<h4>You're browser does not support iFrames - here is an exerpt of the content</h4> <a href="http://nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/first-harvests/">Click here to read the article in full</a> <p><a href="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/17-7-10_harvest-4b.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3644" title="17-7-10_harvest 4B" src="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/17-7-10_harvest-4b.jpg?w=455&h=606" alt="" width="455" height="606" /></a>Having been out of action for several weeks after Easter I’m harvesting my first crops later than my fellow plot holders. Many are already fed up with courgettes swollen to marrows with the recent rainfall whereas I picked my first ordinary sized courgette just a few days ago.</p> <p>We’ve lifted all of <a href="http://nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/one-potato-two-potato/" >our first early potatoes </a>and there’s a whole other story’s worth about how we’ve rated them. For now though the spuds pictured above are Vales Emerald and Red Duke of York. The unusually warm, dry Spring weather massively reduced the number of potatoes we’ve had on each plant and the average size of the tubers. These Gloucester Black Kidneys were planted with the main crop potatoes but have already given up in the fight for water. <a href="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/18-7-10_gloucester-black-kidney-4b.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3651" title="18-7-10_Gloucester Black Kidney 4B" src="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/18-7-10_gloucester-black-kidney-4b.jpg?w=455&h=606" alt="" width="455" height="606" /></a><br /> <a href="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/16-7-10_polestar-runner-beans-4b.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3645" title="16-7-10_polestar runner beans 4B" src="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/16-7-10_polestar-runner-beans-4b.jpg?w=455&h=661" alt="" width="455" height="661" /></a>The runner beans have survived the black fly again this year with a little help from squirty washing up liquid and an army of hungry ants. They were grown from the polestar stringless beans I saved from last years crop and are my first foray into sustainably grown food from saved seeds.<br /> <a href="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/21-7-10_beetroot-bunch-4b.jpg"><img title="21-7-10_beetroot bunch 4B" src="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/21-7-10_beetroot-bunch-4b.jpg?w=455&h=653" alt="" width="455" height="653" /></a><br /> These beauties were so moorish they only lasted a day or two. You just can’t beat the simplicity of freshly boiled beets munched off a fork. Beetroot lolly anyone?</p> <p>And the rhubarb? I think you can guess what that’s been turned into?<a href="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/rhubarb-chutney-ingredients-4b.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-3659" title="rhubarb chutney ingredients 4B" src="http://nipitinthebud.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/rhubarb-chutney-ingredients-4b.jpg?w=455&h=414" alt="" width="455" height="414" /></a></p> <br />Filed under: <a href='http://nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/category/allotment-tales/'>allotment tales</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/delicious/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/facebook/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/twitter/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/stumble/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/digg/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/" /></a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/reddit/nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/3642/" /></a> <img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nipitinthebud.wordpress.com&blog=8362095&post=3642&subd=nipitinthebud&ref=&feed=1" width="1" height="1" />
