What we’re eating now (end November)

[I wrote this blog 10 days ago but then lost it in the bowels of my AppleMac until today. So apologies for the late posting.]

         

Fresh            We have had several wonderful salads from the sugarloaf chicory plants supplemented by some of the outdoor Hilde lettuce plants. We have also had some nice stir-fries from the ruby chard and leaf beet. We have just about finished off the tomatoes that were ripening in a tray in the greenhouse. (The last few have been quite sour and used in cooking.) We have started on the leeks in earnest now. 

We have enjoyed cabbages  this month, both cooked and grated in salads.  We have started on the brussel sprouts, although a couple of the plants are full of blown sprouts, disappointingly. However they taste quite nice when braised or used in stir-fries.

Frozen            Our freezers are bursting with vegetables and fruit. We have three sorts of French beans, runner beans, broad beans, calabrese, cauliflower, parsnips (still surviving from last year), sweet pepper, chilli pepper, tomatoes (for cooking), courgettes and celery. There is still a bag or two of rhubarb, as well as gooseberries, raspberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants, plus some foraged blackberries.

Stored       There are sacks of potatoes in the shed, as well as some carrots and beetroot stored in sand.  There are still a few pumpkins and squashes on the conservatory windowsill, one of which, when growing, decided to set up house in it's pot and now looks like a kind of muppet Tommy Cooper.  In the store cupboard, I have a large jar of salted runner beans (an experiment, as I have never salted beans before), and some pickled eggs, pickled onions and pickled beetroot. Now that I have more time, I have started making jams, and there is a jar of far-too-concentrated redcurrant jelly which I use in gravies.

What’s growing now.           

Alliums            Here the leeks are standing tall, of course. But also the autumn-planted onion sets are showing well. The shoots are 6” tall and looking healthy. Some of the garlic has started showing. There are some overwintering salad onions which I sowed a couple of months ago growing happily at one end of the leek bed. I have been weeding these beds diligently through the autumn. The other two beds I have mulched with plastic.

Brassicas            In the brassica cage the overwintering cauliflower and red cabbage plants are growing strongly.  There are 4 or 5 Savoy cabbages still standing, which have been waiting a long while to be eaten, but fortunately don’t grow that much in these shorter days and have resisted splitting. Also there is a bed each of kale and brussel sprouts  which can be eaten at any time now. Half a bed of sprouting broccoli is growing strongly. In the other half I planted out some lettuce plants, Hildi and Winter Gem. I am not expecting to eat these through the winter, of course, but I am hoping Winter Gem, which is a hardy variety of Little Gem, will survive the winter and come back in the spring to provide early lettuces next year. Hildi is a softer leafed variety which is less hardy and therefore has mostly already been eaten. I have a few of each growing under a cloche, just to see what happens.

Potatoes   This year’s miscellaneous beds will grow next year’s potatoes, and so the beds are all slumbering peacefully under their winter blankets. I have put ten bags of partially rotted manure on each bed, covered with heavy duty plastic (damp-proof course quality) weighed down with bricks. All apart from one where some sugarloaf chicory as well as chard and beet plants are struggling on. In totally the wrong place, of course. We have had a mild autumn hitherto, but as soon as the first severe frost is threatened I will have to pull up whatever is left and store them indoors. Then this last bed too can be manured and covered.

Legumes            Here three beds are resting under plastic. One bed, containing broad beans, has started showing; the plants are already a couple of inches tall. It will be interesting to see how well they survive the winter. The fifth bed contains field beans, which I sowed rather late and have not started showing yet.

Greenhouse            In the greenhouse, there are several rows of lettuces, both Winter Gem and Hilde. I am hoping that the Hilde will provide saladings through till Xmas. I have cloched a few plants inside the greenhouse, to see how much the double-flazing effect helps.The Winter Gem I will not touch until I absolutely need to. If they get cut down by the cold, I expect them to come back in the early spring. On the staging, the ripening tomatoes have just finished, and all that is there are a couple of trays of bean seeds drying. Underneath the staging is a box with forcing chicory plants, being stored in compost. I have noticed that some of them are already starting to shoot, so will need to increase the depth of compost on top.

Hens            This time of year, rather than being one of the jobs I do when I get to the allotment, feeding and watering the hens is the main reason for going down there. The egg production has gradually started climbing since last month, and we’re getting 3 or 4 eggs a day now. Mildred is still annoyingly broody.

I have collected autumn leaves recently for the hens to scratch in – a fresh bin bag full every week or so and they happily scratch away all day. Gradually turning it into compost for me.

After Bonfire night the council turned off the water to the allotments – probably to avoid burst pipes – but it makes it inconvenient for chicken-keepers. I have to remember to take water down there with me so that my ladies have something to drink.

What’s growing now?

Alliums            The leeks are standing tall, of course, and also the autumn-planted onion sets are showing well. The shoots are 6” tall and looking healthy. Some of the garlic has started showing. There are some overwintering salad onions which I sowed a couple of months ago growing happily at one end of the leek bed. I have been weeding these beds diligently through the autumn. The other two beds I have mulched with plastic.

Brassicas            In the brassica cage the overwintering cauliflower and red cabbage plants are growing strongly.  There are 4 or 5 Savoy cabbages still standing, which have been waiting a long while to be eaten, but fortunately don’t grow that much in these shorter days and have resisted splitting. Also there is a bed each of kale and brussel sprouts  which can be eaten at any time now. Half a bed of sprouting broccoli is growing strongly. 

In the other half of the bed I planted out some lettuce plants, Hildi and Winter Gem. I am not expecting to eat these through the winter, of course, but I am hoping Winter Gem, which is a hardy variety of Little Gem, will survive the winter and come back in the spring to provide early lettuces next year. Hildi is a softer leafed variety which is less hardy and therefore has mostly already been eaten. I have a few of each growing under a cloche, just to see what happens.

