a week of use does to the work surface...

Yes, definitely time to bring on the new cover idea!

IN & OUT August & September 2019

Welcome to August - and here is a sample of the crops I plucked from the allotment plot and poly tunnel early in the month. Next, it is time to show you around my latest pantry delights.

Liz went overseas on vacation, along with family - and some fruit and veg left overs were donated to me - YUM! The freezer also contained a shelf of Liz's stuff - as she was buying a new chest freezer when she got home from her holiday and wanted to turn her old one off while away - the top and bottom shelves had my stuff in though.

Plenty of yummy stuff in the fridge too. Later in the month, I turned the majority of chickpea pods into chickpeas - this shows 3.5 plants - I have 1.5 plants to go when the pods ripen in September.

Finally for today's post, a mid September cropping picture - showing my penultimate crop of tomatoes. Shortly after this picture, I cleared all but one plant in the plot and all but 3 in the poly tunnel.

IN & OUT JULY 2019

Some of my tastiest crops are unusual for me. Carrots only grow some years, and although this year I have had success at the plot as well - these are samples of baby carrots plucked from a former mop bucket now plant pot in the poly tunnel. They are sweet, juicy, crisp and JUST as I enjoy them raw in salad. The Peas are some of the first picked from the allotment.

The cherries and lettuce are from other plotsters, but the blackcurrants, blueberries, peas, raspberries and gooseberries are from my plot. As follows - the majority of the day's haul is grown by myself - although the singular broad bean and the sweet pea seed pods are from others. Peas, blueberries, gooseberries, blackcurrant and raspberries still made the bulk of my pickings.

This half-platter of salad is mostly grown by myself - although I have to admit my cucumbers are not yet grown and that came from the lady I work for twice weekly as a cleaner.

This mass of spuds - minus the two carrots - all came from ONE pot and ONE potato - grown in my poly tunnel! Talking of which - here are a couple of shots of the poly tunnel. The first shows the tomato pots and the tub of carrots.

Here we have the table at the back - with a couple of straggly lettuce, an egg plant, lemongrass, more carrots, the giant herb tub and some shallots drying out. To finish with today - and indeed the month of July - here is another batch of crops.