Allotments 4 All

Over the last couple of years my smallholding has taken over and my veg garden has lapsed

I have recently got a new job close to home and have some quality time on my hands as opposed to three hour commutes!

I have been looking over my veg beds and have the following - should I dig them up, dispose and start again? dig up and have something worth eating? leave them in the ground?

1) potatoes planted last year in big tub trugs - earlies, second earlies and maincrop

2) garlic planted a couple of years back, shooting about 4 inches high currently with thin bushy shoots, the original plants look to have spread

3) Shallots planted 2-3 years ago, shooting about 3-4 inches high currently in clumps

4) Beetroot planted last year, no shoots now

5) cabbages, small plants planted last autumn but havent really done much, prob about 5 inches tall

Any help gratefully received and I promise to get my act together this time!

1) potatoes, especially the maincrops, probably got some blight last growing season, so tubers in the ground could be carrying the spores forward. I'd lift and eat. There's still plenty of time to plant this year's.
2)garlic will be congested, so small. I'd lift, replant strongest plants and eat the rest, or leave some for 'garlic greens'.
3) ditto for shallots
4) beetroot are biennial, so will bolt this year. Second year roots tend to be a bit tough, so unless you want to keep some for seed saving, I'd pull up and dispose of.
5) cabbages will probably take off and produce spring cabbage if they are that type.

Thank you so much, I very much appreciate that, I will do those things :)

Good reply Ian... spot on..