Potatoes            This year’s miscellaneous beds will grow next year’s potatoes, and so by and large the beds are slumbering peacefully under their winter blankets. I have put ten bags of partially rotted manure on each bed, covered with heavy duty plastic (damp-proof course quality) and weighed down with bricks. All apart from one bed, where some sugarloaf chicory as well as chard and beet plants are struggling on. In totally the wrong place, of course. We have had a mild autumn hitherto, but as soon as the first severe frost is threatened I will have to pull up whatever is left and store them indoors. Then this last bed too can be manured and covered.

Legumes            Here three beds are resting under plastic. One bed, containing broad beans, has started showing; the plants are already about 6 inches tall. It will be interesting to see how well they survive the winter. The fifth bed contains field beans, which I sowed rather late and have not started showing yet.

Greenhouse            In the greenhouse, there are several rows of lettuces, both Winter Gem and Hilde. I am hoping that the Hilde will provide saladings through till Xmas, covered with fleece if it gets too cold. The Winter Gem I will not touch until I absolutely need to. If they get cut down by the cold, I expect them to come back in the early spring. On the staging, the ripening tomatoes have just finished, and all that remains is a couple of trays of bean seeds drying. Underneath the staging is a box with forcing chicory plants, stored in compost. I have noticed that some of them are already starting to shoot, so will need to increase the depth of compost on top.

Hens            This time of year, rather than being one of the jobs I do when I get to the allotment, seeing to the hens is the main reason for going down there. The egg production has gradually started climbing since last month, and we’re getting 3 or 4 eggs a day now. Mildred is still annoyingly broody.

I have collected autumn leaves recently for the hens to scratch in – a fresh bin bag full every week or so and they happily scratch away all day. Gradually turning it into compost for me.

After Bonfire night the council turned off the water to the allotments – probably to avoid burst pipes – but it makes it inconvenient for chicken-keepers. I have to remember to take water down there with me so that my ladies have something to drink.

Recipe: Autumn leaf stir fry

Uses: garlic & chilli from store as well as various autumn leaves from the allotment.

This a S.E. Asian style stir fry.  I have used ruby chard, leaf beet, the outer leaves from sugarloaf chicory, kale and even blown brussel sprouts for this dish. Also you can throw in some green leaves from leeks.

The quantities you need vary according to what leaves you use. Beet, chard & chicory, which have a higher water content, reduce more than brassicas, so you need more of them.

If the leaves have substantial central veins & stems, like ruby chard and kale, cut them away with a sharp knife first and put to one side.

1.     In oil (I use peanut oil) fry some garlic, ginger & chilli. (The quantities can vary according to taste. For 2 people I use 1 deseeded chilli from the freezer, chopped, a thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated, and 3 or 4 large cloves of garlic, crushed.)

2.     After a while, turn the heat down and add the chopped veins & stems. Also the leek leaves, if using. Braise them in the spices until tender; this may take up to half an hour depending.

3.     Add the chopped autumn leaves and continue to cook slowly until they reduce and the water evaporates.

4.     Add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce. Cook for a few more minutes. Adjust the seasoning to taste and serve.

      

       This dish works well as a side dish to, for example, a thai green curry.

My Personal Rotation: Summary

It is time now to summarize and evaluate my plan.

Bed 1:  First Early Potatoes – Leeks – Climbing French Beans/Squash – Calabrese – Autumn & Winter   Cabbages – Carrots & Parsnips  

Summary: 6 crops in 4 years

Bed 2: Second Early Potatoes – Assorted Greens – Peas – Field Beans – Kale – Cucumbers/Summer Squashes/Dill/Coriander.

Summary:  6 crops in 4 years

Bed 3:  Early Maincrop Potatoes – Onions – Dwarf French Beans – Broad Beans – Broccoli/Turnip Tops – Sweetcorn. 

Summary: 6 crops in 4 years

Bed 4:  Maincrop Potatoes – Onions – Broad Beans – Brussel Sprouts/Turnips – Beetroot/Celeriac/Chicory 

Summary: 5 crops in 4 years

Bed 5:   Maincrop Potatoes – Garlic/Shallots – Beans (for drying) – Summer Cabbage/Cauliflower – late Cauliflower/Swede/Kohlrabi/Spring Cabbage – Squash/Pumpkin

Summary:  6 crops in 4 years

(Bed 6: Runner Beans)  1 crop every year

Grand Total: 30 beds of vegetables per year out of 20 beds + 1 fence!

 (Plus a seedbed and a holding bed!)

Of course, as I have spent the last few weeks working out this system, I have realized that I am asking a lot of myself. Seeds need to be sown & planted out with almost military precision.  And I know my limitations. Planning and organizing mathematically is a strength. Unfortunately attention to detail day-to-day is a weakness.  So to help me achieve this ambitious scheme I need to buy myself a planning diary where I note in advance what needs to be done each week of the year, and then have the self-discipline to actually follow it!

Also, although I have the allotment just about ready to put this plan into practise, I wasn’t thinking far enough ahead earlier in the season. So the assorted greens that ought to have gone nto Bed 2 after the second early potatoes, I actually put into the miscellaneous break. The result is that now, late November, I am having to dig up perfectly good chard plants in order to prepare the bed with manure for next season’s potatoes, plants that will not now be shooting with tender young leaves next spring!

Comparing my plan with my wish list of vegetables that I drew up last month, I have mostly achieved what I wanted and in some cases exceeded it. For example, I didn’t include any herbs in my wish list, neither did I think about field beans. I did include celery, but have decided this first year to concentrate on celeriac instead. Apart from the odd tinkering here with what fraction of a bed a crop requires, I have done what I set out to do. Plus, of course, finding room for a seedbed and a holding bed, something I hadn't taken into account originally.

Now all that remains is to put it into practise!

My Personal Rotation - Break E: Miscellaneous (Year 4)

 This break is where I fit anything that I have not managed to squeeze in elsewhere.

Here I will grow my roots: carrots, parsnips, beetroot, forcing chicory & celeriac. Many rotation plans have an entire break for roots. However, I don’t eat anywhere near enough roots to warrant this, so I prefer to have them as part of this miscellaneous break.

