Allotments 4 All

Are you self sufficient from your plot?

What vegetables or fruit are you able to grow and store in the quantities you need?

We have only had our allotment for 2 years. We have been just about self sufficient in potatoes up till feb/mar. Throughout the summer season we probably supply 50% of what we have eaten. We are hoping this year we can put together what we have learnt to be near self sufficient for the summer season. I don't think we have the storage space to be self sufficient in all veg throughout the winter, but that is the aim for long term.

Difficult one to judge. Some things we are totally self sufficient in - potatoes, onions and garlic usually for about 11 months of the year and the beans and soft fruit that I freeze always last until the following year when they are ready again. Also we eat as seasonally as we can so there may be some things we don't have for months and I find that often makes them more enjoyable when time comes round again. And no matter how many peas I grow it never seems to be enough and I always have to resort to packets of frozen ones for most of the year.

But there will always be things that you just can't grow and that I'm not prepared to give up - bananas and oranges for example - so I guess I will never be truly self sufficient.

hi Ant
where you been hiding,

self sufficient, well now it depends what you mean.
we ran out of carrots so we dont have carrots till next season but i will still not need to buy them.
i might have a problem with onions i'm not sure i can manage without them (hmm i guess i can cook with spring onions though)
we do grow fruit and again eat what we have and store but when its gone its gone,

lbb

I think the only things we won't run out of before this year's crop is ready are garlic and peppers. Just using the last onions and leeks this week.

Quote from: littlebabybird on January 11, 2009, 14:01:46
hi Ant
where you been hiding,

lbb

New job, been working on some things at home and Sparklys got me slaving away at the plot  :)

Quote

New job, been working on some things at home and Sparklys got me slaving away at the plot  :)

haha! He is normally reading under my username too as it is logged in on the computer  ;D

Quote from: Ant on January 11, 2009, 15:13:22

Quote from: littlebabybird on January 11, 2009, 14:01:46
hi Ant
where you been hiding,

lbb

New job, been working on some things at home and Sparklys got me slaving away at the plot  :)

phew, been worried that there had been a split but i dont know either of you enought to ask that!
glad your ok though Ant
lbb

OK for the main things like Potatoes, Onions and Greenery...
Garlic/Chilli/Capsicum
Things for Stir fry... Sweetcorn (Cobs) Still got frozen peas and BBeans. Not freezing CFB and Runners anymore but still got dry beans.
Some Wintere Saladings but not enough.
Leeks, Carrots, Parsnips still holding up.
Apples in store, soft fruit in freezer...
Pumpkin (processed as soup etc) and still stored whole
Doing alright I suppose.
;D

We have stored potatoes beetroot,, carrots garlic, No onions or leeks cos the fly got em. The freezer is still stacked with cauli's and beans and romanesco and tomato's(for making soups and stuff. Mange tout and of course loads of fruit from last years harvest. I'm just hoping we can eat it all before the next lot comes in. My peppers were a failure so I do have to buy those and fresh tomato's and lettuce. We are not huge meat eaters so we tend to eat a lot of veg.

I'd say somewhere between half and three quarters, but could be better with proper planning. We can't grow all the fruit we like - especially bananas! - but most of the fruit we grow freezes well and lasts a long time. Garlic, onions, various kinds of cabbage and beans (including those I freeze) and various herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary) last pretty well all the year round.  Ran out of potatoes, parsnips, beetroot and carrots in early December, (should not have given so many away!). Lots of seasonal things - especially salads, tomatoes, kale, brussels sprouts, peas, asparagus - help to fill gaps. Still plenty of leeks, sprouts, jerusalem artichokes and red cabbage in the ground.

Have no more spuds but they lasted till Dec, but have January King avialable about 6 left. Parsnips will last till mid Feb.Have brussels and lots of onions and reasonable amount of garlic.Have onion seed in so might make it, not sure. In cages i have purple and white sprouting ready in maybe 5-6wks (assuming things warm up ever again) along with spring cabbage. I looked at them this AM and they looked very sad for themselves i can tell you !
I have started some Calabrese seed to see if i can get an early crop.  Marshalls were selling plants to plant in late March so i figured i'd try early brassica seed as well. I am no where near self suffiecent in fruit so i reckon i cant get any better. As some veg doesnt freeze well and taste any good i try to be as  seasonal as poss by successional planting.

