Now you see it, now you don’t!

♥The harvest was getting well under way on the lotti, I had lifted my garlic and was pleased with the result. I had left the garlic in the ground beyond the summer solstice because I thought they needed more time for the bulbs to develop. When I did eventually pull them they had grown into lovely fat bulbs.

What to do with all that garlic ?

I gave quite a bit of it away as I had more that enough to see me through the year . . . .  . . . . inspiration came when I was out for pizza one  lunch time and for a aperitif along with the olives came pickled garlic. I forgot I like pickled garlic so once I had the time and all the bits needed I pickled some for myself. As yet I have not tasted it as I am allowing all the flavors to marinade and infuse . . . .Fingers crossed ♥

One thing i have now learned about garlic is that deer don’t care too much about eating it. Garlic, leeks and onions deer tend not to be that fussed about. I have learned this fascinating fact because deer have gotten into my lotti and pretty much grazed everything else. Not long after I pulled my garlic the deer came into the allotment and grazed all of my tender young juicy shoots. They particularly liked the mangetout and the peas, they regularly came back to graze the kale, which I have to say is an amazingly resilient plant. Even thought the deer grazed it down to virtually a stump it has continued to grown back.

I am most upset at them grazing my raspberry canes. This is in part because I was given them from the Secret Garden and had hoped we would have autumn rasps. Everything I lost to the deer could pretty much be grown from seed again next year,  but the rasps not so.  Here is a picture of my peely wally ravaged autumn rasp . . . . . . . . insert sad emoji here!

I am not sure if the rasps will grow again next year, I guess time will tell . . . . . .  The deer even ate the leaves of the potato plant, i really didnt think anything ate the leaves of potatoes!  My neighbour reckons if the tatties had flowered (to be honest am not sure if they had) then it should not affect the crop in the ground. I didn’t want to set myself up for any more disappointment so have not dug any up yet.  Here is a picture of the prime suspect, notice the roundyness of its belly. . . .perhaps full of rasp canes grrrrrrr !

After the pillaging of my lotti and the summer hols being upon me,  I had not spent much time at the lotti, so today I made a wee start at doing some weeding and general tidying up. A couple of the beds could be cleared out and steps towards prepping them for next year taking place. Decided to mulch with comfrey leaves as the  comfrey plant in the corner is huge, obviously deer not interested in good old comfrey.

I am going to have a trip down to the shore and gather some seaweed to add to the beds. One of the other lottis have done this and they appear to be getting a great result with their veg.

Am now aware that I have a very important job to do over the winter if the lotti is to be secured, restored and flourishing  next year . . . . . . . . . . . . . .♥ ♥ ♥Save

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