Ready for Halloween

The last couple of weeks have been somewhat fraught to say the least. As Val has to avoid putting any weight on her broken ankle, I’m still head cook and bottlewasher, teamaker, butler and parlour maid. I quite enjoy cooking so I can’t say I mind, it’s just the time everything takes.

It’s times like this where the freezers really come into their own. When we freeze vegetables we do them in portion for two size bags so it’s really easy come cooking time. Plus we have Val’s bargain buys. Outdoor reared pork chops we paid 99p for made the base for one meal but the real frugal meal has to be the shepherds pie where the pound of lamb mince had been reduced to just 69p. I’m not too good on quantities though so ended up with enough to feed 6 people from that!

The weather has been fantastic for the time of year and since they reckon it’s going to break tonight I thought I’d best head down to the plot. Val assured be that if she needed a cup of tea in my absence it wouldn’t result in permanent damage to her leg so off I went.

First stop was the greenhouses and they’re still standing, which was nice. Even better was the tomatoes inside. There were about 10lbs of ripe tomatoes ready to harvest. There’s still a few green tomatoes on the plants which I’ve just left to ripen. Cleared a couple of plants that had finished and pulled a few bolted lettuce for the compost heap. Even found a couple more peppers ready, so they went into the bag.

My daughter’s coming to visit next week so I think she’ll be taking a few lettuce back for the chickens.

Back over to plot 5 and the carrot bins were next. I’m not sure what the weight is but the carrier bag was full and it cut into my hand when I came home. I was listening to a play on the radio about the boat bringing Count Dracula to Whitby and the crew vanishing, one by one. So after the carrots just sat on the bench for 5 minutes until the end. Very appropriately spooky for the date!

Next it was back over to plot 29 and the last piles of green material that had wilted on the plot went onto the compost bin and I made a start emptying the other bin. 8 wheelbarrow loads was about a quarter of the bin’s contents so still a ways to go.

Headed home with my harvest bags feeling a lot happier for some fresh air to prepare for Halloween. I must admit to being an old grump and feeling this trick or treat is an American custom that should have stayed firmly on their side of the Atlantic. Still, nearly ready for them. I’ve put up a sign saying “Halloween Treats! Tofu Chunks and Raw Carrot” The door bell is connected to the mains supply, that should give them a jolt and the oil is boiling in the pan ready to pour from the upstairs window.

Just the sharp stakes to place in the concealed pits in the driveway and we’re ready. I’ve got the tricks, I wonder what treats they’ll bring me!!

Posted in Allotment Garden Diary
One comment on “Ready for Halloween
  1. Colin says:

    I agree about Trick or Treat, but this is about storing vegetables.
    This year many of my potatoes are sprouting already, even King Edwards that have usually kept very well. And shallots and onions are rotting far more than usual (some trouble was expected because the weather was very damp when they were harvested and laid out to dry).
    Are other gardeners having the same experience?

    But on another subject, I dug some Sarpo Mira spuds and though many had slug damage several were very large indeed. One weighed-in at 848 grams.

    But the missus says that they are not good cookers, so we may stick to traditional varieties in future.

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