A little ash, a little soil, a little flour...

Nope - it's not an odd recipe that I've picked up to use in The Church Lane Kitchen!

I did manage to do a little work on the plot today between some rather heavy rain showers. Just a bit more digging-over of various parts of the plot, and establishing the remaining beds. Hopefully over the next few days I will have that job completed, and what with the majority of the hedgerow a little more under control, I will be able to focus on weeding/sorting each bed to make it a little more 'seedling friendly'. That was the soil part.

The ash part was to spread the remains of the bonfire I had the other day into the beds that I have already created... specifically round the gooseberries and in the bed I've planned for potatoes. Monty Don wrote a discourse on his use of bonfires and ash here which is quite a good read. Although I thought I dealt with about a tonne of cuttings from the hedges, it appears to have become no more than a few spade-fuls of wood ash. Oh well, all gratefully received and recycled into the plot. So there we have the ash bit.

Flour? Surely I can't already be milling my own flour from the plot - I've only had it for a few weeks!! Sadly, that's correct. And to be honest, I am not sure I have quite the room I would need to grow a sufficient amount of wheat or ba(neither, for that matter, do I own a mill!).

Cogglesford Mill flour

I dropped into Cogglesford Mill this afternoon to pick up some flour. It's always a great feeling if you are making some homemade bread to know that the major ingredient has been grown and produced locally, and the 'food miles'have been kept to a minimum. In this case the mill is all of about 4 miles away from The Church Lane Kitchen, so not too bad. I didn't have time to have a proper visit to the Mill today, but having been before, I can certainly recommend it if you are in the Sleaford, Lincs. area. It isn't huge so won't take up your whole day, but has a lot of interesting information, artefacts and photographs of the Mill and it's history. The Heart of Lincs website blurb says:

In a picturesque setting by the River Slea, this award winning, fully restored and working water mill is thought to be the only Sheriff's Watermill still operating in England. Millers have produced flour on this site for over a thousand years. Organic stone ground flour still produced in the mill is sold in the shop, together with locally sourced goods and produce. Special events and working days are held throughout the year.

So if you're passing - why not drop in?

Right, must get on with making that bread!!

Stephen
in The Church Lane Kitchen

It's that time again...

Gardeners' World Magazine...when the latest copy of "Gardeners' World Magazine" plops onto the doormat. Unfortunately, I'm working abroad this week, so won't get the chance to have a proper look through until the weekend.

That maybe a good thing, as it sometimes depresses me to see how many things I should have already done on the plot and in the garden and haven't quite managed to get round to yet...

Of course we are still in the grip of February for a few more days, so perhaps I will make sure I have done everything from the last issue before I head into the March one.

pippagreenwood.comI must admit that I was pleased to read on Pippa Greenwood's website that I should't feel too bad about being "behind" on things... It's still probably too cold and wet, so there's time. If it's good enough for Pippa it's good enough for me!

Stephen
on The Church Lane Plot

A local hottie...

Infinity - the world's hottest chilli?

Heading down to London this morning, I caught a report on the radio about "...the worlds hottest chilli..." and it pricked my ears as it had been grown in Lincolnshire and fairly locally - just a few miles from me in Grantham.

I must admit to not being a huge fan of hot chillis myself (although I am happy to grow and use them... just a little bit closer to the bottom of the Scoville Scale) and it is a little scary to see that this chilli is nearly as strong as weapons grade pepper spray. Crikey! There is a full report on it here on the BBC website. Have any of you ever tried anything THIS hot before? I'm far too cowardly...

Matron's Bishop's Kiss chilli

I have some rather general chilli seeds which I will be using up this year, but fancied having a go at the pretty "Bishop's Kiss" chilli that Matron has been growing (she wrote about it recently on Down on the Allotment). Chillis come in such a wide variety of shapes, colours and sizes (and heats!) that it seems a shame not to give them a bit of room. Probably on the windowsill in the Church Lane Kitchen I think.

But - back to Infinity. The guy who has developed this killer chilli is Nick Woods of Fire Foods. I'm very happy to promote and support small, family-run, local businesses... although I might not be doing much shopping at Fire Foods myself!

The first post....

Well, here it is - at long last! Of course, if you are reading this you have no idea that it has been a long time coming - but trust me .... it has!

The Church Lane Plot came into existence when I took over the lease of the allotment plot a couple of weeks ago. It's a fairly basic site - not one of your "up-market, hot-and-cold running water, wifi-enabled glamorous plots. It's more your "there's a hedge, some bushes and some soil" kinda place. Salt of the earth. Dirt under the fingernails.

First view of 'The Church Lane Plot'

So here it is in all it's naked glory. Admittedly, there isn't an awful lot to say about it in it's raw state. When I first arrived it was much larger than I had been led to believe, which was certainly a good thing.

The previous incumbent had not been using the plot for the best part of a year, so it has been left fallow. No bad thing I should imagine. Although there was a light covering of leaves dropped from the mature sycamore tree, the plot was fairly clear. A fair amount of couch grass to be dealt with, mainly around the fruit end of the plot, some digging and weeding to be done, and a bit of 'maintenance' to the surrounding hedgerow - but other than that it's a clean slate.

The row of 15 blackcurrants

Perhaps THE most exciting discovery was the fact that, at the end of the plot that adjoins my neighbours plot, there are rows of various fruit bushes - and they are mine! (Well, I have inherited them from the previous chap, which is as good as the same thing!) There are two rows (about 20ft long) of raspberry canes, and a row of 15 blackcurrant bushes, and various other bits and pieces thrown in... some gooseberries, some blackberries and some loganberries. Not a bad haul - and allegedly, they all fruit very heavily. So I will be looking forward to seeing if that prediction is correct later on in the year.

I have lots of plans for the plot, but also lots to do to get it ready for planting. Some of it I have managed to get done already, so I will do some updates in the coming posts.

Thanks for reading! Much more in the pipeline...

Stephen
on The Church Lane Plot