[Closed] STW Allotment owners - winter greens?

Asparagus, Garlic and parsnips are the only thing I leave in over winter.

Some at my allotment, grow green manurer, but I have never bothered.

Crop and Come Again (CCA) Texel Green, Indian Mustard, Winter Lettuce, Lamb's Lettuce?

Leeks, Savoy Cabbage

Totally forgot about garlic, I'll be harvesting some elephant garlic in the next week or so.

Leeks +1
Green manure

have just put in leeks, savoy, red, spring cabbage, white/purple sprouting and calabrese, Kale, Early and late cauliflower. Will be sowing some chard, turnips, carrots for a late crop of small sweet veg, plus some more beetroot.
broad beans, Elephant garlic and shallots to be sown next month!

I've just harvested my elephant garlic which I'm quite pleased with, I only stuck it in the ground in Feb and its turned out ok with fully formed cloves. I guess if I stick a few cloves in next month or so they will turn out a bit bigger next year ( more growing time etc )

There's some tiny little bulbs hanging off the bottom of the main part of the bulb, are these ok to plant out for more of the same?

Last elephant garlic I planted, grew into one big mother of a clove/bulb, which was then nicked by some low life, scum that treated my plot like their own walk in pantry!

😉

I was just reading through some veggie forums looking for things to grow through autumn...this is food for thought.... 😉

After such a poor summer, only just picked my first courgette! Too many to eat this time last year....

disco_stu, those tiny little bulbs can be replanted, they should grow into small bulbs with no segments next year, these are then harvested and replanted fro Mahoosive cloves the season after, BUT, they are notoriusly difficult to get to shoot. they seem impervious to water. Some people just plant them like ordinary onoin sets in the autumn, some also try to gently score the surface of the bulb to allow water absorbtion before sowiing, and have had great results.....I have tried both methods and out of approx 40 planted bulblets i only had one that sprouted.. then i killed it with a hoe 😳

Cheers captaincarbon, I'll stick em in the ground and see what happens.
Apart from the elephant garlic I've only ever grown garlic cloves that I've had from a supermarket are there any varieties that I should look out for?

Have a look at the garlic farm website...all you need is there...

I'm due to be getting an allotment this month! After a 4 year wait, the time has just about arrived where I will be able to grow a decent amount of veg.

Any tips for what I should be doing first on a virgin plot? I was thinking that rotavating about a ton of horse manure and anti-clay stuff would be a good first step, but I'm open to ideas.

I'm due to be getting an allotment this month! After a 4 year wait, the time has just about arrived where I will be able to grow a decent amount of veg.

Any tips for what I should be doing first on a virgin plot? I was thinking that rotavating about a ton of horse manure and anti-clay stuff would be a good first step, but I'm open to ideas.

I would first go and see what ur plot looks like dont be upset if it is knee high grass and full of weeds which is what most plots are like when they are taken over on our site.

Have a good walk around the site and see all the other plots and have a chat with the people who have plots that are productive see what works and adopt their ideas to start with. Start with the simple stuff and in the following years you can try fancy ideas (bed lay out etc)

dont be afraid of chemicals glyophoshate can be a life saver

oh and as you will find out are some interesting people on allotments and some strange ones too so try to suss out the nutters and have fun

willard - Member

I'm due to be getting an allotment this month! After a 4 year wait, the time has just about arrived where I will be able to grow a decent amount of veg.

Any tips for what I should be doing first on a virgin plot? I was thinking that rotavating about a ton of horse manure and anti-clay stuff would be a good first step, but I'm open to ideas.

Little but often, was the best advice I was giving.

Avoid rotovating, its tempting to clear everything and get it neat in the first year, but the weeds will come back twice as hard next year, plot, take your time and work on a small managable patch, then as you get into it expand.

Potatoes are always a good crop to break up unused soil.

As above, the biggest bonus to me was the other plot holders, get to know them and you will save a stack load of time and money with tips and help.

Its a borrowing community some good, some bad 😉 dont leave anything expensive in your shed.

get the garlic in 🙂 works with shop bought stuff too

As ski says start off small, I've had an allotment with a few friends for 2 years now and its still only half used

Cover parts of the allotment that you aren't using with black plastic sheeting / tarpaulin / old bits of carpet

I wouldn't get a rotavator, get a mattock or similair and start swinging it, its lots of fun ( and probably a bit quicker than a rotavator )

Improve the soil with as much mulch and manure where you can

The land is completely virgin. No previous allotments there, just brand new ones from a bit of farmland.

I'd planned to get a ton of manure in from the local stables and get that worked in over a weekend, then put a load of membrane down after I'd marked out beds for raising. In proper style, I'm planning on using pallets for a composter and maybe for the raised part of the beds.

I'm due to hand over the paperwork tonight, so should have the keys then as well. EXCITING!!!

Is there an STW equivalent of the veggie growing ?

If it was pasture, you need to know about perennial weeds and some pests. Weeds might include couch grass and creeping thistle, pests - leatherjackets and wireworm. Rotavating couch grass would be a mistake. Plantig spuds where there are wireworm - likewise. Ask the neighbours, do some digging and look carefully.

Just baked some chocolate beetroot brownies with beets from the allotment, looking forward to trying them once they have cooled.

Someone asked about a gardeners' forum. You might try gardenersclick.com

No one mentioned spuds? Winter crop in and sprouted, should be ready for xmas 🙂