2011 yield review and the best intentions

Laziness, a new job and Winter has meant that I haven't updated in a while but now that Spring feels like it's round the corner, I am stirring like the snails crawling out of the nooks and crannies in the allotment and feel it's time to start writing again.

Where better to start in January but a review of the last year and a blog full of good intentions?

This is what I wrote back in July
Slow start to the year as things got into their swing. Things came early due to warmth but when growing from seed still need a growth cycle so not as successful than established soft fruits. Heat may have been a check and certainly the raspberries need magnesium (Epsom salts) to correct yellowing leaves. They also should have been tied in better. Next year or in the autumn I will create a framework of wires which should resist the weather better than normal string.

Now for the update in January 2012
We had a dreadfully wet summer and that meant the tomatoes got blight and yields were poor. It also didn't help that I didn't tie them in or support them well. Again - must do better next time.

Yellow was the colour of the season and yellow courgettes, patty pans, ornamental squash and yellow beetroot were great fun. The squash stored well and we are still eating it now in stews and bakes. Despite a slow start and early lack of germination the beetroot ended up doing well though they weren't the impressive giants that Bernie managed to grow.

I can't tell you what varieties did well because I forgot to label them, or labelled them in pen that washed off or on sticks that got lost over the season. Again, must do better this year.

Now in the midst of winter, incidentally the warmest winter since the early 80s apparently, we have had just one frost and the chard is still going strong and we are starting to harvest the Jerusalem Artichokes. We also had a potato harvest to make an Irishman proud. Sadly, though we tend to eat bread or pasta more as our chosen carbohydrate and my constant on/ off diet discourages me from even that so we still have mountains of potatoes at home. 

My resolve is to find recipes that are both healthy and that use up potatoes in vast quantities before the next season returns.  In fact the whole chest freezer needs a good clear out as I fear we may even have vegetables from Autumn 2010 lurking in there! 

So that will be my challenge for the next four weeks is to use up all the stored vegetables before Lent starts on the 21st February. Watch this space for recipes using fruits of the freezer...

Oh and I promise to:
- cut down a third of the raspberries to see if they are autumn or summer fruiting
- tie the raspberries in with wire (string just didn't work)
- label things properly
- tie in and support the tomatoes I eventually grow.
- I can't promise not to order too many seeds because that horse has already bolted but I can sow them with caution to avoid a glut

Sowing: the waiting game

Top tip: 
Prepare the ground well, water in and follow spacing guidelines. Don't avoid thinning seedlings out - it's a false economy. Be patient (or at least, sow fast growing plants next to slower growing plants.) If you can't grow seedlings at home because of space or you can't be bothered - cheat and buy plug plants. Label sowings unless you have an amazing memory.

25.07.10
Sowing seems to be some form of magic or alchemy. From such tiny things, amazing plants appear and grow. You create drills and water them on a wet and cold day in spring, drop seeds in at the right spacing. And then wait. And wait.
Then, once you've almost forgotten what you sowed (a learning for next time is a more rigorous labelling system – marking variety & sowing date) a tiny shoot pops up. This is an important time and you need to water them, keep them weed free and generally cosset them. Sometimes it is tough to recognise them from weeds and in some instances they are so tiny it is best to wait till they grow up a bit so that you can spot the difference and thin them properly.

Another learning is to believe the books when they say not to sow things all at once otherwise you will end up with a glut. Successional planting allows for you to plan ahead and spread the harvest. Some plants, such as Swiss Chard, just keep on giving and you don't need many of them to get a good crop from them. Others, such as french beans, need more plants to get a really good continuous crop in sufficient amounts.

Of course, some seeds, such as radish and salads appear (and grow) faster than others and they are perfect to sow along with slower maturing plants but it's worth keeping an eye out that the other plants don't start to need more room or overshadow the seedlings.

Finally, think ahead to when gaps will start appearing. Having harvested the early potatoes, I have a cleared space that is begging for plants while in another area my courgettes are squashed (pardon the pun) in too close. If I had prepared some french beans, sweetcorn and more squash then I could have planted things up there. As it is I think I may have left it too late and will have to concentrate on beetroot, salad and radishes.

Before....








And after.....