Allotments 4 All

Hi all,

I'm a relative newbie and have  just acquired an allotment in Dundee on the East Coast of Scotland. It is quite a large plot being split into two sections each approx 25ft  wide by 57 ft long (1,425 sq ft) It is quite a clean plot so i shall be able to start planting  probably in March.

I will obviously have lots of room to plant a considerable amount and variety of veggie !

I suspect I shall have surplus crop too, can any one advise me on the storage methods for various types of veggie?

Thanks

Hi skypilot, welcome to the site.

If you can get hold of a copy of the vegetable and herb expert, it offers tips on how to store each type of vegetable, and cooking tips too.

it usually costs about £5.00.

Me,  I never have any storage problems, I'm too greedy, and my family are always round to take away any extras.

Loz

Lucky you having a clean slate to start with!  As for storing, hope you have a good big freezer as so much can be frozen in it's original state or as soups, stews, purees and sauces.  Then there are jams, pickles and preserves, chillis, onions and garlics are dried, spuds stored in sacks, and for root crops, you can build a 'clamp' to store them over the winter.

Just one to add - lots of dried beans (broad beans too - but then I love Middle Eastern food).  Oooh, and onions/shallots/garlic in tights or on strings.  At certain time of the year, my flat looks a lot more like a garden shed/pickle store :)

All best - Gavin

Just to add to the advice from Loz, you can get the veg expert on e-bay for next to nothing  :) Good Luck!!

TimJ

Hello skypilot  :)  An article about storing carrots in a clamp is covered in the March issue of Kitchen Garden.  I don't know if anyone actually still uses these?  I suppose if you don't grow too many you won't have any storage probs.  I think freezing would be easiest.  My mum used to "salt" runner beans in big glass sweetjars (this was in the days before freezers).  Does anyone do this any longer? 

Now see what you've started Skypilot  ;D

Wardy

Welcome skypilot  :)

I am new to the lottie business too, and my plans for veg storage are mainly to buy a freezer and to freeze stuff like sweetcorn, peas, french beans, tomato puree (to substitute for tins of toms) etc.

I also plan to grow stuff that can be harvested over winter - late carrots, parsnips, leeks, cabbage, cauliflower brussels etc.

I will also be storing shallots, garlic, onions and spuds somewhere cool, and I read in  Kitchen Garden magazine, that you can keep your green toms somewhere cool and dark too, and bring them in to the light slowly to ripen over winter.

hey skypilot
my friend has a plot in dundee( Law Hill) which has amazing views- quite dry site and soil- it overwinters the usual suspects despite pretty severe frosts- Kale, Cabbage(greyhound variety), purple sprouting broc, beetrot.
my plot in glasgow overwintered 'Pink Fir Apple' potatoes where they grew without loss which is lucky i suppose-  his jerusalem artichokes seem trouble free left in the ground

good luck

Thanks everyone for your advice., I really am grateful.

Hesperis, my plot is in Old Craigie, Dundee. In my teenage years (lost in the mists of time) I used to have a plot on the Law Hill with a South facing prospect excellent view out to the mouth of the River Tay and across to St Andrews and west to Perth, your friend really is fortunate. Easy diggin too sinc eit is on about a 30 degree incline :) Oh how I wish i were back on the old allotment,  :'( but my present one is only a few minutes walk from home, whereas the Law Hill is some three miles away and 500ft above sea level ::)

hey skypilot
i hear you say your new plot is near your house but there are plots going on the Law Hill

Hi Hesperis,

Hmmm Thats interesting, do you know what facilities they have and what they charge?

All of my surplus fruit goes into wine making, most of the veg gets pickled, don't like frozen veg much apart from toms, French beans and most herbs

yes skypilot there a few different allotments- my friends is 'South Law' allotment association, i think- the site is dry and cold basically because it is so high- but has good standpipes around the place, good shop, good vehicular access, a 'pile' of miscellany ie bits of wood and useables etc
Rent is the princely sum of around £18/ year- allotments are the worlds last great bargain !

Hesperis,

It sounds like your friends allotment  is aallocated where i had my previous one, I concur with most of your observations, but I don't think (I may be wrong!) there is vehicular access, due to the slope. I have been up there (to the Law Hill) recently and there is a car park and toilets opposite the allotments, but as far as I can see vehicles cannot access the allotment area. £18/YEAR, THAT  has got to be a consideration  ::). I'm paying £32/year at the moment  :'(

I can confirm most of the offers from Lidl available here in the three Dundee shops, 29p and 49p for seeds. But I plumbed for the Vegetable and Salad Garden selections from B&Q for starters since each pack contains diferent variety of seeds, these work out at 30p/pack. all I need now is some decent weather. Having said that its a bit warmer today, the snow is melting so I'm off to the allotment  ;D