Sunday 23 August 2009

One potato.................................



So it was when we were digging potatoes out of a sodden, blight-ridden plot in the pouring rain and the howling wind (in August!) that the head gardener started talking about getting his passage to Americay.......................

We did manage to rescue a large number of potatoes and in fact when I weighed them a short time ago there were 13 pounds. That means that the total crop - we had already had some - probably weighed about 26 lbs! All that from half a dozen salad potatoes.

We also lifted some more onions and the head gardener as we speak is making his famous onion tart - recipe and photos to follow. And we had bolgnese alla vedova di piccolo what's its name last night too! The octogenarian mother is currently sleeping off jetlag. She was bouncing when she got off the plane on Thursday morning so I reckon it has just taken that time for it to hit her. I will be taking her her share of the potatoes and some onion tart later so that she doesn't have to worry about cooking tonight. I also just want to see her for my own peace of mind since she sounded really unwell yesterday. I couldn't get to see her yesterday because I had my hand up the bum of a large purple crow called Bertie. We had a big event in work and I was doing the storytelling. I have a magic story-telling cloak and my friend Bertie who incidentally is a puppet. Just in case you thought there was animal cruelty going on.

So to sum up:

Hours spent working: 1
Work undertaken: holding bag for head gardener to put potatoes in after he had dug them (I got the better option), digging potatoes (head gardener), weeding, putting recycled peat into the potato bed to try and lift some of the moisture out of it and lifting onions.

Cost of seeds/plants: minimal - half a dozen left over salad potatoes from a certain supermarket and some onion sets.

What has been planted - nothing today!

What has been brought on in the green house - no green house on the allotment but the one at home which is really a garden shed with a perspex roof and wall has a bed in it much favoured by Gilbert the Three legged cat. Who incidentally has to go to the vet in the not too distant future. He is the biggest fighter in the area, three legs notwithstanding, and when I came home yesterday I heard the most god-awful screech of cat from behind the houses across the road and Gilbert was nowhere to be seen which is very odd because the sound of the car arriving means he is going to be fed. I went out looking for him and couldn't find him but he turned up eventually. He seems to have a war wound on his chin and it seems to be slightly swollen so he will probably need antibiotics again!

Harvesting and weighing of produce: 13lbs potatoes and two large red onions! lovely. Will just check now to see how much a leading supermarket would charge for these online. Organic red onions are 40p each which means it is £1.20. Wilson's Country Comber potatoes are 75 p a pound which makes it £8.72. That means total value is almost £10!!!!

Time spent on social activities - one of our neighbours gave us two courgettes. We three were the only people in the allotment.

Wildlife seen: worms, a few desolate housemartins flying about.

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