How do you decide what to grow?

[Lisa]

Help...

I've got at 10 pole allotment, which I started part of last year. This year I want to make the most of it and grow a good selection of veg all year round (or as much of it as I can).

I've divided it up into equal areas, so I can rotate crops each year, got my compost bins going etc...

But how do I plan exactly what to grow and when!? It would be really nice to be self sufficient in veggies next year if we could.

I've started with deciding on around 52 seed potatoes (one for each week of the year, assuming I can grow some that are recommended for storage?)

But how do I avoid a glut of runner beans and courgettes in the summer? Or grow enough carrots? (We want loads of these). Or how can I plan to have something available at this time of year too? And how do I narrow down my list of my favourite 24 varieties of tomatoes (beware going to the Totally Tomato show - that's all I say ) I'm finding it all rather confusing.

So how do you do yours? Do you sit down and plan it all beforehand with military precision? Or do you just dive in with enthusiasm and see what you get?

Any help or ideas appreciated...

[Guest]

If I didn't know most of it all by experience I would get the details fom The Vegetable Garden & Herb Expert which covers just about all the commonly grown crops, when to sow and when to harvest. There are similar subjects in Joy Larcom's vegetable book. A number of seedsmen are giving similar information on the packet and in their catalogues and you can get them free. Paul Owen's website gives good coverage.If any detail isn't covered come back here and ask. We can't keep it all to hand all the time on the forum.
Regarding potatoes in particular, I know they are very popular but as you can buy quite acceptable spuds ready to eat It really doesn't make economic sense to grow them if it means missing other crops out.
I would like to mention 2 salad crops to help through the winter. Winter Purslane can be available outside most of the winter, also sugar loaf chicory is much neglected but very easy to grow and the solid heart is very mildly bitter, let's say tangy.

[Lottie]

I found that the idea of sowing in modules helped with gluts, esp salad stuff. I sowed maybe half a tray's-worth of lettuces (mixed) each week at home, and planted them at the allotment when they were bigger. Sometimes I forgot, but it worked quite well. Carrots I overdid and we're still plowing through them, but they're still in the ground and quite happy so no problem really. Courgettes and runner beans you will get a glut of! (my husband started making chutney and is really into it). We also tried working out how many of each thing we needed, eg parsnips, but found they were so muc better than shop-bought that we ate much more than normal and we could have grown twice as much!

[lizzie]

Hi there

Just grow what yu like to eat. For your spuds plant an early, second early, main and late main crop. This will give you more spuds than you know what to do with.

While they are growing you can plant some quick growing crops if the ground is warm enough. Once the potato foliage is through it will smother anything that is already planted there.

Try growing a load of sweetcorn in a square bed. You can then use the stems of the sweetcorn to grow peas of beans up them.

Salads can be grown in pots and you could use a cut and come again variety. Sow every 2 weeks or so for a continual supply.

You can grow carrots and parsnips in half size water butts or barrels. Just do continual sowings using a suitable variety. These can always be popped into a green house when the weather turns cold.

That just leaves your brassicas. You can continually sow these. There's a cauliflower called All Year Round and is easy to grow. A good broccoli is Olympia which gives a main head then just keeps on sprouting side shoots for months.

Sorry this is so long but I got a bit carried away. Hope it helps anyway.

[valmarg]

You seem to be concentrating on vegetables.

When considering what to grow, there is also fruit.

Red/white/black currants, gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries do not need a lot of space and are well worth growing.

The odd apple tree (on dwarfing rootstock) is worthwhile, and need not take up an enormous amount of space, particularly if they are grown as cordons, (as long as you have enough pollinators nearby).

There are also self-pollinating cherries, from which you can get a good crop!

An allotment is not only for vegetables!

Much as I love vegetables, I also like home grown fruit.

valmarg

[Tigger]

My advice would be to grow what you can eat (and give to others) in any season. Don't attempt to freeze or store anything for the first two years. If you do get a surplus - make it into chutney/jam/sauce/puree/whatever.

After that - think about planting those veg that you hated as a kid. My husband now loves broad beans, ginger, sweetcorn, indoor cucumbers, aubergines, sprouts and kale - but he thought they were all dreadful.

You must make some space for asparagus 'cos the taste of fresh spears is sublime. The other essential is tomatoes and peas.

[Gardening Girl]

Hi Tigger

Do you grow your own ginger? If so, would you mind making a new posting to say how you do it and any problems you've had.

Thanks very much
(Lisa, sorry for hijacking your posting!)

GG

[mazmezroz]

Thibk there's a letter in this month's KG about growing ginger - you can grow it in pots from roots (rhyzomes) bought from the supermarket. They seem to recommend that you keep them in heat, tho.

Anyhoo, back to the original thread! I have grown enough for my own family, especially as I didn't originally own a freezer. However, I often felt that I wanted to give stuff to friends and neighbours as they all know about my lottie and often ask me about it, and some have been invaluable with looking after it all whilst we're away.

So this year, I am making a determined effort to grow too much!! Then I can take bags, boxes and hampers of lovely fresh veggies to share with my friends. Also, I have got a freezer now! So don't worry about gluts - give stuff away, or if the worst comes to the worst (and it usually does with the courgettes!!!) they can enrich the compost heap!!