Also here will be the warm weather crops, such as sweetcorn and gourds. If I were growing them outside, I would also put tomatoes, aubergines, and sweet & hot peppers here, but I find I get more reliable crops in the greenhouse.

I will try to find room for those herbs that grow best in rows, such as dill and coriander. Also I will put aside some space for a seedbed where late brassicas can be sown in spring. And finally if there is any room left I will try the odd experimental crop, such as celery, Florence fennel, salsify – things that I won’t grow every year, but might like to try out.

Bed 1: Carrots and Parsnips           By March the last of the winter cabbages will have been eaten and the bed left vacant for Carrots and Parsnips.

I find these quite difficult to grow. They are both slow to germinate – parsnips even more so than carrots – and the seedlings often get lost in the forest of weeds that spring up in my beds much more willingly. In future years, following the undug-for-several-seasons brassica bed, most of the weed seeds near the surface should have already germinated, grown, and been fed to the hens. But I haven’t got to that stage yet. This last year I tramped all over my brassica beds, as recommended in the old books, and consequently need to fork them over before growing anything else, thereby bringing up a fresh batch of weed seeds.

This means of course that parsnips and carrots would be ideal candidates for starting off indoors and transplanting. However, these particular plants hate to have their roots disturbed, and if transplanted they fork. You can get some amusingly-shaped “rude roots” this way, but not roots suitable for the kitchen.

One solution is to transplant in decomposable pots, thereby avoiding root disturbance – I will use that system this year with the parsnips. Another is to allow weeds to germinate and then remove them very gently, careful to disturb the soils as little as possible. A third idea I have though of, but haven’t tried yet, is to spread a layer of weed-free soil conditioner over the surface and sow through this. Hopefully the weeds will not germinate through the layer, but the vegetables will.  Leaf mould would be good for this, as would made compost from home. Rotted manure and my chicken compost may well themselves contain weed seeds and are less suitable. Bought soil conditioner or compost is also possible, but costs money.

In February I will place a cloche or coldframe over one end of the bed, to warm the soil. Then in March I will sow some early carrots underneath. There’s nothing like the taste of freshly pulled carrots in early summer, and in this way I can gain a couple of weeks on the unprotected sowings. A few weeks later I will remove the protection and, at the same time, sow some more rows of early carrots, until I have used up a third of the bed. These will be the carrots for eating fresh during the summer & early autumn.

The next third of the bed I will allocate to carrots for storage. In the past I have used Autumn King for this, and they have produced large crops of well-shaped. beautiful-tasting carrots for me. But they are particularly susceptible to carrot fly, so I may try something else this year.

The final third of the bed will be for the parsnips. I don’t need huge roots, so a small variety that can be planted closer together will be fine. Avonresister is suitable in this respect, and has the benefit that it is resistant to canker, a common disease that sees the tops of plants blackening and rotting.

This year I lost most of my crop. They just didn’t seem to germinate, or if they did were smothered by the weeds before I noticed them. So next year I intend to try the toilet roll system again.  This involves using the cardboard inners from toilet rolls as pots and sowing the seeds in a propagator in March. I have tried it twice before unsuccessfully – the first time I planted them out too early, and the second I went away for a few days and some sunny days fried them. Third time lucky!  I will sow 3 seeds in each “pot”, thinning out the weakest, and keeping them indoors until they are 3”-4” tall before hardening off and planting out.

Incidentally, I have noticed that they germinate in just a few days this way, rather than the several weeks taken for outdoor sowings. This makes me think that soil temperature is as much an issue as anything else. Maybe an early April sowing outdoors of a smaller variety might get away fast enough to beat the weeds?

This bed will need to be cosseted under a layer of mesh, carefully weighed down with bricks, to avoid the dreaded carrot fly.

The carrots are harvested as and when they are ready, lifting those for winter storage in October.  Parsnips should stay in the ground until the first frosts, to improve the flavour. In November, when it is time for their bed to be manured again for the following year’s spuds, the parsnips can either be harvested and stored or heeled in in a spare corner of the allotment.

Bed 2: Miscellaneous            By April the last of the kale will have gone to seed, and the spent plants  lifted and thrown to the hens.

This bed will now be the miscellaneous bed, and the first thing we need to establish is a Seed Bed for the brassica plants which will not go into their final homes until August.

To overcome my weed seed problem, I need to prepare this bed very carefully. Firstly I will need to remove the first flush of weeds as they germinate in the spring, by gentle hoeing. Then I think I will invest in a bag or 2 or soil conditioner (or cheap potting compost) and spread it out over this part of the bed, an inch deep, say.  Then when I sow the seeds, I will be marking rows in the compost, rather then the exposed soil. As with any mulch, it is important to wait until the soil is nice and wet before sowing, as the mulch will prevent water from reaching the seedlings. But I will water the rows beforehand anyway. Within a few weeks I expect the mulch to vanish as the worms drag it down into the soil. By the time the weedseeds underneath start germinating, the brassica seedlings should be showing.

In the seedbed I will sow late cabbages and cauliflower, brussel sprouts, sprouting broccoli and kale.   The plants will not be here long; by the time they are a few inches tall they will be getting overcrowded and need planting out into the holding bed. (This may be the best place to grow on leeks too, until the early spuds have been lifted.)

Here too I can grow some of the less unruly members of the gourd family. The summer squashes can go here, such as Courgettes and those Patty Pan Squashes that resemble yellow flying saucers. I will have to ensure I buy bush varieties, which are more compact, so they don’t start invading the seedbed. Courgettes will turn into Marrows if left unpicked, and it is worth leaving a few to do this at the end of the season. I have to say I prefer courgettes though.

Also I will erect a wigwam at one end of the bed and plant out some outdoor cucumbers here.  I will prepare the planting spots with compost in the same way as the pumpkins.  Then, as they grow, I will tie them into the wigwam.

