Allotment

THIS YEAR’S VARIETIES:

AUBERGINE:
Moneymaker F1 Early and prolific giving fine flavoured fruit.

BEET ROOT:
Boltardy Excellent quality and can be sown earlier than other varieties due to resistance to bolting.

BROAD BEAN (FAVA):
Aquadulce Winter sown only, no later than January. Very hardy giving long 9” pods. Reduces attack by black bean aphid.

CABBAGE:
Duncan F1 Dark green pointed cabbage for winter production or all year round. Very uniform grower.

CARROT:
Kinbi Yellow carrot with broad shoulders and blunt end. Complex carroty flavour.
Eskimo Very late cropper. Keeps in the ground till January.
Early Nantes 2 Very early and tender variety.

CHARD:
Bright Lights Colourful stems of purple to pink and orange. Very attractive both in the vegetable garden and the flower beds.

CHILLI PEPPER:
Apache Dwarf pepper which dries well.

COURGETTE:
One Ball Yellow variety which produces round fruit.

CUCUMBER:
Femspot F1 All female flowering variety. Early and tasty with high disease resistance.

GLOBE ARTICHOKE:
Green Globe easy to grow and to prepare for cooking. Fine flavour.

LEEK:
Musselburgh Old variety with short thick stems and mild flavour. (Sown in BallColegrave 102 modular tray 6th Mar. ‘08

PARSNIP:
White Gem Medium sized roots that will grow in almost any soil. Easy to lift and good canker resistance.

POTATO:
Anya Anya is a speciality variety with distinct nutty taste and waxy texture. Very long oval tubers with parti-colour skins and cream flesh. Will produce high tuber numbers. Good overall disease resistance, but susceptible to damage and greening. Second early.
Mozart Mozart is a new tasty variety with a nice attractive skin. With a delicious flavour.
Victoria Victoria is a strong growing, early maincrop variety. Victoria has proved ideal for the Fish Friers and is widely recognised as a preferred variety by the industry. Early maturity and reliable fry colours from long term storage give growers the opportunity to provide the customers with a year round supply.

PURPLE SPROUTING:
Claret Produces heavy crop in late spring.

RADISH:
French Breakfast A popular intermediate variety. Fast maturing with good flavour.

RUNNER BEAN:
Red Flame Early variety with long smooth pods and fine flavour.

SHALLOT:
Red Sun It has thick, firm skin which makes it an excellent choice for the store. It has a round shape with a rather sharp, spicy flavour. Planted 8th Mar. ‘08

SQUASH:
Butternut chieftain F1 Excellent flavour on compact plants and good storage qualities.

SWEDE:
Ruby Easy to grow with excellent flavour. Good mildew resistance. Flesh is creamy-yellow which deepens on cooking.

SWEET CORN:
Earlygold F1 Large cob variety for early production.

SWEET PEPPER:
Bellboy Heavy crops of well shaped sweet peppers that can be eaten green or red.

TOMATOES:
Super Marmande Huge beefsteak tomato with fine flavour.
Gardener’s Delight Cherry variety with deliciously sweet fruit.

TURNIP:
Purple Top Milan White flesh and quick to mature. Can be successional sown.

WATERCRESS
Wild Hot and tangy with peppery flavour.

FRUIT:

BLACKCURRANTS:
Ben Lomond Fruits late July giving acidic berries. Heavy yields and upright habit.

GOOSEBERRY:
Hinnomaki yellow

MEDLAR:
Nottingham A member of the quince family. Flavour of apples and lemons with a truffle like texture.

RASPBERRIES:
Glen Moy Extra early variety which give fine flavoured fruit by the end of June. Aphis resistant and not prone to viruses.
Glen Ample Mid seasoned variety. Produces fruit on spineless canes from mid-July onwards.
Joan J Autumn variety cropping from late July to the end of October. Greater yields than Autumn Bliss.

REDCURRANT:
Red Lake Popular reliable old variety. Heavy cropper with good flavour.

WALNUT:
Broadview A dwarf self fertile variety with some resistance to frost at flowering time. Crops from three years old.
Hardy mid-season variety with sweet aromatic flavour. Hint of apricot.

The lay out of the allotment may not be seen as traditional. Most rotate their annual crops on a four bed basis. I’m going to move my crops up the bed two crops at a time - excepting potatoes which will move on their own - moving the last crops back to the beginning. I shall see how it goes.

I have moved all the red currants and gooseberries from home to the plot and added more including three varieties of raspberry: early (Glen Moy) mid (Glen Ample) and autumn (Joan J) which is said to have an increased yield over Autumn Bliss. An old gooseberry bush inherited with the plot has been split up and added to my four from home. Not being a big fruit fan most will go into home wine production. The gap left at home by removing the soft fruit has been used to keep domestic fowl.

HOME
GROWING HOME PRODUCE

I’ve been growing vegetables since I can remember. Dad was an enthusiastic veg grower though he did suffer from heavy clay soil which took a lot of mulching to get it to produce anything decent. I used to have my own little plot behind his glasshouse.

At home I’ve divided much of the middle half of the garden into plots about 15’ x 5’ and dug out the paths in between. The top soil from these paths was added to the plots and the sides held up with slabs. This allows access during wet weather and if you have a dodgy back like me you can sit on the slab edge to sow seeds etc. It also increases the depth of the meagre top soil.

In 2007 I came to the conclusion that I could reduce my hours at work and take on an allotment. Tile House Allotments are just up the road from my home and with easy access so I obtained one after a short wait. I have erected a decking with sides out of old pallets obtained from work. Over this is a pergola. I have planted a jasmine, that was doing poorly at home, and hope it will thrive here.

MY ALLOTMENT

Left shows the shed I inherited with the decking made of four pallets from work. The sides are also made of the similar pallets. In front is an area of wood chippings that I took from a very relieved allotment holder who had taken delivery of more than she could use. The beginning of the pergola can be seen in the two uprights.

Right is the completed pergola. The soil in front with the white labels to the left is the rows of potato. Bottom right are two broad bean Aquadulce plants. The start of four rows totalling 80 plants.

Left is a view from the bench on the decking under the pergola. the broad beans can clearly be seen.

Below is the drive along the allotments on an early, dewy, summer morning. Beautiful!

Update: 14th Nov. 2008

My allotment and garden were supposed to look like the plan left. I think the saying “Best laid plans of mice and men” comes into it somewhere!

The year was not the best for growing. Cooler and wetter than ideal and there were some failures, the seed sown onions rotted away and I’m not so sure the butternut squash will make it. Potatoes started to show signs of blight so I removed the tops ASAP to save the crop. Some sizeable spuds were harvested, mainly from Victoria and the rest were of the size which could be roasted or boiled whole.

The decking has been used by all and sundry and has been well received. There’s a chip shop just up the road and I’ve enjoyed many a bag with a pint of home made cider sat in the sun on the bench!

The runner beans were rather slow to mature. They were transplanted late May but it was still rather cool so they remained pale and stunted well into June.

The leeks have been the best ever. I made some changes to planting.

We now have hens where the soft fruit were.

ALLOTMENT 2010