Enjoy!

Love
Maz

[Lisa]

Thanks all for the replies - lots of useful info there.

Guest – thanks in particualar for the recommendations of winter salad crops. I will definitely look more into those. I take your point about potatoes, but they are a particular favourite of mine (OH would say obsession!) so they’ll have to stay. Plus I’d like to grow organically if poss, and the range you can buy organically is rather limited. But, it has made me look at some other veggies on my list and think of what I *could* buy, if needed, compared to how easy they are to grow and how much space they take up etc, so my list might get pruned a little in some other areas...

Lottie – I like the idea of sowing in modules at home. Can see my kitchen windowsil is going to be full for the coming months. Nice to hear your carrots are storing okay in the ground. I was thinking of trying a clamp, as we juice a lot of carrots so I plan to grow loads. It will be easier to leave them in the ground if they do okay...

Lizzie – I really love the idea of growing peas or beans up the sweetcorn. Great use of space. Definitely going to try that one. And planting something before the spuds come through. I think this is the kinda thing I was particularly after ie how to go from one long list of what I’d like to grow, over to fitting it all togther in the best possible way on the actual plot.

valmarg – haven’t forgotten the fruit (I just forgot to mention them!). I inherited rhubarb on the plot (doesn’t everyone?) The bad news is that workmen have moved it, so I don't think I should pick any this year. The good news is they moved it to put in a new water pipe right on the corner of my plot! So they're forgiven!! Any remaining fruit I’m growing at home. I have some fruit trees in my chicken run in my small back garden – planning to grow as double cordons up the fence if I can learn to prune them properly. I also have herbs in pots at home, and last year grew a few alpine strawberries with them. Yummy. This year I’m going to try some strawberries in hanging baskets too.

Tigger – interesting what you say about trying veggies again that you thought you didn’t like. I’m currently getting an organic mixed veggie box and its included things like swede and squash that I would have previously said I didn’t like. But given I’d paid for them, I tried them again and I’ve found ways to cook them that I do like. Could you share your experience of growing asparagus? Did you grow from seeds or start with plants?

GG – no apologies necessary to me for a hijack - I think threads go like conversations ie all over the place! So yes please Tigger – more about ginger, I’m very interested in it too.

So thanks again. I feel like my plans are starting to come together now. If its half as good in reality as it is on paper, its gonna be a good year

[lizzie]

Hi All

Yes I did forget about the fruit cos I got a bit carried away with the veg. What am I like

I grow minarette apple, pear and plum. Goosegogs, blackcurrants, raspberries, strawberries and have just been bought a red goosegog and a tayberry.

Just grow what you and the family like to eat. There are no hard and fast rules as such just do whatever blows your frock up.

[Wellie]

As Lizzie says, growing up sweetcorn stems is a great idea - as too is growing squashes at their feet or up some kind of sturdy support structure. You can 'fit more veg in' that way !

Oh, and if you like Celeriac, think about growing that too as it's quite expensive in the shops....

Very good luck,
Wellie

[Allan]

Re. "guest",Sorry about that, these things seem to happen (I always sign in!)
The name is Allan.
I have to take issue about not storing anything. In the proverb I am an ant in the winter but like to be a grasshopper sometimes. There are some items that you must store if you are to eat decently all year round. Thaking the group that will store in a bin,shed or even a clamp, that's carrots,beetroot, parsnip (you can leave some in the ground until you want). Next come celery, leeks,Whitloof chicory. Onions and apples store dry but cool indoors. Then one looks at the perishables and crop surpluses that you can dry, salt, bottle freeze. There are brassicas to harvest throughout the winter and following spring. Lots more I'm sure but it gives you an idea. Finally if you are well endowed you can be harvesting crops from inside (polytunnel or greenhouse)throughout the winter, watercress What! I hear you say), montia, spring onions, radishes, oriental leaves, parsley. If none of that appeals have a go at sprouting seeds in jamjars in the kitchen.
Allan

[Lisa]

Thanks Maz, Lizzie, Wellie and Allan for the extra comments.

Personally my first priority is to provide our small household with all the veg (and some fruit ) we can possibly eat, so I will need to look at ways of storing things.

Allan - I don't have a greenhouse or polytunnel - will those over winter crops you suggested grow under a large cloche or some fleece instead?

[Guest]

Years ago I bought a book in a car boot sale called "Food From Your Garden". It's readers Digest publication and it rapidly became my bible. If you can get a copy, you probably don't need anything else, as it covers planning the plot, rotational growing, what and how much to grow, harvesting and cooking produce, pests & diseases. Oh, and there are sections on basic livestock husbandry, plus gathering wild foods. The best thirty bob I've ever spent!

[Guest]

I don't see why the winter crops shouldn't grow under a large cloche or what amounts to the same thing is a polytunnel about 3 ft. high. It's not so convenient as you can't get inside to work so you have to tip it over or open the end. First tunnels do such a tunnel. I think the polythene would give best shelter and be more durable, fleece can be a bit expensive if annual replacements are necessary.
It is possible in some locations to grow quite delicate crops outside during the winter , I don't see why the onions would be difficult but I think a wire mesh cover would be advisable against animal pests. Sugar Loaf chicory is best outside anyway, the plants can be on the large side.