Plot Inspections… A brief explanation of what they are and why we do them We thought it might be helpful to try to demystify the plot inspection process. So this blog post is intended to explain why plot inspections are necessary and what actually takes place. Firstly, the why… Most simply, because it is a…
Ingredients 1 pound of Rhubarb 200 mil of water 1 pound of sugar. (jam sugar if preferred but not necessary). 1 Microwave oven. 1 jam jar and lid. 1 conventional oven. Method Set your microwave to ¾ power. With a sharp knife finely slice your rhubarb into ½ cm slices. Place into a microwave dish with lid.…
Apple Day 2022 Saturday 24th September saw the inaugural Marina Allotments Apple Day – an effort to help use and celebrate more of the many apples grown on the allotment. Members were invited to contribute apples from their plots or just come along to help out as we pressed over 100kg of apples into about…
Thursday 15 September – 6pm You are invited to the 2022 Annual General Meeting at the communal area of the allotment, 6pm start, then social from 8pm with pizza, beers and entertainment! Feel free to bring drinks and snacks to share. If you would like to be nominated for the committee please email committee@marinaallotments.org.uk Open…
(from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s book: ‘Three Good Things on a Plate’) Serves 4 Ingredients: 600-700g new potatoes, scrubbed or scraped 4-5 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed 3 tbsp olive oil One bunch of asparagus One pack of halloumi cheese Juice of half a lemon 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley Method Pre-heat the oven to 190C (175C for fan) Cut the potatoes into…
You can make this with any mixture of spinach, perpetual spinach or Swiss chard – there’s plenty around on the allotments at the moment. I’ve loosely adapted it from a recipe in ‘A Baker’s Life’ by Paul Hollywood Ingredients 1 tsp olive oil 2 cloves of garlic 500g swiss chard leaves or spinach (if using…
Encouraged by my no-dig experiment last year, I decided to start well ahead of the growing season this time and to be more methodical and thorough. I was inspired by ‘Gaia’s Garden’ by Toby Hemenway, which explains the benefits of building up soil fertility from the top down, as Nature does, by creating a ‘sheet-mulch’,…
Jerusalem artichokes are a perennial vegetable that grow very easily on the allotment. I inherited mine with my plot and every year I look forward to being able to dig them up for this winter soup adapted from Delia Smith’s recipe. Ingredients 500 g carrots 700 g Jerusalem artichokes (weight before peeling) 75 g butter…
Committee Roles For those who weren’t able to be there, we had a successful and positive – if slightly chilly – AGM on 16th September, followed by a social round the pizza oven which didn’t wind up till about 10.30 – I think everyone enjoyed the chance to meet and chat in a relaxed way…
One of our members, Amanda, who was helping with the composting work last weekend, said she suffered a very nasty bite from a spider, which was probably a False Widow. Her arm swelled up badly and there are two fang marks clearly visible. She is OK now, but this is a warning to wear gloves…