I will also try to make room for a row of two of Dill and Coriander. (We follow the Scandinavian custom of putting lots of leaf dill in with our new potatoes. That what happens when you marry a Finn. And yes I had to build a sauna at home too!) These herbs don’t fit easily into the herb garden at home and are best grown with the vegetables in rows. However, when I sow indoors and transplant, they just seem to go to seed quickly. I will try to beat the weeds and sow in situ next year and see how it goes.

Bed 3: Sweetcorn             The sprouting broccoli will be eaten and gone by early June when it is time plant out Sweetcorn which will have been growing in pots under cover. They need to be planted out carefully, as the roots dislike disturbance.

This year I tried the three sisters method,  traditional to certain American Indian tribes. This involves interplanting corn, beans for drying and squashes. The corn goes in first, then the beans are sown beside the corn, so that they can use it as a support.  The squash is planted between, so that it can crawl around underneath, providing ground cover.

Perhaps I didn’t choose my varieties wisely or explain the situation well enough to the plants. I only put out two squashes in a 12’ bed, but they didn’t seem to understand that they were guests of the sweetcorn, and staged a take-over bid. A bit like having an elderly aunt visiting who won’t go home, or even stay in her room, and spreads herself and her things all over the house. I had to work hard to get any corn at all, hacking back the squash vines weekly. And the beans were given no chance and didn’t germinate at all. So next year it’s back to growing the sweetcorn alone, in their own bed!

  

There are sweetcorn varieties which have been bred to provide a good crop even in the fickle weather of UK summers, and I plan to try one of those. 

Bed 4: Beetroot, Celeriac & Forcing Chicory            This bed will have been vacated by the brussel sprouts by the end of the winter.

At least half of this bed will be down to Beetroot (I like beetroot!). I plan to follow Monty Don’s suggestion and sow an early crop in modules in the greenhouse in early/mid March, about 3 seed clusters to a module, planting out a few weeks later when the seedlings are big enough and the soil warm enough. Fortunately beetroot don’t fork when transplanted. The idea is to leave the seedlings unthinned in the modules and to grow them as a clump. This should provide lots of golfball-sized  beetroot earlier in the season when fresh veg from the garden is at a premium. At the same time I can sow more beetroot in rows.  This later sowing will be for winter use: some more globe beetroot for storing in sand, and a cylindrical variety for slicing and pickling.

As mentioned elsewhere, I lost most of this year’s crop to, I think, rats. So I must protect the plants in some way as they mature, by mesh I think, and maybe put rat bait down underneath.

A quarter of this bed will be down to Celeriac. This is a crop I have only tried once before, with no success. Celeriac needs a long growing season, so the seeds need sowing in mid-late March and potting on so that they can be planted out in mid-June. It’s not an easy crop to grow, but easier than celery.

The remaining quarter of the bed will be down to Forcing Chicory. In the past I have sown this in situ in June, but have ended up with huge gaps – my annual weed problem again. This year I might try planting in modules in late May and planting out when they are big enough. I expect the roots will fang, like carrots and parsnips, but that won’t matter as they are to be used for forcing rather than eating.

Sown at about midsummer, they grow strongly and by November the (unforked) roots resemble large parsnips. They are lifted before the winter and stored horizontally indoors in sand or compost. Then they are forced which means they are planted in large pots of compost and kept indoors in the dark (I enclose the pots in a double bin bag.) After a few weeks a number of blanched chicons will have grown which can be used in salads or braised.

I always try to find room for chicory. as it can provide fresh saladings in the depths of winter when everything else is buried under a blanket of snow. It is admittedly slightly bitter, but this can be reduced by keeping the chicons growing in the dark, and ameliorated by using a sweet dressing, such as honey & mustard.

Bed 5: Winter Squashes and Pumpkins            This bed will have been the brassicalean pot pouri through the winter and spring, so it is a suitable place to put those plants which don’t need to go in until late, such as the Pumpkin family. There may be a few spring cabbage struggling on at one end, but they will be out of the way by the time the new arrivals need the space. 

Last year I grew Winter Squashes and Pumpkins together with the cucumbers and the summer squashes, but they were too invasive and smothered everything if they weren’t hacked back all the time. So next year I plan to grow them in a bed of their own, with more space between than this year. I should be able to notice when they start creeping across the path to the next bed, and amputate the offending limbs accordingly.

The secret to successful squashes, I have discovered, is to prepare a planting hole beforehand and dig in compost. I use 1 spit wide and deep. The compost is then covered with the removed soil and marked with a stick.

The squash & pumpkin plants can be sown in situ, but I prefer to start them off beforehand indoors and put them out as sturdy plantlets once all risk of frost is past and the soil is nice and warm. For the first few weeks, until established, the transplants need a lot of water at the roots, so I usually use the pot they have arrived in, and dig it into the soil next to the plant. Then it is important to water into the pot regularly, until the plants start growing strongly. I generally stop watering like this once the leaves start hiding the pot.

And then we are back to the beginning again, and it is time to apply manure ready for a new season’s potatoes and a new cycle.

My Personal Rotation - Break D: Brassicas (Years 3-4)

In April Mrs. Spud and I always dismantle the previous year’s brassica cage and move it to its new location, ready to protect a new season’s brassicas from pigeons. Most of the brassicas from the previous year will already have been used, but there may well be some spring cabbage, sprouting broccoli and a few overwintering caulis struggling on. These will need a net thrown over them.

As we move into spring in Year 3 of our rotation, there will be three beds growing the Broad Bean family. This is ok, because most of our brassicas will be growing through the autumn and winter, and won’t need the space until August. We will be growing a few brassicas for summer harvest though, namely calabrese, and a few summer cabbages and cauliflowers.

Brassicas generally prefer a firm soil, and in the past I have followed traditional advice and tramped all over the beds before planting out. But that means that I have to dig the beds over before the next crop. (Did I mention that I hate digging?!)  So in future I will be relying on the fact that the soil will have naturally firmed up as it wasn’t dug after the legumes. In addition I will plant the brassicas out as deeply as possible and, from a board, tread down just the few inches of soil around the actual plants. When it is time to lift the stalks, a garden fork underneath the roots should decompact that little bit of soil.

