Sow what?

The last few weeks on the allotment has been insane!  Insanely hot, insanely busy and insanely productive.  I may never be able to type that sentence again.  It could be arctic weather conditions next week - this is England - or global warming means that I shall be cultivating watermelons and pineapples with ease in the coming years|.

Crops are growing scarily quickly.  I have harvested radish already.  I'm now radished out, they burnt my mouth and I can't roast them or fry them in butter.  I have eaten a huge batches of lettuce (soup/salad/sandwiches).  I pick off  the outer leaves of my Kale every day.  The kale gets distributed frequently to my one vegan friend and another normal friend.  I am currently harvesting a few courgettes too before they grow into marrows (who knew?) and these are still tiny and sweet as I don't have the patience for them to grow to normal but not marrow size.  I just fry those in butter and scoff.  Not sure whether I'll ever get enough of a glut to make a chutney or a soup at this rate.

from L-R
globe artichoke-golden courgette-beetroot
fennel-little gem lettuce-plum tomatoes

I know enough to know that courgette flowers are a delicacy.  I've never eaten them.  Never even seen them for sale but any half decent Italian restaurant (in Italy) will have these on the menu.  I go first thing in the morning when the flowers are fully open.  I learn that I should not pick the females as the courgette attached to them will not continue to grow so I go searching for males.  The males are in the minority, obviously, these seeds are bred to breed.  Voila!  I pick the heads, look up a BBC recipe online and stuff them with ricotta and lemon, in a batter then deep fry.  No-one else in my household  wants to try these so I stuff them and then myself.  I don't eat batter these days.  Don't really do much of the anything flour, bread or wheat thing these days.  This is a real treat.

Flower to Mouth via cheese & fat 💗

My sweet peas are in full bloom.  These have to be picked every day to ensure a continuous bloom.  No hardship there.  The scent is divine and the recipients of a picked bunch are always thrilled.  I keep some for myself but I love distributing them even more.  I have a wildflower bed too, the insects are loving this.  The sunflowers have taken over but underneath are pretty little wildflowers.  They could well be weeds.  I am not dealing with that.  They can live amongst the wildflower for the time being.  My plot neighbour and I are always wondering whether we have pulled out a little growing delicacy or a weed.  We err on the side of weed .  If we don't recognise it and can't eat it straight away off it goes.

I've got a lovely bunch of sweet peas

My sister comes to visit the allotment today.  It's a red letter day.  She's a real gardener and she has grown things before.  She immediately pulls up huge weeds in my sweet pea bed that I had nurtured as some kind of bean as I have sown peas, beans and flowers in this bed, and informs me that in fact growing beautifully around my trellis in in fact bindweed.  Joy.  Tonight's job.