Allotments 4 All

.................. because they don't flower and set seeds  .

My starter plants for 3 different types of Daubenton kales were given to me by seed circle member Goodlife and they have done well this year. They are producing many sideshoots now and rooting those is the traditional way of propagating new plants.  I would like to offer side shoots to others to help spread these useful traditional kales that were once common, but are rare now.

Similarly the everlasting multiplier spring onion, also originally from Goodlife, Allium Perutile.  These do not flower, but one spring onion will make a clump of spring onions within a few months.  Pull most of them for the kitchen, leave a few and more plants will spring up.  Absolutely winter hardy and very productive. 

Another hardy multiplying onion type but with flat leaves is the multiplier onion 'Minogue' from the Heritage Seed Library.  This is what is sometimes called Perlzwiebel or Pearl Onion, an everlasting multiplier onion that rarely flowers (although they can).  The pure white onions at the base of the plants are small but the plants produce a great many.  The clumps need to be thinned out occasionally to produce more of the bigger bulbs (up to 1/2 inch diameter).  The bulbs are used for salads and pickling, and we love the greens chopped in soups and salads.  Our butternut squash soup would not be the same without a generous addition of chopped onion Minogue leaves.

Let me know by pm if you would like some starters for these plants.

Nice to hear your plants have done well..and you are already able to spare cuttings/plants from them 
I have too been taking cuttings from mine...very long ones though, and poked the 'sticks' straight into ground where they will readily root..they could not be easier crop to look after and multiply

My plants from Goodlife are doing well and I also have plants grown from HSL seeds.  They would be even better if someone was not steeling the leaves.   

I am not clear why they are not more popular.  They seem to flourish through the winter.

Quote from: goodlife on March 09, 2014, 09:42:04
Nice to hear your plants have done well..and you are already able to spare cuttings/plants from them 
I have too been taking cuttings from mine...very long ones though, and poked the 'sticks' straight into ground where they will readily root..they could not be easier crop to look after and multiply

Well as you know, for me it was third time lucky to get these Daubenton kales established   .  They do not like really cold winters and they do not like flooded gardens  .   But yes, they are now looking very bonny at last and I will root some more cuttings for more plants here just to be on the safe side.

Forgot to mention there are 3 types, variegated with white leaf margins, plain green and Taunton Dean's with a bit of purple in the leaves and stems.  The variegated have done best for me, but I remember you saying that the Taunton Dean were the tallest for you.  Different soils I expect.

The onions on offer on the other hand come through everything that our winters can throw at us it seems, especially the Minogue which I have had for many years.  It has been under water and frozen to -16C and still there they were raring to go.

QuoteForgot to mention there are 3 types, variegated with white leaf margins, plain green and Taunton Dean's with a bit of purple in the leaves and stems.  The variegated have done best for me, but I remember you saying that the Taunton Dean were the tallest for you.  Different soils I expect.

Yes..the Taunton Dean grows HUGE (for me) and other two more and less same..half a size compared to Taunton.

Winter cold has not been issue here...they are able to take it..but I suspect if anybody's garden is prone to flooding..that will be a 'challenge' for them.
This winter being so mild and no snow covering birds food supplies...all the brassicas have been left alone by pigeons. Year before my Daubenton kales were just bare sticks on the ground...they were thoroughly ripped into pieces..and yet still they grew and made lush recovery in no time

I find Daubenton's will stand cold and waterlogging once it's well established, but it needs a season's growth first to be safe. My plot gets badly waterlogged, and my variegated Daubenton's has sailed through the winter. Cuttings survived this time, but I've lost small plants before due to cold.

I've sent a PM.

I've moved this to the swap shop, seemed a better home for the thread.

Wow, I've never heard of these! Both kale and onions sound very interesting, I wonder why things like this kind of fall out of fashion?

I have to admit, I'm fascinated by the older crops you don't see any more.

My plants are all flourishing.

same here, very kind of you :)

It was very kind of you however mine were eaten 

Mine are flourishing. The pearl onions died down, and are now resprouting; the perutile are in the process of splitting. The kales are settled into the open ground and looking good.

Thank you for the feedback, good to know.  Sorry yours perished Cam.

not so much perished more eaten by wrong audience :) the cats loved it!! going to plant these up next to a prickly rose might help them once there bigger :)

Thanks again for the new cuttings xx

Quote from: cambourne7 on July 19, 2014, 22:25:22
not so much perished more eaten by wrong audience :) the cats loved it!! going to plant these up next to a prickly rose might help them once there bigger :)

Thanks again for the new cuttings xx

You have weird cats!

Quote from: cambourne7 on July 19, 2014, 22:25:22
not so much perished more eaten by wrong audience :) the cats loved it!! going to plant these up next to a prickly rose might help them once there bigger :)

Thanks again for the new cuttings xx

Hope they have put on some good growth for you.   

The purple kale got eaten badly by slugs so I brought it inside to give to give it chance to recover. Bad move apparently, because they all died. Well I know not to do that again!

Quote from: Silverleaf on October 14, 2014, 19:54:25
The purple kale got eaten badly by slugs so I brought it inside to give to give it chance to recover. Bad move apparently, because they all died. Well I know not to do that again!

There will be more cuttings come spring 

Not sure I like eating them but the variegated ones are very pretty.  Goodlife gave me one and I have rooted three more.  Funny about cats eating them nothing much has touched them here and we have a whole menagerie of critters.  The reddish one is just getting ever larger. 

The ones from HSL seed have not done well.  Two turned into caulis and the rest have flowered and died off.  I hope to choose caulis this year because they were delicious, I had forgotten caulis could taste so good.

Quote from: galina on October 15, 2014, 07:26:35

Quote from: Silverleaf on October 14, 2014, 19:54:25
The purple kale got eaten badly by slugs so I brought it inside to give to give it chance to recover. Bad move apparently, because they all died. Well I know not to do that again!

There will be more cuttings come spring 

Yay! Let's hope for fewer slimy gits then. ;)