Batman is the Robin!

 I found out something really interesting today... Talking to a lovely bloke from the RSPB I discovered that Robins are very territorial and that the Robin that keeps appearing in our garden is the same Robin! Batman is Batman... And I apologise for my scepticism... Sorry Lili, sorry everybody... Sorry Batman...

He also told me that they will rip another birds head off if they invade their territory... Robins are hard mothers... Who knew?!

Yeah, my chickens have jumpers, so what?

Making space

Today I made space for our tomato plants to go, meaning that something had to go. This turned out to be the beetroot - we have a lot of beetroot! - so I brought it home, boiled it for half an hour and yum... Pass the sweet vinegar please...

Started planting!

Yes, I have started planting! The rain has finally stopped and the sun is shining, yes it's still a bit chilli, but hell, after 10 mins you'll have worked up a sweat anyway and if you haven't then you're doing something wrong.

So today I planted my lettuce, radish and cabbage seeds... Cabbages are a bit of a gamble, they are notoriously hard to grow, but I stuck them in by the broccoli -  which has finally (After about six months!!) finally started to produce veg! - and then I can net the two of the off together to stop those pesky butterflies, they may be pretty, but they're also leaf eating bastards!
Very easy to plant, just prep your ground, breaking up the earth really well and adding good handfuls of fertiliser. The thinly sprinking your seeds in straight lines a decent amount of space between each line (Or just one line as I did) and cover with about 1/2 inch of earth. Giving the earth a firm but not too firm pat down (Imagine your are making short bread)  and cover with a cloche... This one is from Wilco's for £4... and is still a but shit... It does shoe that you most definitely get what you pay for!

Plant the radishes in sort of the same way, I didn't worry about the lines and don't worry about the cloche, plus they grow in no time, or so I've been told!


And the lettuce, as planned is by the spinach. It's slugs that are the enemy here... But a sprinkle of egg shells (Thank you ladies) will keep them at bay (I hope!)

These are very easy to plant, just make a well in a straight line, about a cm deep and then sprinkle the seeds down the 'isle', I did two 'isle', an Iceberg (especially for my husband and a Cos for me - then fill it in with a fine sprinkle of early and press lightly... Then cross your fingers.

Tartiflette... Spinach style...

So I've dug up a load of spinach but decided on Tartiflette for dinner... What to do? I know! A
spinach Tarliflette... and hey why not add chorizo too, to make a weird French/ Spanish fusion? And, my god it was delicious... So here is my recipe, if you fancy a go.

You will need:

Potatoes

Onions

Bacon or Chorizo

Garlic

Cream

Brie

and lovely spinach

Oh and breadcrumbs... 

... and seasoning... and nutmeg! 

Cut up some potatoes in large pieces, they say waxy in the recipe, but just use anything you have to hand really... I'm definitely going to try this again with my potatoes... and boil for about 8 minutes until they're firm but cooked through... I know that it is hard to get them just right, but try... No nipping out for a swift fag or a cuppa... Stay and watch!

Then in a frying pan add a good glug of oil (I'm sorry, I don't really do measurements, so you'll have to guess) and slice one big, or the equivalent of, onion and a large clove of garlic. Add this to the oil when hot and fry until the onion is soft.

Then add your sliced smoked bacon - I use scissors to chop bacon, so much easier, or Chorizo if you fancy that change I mentioned and let it cook through.

Pop a large handful of spinach in to the pan and stir around - you may want to add some nutmeg at this point too you can... I did...

Then remove all of the fried veg and meat, retaining as much of the oil as you can in the pan and wack it up to full blast. When it is ready put the drained potatoes in and give them a good fry to crisp up the edges, then add the onions, spinach and meat back in and give it a good shake.

When its all evenly distributed - you actually have two options at this point thinking about it... You could carry on this way and make the Tartiflette, or you could just whisk up a few eggs and have yourself a delicious Spanish style omlette..?!  - But we're doing Tartiflette, so lets get on with that... So when it's all done, add blocks (Or as near as you can 'block' soft cheese) of brie - The recipe stated some weird cheese beginning with V that I had never heard of, but I Googled it and Brie was the nearest thing to it, so I went with that -  anyway dot that around the pan and a good glug of cream, I used a half fat double cream, only really because I had some leftover from my lemon tart gorge the night before, but use what ever you have. Season well and sprinkle with some breadcrumbs - real ones, not those golden things that look something straight out of the 70s please! - and slam under a hot grill.

Let that bubble away for a few minutes and then take it own and serve on a plate, with a bit of side salad if you fancy it... Yummers.

By the way, his is not a photo of my dish... 

I had eaten it by the time I thought about doing this... 

But imagine this with chorizo and spinach...

Cloches from Poundland... Too good to be true?

In a word, yes... Yesterday I was rejoicing in finding my £1 cloche... Today I am cursing it.

There is a reason things are cheap, because it generally means they are shite... The cloche, although flimsy seemed ok yesterday when I put it up - There was a sudden parting of the clouds yesterday giving a 2 hour lettuce window, although Law had taken home my seeds to dry off, so I just got to prep the soil and dig up a few yesterday and try out the cloche...  - had mostly fallen over this by morning and the bits that had remained upright had sagged with the rainwater... So my advice is spend those couple of extra pounds and buy good equipment, because sometimes a £1 bargain is just a waste of a pound... Pop down to Wilco's where you can pick a good one up for only £3 more... That's what I'm off to do today!

By the way never Google to words Poundland Logo Cheap PNG.... Never!

I prefer it on my face than in my wellies...

And no, I'm not being rude... It's just that is pretty much what my allotment is right now, a quagmire
of mud and slush... I haven't seen mud like this since The Green man festival in 2010, Christ we're sliding around like figure skaters up there and I wanted to plant my lettuces!

Yes, lettuces can be started now, either at home in pots, or how I'll be doing them, straight in the ground with my new friend, the cloche.

So, now I need to buy a new cloche, I have heard tales of Poundland stocking them, so I'll be down there as soon the sun appears and the ground has firmed a fraction, but they aren't too expensive anyway its seems, just a few quid it seems, now you can make one yourself, there are loads of 'how-to's' on line, like this one on youtube, but I am a bit lazy and although one day I might be making my own cloches, mixing my own chicken feed and even sprouting my own potatoes, but until then what the shops can do for me, I am happy to take and hell, if they're only a £1, then why not?

So my logic tells me that if I dig up a row of my over flowing spinach and put the lettuce seeds there, it might be just as successful, and I tell you when it comes to the few success stories of last year, my spinach is one massive one! As my family and my friends will testify! And this is proper spinach, not that baby leaf crap you get in neat little bags in the supermarket, these leave are darker, tastier and some have slug holes - which still can be eaten, please don't chuck these away and be a big baby, they're only slugs, you wash and boil any residual slugginess off them before eating after all!  I'll share my recipe for spinach, chickpea and chicken pasty with you later if you want? - But this is about lettuce! So lets get back to them shall we...

 So, as I said, if I dig up a row of my spinach and pop the seeds down, then hopefully one green leafy veg will be as healthy and successful as its neighbour! Sounds logical, right?

But until the land dries out and I stop leaving the allotment looking like a drowned rat, my lettuces will have to wait.

Can you get wellies for chickens?