However, as we are not planting out our late brassicas until late summer, we do need somewhere for these plants to grow and thrive until we are ready to put them out. John Seymore calls this area his Holding Bed and uses a completely separate piece of land. But he lived on a farm and had land to spare. On my allotment I don’t.  So I will incorporate my holding bed into the brassica break.

The Holding Bed is where plants that have been started off elsewhere, in either seedtrays, modules indoors, or a seedbed outdoors, can be planted out about 6” apart once they outgrow their nursery. This should provide enough room for them to grow and thrive through their childhood and teens until their final newly decorated semi is ready for them to move into as young adults.

Fortunately, brassicas don’t seem to mind transplanting, in fact they seem to thrive on it. Bob Flowerdew recommends lifting plants, to break the taproot, and putting them back where they were, even if not transplanting. It might be worth trying. And when transplanting, we need to put the plants in as deeply as possible, up to the first healthy leaves if possible. Brassicas can get very top heavy, and the deeper they are planted, the less likely they are to topple over.

The brassicas will benefit from the nitrogen released by the legume roots, but as I am cropping intensively I think it is time to give the soil another boost.  I plan to mulch the autumn and winter brassicas with my chicken compost soon after planting. The mulch should keep any weeds down and gradually release nutrients to the growing plants through the winter.

After harvest, I don’t bother trying to compost large, tough brassica stalks. It is possible if mashed to smithereens with a mallet first, but I don’t bother. Instead I throw them to the hens for a few days, until they have picked their fill, then I put them in the “to-burn” pile.

Finally I have to be flexible about which brassicas go where in this break. Notwithstanding the plan outlined below, I do need to get some of the autumn, winter & spring crops into the ground before others.  The urgency for planting out the late brassica crops is, in order:

brussel sprouts – cauliflower – cabbages – sprouting broccoli – kale.

If, for example, the field beans are ready for harvesting earlier than expected, but the calabrese has been a bit sluggish (!) then the crops that follow can be swapped around to suit the situation.

Bed 1: Calabrese followed by Autumn & Winter Cabbages   As soon as they are big enough and soil conditions suitable, it is time to plant out Calabrese, which was sown under cover in early March. (I have read that calabrese doesn’t like transplanting, but I have not had any problems. And by growing them very early like this, I avoid finding hide-and-seek caterpillars nestling in the branches when they reach the table.)

As I am planting out early, it might help to cover the bed with fleece for the first few weeks, to hurry them along. I haven't tried, but it's an idea. Harvesting should start in June. After the first harvest, providing I grow the right variety, I can leave the plants in the soil and a welcome second crop of smaller spears should develop in a few weeks.

By mid-August however, they need to come up and Autumn and Winter cabbages planted out from the holding bed.

Bed 2: Kale    By August the field beans will be blackening and drying and can be harvested. If not totally dry yet, I will spread them out on my conservatory window sill for a couple of weeks, or at least until Mrs. Spud notices and gives me an earful. I will keep a few back for next year’s seed.

The last of the brassicas to be transplanted will be Kale, at about the end of August. It is late, but the plants will have been growing happily in their holding bed, and will continue to grow impressively through the autumn.

I like to grow more than one variety. In addition to the normal British green curly kale, I grow the beautiful black Italian cavolo di nero. However, the latter is less hardy. Although the green kale survived last year’s severe winter, the Italian unfortunately didn’t.

By winter kale comes into its own, and the tender inner leaves will be very welcome steamed, stir-fried or braised.  They will probably start sending up seed stalks in April, which can at a pinch be used like an inferior broccoli, but then it is time to dig them up. 

Bed 3: Sprouting Broccoli & Spring greens               The spring-sown broad beans will have been producing through July and into August. As soon as they are past their best they should cut off at their roots and Sprouting Broccoli planted out. These plants can afford to be a bit late, as they do not start producing florets until next spring. There will be a few broad bean plants left at one end of the row to set seed for next year.  When they are dry and ready, some turnips can be sown in their stead for overwintering to provide Spring Greens early next year.

This year I lost my entire crop of broccoli because of the severe winter conditions, so I am considering looking for more hardy varieties for next year. It is always worth growing two varieties anyway: one early, one late, to extend the cropping season.

After the first florets are harvested, each plant will provide smaller, secondary shoots. And when these are harvested there will be yet more, even smaller. It is a process of diminishing returns which can continue until the land is needed for the next crop.

Bed 4 Brussel Sprouts & Turnips   The overwintering broad beans will have been harvested by mid-July when the plants need cutting off at soil level. Here we can plant out the Brussel Sprouts, which will have been growing contentedly in their holding bed since late spring.

 

Again there will be a few broad bean plants left to set seed. Once these have been cleared we can sow a couple of rows of Turnips, which should produce decent sized balls by the end of the year. I don’t need many turnips, so this should be sufficient.

Bed 5: Early Cabbage & Cauliflower, (interplanted with lettuce) with the Holding Bed followed by late Cauliflower, Swede, Kohl Rabi and Spring Cabbage:  This bed is a bit of a potpourri!

In one half of the bed I will grow a few each of Summer Cabbages and Cauliflowers. As there is so much else to eat in the summer, just a few plants should be sufficient, say 6 caulis and 8 cabbages. These will need starting off as soon as possible inside in the warmth. January is best. After hardening off, they can be planted out, 3(caulis) or 4 (cabbages) to a transverse row.

The overwintering Lettuces from Bed 2 can be interplanted with the caulis. They can be put out in a grid, with gaps for the caulis, giving them 9”in each direction. By the time the caulis start needing more space, the lettuces will have been eaten.

The other half of this bed will constitute the Holding Bed.  Once the fully grown brassicas have moved to their final destinations in August and the holding bed no longer required, I would like to plant out some Swedes here and maybe, if feeling adventurous, Kohl Rabi. These will have been started off elsewhere in modules in mid-June. Then in September/October I will plant out some Spring Cabbages, which will have been started off in August in the seedbed. Planted out 6” apart, every other plant can be harvested in early spring and used as spring greens. The remainder can grow on to maturity 12” apart and harvested in May/June.

