Reynard, Rhubarb and Re-growth...

With the sun so hot and the first phase of clearing the plot completed, I decided to take a few days off and let the ground breath a little now that it has been weeded, cut and hoed, revealing the soil to the elements for the first time this year...

Arriving at the plot on Friday evening we found a small gift awaiting us, along with the footprints of its donor...

Prints and poop from our bushy tailed friend

Bushell Mills resident foxes had been to see what all the excitement was about on plot 41b, digging a few small holes, leaving hundreds of prints and a small pile of poop on the carpet around the raspberries...

We are slowly compiling the list of wildlife that has visited our plot, with Mr Fox being No.5 on the list of surface visitors, unlucky 13 on the list that includes our ariel friends and somewhere much lower if we were to try and include all the mini beasts that inhabit the site as a soil level.

Just 48 houirs later, we made an early morning trip to see what impact a days heavy rain has had on the allotment. Our neighbouring allotmenteers, Mike and Becky, informed us that after long periods of rain the corner of the site where our plots are located is prone to localised flooding.
However, upon arrival we found nothing untoward as regards standing water or soggy soils, but the night rains combined with warm sunny days had created a lush lawn of regrowth across the plot.

A green and not so pleasant plot, with small areas of rapid weed and grass re-growth

The upside of the lovely warm days is that the crops curreently in the ground are thriving just as well as the weeds. The raspberries are shooting up, producing tall canes for fruitng next year whilst the butternut squash loves being in the ground, sucking up the rain water and producing lots of new shoots, flowers and fruit.

Without a doubt though, the star of the site is the rhubarb that we freed from the tangle of bdindweed and long grass that surrounded it upon our arrival.
We picked about half of the stalks that are ready, splitting the fruit into two batches. One half was simply simmered with a little sugar, honey and the juice/rind of an orange. Delicious both hot and cold with custard, ice cream or natural yoghurt...

The first crop of rhubarb                                                                            Delicious rhubarb crumble tart

The remaining fruit was chopped into half inch lengths, sprinkled of a sweet dough base and covered with a basic crumble mix of flour, sugar and cinnamon. Once the oven is nice and hot, the whole dish is covered in a custard mix of eggs, milk and vanilla. Once cooked the top is a mix of toasted crunchy crumble and crispy creme brulee.
Admittedly it didn't last long,but was delicious warm with custard, cold with ice cream and delicous on its own with a cuppa...