Rhubarb
Why growing alone isn't enough
Hello everyone,
How are you all? I spent last weekend down in Devon on the edge of Dartmoor, for my second camping weekend. If my first, to Abergavenny in Wales, was about just giving it a go, then this one felt very much about settling into it. I feel like I’m finding a rhythm in my trips, and I genuinely can’t remember when I enjoyed a weekend more that this last. The weather was glorious, the meadows and hedgerows flush with wild flowers, the water cool when I took a dip, and my campsite wild and friendly. It felt like the very best of Summer, and I can’t wait for more adventures over the next few months.
One of the things I always look out for when I hunt for campsites to stay at, is an owner who grows their own vegetables. They are surprisingly common! At Middle Ninfa, I spent one evening exploring Richard’s plot with him, marvelling at the size of his artichokes and how he was harvesting peas already so early in the year. And at Sweet Meadows, I loved poking my nose into their greenhouse on my way to the tiny patch of their site that got mobile phone reception! I love that growing vegetables is a common language, and as soon as I say that I have an allotment the conversation just flows. There is always something to learn, something to observe and something to share.
I’m writing this on Friday morning, as the rain, finally, comes down outside (it was promised here a couple of days ago but, despite heavy skies, nothing fell until last night). There is nothing like rain on warm soil to really get things going. Although I’m sure the weeds are enjoying it as much as my vegetables!
Anyway, let’s get to my plot - until the rain stops and I can get out there myself!
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the books I remember most fondly from my childhood is a battered copy of John Seymour’s The Self-Sufficiency Handbook. It was so well used that even when I was very young, the protective coating on the cover was peeling off. A few years ago I found an updated edition in a bookshop, and I bought it right away. My new copy is red, with a cloth cover that sadly won’t peel no matter how much I use it, but the sepia-toned illustrations remain the same.
Like my dad, who bought the book first, I’ve always loved the idea of self-sufficiency. Of finding ways to provide your basic necessities for yourself, and not relying on anyone or anything to fulfil them for you. I’m particularly drawn to this when it comes to food, and it was a big part of my motivation for getting an allotment. I dreamed of vegetables pulled straight from the soil and onto my plate (via a wash in the sink obviously). Punnets of plump fruit and bountiful baskets of multi-coloured vegetables negating the need for food shopping all summer-long. Being able to make food for people that I’d also grown entirely (“it’s all out of the garden”, I’d say with a shrug). And while some of that has of course come true, the reality has been much harder than I thought it would be.
I think this is because I thought the hard part would be the growing. And yet, I’ve realised over the past few years, that’s only just the beginning.
I think growing a few bits and pieces - some new potatoes, a few handful of beans, a couple of gloriously red tomatoes - for your plate is fairly easy. Growing something edible is not that hard, and while you might have a few missteps, you will also, most likely, have a few wins as well.
The hard part, I think, comes in growing a consistent portion of your daily fruit and veg intake, and, in actually making sure you are eating what you are growing.
I quickly realised just how short the season of a vegetable can be. Salad can only be ready to eat for a few weeks before it starts going to seed. Strawberries need picking as soon as they are ripe or they turn. Your pea plants might be dripping in pods one week, and shrivelled up the next. You have to grab your food when it comes available, and make the most of it then and there. There is no time to dither.
I have tried over last year and this to do more successional sowings in a bid to elongate my harvests. But this has proven trickier than I thought, again. Last year’s dry spring meant that many seeds and seedlings were held in stasis for a number of weeks, so second successional sowings quickly caught up to their earlier counterparts. And if you sow anything too late, then it just doesn’t have a chance to fully grow before the days begin to shorten considerably, and everything slows down. So often I end up with either too much of a vegetable all at once (chard, salad leaves, courgettes) or too little to do much with (rhubarb and strawberries). Growing the right amounts of food at the right time is a hard task.