Once the summer brassicas have vacated their half of  bed, Winter & Spring Cauliflowers can be planted out. I would like some for harvesting in December-January, and some that will be ready in about April. (I understand that these are really a kind of heading broccoli.)

My Personal Rotation - Break C: Legumes (Year 2-3)

By now, after two crops, I suspect that the effects of the manure in my very light soil will be fading, so I think it wise to add some fertilizer to the soil before growing anything else.

Bed 1: Climbing French Beans interplanted with Squash   The leeks will have been lifted from this bed by the end of April, and in early May it is time to erect a support system for the Climbing French Beans. I favour a structure shaped like an old-fashioned ridge tent. 8’ long bamboo canes (or other branches if I can find them), can be placed 12” apart along the edges of the bed and brought together and tied at the top, above the centre line of the bed, with other canes lying along the ridge, everything then tied together, giving stability. Each bean can be planted a few inches in from the cane so that it collides with it as it grows and, with any luck, climbs without my help.

French beans are not frost-hardy, so need to be started off under cover in early May in order to have time to develop into sturdy plantlets by the time the soil is warm enough for them to be put out in late May/early June.

The dappled shade in the middle of this bed is ideal for Winter Squashes. Experience has shown me that one plant, in the middle of the bed, is enough. I tried it with two this year, and they staged a take-over bid for the bed. arms reaching aggressively in all directions like pickpockets. I had to be very vigilant to prevent them from smothering the beans.

A planting hole needs to be prepared at the same time as the bamboo structure is erected. This year I dug out a hole one spit wide and one spit deep and filled it with compost, covering with soil and marking the spot with a bamboo cane.  I planted the squash out at the same time as the French beans. Next year I will allow only the one rambling arm to reach out in each direction, and will discipline it like a truanting schoolboy if it ventures too close to the beans.

Bed 2: Peas followed by Field Beans   This bed is going to start off being the Pea bed this year. They will be sown & planted successionally, and with any luck and a following wind, the ground will have been vacated by the outgoing leaf crops before the peas need the room.

In early February, at the empty end of the bed (vacated by the rocket, mizuna etc.) I will put a cloche, to warm the soil. Then, in early March, under the cloche, I will plant out some early peas. By late March I can start planting peas without cover. I aim to put out fresh plants every 3 - 4 weeks, and at the same time sow the next batch in modules. I will continue until July, using a mildew-resistant variety for the last sowing.

In theory you can sow pea seeds directly into the ground, but I find I lose more than I get that way. The old method of swilling the seeds in paraffin before planting to dissuade mice doesn’t work on my allotment – maybe peas have been grown there for so long there that generations of mice have learned, at grandmother mouse’s knee, that it is worth ignoring the smell to get at the peas!

After planting out I have learned through bitter experience to protect the seedlings against birds with either mesh or cotton & twigs. For all but the earliest peas, I will need to put pea sticks into the soil next to the seedlings for the plants to climb up.

Once the early peas have been lifted in summer, I can use the space for a catch crop, e.g.  lettuces, radishes or dwarf French beans. Then in October/November, once the last of the peas have been harvested,  I will sow Field Beans, which can picked the following August for drying. 

Here I will digress again to explain why I am growing such an unusual crop. Field beans are usually only grown in allotments as a green manure, which means that you grow it on an empty bed to use nutrients that would otherwise be washed out by the rain, and then dig it back into the soil later, when you are ready to grow the next crop, to put the nutrients back. Personally I prefer to cover any empty beds with plastic, to prevent the nutrients leaching out in the first place. But even better is to grow a food crop on the bed. Anyway I hate digging!

Field beans are almost indistinguishable from broad beans, and are grown in this country by farmers for animal feed. Dried, they are called fuls mesdames and are popular in Arab lands, in a dish called simply, ful.  I learned to love ful when I lived in the Middle East, but have found the dried beans extremely hard to find in the UK, so I have decided to grow my own.

Most of the dried beans will be used for cooking, but a few can be set aside as next year’s seed.

Bed 3: Dwarf French Beans followed by Spring-sown Broad Beans. Once the overwintering onions have been lifted by the end of June, I need to immediately plant out Dwarf French Beans which will have been started off in modules a few weeks earlier.  At the same time I will sow more beans directly into the ground to follow on, and then 4 weeks later a final sowing of a late variety. 

The bed will lie vacant over the winter, but in February it is time to sow more Broad Beans. As these grow later in the season, they are more prone to attack by blackfly, so it’s a good idea to pinch off the tops at the first sign of attack, or even better the day before.  These tops can be eaten like spinach apparently.  I have never tried; I always tend to leave it too late and find the tops black with aphids before I notice, which is not very appetizing!

The beans will be ready to harvest by the time the overwintering crop in Bed 4 are finishing, but need in any case to be out of the ground by late August, with the exception of a few plants next to the fence which can be left in the ground a bit longer until they are dry, and then stored as next year's seed.

Bed 4: Overwintering Broad Beans            The onions will have been lifted from this bed by August, so this is a convenient place to sow Overwintering Broad Beans. If I sow them in September/October, they will be one of the first vegetables to be ready in May/June. They will grow happily through the winter, and even in severe winters, like last year, most of them will come through unscathed.  It is worth sowing a few extras at the ends of the bed to fill any gaps though. I lost about 20% of mine last year.

In the same way as Bed 3, a few plants can be left to set seed.

Bed 5: Butter Beans & Haricot Beans, interplanted with Squash             As soon as the garlic & shallots have been lifted in late June, I  can plant out more beans for drying.  I will use the same system as with the climbing French beans in Bed 1: two rows of canes tied together at the ridge.

On one side of the framework I want to grow Butter Beans. Ok, well I know you can’t actually do that in the UK, but there is a variety of runner bean (Czar) which produces large white seeds that I want to try as a substitute. Along the other side I will grow a Haricot Bean, I intend to try the interestingly coloured borlotti bean. And rambling around underneath, a Squash again.

