Last week, the hot weather hit, I did a lot of watering and everyone was tired. And that was about it. This is not to say it was a bad week, it was a good week and a better weekend but outside of work was all focused on the allotment and rest so although I enjoyed it, there’s wasn’t a lot to write about except that I was completely overexcited about growing a radish, well actually 5 radishes…
Pictures.
From the plot
Fencing in the salad bed
Early morning watering
Sweet peas
Happy Friday! Here are this week’s links…
Marie Kondo and the war on stuff.
Sleep helps keep our brains tidy. Teenagers everywhere are telling their parents “My room is messy but my brain is tidy”
Southern is a story of rail failure. But the real agenda is to crush the unions
A Twitter love story. Book nerds are the best nerds.
Garden Bridge may need taxpayer bailout once built. Is there anyone, apart from world famous liar Boris Johnson, that didn’t think this was the case. I don’t mind the idea of a garden bridge but I do mind public money being spent on this, out of Transport for London’s budget, when our transport infrastructure is keeling over.
This is fantastic. Wall around Trump’s Hollywood star.
Gooseberries were on my wish list for the allotment and when I realised that there were already 3 bushes on my plot I was over the moon! Only one of those bushes fruited this year, I think the others would have but for the pigeons (and I have plans for moving all three bushes to one spot in the autumn so I can put up a fruit cage and foil them) but the bush that did fruit produced red eating gooseberries (much to my mother’s joy!).
All in all I think I had about 1.5kg of gooseberries.
Ma and I ate a fair few of them just as they were, I also made gooseberry fool a couple of times and I made these lollies.
It’s not a new idea, there are loads of recipes for fruit and yoghurt lollies floating around and we’ve not really had a full on moment of summer that require cold and refreshing things! Right now though, my part of the world is enjoying a mini heat wave, it’s going to be 33C today and while I know that’s not really hot for a lot of people, it’s very hot for London, but so far this year it hasn’t been hot enough to make the train tracks soft. The English are not good with any type of weather it seems!
I don’t think it will last long, it is England after all, but in the spirit of making hay while the sun shines, I thought I’d make something for hot weather. You could use any fruit you like or have kicking about just adjust the sugar levels depending on the fruit, but I had gooseberries!
I made a basic compote with 250g of gooseberries and a 1/4 cup of sugar, this is actually a little more sugar than I usually would use but cold kills flavour and sugar both enhances flavour and prevents things from getting too icy. I heated the gooseberries and sugar in a pan until the gooseberries popped, I set aside to cool and put in the fridge until properly cold. Then I put one and half tablespoons of runny honey in 250g of plain yoghurt (I used low fat because its what I always have the fridge) and stirred in the gooseberries. Then scooped all of it into my ice lolly mold, mine holds 4 and it made just enough.
The only word of warning here is that you have to have patience, they have to have a full 12 hours in the freezer and you have to leave them for 5 minutes before you take them out of the molds. There’s a reason that there are only 2 in the photo!
If it’s not already obvious I’m really enjoying having an allotment and feel that I haven’t done too badly in the first couple of months. However, nothing is ever 100% successful and I’ve had my first failure, before they even produced a tomato, the tomato plants got blight.
We had a warm wet June and when a fellow plot holder mentioned that their tomatoes had gone down with it, I was looking out for it and there it was.
There is no cure for blight so I was all ready to chop them down and burn them. However, my next door neighbour at the allotments said to leave them and see and someone else recommended that I hack them back and hope for the best. So I did and we’ll see. They do have tomatoes though so if they could hold out until some of them ripen I’d be eternally grateful but if they don’t, they don’t and we try again next year.
However the little french marigolds are flowering so I can grow something.
The courgettes are still going mad, this week I’ve already taken two and there are 7 more that will need to come off at the weekend, not to mention the little ones coming through. I think it’s fair to say I have a glut. At the moment, it’s not a problem, I’m never going to moan about too much fresh food, but ask me again at the end of August!
This is my little conjoined courgette from one of my plants as opposed to the ones that Jonny gave me, which has produced 18 courgettes and counting.
The runner beans, pak choi, mixed lettuce and rocket sown a couple of weeks ago are doing their thing, the spinach and spring onions not so much but I have hopes of them.
