Allotments 4 All

Now I have started to harvest some of my earliest planted crops I have gaps appearing, gaps than I am now thinking of filling for the autumn and winter.  As my spuds come out my leeks will be going in, as my early broad beans finish I shall plant my curly kale, as my onions are pulled I am sowing turnips, swedes and parsnips, and as I pull my salads, I am resowing with new salads, hardier varieties.  I am hoping to have crops on the plot throughout the entire year.  Plot number 2 has the corns, beans and squashes on, so I don't know what I will plant there as they will still be covering the ground deep into the autumn.  Maybe I shall prepare the ground with plenty of rotted manure and put the whole plot over to spuds next year.

Really, what this posting was about was....I can see the next season now.  For the first time, I can really see the succession and can start to think about the winter bounty.  

Harvested to date.....broad beans, spuds, onions, garlics, kohl rabi, lettuce, radish, swiss chard, spinach, pak choi and rocket.  What have you harvested?

Slugs!! ;D  Oh and potatoes, chard, radishes, lettuce, thats about it really, my slimey friends however have harvested far more than I, including 3 of my squash plants, the DAY AFTER they were planted :o :'(

I have harvested a hugh amount of strawberries.

cabbages, broad beans, potatoes, onions, gooseberries and rhubarb.

today, with teh roast chicken we shall be having only home grown veg for the first time ever!!

Congrats Legless.  We did that last nite - had porky chops with kohl rabi chips, swiss chard, new pots and broad beans and for pudding, a little stewed rhubarb.  So delish, makes it all so worthwhile!  ;D

So far harvested:

a few tiny radishes, lots of lettuce, rocket, rocket flowers (yummmm), basil, parsley.

that's it.

I'm really looking forward to my first meal of saute potatoes with roast veg and salad, followed by strawberries all out of the garden (apart from the olive oil and parmesan!)

Getting very confused. Not surprising, given my mental capacity. But we've already GOT 4 pages on harvesting in the 'edible' slot?? = Tim

Never mind Tim - you know what we gardeners are like for talking about our crops ... I'm surprised two threads is enough!   :D

Well, I dug my shallots up yesterday - they do seem to ripen early for me and they are never as big as I want them to be!  Any growing tricks from you champion shallot-menteers out there?!

Broad beans by the bucketful, pak-choi was good, parcel ready to go out into the space vacated by the shallots (maybe some florence fennel if I ever get it sown) and leeks ready to go in when the sweet william come out.  

Talking of sweet william, I see M&S are selling them for £2.00 a bunch.  Based onthis, I've now worked out that from the amount of sweet william I've cut to date (and it isn't finished yet) I've saved enough money to pay for both plots!  Add in the beans and they must have saved the cost of the new seeds!

20 basil plants growing nicely in the greeny but I'm worried about greenfly which seem to thrive (maybe I should capture some ladybirds and relocate them in there...)

AC x  :)

Sorry Tim, was my fault I guess....  :-\  I was just letting my fingers do all of the work and thinking about my allotment and veggies and really it was more me constantly making sure I am not missing out on sowing something.  I seem to be quite behind peeps on here who are already harvesting things like cukes and peppers....mine are barely in bud!  And I like to see what people are picking and doing......total nosey parker me.  :-\

AC - we assume that the tops had died down? If so, nothing to suggest. = Tim

Hi Tim - yes the tops had doed back but I somehow don't think they did as well as they ought....

I tend to start them in pots because the soil is often clarty at the lottie when they should go in and they'd likely rot off.  I never seem to get large shallots - they are always tiny (although nice pickled or roasted) and I would love to grow big 'uns!
AC x

I noticed that my neighbours' onions were always bigger than mine  :D and asked them about it, assuming they use some expensive chemicals or summat. Fish, blood and bone was the answer, and nowt else. So I have tried it this year, plus a little bonfire ash, my over winter onions are already the size of large tomatoes and with strong green stems still on, and the summer crop are currently about the size of walnuts, so I hope to be very satisfied with my onion crop. I expect the same to apply to shallots.

thanks - I'll make a note on my plot file!
AC

We had a delicious dinner last night with two courses containing something from the garden.

Main course - roasted veg with pasta. Most of the veg was from the farm shop, but there were five small beetroots in there two. Thank you whoever suggested roast beetroot - it was yummy!

pudding - strawberries and ice cream. First harvest of strawbs this year and there were almost enough for a decent sized portion each. So sweet and juicy. And there are loads left that haven't rippened yet. mmmm.

Planning ahead....I have growing in trays a new batch of kohl rabi, perpetual spinach, mix italian lettuce and mustard.  Today I planted some baby cabbages..um...something copenhagen and some guardsmen spring onions (hope they don't get white rotted!).  Also sowed another row of carrots.  I know some seed packs say 'sow between April and May' or whatever, but I cannot see why you can't sow something later than that, okay, so you may have to harvest them smaller than you would if you grew them earlier, or pull them before the frosts, but surely that doesn't matter.  The lady on the next plot was thinking about sowing some more 'snips as her row was very patchy, but decided against it as it is too late  :o I would have sown some  :-\ Okay....stop the rant  ;D