Rainy days and harvesting crops

 I've been picking blackberries recently from the lane outside our allotment gate. It looked like I was the first to get to them. Usually I'm late picking them and often miss out. But the lane has got very overgrown this year so I don't think many people are walking that way along the path.

We are unfortunate that our neighbours on either side of our plot as well as another next but one have not been maintaining their plots, so access to their end of the lane is full of nettles and brambles. This is where the fruit is.  I'm hoping we will get some new neighbours soon who will look after their plots as the council do an inspection at this time of year. It would be nice to have some neighbours who we can chat with and who will keep their plots looking reasonably tidy. Whoever takes them on will have a difficult job on as they have been allowed to get into a really bad state.

Picking blackberries always makes me think of autumn. It's the time of year coming up to late summer when we start to harvest a lot of our allotment crops and down on our plot we are getting some good harvests. Our jobs when we go to the plot are more about watering the greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers and picking fruit, vegetables and flowers. If we have any time to spare after that we try to catch up on weeding.

With all the rain we have had recently not much work has been done and we have been dodging the showers. But on better days we've been able to get back to doing important jobs. I have cut down the pea and broad bean plants and weeded the bed. I also pulled up all the onions and put them to dry out in the cold frames. There were an awful lot of weeds in that bed which also has leeks in it. So I spent some time last week weeding them all out.

When I planted up the brassica bed months ago, I noticed that there were some nasturtiums which had self seeded from last year, so I left them there thinking that they would make good companion plants for the cabbages. Unfortunately they seem to have become a bit over friendly and run riot, taking over the bed so much I could barely see the cabbages. So the nasturtiums had to come out. It seemed such a shame to get rid of them as they were so colourful, but I managed to cut a lot of the flowers off to take home. I know the nasturtiums will be back next year as they drop a lot of seeds. Once they were out of the way I could see that I had a few cabbages, some Cavalo Nero kale  and purple sprouting broccoli.  

In the other cabbage patch next to them the cabbages and kale I planted early in the year are doing really well and there were no nasturtiums in that bed.

We've had a lot of courgettes, but I did plant rather too many, so it's been courgettes with everything for our meals. Thankfully they are are now coming to an end and I'm just picking little ones which are quite nice. Now the climbing beans are starting to appear and I know there will be a lot, there always are. In the greenhouses the tomatoes and cucumbers are producing good crops. I have made tomato chutney and soup and we have had lots of salads with chunks of cucumbers. I have given lots of my surplus crops away to friends and neighbours who seemed very happy to receive them.

The blackberries have gone in the freezer and will be used to make apple and blackberry jam and maybe a crumble. My daughter has a Bramley apple tree in her garden and lets me me help myself to the apples. So the rain doesn't seem to have affected any of the vegetables we've grown, but I do wish we could have some better weather.

 

  

Blackberries down the lane

The blackberries started ripening early this year and there have been so many too. Last year I missed out on picking them down the allotment lane, by the time I got there everyone else had got there before me and there were none left. So this year needing to stock up my freezer supplies I was determined to get my share of them. Accompanied by my grandson, whenever we went down to the allotment, we finished our allotment work by walking down the lane to fill a box with blackberries. My grandson took his rake with him so he could pull down branches for me to pick. The best ones are always just out of reach. I was the one who got scratched filling my box, he just ate the ones he picked.

On the plot I've been picking blackcurrants, red currants and gooseberries. Luckily they are in a net cage which keeps the birds off, as I'd left it a bit late before I finally got around to picking them. But I still think I lost quite a lot through them dropping off.

I was pleased to get a few more red currants this year. The blueberries were a disappointment but I think again I'd left it late to pick and many had dropped off.

My fruit freezer is well filled up now and will keep us going in fruit for the coming year. Now I need to start thinking about making jams and fruit gins.

Foraging

At the top end of our allotment there is a jungle of weeds.  We are working  up that way in our clearing sessions, but as yet it is a mess. Amongst the mess are blackberries ripening daily. There aren't very many, I've only picked about 6 so far, that's not enough to make a pie with. We're going to let them ripen and then pick them before we finally cut the mess down.  There will still be blackberries to pick though, because I've found some more nearby.

The allotments are situated along a lovely lane, full of wildlife and I went foraging along this lane last week. There I  found an abundance of blackberries. I was in blackberry heaven as I picked. I was dreaming of blackberry and apple pies and crumbles using the apples from our apple tree in the garden, blackberry jam, blackberries mixed with the raspberries from the garden and blackberry gin.

I need to be quick though because other people know of this blackberry place, I've seen them walking down the lane with carrier bags. But I think there is plenty for everyone and I mustn't be greedy.

The down side of this blackberry picking is the scratches and nettle stings to my arms, so I have to remember to wear long sleeves when I go there.  I've also found that the best ones are always just out of reach.  So I take a small rake with me to pull the branches down.

I'm doing well, I've picked lots now and they're in the freezer ready for when I  have a baking session. If  I don't bake soon I may just have to go out and buy another freezer because I'm running out of blackberry space.