Compost, Crops & Jerusalem Artichokes

It’s been another busy week and I’ve only managed to pop down to the plot a couple of times but the rush project is nearly done. Thank goodness it’s not March, a couple of weeks with your eye off the ball in November isn’t too bad but in March it’s almost a disaster.

We dropped some compost material down one day, most of our kitchen waste goes down to the plot which is only fair since most of it comes from the plot originally, except for the teabags which apparently come from the tea plantations of Yorkshire. They’re a versatile bunch in Yorkshire, growing the best rhubarb and tea in the world.

Talking of compost, a few houses back we had a large garden and an electric shredder. It wasn’t anything expensive or powerful but it coped with everything the garden produced except for the logs when the apple tree died. I was a bit naughty and removed the safety guard so I could cram hedge trimmings down the tube to the whirring blades faster but I always remembered not to put my hand down there. Stuff that would take a year to break down would go in at the top but the chippings that came out would begin to heat up before I’d got them to the compost bins.

We’ve no electric power on the allotment (who has?) so it’s either a petrol shredder or an electric one and a generator. Either way, the chancellor of our exchequer denies my funding request for the following fiscal year.

So the woody stuff goes on the base of the pile and eventually it rots down, but it would be nice to munch it all up and see it convert in weeks rather than a year.

We got another rather nice large cauliflower, about 10″ across which is enough to go with three meals for us. It had a little brother by it as well, which was strange as they were both sown and planted at the same time in the same soil. One was great and one was a joke.

We’re pulling leeks now as needed. They’re doing quite well despite going in late. Not the largest leeks I’ve seen but I suspect the flavour is better than some of the wonderful looking leeks you see on the show bench. I might be wrong, but we’re happy with them.

The Brussels sprouts seem to have enjoyed their liquid feed last week. We had some of those with last night’s dinner and very good they were. The phrase ‘you live and learn’ really comes to mind with sprouts. Neither of us had bothered trying a sprout since we knew they were unpleasant, smelly, soggy balls that you suffered at Christmas to make the rest of the meal taste better.

Fresh, home grown sprouts, cooked properly are a revelation. If you know you don’t like them, give them another try. You may be pleasantly surprised.

One vegetable I’ve been successful with this year is the Jerusalem artichoke. They really are so easy to grow. Drop tuber in a hole, fill it up and forget until autumn then dig up. Jerusalem artichokes are one of those fancy crops, beloved of the gourmets with a smoky, nutty flavour. OK, it’s a flavour I expect you might like or maybe you can get used to but we were not impressed. Not inedible, but it didn’t strike us as something to rave about.

The other thing about Jerusalem artichokes is that, to put it politely, they give you wind. Hence the moniker of “fartichokes”. Now I’m quite strong stomached, I’ve eaten red hot curries in Bradford, seafood on holiday and fried breakfasts on ships in a storm on the North sea. Few things bother me but Jerusalem artichokes were a surprise.

To spare you all the details I’ll just say that I have discovered an alternative power source. Eat a dish of Jerusalem artichokes, connect yourself up to a gas powered generator and away you go.

Now I have quite a few of this gourmet vegetable so I’m thinking about holding a competition. First prize will be one kilogram of them, second prize is ten kilograms.

Hopefully next week I can get on with the jobs on the plot, rebuilding the compost heaps, putting in the raised beds and winter digging. I’ve also got the garlic to plant, which I think will go into the new raised bed on plot 5.

I’m growing two types this year, the first is a hard-necked Porcelain variety called “Music” which I got from our forum member David who also sells smoked garlic. The other is Solent White from Dobies, a softneck type which should store for longer. Last season the garlic suffered badly from rust and the weather but I suspect this year will be different.

Posted in Allotment Garden Diary

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