Down on the Allotment

Matron grows vegetables and fruit in a Hampshire garden. I've been growing veggies since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Some traditional varieties and old favourites as well as new ideas. I share my garden with my allotment assistant Daisy the Labrador. On Twitter as @MatronsVeggies

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Hot Stuff!

Have you noticed all these little grey plastic objects dropping on your soil and on the roads and pavements? I picked these up from our road in about 10 minutes while I was taking Buddy out for a quick walkies. I think these are the little plastic containers inside a firework that hold the sparks and colours you see when a rocket explodes in the sky. It worries me therefore that I keep finding these in my soil, and all over the place. There must be billions of them, they will not compost, nor rot down. They will be there forever. Does anyone care?
More hot stuff. I have loads and loads of horseradish at the moment. Now is the time of year to dig it up, so I have been thinning out some of my patches. This goes down into the soil very deeply and it is almost impossible to get rid of if you don't like it. I love horseradish so this will be very carefully prepared to make sauce. Watch this space!
You might remember a few weeks ago I brought my Scotch Bonnet chillis into the house on a windowsill to ripen. Well, I can't eat all this number all at once. These are some of the hottest chillis you can grow, so I decided to preserve them by drying them.
One of my favourite toys is this dehydrator. It took quite a while to dry these chillis, in the end I had to snip the bottom of each chilli open with a pair of scissors to allow the warm air to penetrate and dry the insides as well.
And the finished product is completely dry and will be stored in a glass jar until needed.

18 Comments:

At 10:14 PM, Blogger Ribbit said...

I love horseradish also, but I've never ventured to try growing it. Is the taste that superior to store bought?

 
At 10:15 PM, Blogger Tira said...

Looks great-make some habanero chili flakes with them!

 
At 10:17 PM, Blogger Mal's Allotment said...

Caramba Matron. Fireworks definitely not green. I bet Buddy doesn't like them either.

I've been eradicating my horseradish too - from the same patch I eradicated last year...
Pot roasted brisket for tea with lashings of horseradish sauce.

(Information overload on the dehydrator front)

You never fail to amaze me!

 
At 10:31 PM, Blogger Scattered Gardener said...

Beautiful chillies Matron - gives me a warm feeling just looking at them:-)
I haven't come across the little grey things here, but spent 15 minutes clearing firework debris from our garden this morning... mostly our own, I confess!

 
At 10:53 PM, Blogger Matron said...

Ribbit - home grown horseradish may blow your head off! store bought barely tickles my tastebuds.

 
At 11:53 PM, Blogger Wyatt said...

Those firework plastic things are weird. I wonder why you have so many in your soil??

Those peppers look amazing!

Wyatt

 
At 11:02 AM, Blogger Sue Garrett said...

We found the remnants of rockets in our garden - one had worryingly fallen in the pond and we didn't have any fireworks anywhere near.

Bare allotment plots tend to be used for bonfire parties and so we will probably all have these tubes everywhere! I just wish that bonfire night was kept to one day like it used to be - fortunately our dog isn't worried by them but some are and must have a frantic time.

WE have grown horseradish for years but not yet dared to use any!!!!

 
At 11:20 AM, Blogger Jo said...

I haven't seen any of the plastic bits from fireworks here. I'll be looking out for them now you've mentioned them. Moving the chili plant to the windowsill worked.

 
At 5:21 PM, Anonymous Lucy @ Smallest Smallholding said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds many aspects of Hallowe'en and Bonfire night irritating. I wonder if people actually think about what they're 'celebrating'?

 
At 6:35 PM, Anonymous Lou Murray's Green World said...

I'm looking forward to seeing how you prepare your horseradish. I'm growing it in a pot here in southern California and it's probably ready to dig up and process. I seem to remember that it's toxic nasty to grate. I'm hoping that there's a secret to not burning out your eyeballs.

 
At 6:47 PM, Anonymous Damo said...

It's a shame with all the technology we have we haven't come up with a bio-degradable firework yet. I've frozen my Scotch Bonnet chillies, looking forward to seeing what they are like!

 
At 7:11 PM, Blogger Carrie said...

Umm, yep, I think that is exactly what those black plastic things are. And no I don't think the manufacturers care. Maybe you should start a mass petition!!
So many scotch bonnets; my tongue aches just looking at them all!!

 
At 7:22 PM, Blogger Rob said...

I've never found any of those things but we don't get many fireworks round here but if its right what you suspect they for sure I care and so should other people because as you say they will be there forever.

 
At 9:36 AM, Blogger Peggy said...

Hi Matron, we thankfully don't have as much fireworks over here! I did not realise all of this debris would come back to earth after letting them off.
Your chillies and horseradish are way too hot for me, It is the first time I have actually seen horseradish and I cannot figure out how or which part you use?

 
At 11:19 PM, Blogger Dim Sum Gardener said...

I found some of those plastic debris in my garden too, one actually landed on the table. I didn't like the cats walking all over the gunpowder on the ground the morning after. Am looking forward to your horseradish project!

 
At 8:10 PM, Blogger Gordon Mason said...

When we were in Poland in September our friends had one of those driers and were using it for mushrooms. They were amazed that we'd never seen one before.

 
At 6:23 PM, Blogger Mrs Shoes said...

A three year later comment, but thank you very much for helping me solve the mystery of the plastic casings which appeared in my garden today.

 
At 7:11 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

13 years on and I find a lot of those plastic casings on my beach walks. :)

 

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