Tag: l’orto
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It's autumn
When I came back from my travelling the allotment looked decidedly autumnal: the most tender plants such as nasturtiun, the vine, my precious chillies and the beans had suffered from frost-bite and looked miserable and rotting. And I could not find my stunted green pumpkins in the grass. Time to clean up, that’s what I…
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I miss my plot!
On Saturday I spent most of the day digging, my favourite activity as you will know, and it reminded me how much I miss my plot now that the days are short. I have run out of rotation space, so I will have to reuse beds from a couple of seasons ago for my garlic.…
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Call it love from a distance
I have not forgotten the allotment, or the blog, but everyone returning to work in the office after the summer has meant late hours, and days are drawing in. Weekends have also been busy… But if you saw someone last night after sunset, in the pouring rain, picking grapes and rocket leaves, that was me! Seemed…
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Green tomatoes
You are looking there at my latest nightmare. It was 4.5 kg San Marzano and 1.1 kg cherry tomatoes to process as quickly as possible, before the blight set in. Not a chutney person, I started a recipe research: there are hints here and there that green tomatoes may contain the poisonous alkaloid solanine (typical…
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Ladies and gentlemen: Phoenix and Dornfelder
The scepticism of my allotment neighbours has not proved right, at least for this one year. The grapes have a sharp burst and a rather sweet aftertaste. A pleasure for the eye and the tastebuds. Which, before washing, was home to a tiny snail and a 7-spot ladybird.
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RIP dear tommies… welcome preserve!
Blight struck. On Friday my tomatoes pleased me beyond belief, lush, green, with two orangey ripe… and on Sunday night they were a rather messy heap of brown and mould. So I picked all of the ones big enough & not damaged and have just discovered that I have to process them quickly to avoid…
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Obsessed with elderberries
As I mentioned before my short holiday break, I have been doing more preserving, particularly of wild berries – something that this year has really possessed me: I have to do it, to try how it tastes and can be saved for later. I tried an early hawthorn jelly, which set so hard because of…
About Me
M.Paola Andreoni
I got the first allotment in 2007 (in the UK) and started growing my own food for the first time. Learning as I went along was not enough, so I studied some horticulture. I am striving to abide by organic principles. Brexit gave me a new life in the Netherlands, and two new plots by a nature reserve.
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