In the last week or so--after the heatwave--I've done as much as I can at the allotment: we're expecting even hotter temps later this week so I've been in a rush to get things done. This includes planting out: fennel, beets, the last couple of spring caulis; also keeping up weed maintenance on my wood chip beds at the allotment, mainly bindweed now but also some couch grass. I've also topped up a few of the beds where possible (some are very dense with veg growth now) and the pathways between.
It might be shaping up to be a zucchini summer! It's been three years since I had an overload of zucs aka courgettes. I have about a dozen or so plants, some in states of excessive growth. The daughter (age six) said to me, "monsters aren't real, are they?" and I replied, "except monster courgettes!" Which one of my plants is trying to produce (and I'm desperately trying not to let it). I prefer to harvest mine at about the length of my hand, though I know some people at the allotments let them grow arm-sized. Like shoulder to wrist arm-sized--way too big. One way I like to process them is kimchi; another is to slice and marinate for an hour or two with salt and pepper, plus a little vinegar and olive oil, plus fresh herbs/diced onion/fermented garlic. I made it with fresh basil the other day and it was amazing.
I think the hot weather did for the mange tout peas as they've stopped flowering, though my newer batch of purple podded peas are still producing (only a small batch though); I'm going to save seed from both of these, so no more picking. I pulled up most of one row of the mange tout in order to follow on with fennel seedlings; the soil underneath was a bit hard and dry. As the other row of peas next to it grew larger and more productive, I can only assume the soil under them is a bit better. I tipped on two more barrowfuls of wood chips before putting in the fennel and the husband has been drenching them every night when he goes to water. Hopefully the soil will improve and the fennel will grow.
The gooseberries are finally finished but we are still in the midst of raspberries. And I'm experimenting with more no-sugar ice cream (rasp and dark chocolate anyone?). I have a food mill with a very fine plate which works well for sieving out rasp seeds (gooseberry too, though they aren't quite as seedy). I get a lot of use out of my food mill as it's handy for both pureeing and straining simultaneously. Squash puree, applesauce, berries, etc. No need to peel and core before cooking, as the food mill catches all the fibrous material.
We've lost several chickens in the past couple of months, down to six now. Our last lost one really is lost: she disappeared completely. I'd let the flock free range in the evening and forgot to shut them back in after they went to bed; when I went to put them back in the morning, one Birthday chicken didn't come running. We've searched everywhere for a body (we have a lot of undergrowth, not all of it easily accessible by people) even though she was fit and healthy the day before. Either she's dead in a hard to reach spot or she really flew the coop--also hard to believe as our fencing is pretty impenetrable; not only that, to even attempt it she would need a very compelling reason to leave all her friends and the amenities of our garden (everything a chicken could want: grass, weeds, bugs, dust baths, a nice safe coop with unlimited food). If it was a fox surely it would have left at least a pile of feathers or other evidence (we've never had a fox thankfully, not being close enough to the fields). We're mystified.