All I've really got is potatoes and leeks. I'm very sad that I finished my onions recently. I've got very tough kale standing on the plots. Soggy frozen beans in freezer. Raspberries. Loads of garlic. Dried beans. Flat leaved parsley just about surviving and some coriander (big surprise, will plant more next year). Some un-named "Chinese leaves" and "spinach" which I have to remember and repeat. Jerusalem artichokes. MUST do better next year.

Oh yes, forgot the JA's!!  :-[

we did better this year than we have in the past, still got stored spuds, onions, garlic..carrots, beetroot and parsnips in compost, lots of pickles, frozen..runners, calabrese, sprouts, beans.lots of different ones, herbs, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, cherries, black and red currants, rhubarb and apple, pears and plums...chinese leaves, cabbages and sprouts on the plot..so, we should be ok until the overwintering carrots, psb and spring cabbages come in  :)
oops, forgot still got lots of squash and all the frozen tomato /pizza sauce and soups made from home grown veggies  ;D

I would say I am 1/4 at maximum for self sufficiency, possibly a little less at times.  Though this varies depending upon my job workload.  We usually have enough spuds for around 4 months and onions for about 10 months of the year.  My hen house takes up about 10% of my plot so I could grow more but then I would not be self sufficient in eggs 8) 

My main reason for lack of self sufficiency has to be lack of room, and I also give some of my stuff to the outlaws.  I need another plot.  I have put a lot more effort into planning for 2009 so hopefully I will have greater success for the year ahead.  (Weather and pests permitting :()

I'm not going to vote because the question is too ambiguous but I am 100% self-sufficient in flowers, about 90/95% sufficient in veg, 60% or so with fruit and 0% with meat milk and eggs.

Having several plots helps too... freezer drawer full of processed tomato slop..
No eggs  :(

thanks, kt, forgot about the eggs  ;D

I've got some PFA's, carrots, cabbages, parsnips, swede, celeriac, kale, onions and leeks left.  ;D ;D ;D

Ive got plenty of potatoes and onions.19 boxes of apples in the garage a really good year for them, other fruit in the freezer.   Brussels, cabbage and other greens still on plots.   Carrots will be dug up this week but i dont think they will be much good.  Ok with eggs, one a day at the moment which is enough. Just wish we had a cow as my son loves milk! ;D

Quote from: Eristic on January 11, 2009, 19:36:46
I'm not going to vote because the question is too ambiguous but I am 100% self-sufficient in flowers, about 90/95% sufficient in veg, 60% or so with fruit and 0% with meat milk and eggs.

I was implying vegetables as the main question.

No one is going to be self sufficient in fruit unless they don't eat bananas or oranges etc.

From your answer you are in the "100% / almost totally self sufficient"  :)

I tend to agree with Ant.

Did the question mean frehly picked produce? and does frozen produce count in the reply.

Basically I can pick something fresh out of allotment for around 10 months of the year which I would consider 75% self sufficient but when I fetch frozen stuff into the equation I am 100% self sufficient.

This doesn't mean we don't buy fresh veg from the greengrocer. We buy things here that either I don't grow or I have run out of my own produce.

So yes! the question could be looked upon as being ambiguous!

within a context of vegetables we're about 50% self sufficient, but that varies by season and harvest.
I reckon we'll make it through til end of march with potatoes and onions (not red), we've still got leeks, and some cabbage, and plenty of beans in the freezer. We've also got garlic and shallots, and when the ground thaws enough for me to dig them out JA's which we don't like so I'll be giving them away.
Our biggest problem is feeding the tortoise through the winter when we don't have cucumbers, peppers, plantain, or dandelions.

My idea of self-sufficiency is not buying anything. My problem lies with the seed much of which I still buy and the grey area of such things as rice, pasta, flour and bread all of which are veg or veg based.

I don't have a problem with using produce from the freezer as it is just a modern method of preserving produce.

some good replies so far....