I’m not so hopeful about the dill and coriander, those little rectangles of dry earth next to the salad and second courgette bed have got a couple of tiny sprouts but I can’t tell if they are weeds or my herbs! The first salad bed is going really well, although who knew that pigeons liked spinach so much? My lesson for next year will be to keep them covered! The carrots and radishes in the box have started to come up although I’m not sure that I’ll have radishes for my birthday.
In other news both the dwarf french beans and the peas are starting to flower.
As have (finally) the sweetpeas
There is always something to do, the raspberries went early and are about done, I need to cut the old canes back and generally tidy, weed and mulch them for next year. I’m thinking about taking the end ones out and planting a row of autumn fruiting raspberries for next year. The rhubarb is done and I think that one of them will need lifting and splitting in a couple of months and then a bit of manure and compost for next year.
Ma weeded up that end this weekend. She did an epic job but I really need to have a think about what to do there. It’s the most shaded area of the plot so I need to think about whether to plant veg or flowers or what.
The edges need trimming and the lavender is in completely the wrong place and will have to be moved at some point, I know where I want it but I’m also going to have to add some grit or sand because they don’t like clay which is exactly the type of soil I have!
Jonny is also increasing what I grow by gifting me a cucumber, which should be interesting and I need to built the composter that Sarah and Justin have decided they don’t want any more (Fred is a big fan of the garden but it’s no longer safe to grow anything!) and given me. I will very soon have a chest for tools (because carrying them thither and yon is really annoying not to mention the house looking like a shed) and a bin for setting things on fire. I have a heap of rubbish that I probably should compost but I know it’s got perennial weeds in so I’m not taking the risk and I’m burning it, also I like fire!
There is other stuff to do as time and money allow. On the list are preparing a raised bed for strawberries and a space for the gooseberries, which I need to move because I can’t get to one of them and another is right where I want a shed to live! Eventually, I’ll need to empty the water tank under the plum tree, prune the plum tree (after the plums!) and start planning next year.
Even though I know hardly anything about what I’m doing, I love doing it. Spending 4 ish hours weeding and getting completely sunburnt on Saturday gave me a sense of joy that I really needed. Another plot holder told me that her time on her plot gave her peace and I know exactly what she means, there is something very life affirming for me about tending this little plot and though it’s not by any means flashy or done. I love it.
SHOPPING
There was lots of supplemental produce too.
Total was £10.93
FOOD
On Saturday we had Friday Night Pizza!
Sunday lunch was a veggie orzo bake based on this one from Smitten Kitchen
and the leftovers with extra veg for work lunch on Monday 
On Monday night I ate the rest of the ragu from the Friday before.
I used the leftover pasta from Friday and Monday to make a spaghetti frittata. There’s onion, courgette and mushrooms in there too. This was lunch for the rest of the week.
Tuesday night was flatbread and roasted vegetables.
Wednesday Ma met me after work and we had egg rolls, grilled courgettes and salad.
Thursday was a difficult work day, and I just didn’t have the energy, so I sauted aubergine and onions with some bacon and ate that. 
Friday Night Pizza was actually on Friday this week.
LESSONS LEARNED
I can’t think of anything that springs to mind, except that being really tired and having no access to a take away menu is probably really good for my health!
This week was another normal week for me. I was on top of work but it was busy, I worked from home on Friday and over the weekend we had amazing weather.
Ma and I worked really hard on Saturday and weeded everything. 
Ma did this bit and was broken by the end of it. I was burnt
I haven’t been that sunburnt since the 70’s.
The rest of the weekend was spent doing weekend things, washing, a trip to the library, reading! You know it isn’t the most exciting of lives but I am very glad to be living it!
Last Sunday, Stevie Wonder was at Hyde Park and the night before this was on the radio and it’s brilliant and should be played a lot and loud!
Happy Friday! Ok so my country is going to the dogs, seriously if politicians really want to know why people are so disengaged from politics they should just look at the last couple of weeks. I often disagreed with the people who were in power but right now I’m just ashamed and embarrassed. Dear world, I’m sorry…
I woke up this morning and heard about Nice. I don’t have much more to say than its awful. I saw my first Bastille Day fireworks in Nice on a school trip when I was 14. There is nothing I can do except spend some time today thinking of and praying for the families of the dead and injured. I’m also going to spend some time praying for the people who did and planned this, whatever they think, they are very far from God.