Bed 6: Runner Beans   Yes, I know, I don’t have 6 beds in my rotation. But once I realized that you can get away with growing runner beans in the same site for a few years, I decided to grow them along the fence behind my greenhouse, separate from the rotation. So the fence is my sixth legume bed.

I tried it for the first time this year. I did the traditional thing of digging out a trench in the spring, but instead of filling it with kitchen waste, I used old newspaper, working on the assumption that the main reason for doing this is to retain water. This was the first year for a while that the land had been used to grow anything, and there was a natural fertility there which gave me a good crop. But next year I will put some of my chicken compost on top of the newspaper.

By the autumn in Year 2, all the spent pea & bean beds are a sorry sight.  They are covered in weeds as well as the remnants of the bean plants. At this stage the stems should be cut off at ground level, leaving the roots in the soil.

If the bed is not going to be used for an overwintering crop, I cover it with plastic, weeds and all. My hope is that everything will rot down over the winter, including the bean roots, which will release nitrogen to the soil. This will be welcomed by next year’s brassicas. 

My Personal Rotation - Break B: Alliums (year 1-2)

In this break I will grow the alliums: onion sets, both overwintering and spring planted, garlic, shallots and some overwintering salad onions.  In my vegetable wish list I needed just four beds for alliums. The fifth bed will contain autumn and overwintering leaf veg. I have been putting them in just any spare corner until now, but I inevitably find myself in the autumn having to dig up vegetables that would have another lease of life in the spring, simply because I forgot I would need the bed for something else. By growing them in with the alliums, I hope to overcome this.

The alliums should generally appreciate the loose friable soil left after the potatoes were dug, and also benefit from the effects of the manure that was added to the beds in the winter.

Bed 1: Leeks            As soon as the last of the first early potatoes have been lifted in July, I will plant out Leeks.   These will have been sown under cover in February and planted out into the holding bed in spring, giving them space to grow. By July they should be the size of pencils.

Together with the brassicas, the leeks will be a welcome addition to the table during the winter, when fresh veg is so scarce.  By March/April next year any leeks that remain will put on a final spurt and need to be harvested before they start throwing up seed stems.

Bed 2 : Assorted Greens: (Rocket, Mizuna, Spinach, Sugarloaf Chicory, Lettuces, Corn Salad, Landcress, Winter Purslane, Leaf Beet, Ruby Chard)    It is worth being systematic about whereabouts in the bed the various plants are sown. Timing is critical. The plan is to dovetail the successional sowing of peas next year with land vacated by the just-harvested greens sown this year. Theoretically this should work, but we shall see!

At one end of the bed I will sow seeds of quick maturing plants like Rocket, Mizuna and Spinach, which will be harvested and out of the ground by winter. Here too is the site for Sugarloaf Chicory plants. (These will have been started off elsewhere in early July.) 

In the middle of the bed I will sow vegetables that will die down in winter but come back to life in the spring.  Firstly a few rows of Lettuces for overwintering.  Some of these will be transplanted into the greenhouse in October. The rest can be left in the ground over winter and, with luck, and careful choice of variety, they will start growing again strongly in March/April. By the time the space where they are growing is needed for the peas, they should be big enough for transplanting elsewhere. (I’m thinking of interplanting with some of the brassicas.)   Last year my Valdor lettuce plantlets survived a couple of weeks of temperatures that reached as low as -11^oC in late November/early December! The frosts cut them down, of course, but by the spring fresh leaves had started growing from the roots and they provided welcome salads at a time when the spring-sown lettuces were just getting started.

Next to the lettuce I can sow seeds of plants which will survive the winter, such as Corn Salad, Landcress, and Winter Purslane. I should get a few pickings of leaves, to add interest to salads, all through the winter.

Then finally, at the back end of the bed, I can sow Leaf Beet and Ruby Chard. These too will grow back in the spring, providing welcome leaves for salads, stir-fries and braising, through till early summer, when the last of the peas need to go in

Beds 3&4: Onions   Two of the three beds which contained maincrop potatoes will host onions next. The oldest allotmenteer I know (89 years old!) puts the wood ash from his autumn bonfire on his onion beds, and his are superb, so I will do the same. Wood ash is something I am not short of, as I have a wood burner at home.

I will plant out a bed of Overwintering Onion Sets in September/October. The other bed will contain Spring Planted Onion Sets, planted in late March.

Theoretically it is possible to plant onions 6” apart in all directions, but I have such a weed-seed problem (and bearing in mind that after the potato digging lots more seeds will have been brought to the surface), that I find it better to leave 12” between rows, so that a hoe can easily get through.

By late June/early July, the overwintering onions will have developed to their full size, the foliage should be dying down and the onions will be ready for lifting. However I like to lift a few as soon as they start bulbing up in May. We are still in the hunger gap at this time, and any fresh veg is a welcome addition to the plate. These first onions are very versatile – the green leaves can be used in salads, the developing bulbs can be boiled or roasted, and the shoulder (ie the bit between the bulb and the leaves) can be called into service for frying and the other more normal oniony duties.

Once the leaves go brown the onions should be lifted straight away -  last year I left them in the soil too long and some of them started softening from underneath.  The onions planted the previous autumn can be stored for a few months, but they won't last through the winter. When they start getting past it, I usually make French Onion Soup for the freezer! Those planted in March are used for winter storage. They will need careful drying and stringing and will spend the winter giving an oniony fragrance to my garden shed.

Bed 5: Garlic, Shallots and Salad Onions    As soon as the overwintering onion sets are in, it’s time to start on the Garlic. Garlic always does best if it has a decent period of cold weather after planting, so I plant it in the autumn, rather than the spring as some experts suggest. I use similar spacings as for the onions: 6” apart in rows 12” apart.

Few gardeners grow Shallots any more, so I will digress for a few moments and explain why I find room for them in my allotment. Firstly they are easy to grow and reliable.  Secondly you can save your own for planting the following year, which makes them a lot cheaper bet than onions. Thirdly they are versatile: larger bulbs can be used like onions, although they have a better flavour according to the TV chefs; smaller bulbs can be pickled like onions (I like pickled onions and find shallots easier to grow than onions from seed), and the tiddlers can be put out in the spring and the shoots used in salads.

