2010 plans

I've been asked what I'm growing this year and I can never remember, so here for the delight of my readers but largely for my own memory, are my plans for 2010.

1. Carrots. I had problems with carrot fly in 2009, virtually all my carrots were ruined, so I've left spaces to companion-plant in between my rows of garlic, as I did in my first year. I have also bought Flyaway, the variety I had success with in 2008.

2. Coriander, I will try growing this again, because we use a lot, but it seems to go to seed almost before you get any useable leaves. I think it needs more sunshine than I was able to supply last year.

3. Beans, I am sticking with my favourite Cobra French beans. I have also been promised some runner bean seeds by neighbour John, who is now back from his hernia operation and has reclaimed his plot from the weeds. Again these didn't perform so well in 2009 so I have been slowly, slowly preparing the bean bed by digging fresh kitchen waste and horse manure into a trench and then filling it in.

3. Beetroot, I am going to try a variety called Detroit 6, which are supposed to be better than the variety I grew last year. I was quite pleased with what I grew despite the beets only getting to about golf ball size.

4. Courgettes, you can always rely on these. They seem to produce loads of fruit, even if they get mildew. I'm going to grow a variety called Fender F1, and avoid the yellow ball type we grew last year, because although they were OK they mostly went to waste because they spoiled really quickly after picking. I think there was also some hybrid pollenation which caused some wierd-looking and unusable half green, half yellow fruits.

5. Leeks, these will be the same variety as last year, Porvite, and they'll be planted this week indoors, time permitting.

6. Parsnips. I love roast parsnips but haven't really had good specimens yet, so I'm going to put the variety Gladiator F1 in my favourite, most productive bed, which happily sits at the front of my plot where everyone can see it.

7. Onions. Nothing exciting but a staple in the kitchen: Red (Red Baron) White (Santero) and Shallots (Picasso) all on order from Thompson & Morgan. Not the fastest of suppliers but a good range and it's easy to use their website.

8. Radish. I'll stick some of these in wherever I can. Last year the leaves were decimated by flea beatle (again) and slugs took bites out of the actual radishes, rendering most of them useless, but I'll give them a go because they come up fairly easily and I might get lucky.

9. Peas. Apart from the very first harvest (about 1 meal worth) most of these were riddled with pea moth larvae in 2009, but I am going to try Kelvedon Wonder again, this time paying better attention to the dates you're supposed to avoid to steer clear of moths.

10. Pumpkins . A Halloween variety, for fun. Grew some very small but delicious green pumkins last year and they stored for ages, which is a big positive as far as we're concerned, you don't have to eat them all at once.

11. Squash We had great success by just planting seeds from a supermarket-bought squash, so this year we're going to try a proper British variety, Avalon.

12. Chard. I have now grown this two years running and it grows slowly, but nothing seems to attack it, so it is a good standby to add colour to a stir fry, or just braised with garlic and served on the side of a roast. Also it looks smashing on the plot with its big glossy leaves.

And finally...
13. Potatoes.. Again, a really disappointing harvest last year, various diseases and mystery problems, so I'm going for slightly different varieties this year - Cara, and Sarpo Axona, both supposed to be disease resistant, and similar to the Sarpo Mira I have grown for the last couple of years. Fingers crossed it won't be wasted effort this year.

So, there you have it. This little lot will join the garlic and broad beans that I planted in the autumn. Hope my bad back buggers off and lets me prepare the ground properly.

Sunflower

Think positive

Quick list of problems suffered this year: Leek rust, onion white rot, onion stem rot, potato blight, potato black stem rot, potato scab, eelworm, cabbage whites, whitefly, carrot fly, slugs, snails, pea and bean moth, red ants, flea beetles, untold weeds, and cat turds. Sorry, I said quick list. There are probably more that I've forgotten...

Finally time to write!

Finding time to write has been difficult recently, but work continues apace down at the allotments. I am motivated to write having just finished making a batch of fresh leek and potato soup, made from two crops that have fared very differently this year.

First of all, I am pleased to report that the leeks have been very successful, in size at least, they are a bit rusty again but that doesn't really affect the eating quality. Last year's were like pencils, these are proper leeks. The variety was 'Porvite' and they have come up nicely. Still not quite as good as I'd hoped, but I blame the long dry spell in August and September this year for stressing out my crops. I have tried a tip, which was to coat the tiny spots of rust with vaseline when they first appear, this stops the fungal spores from spreading. I can confirm that this doesn't work at all. I remember being impressed when I saw my neighbour harvesting his leeks when I first started, now I've got some to match. The smell, in particular, is amazing.

Potatoes have been terrible this year. I grew three varieties and had really small crops from all three. I mean, really small - only two or three potatoes under each plant, when I would expect a good bag full. I tried a 'heritage' variety, with dark blue skin and creamy white flesh, called Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy. They plants grew well but the potatoes were small and knobbly, meaning that by the time you've peeled them and cut out all the bad bits, you've not got much left. Now I know why people stopped growing heritage varieties. I have still had some success with Sarpo Mira, thankfully enough to make my soup.

New pictures

Time for some pictures from the plot which have been lacking whilst I worked out how to use my new phone. Here is my beautifully painted shed, along with the Moog looking wistfully at nothing in particular, and my new Summer Ball courgettes which are more exciting than the usual green variety.

Weeds for Sale

Some wild flowers and plants are very beautiful, but I'd draw the line at deliberately introducing the invasive ones into a cultivated plot or garden. Not so for everyone, it seems.

My eye was drawn to a very overgrown looking area in my local garden centre the other day. 'That looks like weeds,' I thought. On taking a closer look, not only were they weeds, but they were for sale! I nearly dialled 999, Mrs Moog Keeper had to drag me away. They were in packs of six for £10, including teasel, creeping buttercup and other nasties. What were they thinking of, I wondered. "Wild Meadow Flowers" was the answer on the label! Ha! Weeds! I wasn't surprised to see they didn't seem to be selling very quickly.

Well, please do not rush out and buy a pack, I can offer FREE OF CHARGE any weed you like, fresh and organically grown direct from my plot! Please do come down and you can pick your own, if you want to. Then you too can be over-run forevermore with the damn things.

Beans, lots of beans, lots of beans...

I thought I would take a few moments to extol the virtues of growing your own broad beans.

Like me, you may have a pathalogical distrust of broad beans, no doubt suffering from the same post-traumatic stress disorder after being fed those horrible, grey, leather-coated blobs of yuk from the freezer compartment. However, last autumn, still high on the excitement of the summer harvest, I took the plunge and planted a packet of "Aquadulce" overwintering broad beans. Overwintering means exactly what it says, they survive the winter to give you an early crop. Behind a chicken wire fence they were safe from marauding bunnies and they shrugged off the worst snowfall for 20 years, to give a little cheer in the dark winter months.

You get several crops for your money; pinch out the tips of the plants when they reach a decent size, have them in salads; stir fry the immature pods; then, before long, we have beans, lots of beans, lots of beans lots of beans, just like the cow who was disappeared by Magical Trevor:
www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/magical+trevor/

This is the best bit: They taste nice! Steamed for a couple of minutes they taste sweet and fresh, in fact a bit like peas, rather than the grey powdery things of my youth. Finally, because they are legumes, they will fix lots of nitrogen into the soil, via the little white nodules on their roots, so they help the next plants along as well.

So, with this sort of four-way payout from the humble broad bean, it would be hard not to be converted. Moog doesn't really like them, he just gives me his forlorn "hey, this isn't food" face; I don't know, it's hard to tell what he's thinking these days, especially as he's gone stone deaf since this time last year.