Here are this weeks links
I’m currently gobsmacked that our 2nd female prime minister has appointed Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary. Jean-Marc Ayrault’s (the French Foreign Minister) comments on him just about sum up my view.
A Short History of Boris Johnson Being Offensive. God help us. Senior diplomat.
This about the Tories and Brexit is spot on.
Yes, we don’t need it and we certainly shouldn’t have to pay for it! London mayor Sadiq Khan blocks extra funds for garden bridge.
Corbyn’s critics are hellbent in destroying the party they claim to love. This.
Polly Toynbee on Angela Eagle. An example of why people have no faith in the political classes. Angela Eagle abstained on the welfare bill, she voted for the invasion of Iraq and against an inquiry into it, she feels Tony Blair ‘has suffered enough’. She isn’t a ‘strong Labour woman’, she’s a Red Tory and frankly the she and the PLP need to spend less time telling me that Corbyn has lost her support and more time examining why they are so out of step with their party members and the rest of the country.
The Canary has a takedown of the above article and which sums my feelings quite well.
It’s not Corbyn who has severed the working class from Labour’s metropolitan, “do as we say” elite. When you repeatedly beat a dog with a stick, time and time again, it will eventually turn and bite you. The working classes have sunk their teeth into the rump of Toynbee and her ilk – and all she and the rest of her establishment drones can do is yelp pitifully, that it’s somehow our fault. Bad dogs! We trained you better than this!
The near impossibility of moving up after welfare. This is American but it’s true of the changes that the Tories have made to our system. I remember being told by the lady in the Job Centre that it was time to look for lower paying jobs and pointed out that I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent on a lower salary. All of these things interconnect.
This is the most sensible approach to being a child with a difficult relationship with one or both of your parents. Blame your parents if you must, then forgive them.
Summer cocktails. Some of these look fastastic.
This year, largely due to my financial goals I’ve changed things up. I spend less money on everything (except maybe the allotment!) and the things I put on my face are no exception.
Some things have stayed. I was gifted with a bottle of Clarins Lotus Oil and some Dermalogica Microfoliant for Christmas, I’m still using both and honestly they are worth spending the money on if you have it because I haven’t found anything I like as much that works as well. At night I’m still using the Baby Bottom Butter from Waitrose to cleanse my face because it works and it doesn’t break the budget.
The new thing I have added to my routine is Simply Pure Hydrating Serum
I’m late to the party on this one. Sali Hughes raved about it in her Guardian column back in February but I hadn’t been able to get my hands on it until last month. It’s as good as she says and has done more for the wrinkles around my eyes than any eye cream I’ve tried. I also add a bit to my foundation which seems to help it take better.
It also helps the budget by costing £2.69 and often being on special offer. It’s another magic unicorn of skincare, cheap and effective.
Another pretty good week for food.
SHOPPING
I spent £11.33 in total. but again this was supplemented with allotment produce and I also spent another £18 on food and wine for dinner on Friday night, that was for people coming to dinner and therefore doesn’t come out of my weekly food budget.
COOKING AND EATING
Courgette pasta on for Saturday lunch for me and Ma. I was out for dinner on Saturday night, also how lovely is it when friends cook for you?
On Sunday I met Ma in Kingston and we had a Bryon burger! Not pictured is the rootbeer, I adore rootbeer…
Weekday breakfasts were yogurt and rhubarb compote. Monday lunch was raw vegetables and yoghurt dip (I didn’t eat the salad – too busy but I did eat it that evening)
Monday night was potato salad which was lunch with salad for the rest of the week.
Tuesday night was roasted cauliflower
Wednesday’s dinner was all from the allotment, grilled courgettes with salad and feta
Thursday was sauted veg because that was all I had the energy for.
I didn’t take a picture of Friday’s dinner but it was pork ragu followed by gooseberry fool
LESSONS LEARNED
I need less food than I think, the fridge is still packed! But I am loving getting food off the allotment, there’s something really good about eating food you grew!
Nic Dempsey 