Allotments 4 All

Hi All,

Herewith my annual update from the deserts of Qatar. 

After sewing tomato seeds indoors in October (too hot) I now have the first trusses setting on my cherry and beefsteak tomato plants. They don't sell growbags here so the plants are in bags of normal potting compost with holes cut in the plastic sacks. The plants are in a sunny spot in the garden and they're enjoying the balmy warmth of the Gulf winter. The max temp here today was 22c, so like a (rare) decent day in the English summer. It'll be like that for the next four months here so a good growing season.

As well as the tomatoes I have got chillis coming along nicely, some peas in large garden tubs and a couple of big terracotta troughs with mixed salad plants that have just geminated. I also have some courgette seeds just peeking up through the soil.

Home grown and freshly picked vegetables are a real luxury here. Virtually everything in the supermarkets is imported and it's often far from peak condition when it finally gets on the shelves.

Sadly there'll be no home grown Brussels sprouts to serve with Christmas lunch, but perhaps a few young salad leaves to put in the turkey sandwiches on Boxing Day.

I was in England for a few weeks in the summer and I know a lot of you must have had very a very muddy year on your allotments.

Let's hope 2013 brings you all great growing weather.

Have a very Happy Christmas. I'm sure all your allotment grown veggies will taste wonderful with the turkey.

All the best,

Stork.

Oh !  Well done you Stork ! I look forward to reading more about your veg garden , really interesting .  I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year .     

You're doing very well to grow all those. My sister lived for several years in Oman and tried to grow things, but her only success was okra. She too was dismayed by the lack of interest in fresh local vegetables.

Ironically I joined her there in the 80s to illustrate a book she was asked to write on local uses of foraged plants for food and medicine, but this foraging, though still popular among the Jibali tribes, was much looked down on by the rest as subsistence desperation. Meat was the prestige food (goat and camel).

Yummy, they all sound fantastic, I bet you can't wait to get picking 
I'm sooooo envious of the 22c sounds bliss  and the thought of picking peas and tomatoes is just making my mouth water!

Thanks for the replies. Everything's growing really well. I'll post a couple of photos in the next day or two. Enjoying home grown salad for lunch at work at the moment. Lovely.

Here are a couple of pictures of the winter tomato crop. They're beginning to ripen nicely.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26634968@N05/8394501365/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26634968@N05/8394501205/in/photostream

Looking good Stork, but very strange looking at your piccies when there's snow on the floor here,  whats the temperature there.             

Bah Humbug! Bad weather builds moral fibre (he says while forking out an outrageous £7.50 a kilo for Piccolinos to get a reminder of the taste of summer).

At least I've got fresh chillies hanging plump and juicy on my C.pubescens plants, and fresh limes on my Kaffir Lime.

Make the most of what you've got.

Cheers.

Kev...24c today. And a nice cool breeze. Lovely.

Snowstorm here yesterday, nearly spoiled the footie. 

QuoteHere are a couple of pictures of the winter tomato crop. They're beginning to ripen nicely.

That's just cruel

Do you want me to post you some snow? I've got plenty here

I still have tomatoes ripening on the windowsill from last year so am still using all my own grown tomatoes.

Down to my last handful of San Marzano's now.... given howslowly they're tipening there's a real possibility that I will use the last of them after I've sown this years crop.... there's loads in the freezer of course.... envious of four months of 22-26 degrees though... be nice if we could get that in a summer....the odd rain shower on Tuesday and WEdnesday nights would be OK....