Allotments 4 All

Red onions
Garlic
Potatoes
Beetroot
Broad beans
Cabbages

And not forgetting my lovely bay which was sent to me by Emaggie which is doing so well, and reminds me every day of all the help and fun posts I have had and read since I joining this site...thanks guys for my first year of success on my lottie. ;D

Good onions, garlic, shallots and potatoes. Excellent squash (too many, my OH says!). Good later beans, end of summer lettuce has been very good, and the tomatoes were nice before blight hit (teach me to bordeaux them next year). Good sweet peppers and my first go at cucumbers, we had quite a few despite bad powdery mildew.
Courgettes were a bit up and down, unpredictable weather made them sulk a bit.
Excellent year for herbs and flowers - lovely roses, and got plenty of parsley, coriander, mint, sage, rosemary and others.

My biggest success has been some rare brassicas. My failures have been numerous.

Runner beans, from my own saved-for-years seeds, they were brilliant, Blue Lake climbing French, I could have fed an army, but best of all this year was tomatoes, indoor, outdoor, plum, cherry......they just kept coming!

Our experiment with squashes was very productive even though it seemed to be failing at the start of the season.  I sowed directly to dents filled with compost surrounded by huge quantitites of free stable sweepings.  They took ages to germinate and one or two had to be replaced from just in case pots grown on the windowsil at home.  We also had competition from the families of blackbirds who discovered a really good opportunity to feed their young small fresh and easily obtained worms.  In other words they started to leave the little plants like castles with nice moats round and we had to be creative in protecting the area around the roots.

Our Blue Banana and Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato from Real Seeds germinated outdoors and grew into very vigourous plants that have produced many large squashes stored all over the house in cool places.  They do not keep in the shed past the end of November as it gets damp and cold and there were too many to eat and the freezer is full.

Uchiki Kuri did reasonably well and I am impressed with the aroma and flavour of the fruit.  I did have to replace this with pot grown.

Thelma Sanders is the least flavoursome but is good roasted, and fantastic in a curry.

Sucrine du Berry was a non shower and I think does not like direct sowing.

Blue Banana looks a bit like a huge grey marrow when seasoned but seems to be the best for long term storage and has given me much fun thinking of ways not to waste the huge amount of flesh present on each fruit.

I had a good year in Glasgow, even though the Summer was wetter and cooler than usual. I think that I am prepared for the worst, using cloches etc to keep the crops growing, and any good weather is a bonus. I have apples, squashes, onions, shallots, garlic all over the house with sacks of potatoes under the stairs. The freezer is full with blackcurrants, gooseberries, blueberries and a monster crop of cranberries. I am not going to starve!!

Outdoor toms ( despite me giving them an awful start) Melonsfirst fruit in 2 years of trying, kohlrabi and the spring cabbage look superb :)

Outdoor toms - once again my roof kept the blight at bay long after everyone elses had withered - and no spraying.

Chillies - masses!  I have bagfuls in the freezer, have given loads away and made jars and jars of chilli jelly.

Beetroot - sowed 2 or 3 seeds per module in early spring and planted out once they had their first true leaves without thinning.  Thinned as the roots started to swell taking the largest each time, giving the others room to expand and we are still eating them.  Will never sow beets directly again.

Raspberries.  As usual, Glen Ample lived up to it's name.  They love the dappled shade of the apple trees.

Brassicas.  Even though a couple of brussel sprout plants have terrible white fly on the tops, the rest of my brassica plantation is looking amazing.  This year, like last, I planted through weed suppressing membrane and I think the combination of no weed competition and cool, damp roots is a winning combination.

Couve tronchuda; it's very variable but the better plants - the ones I plan to collect seed from - grew magnificently.

Spectacular RB, what is it and can you eat it? :)

Potatoes - still lifting Desiree, Roseval and Pink Fir Apple!

Beans of all kinds - I only grew one wigwam apiece of 5 different varieties (6 if you include Borlottis) and we couldn't give them away fast enough. Broad beans ditto. And peas, although it's only a short season, even though I did sow several batches.

Apples - we literally couldn't move for them!

Carrots - till the fly got them suddenly.

And both sprouts and parsnips are looking good!

As for the rest! Somewhere between "OK" and "Shall I give up?" I blame the weather - it can't be my fault, can it?

Quote from: Gadget on November 28, 2011, 13:09:48
Spectacular RB, what is it and can you eat it? :)

It's a rare type (there are lots of varieties) of Portugese looseleaf cabbage. It's very definitely edible. Harry Dodson makes a great thing in 'The Victorian Kitchen Garden' about how there's no cabbage smell when cooking it. I don't overboil cabbages like the Victorians so I don't know. You can slice the midribs and cook them separately.

Thanks RB, that's really interesting especially as I am a novice,  I may well put the victorian kitchen garden book on my christmas wish list to explore some good old fashioned varieties.  :)

It's both a book and a DVD; the BBC did a series in the 1980's, recreating a Victorian kitchen garden attached to a stately home. I don't have the book, yet - it's worth having, as is Harry Dodson's own book on veg gardening. Both out of print, but you'll find them easily enough. The DVD is a classic.