Cider apples

Cider is a wonderful thing.

I've been thinking of making ciders for a little while now and this summer we were bought back some champagne style cider from France and it was amazing on a hot summers day. So that had me thinking of planting some vintage cider apple trees up at the allotment, but before I even got round to that I found myself in possession of a cider brewing kit and fruit press from

Next thing I'm out collecting apples, pressing and fermenting them. I doubt my first attempt will turn out very well, let alone anything like that French cider, but I'm hoping to get somewhere close in the next few years.

Sweetcorns

Thought I'd try and grow sweetcorns again this year after being put off by a crop a few years ago being almost totally eaten by mice or deer or probably both. I think next year I will grow them in a cage to stop them from being eaten. This year I've managed to harvest the kernels early just as a few of them were starting to get eaten, but I'm not sure if any of them are fully ripe yet, will have to wait until I eat them to find out although the 2 we had for dinner the other night were very nice indeed.
Sweetcorns are one of the Veg that are really rewarding to grow as they taste so good compared to shop bought corns if you pick and eat them within just a few hours.

Dorset nagas

Hi all.

Sorry for the lack of post recently but things have been really busy with work for me, along with tending to the allotment, dog walks and a few weekends away in the tent...so I've just not had the time to get any photos and write blog posts, or should I say other things have taken priority.

Anyway I've got a few updates to catch up on now and some time off, so here is what the Dorset nagas are looking like now in the grow bags in my carpark. They seem to be doing ok but the last few weeks have been really quite dull and they could have done with being scorching hot and dry to really finish off these Chilies. Lets hope we get some hotter weather in whats left of september, although its not looking good.

rasta chilli

These trinity chillies look like they might well be a bit on the warm side. Will defo be growing these again even if it's just for the look of them :-)

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morning sunshine

the 3 dorset nagas (and a Trinity hiding behind the curtain) sunning themselves in the morning sun. The Trinity's, rooster spur and apricots are all coming on well and i'll be posting an update on those next.

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first dorset naga chillies

The dorset nagas have been the last of the chillies to fruit, although they have been flowering well the conditions haven't been quite right so the nagas have been dropping their flowers. Looks like british summer is finally here as a couple of the nagas have set fruit, hopefully the rest will follow!

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Aji Limo fruit

 

The Aji Limo chillies are starting to change colour.
This plant is the only one to survive and it didn't have a very good start due to me adding to much perlite to the compost which stopped it from retaining enough water and drying out too quick.
Can't wait to see what the chillies taste like, supposed to be hot ones :)

Petrol tow in, sick video

dorset naga

The dorset nagas have really shot up in size over the last few weeks. Plenty of flowers but so far no chilli pods.

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aji limo photo

See below

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Aji Limo fruit

The only aji limo chillie plant to survive indoors has started to fruit. I planted the other limos up at the allotment and they are struggling to do anything, much like the rest of the chillies planted out.

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Go Ride

If this doesn't make you want to throw yourself down some hills on a bike then nothing will.

Finally got some planting done!

 

 

Today I had a good few hours up at the allotment digging over a few of the beds and have planted some seeds. I have sown some beetroot & carrots in one bed, salsify in another and some sweet corn in a third bed.

The onions seem to be coming on really well, as are the potatoes which I have covered over again today.

The Chillies I planted last month seem to not be doing very well and seem to be getting eaten by slugs so I've put some slug pellets around the chillies in another attempt to get them to grow on a bit.

Pretty much all the beds are planted up now so it should just be a matter of keeping every thing watered and weed free.

First Padron crop of the year

 

 

 

 

Harvested the first fruits off the Padron chillie plants last night, not many but if they grow anything like last year there will be plenty more to come over the following months :)

The method for cooking these is really easy. Cover the base of your frying pan with olive oil and heat on high untill it starts to smoke, then put the padrons into the pan and fry them until the skins turn white and blister (a couple of mins), remove peppers onto some kitchen roll to soak up any exess oil, sprinkle with course sea salt, enjoy as a snack/tapas with a cold beer.

naga update

The dorset nagas seem to be doing really well on the window sill. Unfortunately I cant say the same about the ones I put outside goto grow bags, Hopefully tidy will come on tho as its still early in the season.

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Bike Tracks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my local regular ride I do Its nice and close to home so only a few mins drive. Its just under 10 miles long but its easy to extend it if your not bothered about riding forest fire roads or in sand! I guess its just a loop of the bits I enjoy riding the most.
The trail is mainly made up of natural single track but quite often there are five or six tracks running alongside each other (so there is plenty of scope to get some variety into the ride), some pretty rough washed out gullys along with a small section of forest fire road and quite a few water holes and ponds for the chillidog to cool down in along the way.
Some of these pictures are from todays ride which was clear and sunny with a fairly strong head wind from the SE.

chilled bike ride.

