Topic: Identifying What I Have

[igrowmeown]

I am brand new to this, and brand new to the forum. Hello

I have recently come into possession of two plots.

What tips do you have to identifying what is already growing in the plots?

Thank you in advance :-)

[ACE]

Ask on the neighbouring plots, you will not have a lot this time of year, but there may be fruit bushes. Black currents smell like blackcurrants when you break a bud and gooseberries hurt. Long term crops like rhubarb, asparagus strawberries herbs and perennial kale is easy. Don't try the taste test though. Allotment folks are chatty types anyway they will soon tell you what grows well in the area and freely give advice. A photo shown on here will always get results.

[johhnyco15]

yes indeed as ACE  said ask around  im sure you will get loads of help and welcome to A4A hope you enjoy your plots and  have a great first season

[igrowmeown]

The dudes and gals at the plot have told me that one of the plots I have has the best asparagus, so I know at least one thing I have.

I shall take pictures over the next few days to upload and share with you for an ID session :-)

Thank you for your swift responses.

[Tee Gee]

Hi

Welcome to A4A glad to see new blood in the community.

I think you have made a good move in joining this group. For example I have been allotmenteering for the best part of forty years and there is hardly a week passes when even I learn something new from the members on this forum.

In fact I have become a bit of a newbie this year myself as I gave my plots up at the end of last year and I am now planning to dabble in a bit of container gardening.

I have attached a link from my website which is it might be said is a summary of my years on the allotments,have a read and if there is anything else you want to know, just ask and I am fairly sure the guys& dolls  here on A4A will only be too willing to help you out.

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/A/Allotments/Allotment%20Intro.htm

[Beersmith]

You have picked the perfect time to start.

The next few weeks will give you the opportunity to dig over any rough areas and get off to a flying start to the new season. This season you are possibly a little bit late for broad beans and perhaps late for garlic, but otherwise almost everything gets sown or planted between early and late spring. Just up to you to choose what you want to grow.

Good luck and happy growing!

[igrowmeown]

Attached are some images I took today.

Can you help?!

[ancellsfarmer]

No images attached- you may need to reduce the file size.

[igrowmeown]

No images attached- you may need to reduce the file size.

sorry. It's saying the attachments are awaiting approval

[ACE]

I can see, gooseberry, purple sprouting, celeriac and perhaps raspberry and somebody has planted some feet ;)  . If it was me I would dig it all up and start again. being careful  around the fruit bushes. The ground will need feeding. Too late for manure but chicken manure pellets, alpaca poo or 6x fertiliser can be used anytime. Those few bits are coming to an end soon and you should be concentrating on getting stuff in not preserving a load of past it plants.

[galina]

Attached are some images I took today.

Can you help?!

My best guesses

1 purple sprouting ?
2 kohlrabi - harvest now
3 Feverfew herb or weed only one plant required if you are into medicinal uses
4 Spring Onion or Welsh onion ready to harvest
5 Some brassica, the top should make a usable spring green
6 ditto
7 not enough detail check roots could be a swede perhaps
8 a brassica looking at the dried stems and seed pods, cannot tell which, test flavour for rocket, radish?
9 I think that is a closeup of 8 looks like radish that has gone to seed and resprouted
10 ditto?
11 ?
12
13
14 parsnip or possibly celeriac harvest
15 Purple sprouting broccoli harvest
16
17
18 herb possibly evening primrose not sure
19 ditto
20

Really bad at identifying fruit bushes, but it looks like some of the brassica can still be harvested.  The bright yellow thing could potentially be a self seeded lettuce, but not enough detail to be sure.

Nice to get something for the kitchen without doing any of the work.   

[igrowmeown]

Wow! Thank you so much. Next time I am down there with some light (possibly this weekend) I will be taking some references, doing a bit of digging and may get some closer images for you.

I just realised that there were a few pictures not uploaded before. If you would be so kind to take a look and see if anything else needs identifying?!

[Beersmith]

I agree with Ace.  You have a few items you could harvest.

But to be honest many things that have made it through the winter are no longer at their best. I still have a few things to harvest like carrots, leeks, parsnips but they far from being at their best. I even have a few beetroot. But apart from my leaf beet which are pushing up fresh new growth most are edible but very inferior to the tender young veg you can expect to gather in early summer.

So by all means preserve any fruit bushes and that rhubarb looks decent enough but you would do best to make a big big effort to prepare most of your ground for spring sowing and planting. The potential is there to produce loads of delicious vegetables next season. I would not miss out on all that bounty just to harvest a few over wintered Kohl rabi and a few bits of sprouting broccoli.

We are well into March and it would be tragic if you were unprepared to sow the innumerable sorts of things that need to go into the ground between now and the end of May.

[ancellsfarmer]

Welcome to this forum. It seems that you have a generous amount of ground. I agree with the others, there is little except the fruit to conserve( and the asparagus!).
My plan would be to divide into zones according to the amount of work needed. I would select, perhaps , a third for immediate attention. This would be areas without obvious planting, lacking perennial weeds. My preferred method is no-dig. See https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/
Clear any debris and mow . Cover with cardboard, apply a 50-75mm layer of old compost/FYM/leaf litter and plant out with (bought) plants, according to taste. This will get you started.
Move to the retained plants(fruit etc) and weed so as to stop any seeding this season.
Once this is done, the second selected area could be treated as the first, and planted with plants that you have grown from seed yourself.
Finally, the worst areas could be tackled, with a view to prepare them for late planting, of crops to harvest Autumn into winter.
This may take all season but the ideal is to get each area as clean as possible, from weeds and hiding places for slugs etc. This will make subsequent seasons easier and more efficient to maintain.It would be the basis for a rotation in future years.
Good Luck ,you will find any questions can be placed here, many suggestions will be made; just pick the ones you like!
AF