15 Jan - Snow & Chitting

Like many parts of the country, we had a dusting of snow here in South Wales. It was the first snow of the Winter but all trace had disappeared by lunch time as heavy rain melted it away.

I'm at the plot first thing every morning and evening to let the hens in and out so, come rain, shine (or even snow), I get to see the allotment throughout the seasons. I suppose this is a little unusual as some of my plot neighbours only see the site in the growing season, they arrive in April and are gone by the end of September as many don't bother with Winter crops. The hens were a little bemused with the snow - probably the first they have ever seen.

I've done a bit more shopping since I posted my seed list. I've ended up buying 60 tubers of the early potato 'Rocket' and 26 tubers of the second early 'Maris Peer'. I was going to go with Kestrel instead of the Maris Peer but my local store didn't have them in stock and there seemed little point in especially ordering them as I've never grown second early before so I wasn't going to be choosy.

I've taken the early spuds out of their net bags and have laid them in seed trays, 'eyes' up for chitting. Chitting does seem to get them away a bit better. The 'chits' are the shoots of the potato and not the roots so they need to be left in a light, frost free place until planting in late March-April. As I have more space this season I'm going for a full bed of early potatoes hence the second earlies for the first time. My main crop Sarpo Mira are on order from Thompson Morgan as they had a good offer on them and I couldn't source them locally at a reasonable price.

I've also purchased my main onions, I'm staying with 'Sturon' as they usually do very well for me. I've also got some garlic, the variety is 'Germidour' which according to the seed catalogues is large bulbed with a mild but rich flavour. Though French, it's supposed to be well suited to our climate. I'll be planting the cloves out in late February to early March in the hope they will get a bit of frost. I Autumn planted last season but they suffered badly from rust due to the wet Winter so I'm trying Spring planting to see if there is an improvement.

I think I basically have everything now (or it's on order) for the upcoming season. I look forward to un-boxing the heated propagator in the coming weeks and sowing can begin. Bye for now.

04 Jan - New Year Seed List

Happy New Year and let's hope that this season is a fruitful one. January, while bleak on the plot, is a month which promises things to come; catalogues arrive from horticultural suppliers and the shops begin to fill up with bulbs, tubers and colourful packets of seeds.

Thoughts obviously turn to planning the season ahead. Having enlarged my plot, I'll have the opportunity to grow a bit more for the first time this year. I did manage to use one new bed last summer but only briefly and most of it was used for 'left over' plants. 

So, how to use the extra space? Well, I won't have to try and get two crops in like I did last year. Saying that, it worked well, especially taking up the early spuds in June and replacing them with Winter squash. I'm going to put an entire bed to main crop potatoes and another bed split between early spuds and second earlies and I'll take them as needed rather than having to dig them up in one go. I've never grown second earlies before but it now makes sense with the extra space to try and get a continuation of potatoes.

I'll also be growing some extra French beans and sweet corn, extra roots like carrots and parsnips (now I know how to grow them), some Kale and cauliflower both for the first time and some main crop peas. I'll also have space to devote an entire bed to Winter squash which will be a mixture of the new (to me) Turks Turban, butternut, a few hybrids from saved seed to see what I get and, a pumpkin for Halloween. (Below - the unusual Turks Turban Winter squash).

So, here's the list which is practical based on seed in store and new seed I have purchased for the coming season (those marked with an asterisk are yet to be purchased).

Onion
Leek - Musselburgh
Garlic - Germidor *
Onion Sets - Sturon *
Spring Onion - White Lisbon

Brassica
Kohl Rabi - White Vienna

Swede - Wilhelmsburger
Cabbage Summer - Primo II
Cabbage Winter - Ormskirk Savoy
Brussels Sprout - Trafalgar F1
Kale - Nero Di Toscona

Cauliflower - Autumn Giant

Legumes
Broad Bean - Bunyard's Exhibition
Runner Bean - Prizewinner
French Bean - Cobra

Pea - Hurst Green Shaft

Root
Parsnip - Gladiator F1
Beetroot - Detroit II
Carrot - Sweet Candle F1
Turnip - Snowball
Potato Early - Rocket *

Potato Second Early - Maris Peer *
Potato Main Crop - Sarpo Mira *

Salad
Radish - French Breakfast
Lettuce - Lollo Rossa & Iceberg
Sweet Corn - Swift F1

Squash
Winter Squash - Turks Turban

Winter Squash - Sweet 'Pumpling' Hybrid (from saved seed)
Butternut Squash - Hunter F1
Pumpkin - Big Max
Courgette - Atena F1

Greenhouse Plants
Tomato - Shirley F1
Bell Pepper - California Wonder
Cucumber - Marketmore

Maybe one or two things will change if I can't get the odd thing I want but this is basically what I'll be trying in 2015. That's it for my first post of 2015, I'll add my plans for the allotment next time.