Going Shopping 14th July 2017

It’s that time of year when we go to the allotment rather than the supermarket for our veg and fruit. We still need to buy in some extras but generally speaking we don’t spend much over the summer months, plus ours is freshly picked and organic.

At the moment we are picking potatoes, broad beans, beetroot, chard, kale, courgettes, lettuce, radish, rocket, land cress, rhubarb and blackcurrants. We picked the last of the strawberries this week and we have now trimmed the plants back. They will grow new leaves and more runners from which you can grow new plants, but because we don’t need any new plants at present we will trim off these runners to prevent too much goodness going into them from the main plant. It is best to renew strawberries from these runners every 3-4 years so next year we will probably grow on some new plants.

We are also picking lots of fresh herbs. We have parsley, chives, mint, lemon balm and fennel which I love to use at this time of year. We regularly brew a pot of mint, fennel or lemon balm tea, use all the fresh herbs in salads and freeze down some in ice cubes for use in winter.

So far it looks like being a productive year and it’s so rewarding being able to wander up to the allotment and do our shopping locally.