The Good Life - Beatles, flies, blight and rust

 

 One of our happy sunflowers!

We were fortunate to have had a warm and dry start to the summer. June was particularly nice with long sun filled warm days making it the warmest June for 40 years. In contrast July proved to be mild, cloudy with above average rainfall for most parts of the country. These conditions did not inhibit growth; every plant was leaping out the ground in the allotment including the weeds. Meanwhile the humid warm conditions caused the steady advance of fungal rot, associated with various types of disease and infestations, attacking the foliage of the plants and vegetables. Another unexpected scourge was to play a significant role in our management of the plot. A number of light fingered thieving bastards visited a few of the allotment sheds taking rakes, forks, shovels and spades. There were no witnesses because this crime was perpetrated while most people were watching a dull and uninspiring world cup final.

The onions, shallots and red onions have all been lifted and we are in the process of tying them together to hang and dry. I have begun to carry out a little research into which recipe I will use to make a red onion marmalade. I am leaning towards a recipe which I can incorporate some of my little harvest of dried mustard seed recently cleared from one of the nursery beds. Indeed chutneys and preserves of various kinds are on my mind as the tomato and courgette crops develop and mature in the coming weeks.

Clearing a number of beds, and weeding them, has revealed a marked increase in the number of worms working the soil and various spiders defesively tracking their way across its crumbly surface. Beatles are also abundant and some have been laying their eggs among the vegetables. Plants have been primarily affected by green fly and black fly. Fortunately these manifestations have been quite isolated. Corinne has pulled the odd cabbage and showed me where the cabbage fly larvae have been devouring the roots causing immense damage. As the year has progressed, and as I have listened to her, I could swear just about every plant has its own particular fly which attacks it. To date I am told we have successfully avoided the attention of the carrot fly and gooseberry saw fly.

View across the allotment

The damp conditions in July caused the inevitable spread of rust and blight. The rust attacked the onions and leeks, and the blight blackened the leaves of a number of tomato and potato plants. Without the use of chemical treatments there is not a lot that can be done, but we have dug up the onions and cleared away some of the rotten plants and foliage where possible to limit the damage.

The real successes of July have been the gem lettuce and our crop of dwarf yellow beans with the potatoes and beetroot playing a strong supporting role. Due to a little judicious planting we should have two crops of lettuce and yellow beans extending our season of production into September and possibly October. These crops are also the principal targets of the dreaded slug, which took a large portion of last years delectable crop of yellow beans. We have only seen a few slugs to date this year and they remain conspicuous by their absence. Corinne's grandmother, who is 101, told us her secret of keeping the slugs at bay in her garden. She stated that in order to effectively deal with the problem it was imperative to kill 50 slugs every morning with a scissors and they would no longer be a threat. Within two or three weeks of this regime one could almost imagine some level of extinction taking place. It is no wonder it worked, however as I have only killed five slugs in five months we must be on the verge of an infestation of biblical proportions.

Poppy heads drying in a field during July

During the week we also harvested seeds from the heads of the poppy plants in a nearby field. The papaver somniferum, or ornamental poppy, and also known as the opium poppy, has a number of sedative properties. It is propagated on a huge scale in Afghanistan and Tasmania. For our purposes, as the head of the poppy swells and dries, the seeds also dry inside the head ready to be spread by the wind as the poppy bends and sways from side to side. Breaking off the head in your hand, you can cut the head open and shake the seeds into a jar. We collected nearly 300 grams of seed this way and look forward to incorporating them into cakes, biscuits and bread. My first recipe will be Lemon and poppyseed cake. I have found what looks to be a good recipe for this classic cake published in the London times in June 2005. I may substitute some ground almonds for the flour in the recipe to give it more of a nutty and rich texture and taste while also giving the cake the ability to retain some moisture. More on this later!