There does not seem to be a consensus about when it is best to plant out shallots.  Some authorities suggest the autumn, indeed the instructions on a pack I bought from the garden centre last month said between October and December. Traditionally we were told to “plant on the shortest day and harvest on the longest”. But other authorities suggest the spring;  Monty Don, on TV’s Gardener’s World this year, started his off in pots in the greenhouse in February/March time.

I have decided to try all three systems. The ones I bought from the Garden Centre I  planted in October. Some of my saved shallots I will put out in mid-December. The rest I will plant the Monty Don way. We shall see……

Finally I will sow 2 or 3 rows of  Winter-Hardy Salad Onions. They will start being ready in April and should see me through till June. 

My Personal Rotation - Break A: Potatoes (year 1)

It is autumn now and I am in the process of mucking next year’s potato beds with partially rotted cow manure, and then covering each bed with plastic sheeting, weighed down with bricks. On removing the plastic in the spring I will find, (fingers crossed), that the worms have dug the manure in for me, and the soil is ready for planting. If not, it should be enough just to fork it over lightly.

I want to grow 5 beds of potatoes: one first early, one second early/salad, one early maincrop and two storage maincrops.

In late January/early February I will start chitting my first and second early seed potatoes, initially on a windowsill, then later moving them to the greenhouse.  A few weeks later I will chit the maincrop potatoes. (Chitting means putting them out in a light, frost-free place with the eye end uppermost, so that they can develop sturdy shoots prior to being planted out. I use egg boxes to keep them upright. Chitting is not strictly necessary with the maincrops, but it does give them a head start.)

The traditional way of growing potatoes is in rows; as the potatoes grow they are earthed up until the rows turn into ridges.  I don’t do it like this. Instead I space them evenly over the bed and grow them on the flat. I generally plant 30 sets in each 12’ by 5’ bed in 10 rows of 3. I use a bulb planter to put them in about 6" (earlies) or 9" (maincrop) deep, and cover them with soil.  As they grow they develop into a dense thicket of potato, which by and large keeps the soil free from weeds. Any big old weeds that do poke through can be simply hauled out. In general I seem to get heavier crops per square foot growing them this way. However a downside is that some of the potatoes inevitably develop close to the surface and go green. (This is of course why most gardeners earth them up.) Green potatoes (or at least the green parts of green potatoes) are poisonous and should not be eaten. Most gardeners simply throw them away. I have another use for them.

I am experimenting with how long I can keep reusing my own saved seed before my crop deteriorates. (Garden Centre potato seed is expensive, and if I can cut costs this way then it seems a good idea.) The potatoes I use for seed are the green ones.

So why doesn't everyone save their own seed?  Potatoes are originally a South American plant, from the Andes, and when grown at lower altitudes they can develop viruses which affect the crop. The potato seed sold commercially is grown in the highlands of Scotland and is certified free from virus.

Last year I saved seeds from my Sarpo Mira potatoes and got a crop just as heavy and good as the previous year. I used twice-saved Sarpo Mira seed this year and again got a heavy crop. However the occasional potato has a slight discoloration of the flesh. When I looked it up, it turned out to be a disorder called spraing, which is a probem associated with viruses.  Time to buy fresh tubers!

However, the losses this year were apparently small (I don’t know for sure, as I am still eating them) compared with the cost of fresh seed, so I will continue to use once-saved and maybe twice-saved potatoes in the future.

*   *   *

Bed 1: First Early Potatoes   In early March, weather permitting, I will plant the First Early Potato tubers under fleece. With luck we should get our first harvests in late May. 

Bed 2: Second Early Potatoes In late March I will plant out Second Early Potato tubers. I like to use a waxy variety, which also serves as a salad potato. I won’t plant these under fleece but I will have one ready to cover the haulms at the first sign of frost. 

Bed 3 Early Maincrop Potatoes.  In mid April I will plant out my Early Maincrop Potatoes, aiming for a variety that retains a new-potato taste through into the autumn. (This year I grew kiffli, which was excellent in this respect.)

Beds 4 & 5: Maincrop Potatoes   At the same time I will plant the remaining 2 beds with Maincrop Potatoes for storage.

*   *   *

Sometime in September or October the haulms of the maincrop potatoes will start yellowing. This is the time to lift them for winter storage. (Although it is possible to leave them in the soil until later, this risks more damage from slugs, and in some varieties, can affect the flavour.)

As soon as the potato beds are free, I will dig them over, recovering any escapees from the first harvest, and then apply lime.

Recipe: Stocks - the first step in dealing with a glut!

Uses carrot, onion, celery and any other old veg (except brassicas) from the allotment.

One of the best ways of using up a glut from the allotment is to make soups. And the basis of any good soup is a good stock. So the first step in dealing with a glut is to make some good stock!

Whenever I have a roast chicken or a leg of lamb or some whole trout, I keep the bones afterwards and put them in the slow cooker with some carrots, onion and celery. (I don’t like eating celery, but grew some this year and froze it so that I always have a few stalks available for stocks and soups.) I also add any other veg that is hanging round the kitchen, but is past its use by date. That old wilting beetroot or parsnip at the bottom of the fridge, maybe the stalks from some parsley, some pea pods, the green bits discarded from leeks, in fact anything except brassicas, which can make it a bit smelly.  I throw in a bay leaf or two, add water and after 24 hours in the slow cooker I strain it off and have a beautiful stock.

If I want a vegetarian stock I just leave out the bones. (I also make stock with the liquid left over after boiling a hock of ham, and find it a superb base for cooking beans.)

I have found that my stocks usually freeze well. The exception is fish stock. I tried once, but after a month or two in the freezer is smelt a bit odd, so I threw it away.  It was good used fresh though. 

But otherwise, whenever I have a glut, I simply get one of my stocks out of the freezer and make soups. Beats an oxo cube any day!