My Tiny Plot

… and what have we done? Well not much is the answer. Christmas this year (as last) means spending it with Ryan, just the two of us, with a very small turkey (and a Quorn bake for me) a vat of mulled wine, two wonkily sewn together stockings (and another for the cat) a pair of sturdy wellies and loads of presents. Not forgetting the warm and snuggy feeling you get after watching your favourite Christmas film (choose one of the following: It’s a Wonderful Life, Mary Poppins (it’s that Poppins woman again!), the, the, the, The Grinch, The Railyway Children (if you don’t cry when she says “Daddy, my Daddy” you need to test your pulse) and Scrooge (the scary one with Alistair Sim). Two of which are on TV on Christmas day - bonus! The only thing left for me to do is win at Monopoly and Christmas will be just perfect. Oh and if you’re wondering where our families are (becaues we’re not orphans you know) mine came over ‘en mass’ just before Christmas and Ryan will see his in Colorado just after Christmas (lucky so and so). He’s under strict orders to bring me back some snow!

I planted my first shallots this week. Last year I grew red onions (Red Baron) because we mostly eat red onions. I’m not sure why, they generally taste the same as white onions and cost a little extra but I suppose I just like the colour. So in keeping with the ‘grow what you eat’ policy we stuck to red. And a few normal onions that one of my neighbours gave me to plant. They were a great success and we are still eating them now! We don’t eat shallots - infact I’m not really sure what to do with them except pickle them. But this year (this vegetable year, or year 2 for mtp) we are growing Longor shallots, just as an experiment. Because mtp is a strange shape (or ‘irregular’ as David will have it) then it’s difficult to find stuff small enough to fill the ‘corners’ - those little triangles made by the err.. bigger triangles. If you’ve no idea what I mean go here. So I’ve used the shallots to fill those awkward gaps. 15cm apart, in six short rows. Will plant some more in a week or two.

The raspberry canes arrived at last (10 Autumn Bliss and 3 free ones from Grow Your Own Magazine). I must admit I was beginning to give up on them and preparing to write a stern letter but then, as if by magic, they appeared. I put them straight in, in one row roughly 60cm apart. Now they’re all holed up in their new home and settling in nicely ready to fill my freezer with yummy fruit next Autumn. I also made a literary purchase this week, Delia’s Kitchen Garden. I couldn’t resist. It was on eBay and I won it for a very stingy £8.50 (normal price £20). It’s a great book, full of the usual Delia-style recipes, gorgeous photos and a month by month gardening calendar. To be honest I know most of the gardening advice already (me being the next Monty in waiting and all…) but it’s still great to have something new to read during these long winter months.