Been out riding with my dog today, was pretty windy but nice to get out on the bike again as its been a few weeks now. Just having a beer and looking on and thought I'd share this video with you. Check out his other videos if you like it. Some great British trails and riding.

first fruits

First fruits have started on the padron peppers, can't wait for the first harvest of these little suckers:-)

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Dorset Nagas in the grow house

I went up to the allotment this evening to check the chillies I'd planted on Monday to see if they needed watering & how they were doing in their new grow house. They all looked good and healthy so I gave them another watering. Hopefully the extra heat of the grow house will get them growing nice and bushy and producing some good flowers and fruit.

Also at the allotment the onions sets are doing well. The fig tree has had a spurt of growth after being left all winter (I thought I'd killed it off by leaving it out in the frost with no water). The potatoes had started to come up so I've started covering them with soil too.

Hopefully at the weekend I'll get back up there and get some beetroot and salad planted as I've not really had time to get anything else planted yet. Bit late this year. I really like beetroot as a crop as it keeps well in the ground and seems to do really well where we are.

Photo of the Dorset naga chillies through the vent in the grow house.

Chilli grow house

Had a busy day today up at the allotment. managed to cut most of the grass using garden shears! made a make-shift grow house for some chillies (Dorset naga's, Trinity & Aji Limo) using the wreck of poly cover from the old poly tunnel. I'm not sure about whether to remove the poly cover and just use some enviromesh as a cover or keep the poly. I was thinking that the poly needs watering as it is pretty much water proof but the mesh doesnt.
Almost right away after covering the frame with the poly the heat inside the frame was toasty so I guess thats a good thing, think I might give this a go as a trial run. Chillies are planted straight into the soil so hopefully if I give them a good watering every week they should be fine.
Will keep you updated on how things turn out.

repotting dorset nagas

Just repotted the chillies to bigger pots. The dorset nagas seem to be the only ones at the moment without any flowers or flower buds. All looking green and healthy.

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Window grow

From left to Right, Apricot, Dorset nagas, Jalapenos, Aji Limo, Pimiento De Padrons. Padrons & Jalapenos are starting to flower already, not sure if that is a good thing as they arn't really all that big so was hoping they'd grow out a bit before fruiting, hopefully they will do both and I can start eating some chillies before they go into bigger pots.

More hours in the day please

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, i've been really busy with work and have only just managed to get up the allotment for the much needed dig over and planting of the spuds and onions. The whole plot now needs a proper tidy up, soon to come. The chillies are doing well on the window sill at the moment and seem to be enjoying the sunshine were having at the moment. Photos to follow of the chillies.

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Pimientos de Padrón

Thought I'd put up a video showing how to make the Spanish Tapas as many of you know I have some of these plants growing. It's probably not too late in the season to get you'r own Padrons growing especially if your going to grow them on a sunny windowsill.

Ingridients:

some Padron peppers

couple of pinches of course sea salt

Some olive oil for frying.

Cold Spanish larger.

Instructions:

Heat up oil to a high temperature.

drop in the Padron peppers and fry until skin goes white and blistered.

Remove peppers from oil sprinkle with salt.

eat with cold Spanish lager.

Watch out for the hot ones, they say one in ten is a hot one, we had some really hot ones last year!

Enjoy.

Chilli growth update

Rooster spurs

Trinity, Apricots & Dorset Nagas

Padrons, Jalpenos & Aji limo


Chilli growth update.

The padrons and jalpenos are coming on well and are the biggest growers still. The Rooster spurs are still small as are the Trinity, Apricots and Dorset Nagas, that said they are all doing well in their own way, rooster spurs are very small bushy plants anyway (well the ones I've grown have been) and the Trinity, Apricots and Nagas are all quite bushy as opposed to tall plants anyway.
Unfortunatly the Orange habneros are looking like they are struggling to get enough light and heat at the moment and are hardly growing at all. I've never grown these before and I'm thinking they really need a indoor grow light to get them off to a good start, but I will keep on with them and see how they turn out.

Agricultural Simulator 2011 Extended Edition - ingame trailer

Well I checked the bank balance & there is no way I can afford a farm, not even my dream small holding, I can't even afford a small house with a garden, a couple of chickens,a greenhouse and a vegetable plot....oh wait a minute what's this? Agricultural simulator where I can manage my farm, growing crops and tending to my animals in a beautiful mountain village. Well that really does sound good. I'm in.

Got a strange feeling that this might not be quite as good as I'm hoping/expecting it to be.

Potting on, new pots

Dorset Nagas

                                                                  Trinity & Apricots

                                                             Padrons, Jalpenos & Aji Limo

                                        
                                                        
The Chilli plants have all been growing well (despite the grey British weather) so I was going to do an update on them today, but this afternoon my potting on pots & trays came in the post so I decided to take some photos of the chilli plants that were big enough to pot on after transplanting them this evening.

The pots are 8mm wide and should be ok size wise for the slow growers untill planting outside, not too shure about the Padrons & the Jalpenos tho' as they are starting to grow nice and quickly now. I shall wait and see.

I was expecting the pots to be really cheap and flimsy but they arn't bad considering I got 108 pots & six pot trays all for under £20. Once all the pots are full & watered the weight is too much for the trays really but as long as you support them while carrying them they are fine, also chillis don't like their roots in water so its good to keep them fairly dry.