Contents for a year round allotment

[reddyreddy]

Sorry if this is a boring question but I am a bit sad that most of my stuff is coming to an end and I didn't plan properly (1st year) so that my allotment was productive all year round.

Can anyone recommend veg to fill an allotment all the year round.

My basic list from this year and to go in again next year is:

Sweetcorn
onions
garlic
psb
runner beans
french beans
peas
beetroot
swede
pasrnips
turnips
potatoes

any additions to that list to lengthen the productive season would be very appreciated. ;D

[reddyreddy]

[Tee Gee]

A very simple question but quite difficult to answer for instance do you mean growing or harvesting?

Facilities play a large part in the success /failure of this.

I will reply by letting you have a look at a slide show which is a year on my allotment;

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Slide%20Shows/Allotment/allotment.html

From it you will see that a great deal of my plots are empty in winter, and there are some crops that I can harvest on a weekly basis. Whereas others are sown/planted in one year for the next year so you see it is a complicated subject.

[Deb P]

I could not keep my allotment full the whole year round and keep to a crop rotation schedule as well which is something to bear in mind. I found the easiest thing was to make a list of what I wanted to grow, and also the months they went in the ground and were harvested. That made it clearer what could follow what to keep the ground productive and as full as possible.

For example, where my potatoes were until August, there are now brassicas that will overwinter until I harvest them and plant some peas and beans in April. Where my squash and sweetcorn currently are, my overwintering garlic and onions will go after they are all harvested in October.  ;D

[Jokerman]

Have to be honest, I like mine to be mostly empty in the winter so I can get all the beds dug and ready for the following year...... a blank canvass and all that....

[flowerlady]

You have no brassicas in your list ?? Cabbages, broccolis, caulis, kales of all sorts ... I am never without some of them !  :)

... even 9* perrenial ???

[Trevor_D]

Leeks? They will stand all winter and can be pulled as you need.

Squashes? To be picked & stored in the autumn and used over the winter.

Carrots? Sow early ones in a tub for spring and leave the later ones in the ground till Christmas.

And a long-term one is asparagus. You can pick spears from late April once it's established.