I would include freezing your own produce, as correctly pointed out it is just a modern preservation method.  :)

Maybe using the words self sufficient was a bad choice  ;D

bazzysbarn, can I ask you how you store your apples please. We have two trees that produce an abundance of apples and I have had no success on the storing side. This year alone I have lost about 150kg of apples.

  Robbo.

During last summer/autumn we were 100% self-suficient in veg and eggs. At the end of the summer we had chicken meat too.

However at this time of year, we would have to live off a diet consisting soley of a selection of garlic, shallots, leeks, celeriac, sprouts, vegetable spaghetti, eggs and swede!

We would need a garden twice the size (its already at least as big as an allotment) to be totally self-sufficient and I don't think I have the time to take on an allotment away from the house. If I could only persuade the OH to let me dig up the lawn...

Quote from: robbo on January 13, 2009, 12:39:12
can I ask you how you store your apples please. We have two trees that produce an abundance of apples and I have had no success on the storing side. This year alone I have lost about 150kg of apples.

When my apples are ripe,  I pull them from the tree before they have chance to fall onto the ground.  I lay them in trays for a day or so to dry a little.  Next, I wrap each apple individually in newspaper and place them back in the tray.  I do not store apples on top of each other in the same tray.  I still have about 15 apples left from about 100 total.  (They were harvested them from the tree at the end of September.)

Quote from: robbo on January 13, 2009, 12:39:12
bazzysbarn, can I ask you how you store your apples please. We have two trees that produce an abundance of apples and I have had no success on the storing side. This year alone I have lost about 150kg of apples.

  Robbo.

we store them the same as kt, but robbo what variety are they? not all apples store

Quote from: GodfreyRob on January 13, 2009, 13:22:09
However at this time of year, we would have to live off a diet consisting soley of a selection of garlic, shallots, leeks, celeriac, sprouts, vegetable spaghetti, eggs and swede!

its not quite that bad, we have kale and cabbage and spinach and parsnips as well, but trust me they will be so pleased when spring comes

lbb

Lbb and Ktlawson, I have no idea what variety the apple trees are, they were fully grown when we moved into the house thirty years ago. There are two trees of different varieties, one ripens in September and the other ripens in October and they both are the most crunchiest and sweetest apples you will ever taste. We give hundreds away to family, friends and neighbours every year but still end up with the majority being wasted. I have tried all sorts to save them, wrapping them in newspaper, storing them in a cool place, but whatever I do they still start rotting within a week. Maybe as you say, they are varieties that just do not store. I think the only solution is to try and give them all away before they get a chance to rot. Thank you for your advice.

  Robbo.

If you've got a type of apples that won't store, then nothing will persuade them to. If it was me, I'd stew them lightly and bottle or freeze them for apple sauce, desserts, apple pie/crumble/etc. Or perhaps you could make wine with them? Or reduce them down to concentrate and freeze or bottle that, to be used (with added water) as juice? That last one is off the top of my head, never tried it... but anything rather than chuck them!
You can also slice and oven-dry them. Given that you'll probably get RSI from peeling all those apples, might be worth investing in a mechanical peeler!
Oooooh, wish I had an apple tree! :D  We had an orchard when I was a kid in Wales. I took it for granted. Now I can only dream of having that again!

Oh and as we only moved in to this place in November, and I'm still preparing my vegetable beds - I'm so far only self-sufficient in bean sprouts! :D
Ask me again in a year...

I have an apple tree (ancient but increasingly productive since I took over the plot) and I have invested in a £12 apple peeler/corer/slicer, and it is worth every penny. Lots and lots of lightly stewed apple in freezer, lots of dried apple rings, using an electric fan oven on lowest possible setting.

The apple peeler/corer/slicer is definitely worth it - a few seconds per apple and amusing to use.

Artichoke, where did you get your peeler/slicer thingy please?

we have a huge discovery apple tree, we do all of the above but, this year, we've started making apple juice, too  :)

Ceres, I am v sorry but I got it in Tasmania in their Apple Museum. They have an amazing industrial machine that prepares loads of apples in seconds, and I bought 2 of their domestic ones (one for my daughter, used a lot).

I have googled it and you can get them here in UK, slightly more expensive.