Firstly apologies if this post ends up flaky. I’m working on a new laptop. I’m used to working on a desktop computer with a mouse and where I am used to where all the keys are. Now I am using a strange laptop where keys are arranged differently – why there isn’t a standard format – is beyond me – and a touchpad. I’ll probably buy a mouse later but haven’t got around to that yet.

Anyway onwards. The weather was miserable again last week. when it wasn’t raining, we were treated to strong, bitingly, cold winds. We managed a few shorter walks with Ruby but didn’t risk Nostell, as if the rain had started we would have had quite a trek back to the shelter of the car.

We made one visit – our first of the year – to the allotment. Had it not been necessary to harvest some vegetables,  we probably wouldn’t have ventured out. As it was we didn’t stay long. We posted a videi here on Martyn’s post.

The plot looked very bleak, being mainly soggy empty beds.

The cardoons are adding some interest.

Some clumps of rhubarb are beginning to shoot. The photo above is Timperley Early which, as the name suggests, is an early variety. It’s always the first plant to produce a harvest.

The second clump is Poulton’s Pride which is a perpetual variety and is supposed to produce stems throughout the season. We do have some other varieties that as yet are not showing any signs of growth.

The winter onions and garlic are looking a bit battered but they are still hanging on in there.

Daffodil bulbs are also pushing through. If they know what is good for them they will not be too eager to grow any taller just yet.

Much of the enviromesh that was covering the brassicas and leeks had been either blown off or was in danger of doing so. We decided that the best thing to do was remove it completely. The leeks should be perfectly fine now as the allium leaf miner isn’t active. Apparently, it is active right up until November.

After removing the mesh from the leeks we dug up a few to take home.

Most of our brassicas are past their best but we thought that we could maybe manage a helping from a couple of sprout plants so we also dug them up to bring home. The sprouts have been disappointing to say the least this year.

Parsnips have also been a disappointment. Most of the roots are little tiddlers but we did manage to lift one large individual. The root wasn’t very long but what it lacked in length it more than made up for in girth.

 I’ll finish with some meals that I made last week using our homegrown vegetables. I made a Thai squash and pineapple curry into which went some Crown Prince squash, an onion and some of our frozen green beans.

Some of our onions, garlic, frozen red pepper and frozen peas went into a chicken pasta dish. The recipe called for sugar snap peas but as I didn’t have any I used ordinary peas instead.

Some of our potatoes, onion, carrot and frozen green beans were used in a rosti topped turkey dish. I used fresh mushrooms and stock instead of mushroom soup.

That’s about it for this week, As always stay well, stay safe and keep warm.