Making use of an allotment - Part 1

Looking for a new hobby? If you dream of growing your own food consider taking on an allotment. Maybe there is a small garden where you live but all the space is for flowers and you would like to grow vegetables for health, or even start a collection of potato plant varieties. Start planning what you would like to grow.

Here are some tips:

Parsnips – are pleasing to grow and when roast they make a change from peas - Marshalls ‘Archer’ is a good one.

Carrots - keep trying, growing them gets easier with practice. Try Unwins ‘Yellowstone’ variety for main season harvesting – it is said to be especially good for preventing ill health.

Sweetcorn – homegrown taste sweeter than shop bought ones. If you prefer blue corn to yellow, you’ll be delighted to hear of Unwins ‘Dwarf Blue Jade’ for 2001.

Broccoli – be prepared to spray against pests.

Spinach – leaves are well worth growing for cut and come again harvesting.

Potatoes – boxes full are a possibility for even new gardeners, but make sure you choose suitable varieties.

Onions – remember to sow early, and/or use onion sets. ‘Setton’ is an improved Sturon type.

Tomatoes – it’s easy to produce lots for salads if you sow early. Unwins have an ‘organic’ variety of ‘Moneymaker’. And ‘Carefree’ - new from Marshalls - is an outdoor bush variety of delicious flavour. Try heritage tomato varieties.

Runner beans – are really fast growing and yield numerous pickings - beans for lunch all summer! At the trials, I was impressed with Unwins’ runner bean ‘Sunset’ - a variety with pale apricot coloured flowers. In 2001, look out for ‘Runner Bean Relay’ a mixture of red, white, apricot-pink and bi-coloured flowering varieties.

Peas – to gain a regular crop you’ll need a lot of plants, and therefore space. Birds like them, so aim to protect your plants. Unwins recommend an organic pea ‘Rondo’. And Mr Fothergill’s lists exclusive mangetout pea ‘Delikata’ – as is usual with this type, the tender pod is eaten along with the peas.

Courgettes – good harvest easily possible – ‘Opal’ is one of the best-flavoured varieties.

Organically Grown

Gardeners are becoming interested in organically grown vegetables. And some also like their seeds to come from organically raised stock, that is, grown on ground that is approved by the Soil Association.

They will be pleased to hear of the Organic Gardening Catalogue 2001, a joint venture between Chase Organics and HDRA – Europe’s largest organic gardening organisation. The seeds in the booklet are not all labelled organic. But the firm also lists fertilisers and organic pesticides – everything to help make vegetable growing successful.

Varieties from organically grown crops:

*Runner bean ‘Prizewinner’

*An organic broccoli: ‘Purple Sprouting Early’

*Early maturing organic carrot ‘Nantes2 (Sow February under cloches) has a very sweet flavour.

*Organic courgettes ‘Nero di Milan’ – a Zucchini type with dark green fruit up to 20cm long

*Organic cucumber ‘Muncher’ (original name!) is bred to be fairly resistant to the dreaded mosaic virus.

More people are growing their own vegetables

It’s time to plan the layout of your allotment, order seed catalogues and decide which varieties of potatoes and other veg seeds to grow next year. All the major seedsmen are including more organically grown varieties in their catalogues. Most seed catalogues are free and many are full of helpful guidance notes on cultivation.

Mr Fothergill’s claims to offer by far the best value and most interesting range of seed potatoes, including 11 organically grown varieties.

Thompson & Morgan are fast developing the organic side of their vegetable list. And in their new Potato Collection mini catalogue, they list ‘truly organic’ potatoes, ‘grown by environmentally beneficial methods without chemical input’. Varieties include: ‘Sante’ (maincrop) ‘Swift’ (first early) ‘Kestrel’ (second early) Desiree (early maincrop) ‘Remarka’ (early maincrop).

Unwins have just marketed a new range of seeds called FULL OF FLAVOUR some contain recipes by cookery writer, Sophie Grigson, for example cabbage ‘Colt’. Some of their potato packs hold just 10 tubers, making them ideal for smaller gardens, or as trials of varieties for an allotment.

Marshalls Kitchen Gardener’s Catalogue 2001 offers free trial packs: a climbing French bean is sent free with every order and new potato 1/95 is offered free when you buy 12 kgs of potatoes. You also gain a chance to name the new potato.

Looking for a new hobby?

Recently, I was lucky enough to go with a garden group to a potato day. One plant of each variety was dug up and displayed at the end of every row, to show the difference between varieties. And later we were able to taste expertly cooked chip-sized samples of several kinds of potato. Among salad varieties, ‘Nicola’ was outstanding, as was ‘Charlotte’. Soon we were able to recognise potatoes by their taste, texture and colour: the skins were white, yellow, red or blue. And in a few varieties the inside of the potato was also vivid red or ink blue.

By the time we had listened to a lecture by a very enthusiastic Scottish potato expert in a kilt, we had no doubts that some gardeners are just as enthralled by potato species and varieties as others are by cyclamen, fuchsia, or geranium plants. Indeed, collecting potato varieties would make an interesting hobby!

During this coming year, I shall be keenly watching the progress, on a nearby allotment, of potato varieties ‘Foremost’ (First early) ‘Nicola’ (Early maincrop) and ‘Desiree’ (Early maincrop).

Maybe your wife or girlfriend likes flower arranging. You could grow her some really choice blooms on an allotment – or, if you have a flair for floral art, you could grow some for yourself. Look out for Part 2 on flowers for allotments.