The first produce from the plot for 2016 is in and it's rhubarb!
While I am very excited that the allotment is starting to produce again I'm not that excited about the rhubarb, I think we may have over done it last year.
We still have rhubarb in the freezer from last 2015, we had a long prolific rhubarb season last year and I made every rhubarb dish I could think of crumble, ice cream, chutney, even lamb shanks with rhubarb.
I'd planned to split the rhubarb crown when the plant was dormant in November and put some in at my Nan's house. She has a shady spot just behind her shed that would be perfect for rhubarb but somehow spring rolled round and that never got done.
The compost bin also currently known as the towering corner of garden waste collapsed this winter, spilling it's gnarly waste and rotten pallet sides over the rhubarb bed, yet still it grows.
This years first harvest weighed in at a kilogram. I'd like to weigh all of the produce from the plot. I started out doing the same last year but then I was hit with a big glut of berries and it was all I could do just to get them picked and stored.
I also had a big handful of chives to take home. I thought I'd cleared them all out last year but they're
back. I have other plans for the spot that they're in so after harvesting a bunch to go with dinner, I stuck a fork under them, scooped them up and replanted the chives in rows in a big rectangular pot at home.
I'm also surprised that they've done so well. Originally, they were from a sorry looking supermarket "living herb" pot that had dried out on our kitchen windowsill. I stuck them in the ground as an after thought and now they are thriving.
Have you harvested anything yet this year?
You may also like this recipe video four ways to cook with rhubarb
While I am very excited that the allotment is starting to produce again I'm not that excited about the rhubarb, I think we may have over done it last year.
We still have rhubarb in the freezer from last 2015, we had a long prolific rhubarb season last year and I made every rhubarb dish I could think of crumble, ice cream, chutney, even lamb shanks with rhubarb.
I'd planned to split the rhubarb crown when the plant was dormant in November and put some in at my Nan's house. She has a shady spot just behind her shed that would be perfect for rhubarb but somehow spring rolled round and that never got done.
The compost bin also currently known as the towering corner of garden waste collapsed this winter, spilling it's gnarly waste and rotten pallet sides over the rhubarb bed, yet still it grows.
This years first harvest weighed in at a kilogram. I'd like to weigh all of the produce from the plot. I started out doing the same last year but then I was hit with a big glut of berries and it was all I could do just to get them picked and stored.
Two years ago we were driving back from Liverpool when we spotted some rhubarb being sold at the side of the road. I had Trevor turn the car around and we went back and paid £2 for that roadside rhubarb. Fast forward to today and I've got more rhubarb than I know what to do with. It's funny how times change like that.
I also had a big handful of chives to take home. I thought I'd cleared them all out last year but they're
back. I have other plans for the spot that they're in so after harvesting a bunch to go with dinner, I stuck a fork under them, scooped them up and replanted the chives in rows in a big rectangular pot at home.
I'm also surprised that they've done so well. Originally, they were from a sorry looking supermarket "living herb" pot that had dried out on our kitchen windowsill. I stuck them in the ground as an after thought and now they are thriving.
Have you harvested anything yet this year?
You may also like this recipe video four ways to cook with rhubarb