And then there is the eating. I had a wake up call last week when I realised that my salad leaves were already overgrown and going to seed, and I had only harvested a few platefuls of them. It felt like such a waste. I realised in the time they’d been pickable, I’d been receiving my regular Riverford vegetable box, and prioritising it’s contents over my own grown stuff. In my head, as I’d paid for them and they were out of the ground and in my fridge, they were more of a waste. And yet, when I think of all the effort that went into growing those salad leaves, and how tasty they were, I feel sad that I didn’t make the most of them.
When, a few days later, I returned from my trip to Devon and harvested radishes, rhubarb (3 stalks - enough to stew!), chard, some of the salad, and a lettuce all at the same time, I resolved to cancel my regular Riverford box as soon as I got home. And try, as hard as I can, to eat as much as I can, from my plot this summer.
My new potatoes are almost ready, broad beans are plumping up in their pods, and I’ve spied my first beetroot as well, so I don’t think it will be much of a hardship! I will have to change how to plan and cook a little I think, and I will do doubt have to fill in some of the gaps from my local farm shop as well. But I’m excited for the challenge!
I’ll let you know how I get on.
***
The Allotment Log
DOING
Pinching out broad beans
My broad beans have been my pride this year. They are so strong and tall and look really healthy. But a couple of days ago I spotted a few covered in black fly. I asked Instagram (obviously) and the consensus was to pinch out the tops of the plants. I have since done so, but there are still a few around. I’ve ordered an organic deterrent so will see what happens when that arrives.
Making Comfrey fertiliser
I’ve harvested my first crop of comfrey, and have chopped it up and covered in with water. There are fancy ways of doing it but I’ve found this does the job! It is already smelling horrific, so I should be able to use it soon.
SOWING
Nasturtium “Empress of India”
I was very excited to sow these in my hanging baskets. I can’t wait until they are overflowing with ruby-orange flowers!
French bean “Blue Lake”
I’ve sown my french beans direct, and they are already above the soil! I’ve never grown French beans before, but love growing legumes as they are so easy to blanch, freeze and keep if you have a glut!
Chicory “Rossa di Treviso precoce” and “Variegato di Castelfranco”
I’ve sown two varieties of chicory because I love them, and I couldn’t choose between these two varieties!
More pumpkin, squash and courgette seeds.
I had them, and with my plants looking so sad I thought I might as well start again and sow more of each. My bed is now a mess of half happy plants, and tiny new shoots.
Genovese Basil
I’ve sown a few seeds of basil in my tomato troughs (what tastes good together grows well together - or so someone once told me and I’ve always remembered).
PLANTING
Chilli Hot Cayenne
I ordered this ages ago and it suddenly turned up on my doorstep. I filled in a gap where a tomato plant had died with it and it’s looking very happy so far.
HARVESTING
Radishes. Rhubarb. Strawberries, Chard - both Rainbow and Lucullus. Salad. Rocket. Reine de Glace lettuce.
All delicious. Gosh I love this time of the year!
COOKING
Roast little gems (Reine de Glace) with peas, peppercorns, parsley and cream | Gill Mellor - Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower
I LOVE cooked lettuce. I don’t know why it isn’t more common! The first time I made it was as part of Jamie Oliver’s chicken pie recipe I think and I remember it being a revelation. It’s no exaggeration to say that cooking is the main reason I am growing this lettuce!
This was a delicious dish that made use of the end of a pint of cream after (another) rhubarb fool.
Greens (rainbow chard), coconut sambal and mustard seed fried egg | Anna Jones - A Modern Cooks Year
I make big batches of this sambal when I have an excess of tomatoes and chillis, and freeze portions. I generally love a rice, greens, egg and spicy sauce sort of supper and this is a particularly good one!
That’s all for this week. As I continue to go away every other weekend, these will probably go down to every other week for the time being. I’ll be in a campsite just above Hay-on-Wye next Saturday morning!
Take care, and enjoy the rain!
Fiona xx