You are only allowed to look if you promise not to mention the weeds 😆 We’ve just not managed to get there enough this year; too many unfortunate – and fortunate – events and emotional stresses, lack of car, being poorly. Still. What went in had variable success and we learned lots for this Autumn and next Spring and the fruits of what did well have inspired us pretty well. I wish we’d done better, but… well 🙂 You live and learn and I always knew a full allotment would be a challenge this year.
The other night we brought home about a 1/3 of our potato crop, some 15kg of them and half our onions and a good number of garlic bulbs. I was really pleased with that. You can’t go too far wrong with onions and potatoes but I’ve never managed to make garlic grow before, so I was thrilled with that. The weeds ARE pretty bad, but maybe they’ve meant people haven’t noticed our produce growing, so perhaps that is no bad thing.
The corn looks pretty exciting, though I am not sure when you know it is ready, but if all goes to plan, we ought to have around 20 of those in a couple of batches.
Fran’s cabbages are peeping out too.
There are a few carrots, some shallots, some parsnips, celeriac, a couple of leeks and more carrots and tomatoes and spring onions in the garden. I’m still gutted not to get many courgettes this year though 🙂
Overall, it’s been a learning year but it hasn’t cost us more than we’ve grown and I’m pleased. Now to get it all weeded down and some winter crops in. I’m open to suggestions on that from people who know about such things 🙂
The corn is ready when the hairy bits at the top of each cob are brown and dry, I think.
Garlic has never failed me completely and the plan I use is to plant at Hallowe’en and harvest at Mid-summer.
Ace crop, well done!
Our allotment is in a similar state, I haven’t managed to get there for a few weeks, now so there will be a load of weeds.
We’ve only had it since April, but we’ve managed to grow a fair bit, we’ve had 10kg of spuds, and there’s another 10 / 15kg left in the ground.
There’s corn as well, and pumpkins, which is why I need to get there, need to check the pumpkins.
We’re also hoping to grow stuff there over winter, broccoli and such like, but no doubt I’ll have to do a shed load of weeding (again) before I can plant anything 🙂 it’s hard work, but it’s good fun and saves money, and it’s organic veg, which always tastes better.
dh usually plants winter onions, sprouts, purple sprouting brocolli and cabbage. Also winter peas and beans because then they are ready in spring before all the bugs start to be eat them.
Weeds are just compost in waiting! well done on a first season and first crops and all that – bravo!
In terms of what to grow over winter and next year – I tend to go for things which are 1) expensive, 2) bulky, 3) easy to grow, 4) popular with the family and 5) taste great fresh from the plot. So, I would suggest that you look into some soft fruit (raspberries/strawbs and rhubarb), and over-wintering beans and peas. Autumn sowings just help to bring your harvest forward a little bit in the spring. You could also pack in a few rows of the hardier lettuce/leaves like lambs lettuce. The first year we had our current garden, we ate lettuce from the garden on christmas day (in Scotland!), even after several hard frosts.
Rhubarb is a no brainer. If you haven’t got any on your plot, see if you can buy/beg a root or three and get it in – it requires almost no effort, and produces year after year – rhubarb crumble anyone? What’s not to like?! Raspberries are a little bit more effort, but generally very easy, as are currants.
I can go wrong with potatoes and onions – perhaps having a tiny garden with sun only at the height of summer had something to do with it but the onions are only max twice as big as the bulbs that went in and the potatoes, even the main crop, all turned out new potato size and I only got 2 bowlfuls from 20 plants! Foliage was profuse, flowers non-existant. Something went very wrong as all seemed a lot of effort for something that would have been far easier to pop to waitrose for!