Nephrotoxic leaves.
Thinking of rhubarb crumble,
pink, heaped with sugar.
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As some of you will remember, we inherited an allotment last September, which was full of weeds and rubbish. The heavy clearance and digging is now complete, thanks to my husband, Victor, and son, Joshua.
Since then, Victor has gone on to plant all sorts of goodies, the rhubarb being the soil’s first edible offering of the year. The garlic is also coming along well, so I’ll soon be able to stink out my fellow singers with my Mediterranean-style breath.
Everything is probably a month behind, due to the recalcitrant weather, and something ate our strawberry plants, but we are looking forward to potatoes, broad beans, peas, parsnips, carrots, onions, shallots, asparagus (no dead cow buried underneath), radishes, rocket, parsley, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, artichokes, sea kale, raspberries, redcurrents, blueberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, strawberries (replacement plants), apples, hazelnuts, figs, and red grapes.
Over the next few months, we’re hoping to see a reduction in our monthly grocery bill, as well as enjoying the restorative effects of a diet rich in freshly picked produce, with all those superb extra vitamins and minerals. And I’m going to have to learn to make jam and chutney.
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Sarah Potter Writes 
Having a garden of your own is fantastic, in the summer I go to the supermarket about once every month or so, we just eat what we are picking, I love rhubarb i better go and check mine!! c
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How wonderful, going to the supermarket that infrequently, although I admit to ordering my groceries on-line as I hate shopping. I’m not into big crowds in enclosed spaces.
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If i had that option I would jump at it, I loathe the supermarket, another very good reason to grow my own food! It would be a dream come true to have groceries delivered! c
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Oh fabulous. Thank you for sharing. The poison vs delicious of rhubarb and that smell. Oh and the hope of warm late summer evenings with fresh rhubarb crumble. Delightful to find this morsel in my inbox.
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Ah, I have the early variety of rhubarb, so have enjoyed several crumbles already. Glad you like the haiku.
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Oh, my! You have made me hungry, so hungry… lol
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Good 😉 Fresh produce is the best. When I was at boarding school, they served us rhubarb out of giant catering tins. It was foul, so it took me many years to learn that all rhubarb wasn’t stringy and mega-sour.
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Great haiku. I love rhubarb crumble 😀
someone ate your strawberries? Not nice!
I’ve never planted my own garlic. I’d imagine that it keeps away lots of bugs?
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All the bugs, accept for the strawberry eating ones, perhaps? In medieval days, garlic was meant to keep away the devil, too — the devil disguised as snails or larvae, perhaps 😉
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Hi Sarah,
I love hearing about your garden. We had a glorious warm sunny day, and I spent several hours in the garden–harvested some asparagus. Our rhubarb is ready–we had rhubarb strawberry pie last night, made from last year’s rhubarb, so we would have room in the freezer for this year’s crop.
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Hi Naomi, I’ve not tried rhubarb strawberry pie. Sounds interesting. Everybody keeps talking about room in the freezer. I can see I’m going to have a problem on that front. Need to sit down and have a discussion about this issue with Mister. We’re meant to be saving money, not buying new freezers!
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As much as I would love to eat veggies from my own garden, I’m way too lazy to actually get something like that going!!!
The sister though, they’ve planted a bunch of things, radishes being one of them. I’ve never eaten a radish in my life – have to wonder what they’re going to do with it all!!
Happy planting Sarah 😉
No wonder you don’t have time to blog!!
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No, it’s not the allotment that’s making me behind with my blogging (Mister has been doing all the planting) but my novel-writing. It’s a complicated story and I have to be really careful not to contradict myself, which is more likely if I leave off writing it for too long. Also, the local cultural festival has only just finished, and I had to keep up with musical commitments, too. But I’m seriously missing you all, so must have a big catch up.
Regarding radishes — yum, I love them. The hotter and crunchier the better. They’re really good for you, too. Alkaline and full of vitamin C. My dog adores them too. It must be a Labrador thing. One of her friends dug up and ate all her owners’ entire row of radishes growing in their garden.
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Wowee, Sarah – you could open up an organic veg/fruit shop! Tony has a soft fruit area and 4 raised veg plots in our garden but never grown anywhere near as much as you’ve listed and although fresh produce is wonderful I must admit to getting really tired of all the watering in the summer and freezing and jam making – we still have bags and bags of runner beans in the big garage freezer as well as plums and rhubarb all from last year.
I’ve recently subscribed to your blog to see what you’re getting up to!
Best wishes to you – Jenny
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Hi Jenny, lovely to have you following my blog:-)
We probably will have to flog some of our produce, unless we invest in a counter-top freezer, as our existing one is tiny. Although Victor is making sure to stagger the planting of each thing, so everything doesn’t mature at once. I’ve been collecting jam jars.
Best wishes to you and Tony. Are you doing any writing at the moment?
Sarah x
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