Update

That’s the second Sunday in a row I’ve been down to the allotment. Yes, I know that isn’t a lot :( Once again I’ve been in trouble with the Allotment Officer, and he’s trying to get me to move to a half plot. But I’ve put a lot of effort into the current plot and planted winter onions, so I’m damned if I’m going to move…

With the clocks going back, the daughter was awake at a ridiculously early time so I got down the allotment not long after 9am GMT. The low Autumn sun doesn’t burn the dew off very quickly, and the plot was looking quite blasted. A couple of hours of tidying up made me feel better, though. Added lots of material to the new compost bin: nettles from the path to the North of the plot; comfrey from around the blackcurrants; and a few stray raspberry canes.

Last year’s leafmould supply has now run out, so three of my beds don’t have a mulch on. There may be some cardboard under the stairs, but that might make the plot unsightly. It might also act as a slug hideout, like the mulch around the courgettes.

Mostly weeding and mulching

Been to the allotment twice today. Got there at noon and has a mooch around, planted a second row of spinach, attended to the French beans, and got a barrowful of leafmould, but it was too hot and I had forgotten to bring any water. So at 1pm I headed home, had some lunch and headed out to Redhall walled garden, met A+J at the Water of Leith visitor centre and then pottered around the allotment again, mainly to plant a tiny lavender that I bought from Redhall.

Urticaceae!

Sounds like a sneeze but tastes good: I have been cooking cream of nettle and potato soup. It’s extreme cooking where one has to clear up fastidiously, and I’m minded not to go barefoot when cooking with nettles again. Wore gardening gloves at the allotment to put them into a bag; wore marigolds in the kitchen when preparing them.

Chopped the potatoes into large chunks and started to sautée them in olive oil; chopped garlic and caraway seeds and put to one side. On opening the bag of nettles there was a fresh smell, like cut grass, with an astringent immediacy. Handled them very carefully, removed the leaves from the stalks which were quite tough (it is quite late in the year for culinary nettles), and washed them. Then chopped handfuls into strips. Once all were cut, I popped the garlic and seeds into the pan, stirred for a few seconds and threw in the nettles. Cleaned up carefully, and took the gloves off.

Sautéed them for a few minutes. Was very reminiscent of spinach, and looks like a dahl sag with them would work OK. Then poured in stock and left to simmer until the potatoes softened. Liquidised and then poured in the cream.

Perhaps I put too many caraway seeds in because I could only notice a faint vegetable taste when I started eating the soup. After some spoonfuls I could pick up an aftertaste, metallic and minty, but not much. Will see how I get on.

The Scot’s Herbal by Tess Darwin (ISBN 1873644604) has a couple of pages on nettles. Apparently they have laxative and diuretic properties so I’d better make this second bowl my last. They’re certainly fibrous but no more so than kale. She notes that they’re usually picked when 15-25cm high, and that repeated cutting keeps the plants in a juvenile state for much of the summer. She recounts an 1898 recipe from Islay to take a large apronful of nettles, two handfuls of meal, two gallons of water and a piece of salt beef or braxty.