Hows your allotment doing?

[busybee53]

Just got back from my allotment where I have picked more beans and tomatoes. The family refuse to eat any more plums and are fed up with plum pudding/crumble etc. On the other hand very few marrow which is very unusual. Best beetroot and carrots I've ever grown. Nice lot of cuecumbers too. What are other folks getting a glut or a shortage of?

 

[Moggs]

First year and a lot of hard-won experience! Far too many beetroot (now pickling). Far too many spuds (though family doing well on mash, roasters, etc). Courgettes that are taking on the appearance of green Zeppelins (should have picked them earlier). Radishes that we couldn't consume fast enough and went fibrous. Not enough peas. Dwarf and French beans slow to flower but going well now. Sweetcorn coming along. Onions and shallots drying. Carrots - a few decent sized now that they are thinned a little. Parsnips not many germinated. Leeks - need thinning. Borage for bees. Brassicas - who knows, as wind blew seed trays over (a mixed bag)! Don't mention the plums (45 lbs plum jam).

A fantastic first year - very pleased. Will think of succession planting next year and some soft fruits and things-we-like. Should have done it years ago

 

[Luminos]

Can anyone share their secrets of growing onions and garlic successfully?
I'm rubbish at it.

 

[Flatters]

Fantastic year for me and my allotment buddy.
about 100kg of spuds
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Beans (runner, french, broad)
Sweet corn
Kale (the big family favourite; seaweed to colcannon)
Courgettes
Blackcurrents
Rhubarb
and much more

Ploy tunnel not so good. Great for early carrots and beetroot but not been good for tomatoes

Have put in lots for autumn, winter and spring (cabbage, cauli, kale, leeks, pumpkin)

Bumber harvest of Onion and garlic (garlic outside in October and onions in pots in poly tunnel until spring then outside)

Lots of chicken maunure used.

 

[moby]

Can anyone share their secrets of growing onions and garlic successfully?
I'm rubbish at it.

Plant garlic in late autumn/mid winter cold weather dosnt seem to affect them too much and harvest the following summer/autumn

Dont bother with onions/carrots and potatoes theyre cheap enough from the supermarket and use the space for more expensive veg

Place them in the ground 10cm apart pointy end up so that the earth just covers the tip and protect from blackbirds as they tend to think the bit sticking out is a tasty worm and you find your garlic uprooted the next day

 

[psafloyd]

No such thing as too much beetroot, Moggs. Pickling is a wonderful thing and a great gift to those who like it.

 

[Luminos]

Thanks, Moby.
I planted garlic last October, harvested just 2 cloves and they are tiny!
Onions are about double the size of the sets I originally planted
You're right of course, they're cheap enough to buy; best concentrate on the pricier stuff.

 

[drstitson]

There is a country rhyme in italy that essentially states:

if you want "belle aglione" plant on the feast day of "San Simone" (the apostle, 28th October).
or
for "belli aglii" plant on the "Vigilia di Natale" (xmas eve)

 

[Flatters]

Luminos, for the garlic did you buy the garlic bulbs that are designed to be planted or did you use a grocery bought bulb?

 

[busybee53]

What a lot of nice replies to this thread.

Moggs, well done, what a good first year. Parsnips are little devils to germinate arn't they? Packets sometimes say sow in February but I have better luck later in the year when the other spring seeds go in. Hope you like jam. Should last you till next jam making season.

Luminos/Moby, Yes I grow stuff that's expensive in the shops, or unobtainable, for example yellow tomatoes, purple sprouting brocolli, patti pan squash and butternut squash.

Flattters looks like you're having a great year. Gives you a great sense of achievement dosn't it?

Psafloyd Had to send out for more vinegar.

Drstitson I assume one is garlic and one onions but which is which?

 

[jimbeekeeper]

but not been good for tomatoes

Glad it is not just me! They as showing to be a very poor crop, flowering but not producing.



Main plot, spuds great, carrots great. Sweet corn very poor. Onions OK.

 

[Cazza]

Dont bother with onions/carrots and potatoes theyre cheap enough from the supermarket and use the space for more expensive veg

If you have plenty of room why not plant the above. Home grown, just picked carrots and freshly dug spuds taste so much better than shop bought.

Onions need to be kept well watered and like a well manured/fertilised soil. Mine is sandy and poor but was well fertilised and kept moist in the drought. My onions are (for me) really good this year. The garlic appreciated the early hot weather and I have good bulbs this season, which makes a change.

Failures include carrots which is unusual, not sure where I went wrong and also runner beans, again, unusual.

Cazza

 

[gingerbees]

http://www.landshare.net/users/guy-and-tracey/blog/

Some pictures of ours - sweetcorn and runner beans have struggled but loads spuds, beetroot, broad beans etc Love the kale and juicy peas.
Gooseberry curd was to die for! Gooseberry jam, berry jelly, nettle champagne, elderflower champagne and can't wait for the damsons - to make gin
As for onion advice - don't plant them too deep and Garlic - some is sold as hardy in the North of England but most is for warmer climates. Stick to the hardy types

 

[Flatters]

I tried growing parnips this year in two different ways; Seads soaked in water for a few days and dry seeds direct into the soil. Not one germinated and I love parsnips.

 

[beeatshellards]

runner beans proliferous, borlotti beans great, squash and few different types of courgettes great, onions poor, garlic goood. all my herbs grown well, spuds like no other year fantastic.fruit beyond belief
in the green house I have 6 types of tomatoes (trying some old varieties) black, purple etc, cucumbers , aubergines ,melons , and cucumbers good crops of all the above. bumper harvest all round, beats the supermarkets any day

 

[busybee53]

Great replies. I love hearing how well things are going. We should all be really healthy too. There was talk of getting a 3rd freezer but I think it was a joke. All the store shelves are full too and supermarket bills have been a bit lower so its all good. Will have to eat a lot of spag bol to use up last years tomatoes before we get over run with this years. Looks like the puree machine will be coming out again soon. Any one out there got ideas of how to store stuff? I considered making prunes till I found out you need 4 weeks of 100 degree sun or 12 hours with the oven door open.

 

[gingerbees]

We make tomato ketchup, chilli tomato sauce and chutney with our tomatoes, really nice and keeps for ages. If we get too much we put the surplus in a box for sale at the end of our drive, got back from bee visit with local BKA last week and there was a tenner in the box
Our allotment is a Landshare one, so we give some of our produce to the landowner instead of rent, we have found that instead of giving him a bag of muddy spuds, or beans that need peeling with give him preserves, jams, vinegars and wines made from the produce, he appreciates them a lot more !

 

[VEG]

Well first year for growing spuds in bags for me well pleased with the results I will be planting more of those. My greenhouse is doing very well with toms and loads of different types of chilli's.

 

[Luminos]

Does anyone garden organically?
(May have opened a can of worms here...)

 

[beeatshellards]

Yes I garden organically, no chemicals at all , I use home made fertilser from comfrey thats all, just think I prefer to know whats going into my fruit and veg that i am going to eat, I encourage natural predators eg lacewings , etc,
suits me fine