What a week it has been! Fortunately, we haven’t had weather as bad as in some areas. For us, it has delivered lots of rain and strong winds. Happily, when the weather is too bad we can hunker down and sit it out in comfort unlike many who still have to go about their business or, even worse, actually sleep out on the streets.
Early in the week, we did manage an afternoon working at the allotment. Martyn took down the remaining climbing bean frame and dug over the bed. This meant that all of the vacant beds were now cleared and dug with many of them covered in weed control fabric. This was just done in time before all the heavy, persistent rain.
I spent time weeding the strawberry beds and also made a start on the mammoth job of knocking our perennial flower bed into shape. It has been sadly neglected for a couple of years and has been taken over by couch grass, bindweed and other weeds. We’ve decided to try and dig out most of the plants and put them in a holding area which is what I started to do.
It’s going to be a case of tackling the area bit by bit especially now we are likely to be retrieving plants from mud!
At the weekend the rain had stopped so we went to the allotment. Although there was no standing water, I’m pretty sure that the soil will be in no fit state to be worked on.
We did more tidying up and actually also did a bit of harvesting.
Beetroot has done well this year and I lifted all the remaining roots. There was a huge difference in the sizes, some were enormous and others golf ball size. We had been concerned that the huge roots would be woody but we have used some and it wasn’t the case. The only problem is finding a pan large enough to cook them.
The small patch where the beetroot had been growing had been sheltered by the beetroot leaves and so I managed to do a little digging.
Martyn, cleared the allotment greenhouse ready for its new purpose of acting as a storage area. There were still a few green tomatoes, which were unlikely to ripen on the plants, so these were brought home to continue ripening.
The Invincible pears were stripped from the tree. Unfortunately, for some reason, these lack flavour this year.
Despite the threat of rain, we dressed up in waterproof clothing and set off for our usual walk around the parkland at Nostell. If it hadn’t been for Ruby needing some exercise we would have maybe stayed indoors.
The amount of rain that had fallen had turned some of the paths into a quagmire and we tried our best to avoid the muddiest parts. When we arrived back home Ruby’s legs and ears needed a good wash. Dogs with long ears who can’t resist sniffing everything and wet, muddy paths are not a good combination.
Another consequence of all the rainfall is that the winter lake has started to develop in the meadow. This can be seen beyond the gate in the photo on the blog header.
As you can see from the above slideshow, there were some short sunny spells as well as some showers. Ruby ignores the rain when she is out walking but when at home will refuse to go out if it is wet when a comfort break is required.
Last week, we saw two of the cygnets so at least these two haven’t yet flown off.
At Temple Newsam plenty of moorhens browse beside the lake when it is quiet. Last week the majority of visitors were walking a dog. We have been sitting in the courtyard of the cafe enjoying a cappuccino. As the weather will soon make sitting outdoors unpleasant I asked whether dogs were allowed inside the cafe. They are not but they have, what they call, a dog room where we can sit inside. It seems a good idea as I’m guessing most of their customers over winter will be with their dogs.
As usual, I will end my post with some examples of meals that we enjoyed that made use of our home grown vegetables.
I made a cauliflower and lentil curry into which went carrot, onion and garlic along with some cauliflower, green beans and peas from the freezer. This was served with homemade onion bhajis.
As the worst of the weather kept us indoors, I decided to make some chicken and vegetable pies using a selection of vegetables from the freezer. I used leeks, green beans, sweetcorn and peas. I also added some mushrooms.
Finally, I made a turkey tagine into which went our onion and garlic. I used ras el hanout rather than the individual spices.
As always keep safe and well
Once more I am linking to Harvest Monday on Dave’s Our Happy Acres blog.
That’s a great beetroot harvest. I can’t seem to grow it here. Love the moorhens. It’s never ending rain here too, it sure gets old fast.xxx
Still lots of rain here too, Dina
Coo, your pies look very professional!
That flowerbed looks like it’s going to be hard work 😓
It will be hard work Belinda especially after all the rain. The pie was just a bit too big for me but Martyn was happy with the size,
Your beetroots are impressive! I do wish I could develop a taste for them, but it hasn’t happened yet. I have cleanup work I need to do but I haven’t felt up to it since I am still dealing with complications from the pneumonia.
I hope that you will be back to 100% soon, Dave. I;m thinking of making a beetroot curry.
Lovely photos on the slideshow, but I see what you mean about the lake developing in the meadow. We seem to have avoided the worst of the rain over here in the West, which is unusual. That’s a fantastic beetroot harvest, I absolutely love beetroot. Well done on tackling your perennial flower bed. I have a raspberry bed to tackle which will be a similar task I think. I want to plant new canes, but it is east-facing and far shadier than it used to be because of a huge cherry tree, so it is not an ideal spot for soft fruit. Bertie had to have his ears washed as well recently. He is the same when it comes to leaving the house when it’s raining. He has a look and then lies down in the hall in protest.
The lake is about 3 or 4 times as big now CJ after just over a week.Ruby will be getting very wet on her walks as the rain isn’t holding off. We bought her a more waterproof raincoat to at least keep her body dry.
Unfortunately, I think we can venture. to prepare ourselves for more weather like what has been seen recently. times they are a changing. There’s some very pretty landscape photographs in the slide show. I wonder if there are any other ways you could cook those larger beetroots, maybe in the microwave? How they would turn out if you wore gloves to peel and chop them up and then microwave or roast them?
We have a jam cauldron, Debbie so can mange the large beetroots but I’m thinking of making a beetroot curry.