[Growster...]

Soooo, as Mrs Growster and I were discussing (over a tincture or three) the crops from this year, this evening, we decided that we only ever use - say - thirty beetroot a year, and so many carrots etc...

The discussion then went onto freezable veg, which is just as important, as we can keep toms etc for as long as we need them. And it got even more interesting, what with wanting to try different veg...

Soooo, the calculations become complicated, as there will always be failures - like our peas or beans, which get eaten by nasties, and you decide to do the next best thing and plant an alternative, because there's plenty (some maybe), of time...

And, eventually, we all finish up in a huddle, perhaps with a glass of wine saying "Not so much a bad year was it", and hope nobody remembers the rain, and the wind and the rain, and the gales and the flooding and the cold...

And we're planting next year's broad beans in three month's time now...

[New shoot]

That's the joy of it Growster    Always next season to try again  

I've got cabbage, kale, PSB and the rest all growing on for the winter and some of the summer crops are now rallying and looking like they may do something after all. Plus any day now the seed catalogues will hit the doormat and we can all start dreaming and plotting for next year    

[Growster...]

That's the joy of it Growster    Always next season to try again  

I've got cabbage, kale, PSB and the rest all growing on for the winter and some of the summer crops are now rallying and looking like they may do something after all. Plus any day now the seed catalogues will hit the doormat and we can all start dreaming and plotting for next year    

Those winter brassicas will mean so much News!

One of the best ways to use 'old' kale, is to liquidise it in casseroles, we've found!

You get colour, flavour and texture so easily that way!

And you're right about those summer veg rallying too - the difference this week's sun has made is staggering!

[allotmentann]

Trying to calculate how much you will need of anything is very hard! You need to also allow for none germination and sudden plant death. I find it very difficult, but perhaps that is because it is my first year growing for myself and it will get easier with experience.
You are absolutely right about the sun - my sweetcorn grew inches overnight!
I am also struggling with what to grow over winter as I am not a big fan of brassicas, and it seems all the winter things belong to that family. I don't mind them and will eat them, but not in great enough quantity to grow them!
On the plus side I have lots more soft fruit bushes arriving and garlic and onions and potatoes so there will still be plenty to do

[sunshineband]

What I love is the continuity of it all, year on year, and learning from what went not so well to try to get better crops the next

And the unexpected challenges too, like dealing with last year's raspberry glut, and weather based ones, like droughts'n'waterlogging

Just love it all 

[compostqueen]

I think it's wonderful that you can have these discussions with your better half. If I mention any facet of veg growing my husband's eye glaze over and he switches off.  He reckons no-one but me talks about vegetables    Which is why I have to come here to chat 

So, what I really need from my patch is continuity so I have veg in all year round. I will have winter salads, leeks, brassicas.  I have swedes too

[angelavdavis]

Growster, this sounds like a very familiar conversation 

My battle is always continuous cropping.  My plot neighbours have commented that there never seems to be a space on my plot and this is what I want to achieve, but I still get twitchy if I have a bare bed for more than two weeks without anything planted 

As I try to avoid using chemicals where possible, I usually allow for 30% crop failure due to insect and/or disease.  It doesn't always work - I lost all my brassica seedlings twice over to slugs this year but I know it has been a particularly bad year for them. 

[TerryB]

I am also struggling with what to grow over winter as I am not a big fan of brassicas, and it seems all the winter things belong to that family. I don't mind them and will eat them, but not in great enough quantity to grow them!

Why not grow Sprouts & Kale, as you only pick what you need and let the plant keep growing.

[Yana]

I've had a half plot with my daughter since January 2010 and in March 2012 got a second half plot of my own (in reality I look after both plots  ), and aspire to never having any uncultivated ground. This year it all went to pot (excuse the pun), when disasters happened due to the heat in March, the wet in April and the cold in May this year. However, I am nearly there and like other posts to this thread, have been over whelmed with the effect of what a few days of wall-to-wall sunshine can do. 
What I need is a plan that will take me through the whole year as I just dont get over- wintering onions and sowing broad beans in the autumn for example. And I have tried to get to grips with crop rotation but it is still a mystery.
And how can you manure / add compost / lime the ground in the autumn / winter if there are still things growing??? 

[Growster...]

I think it's wonderful that you can have these discussions with your better half. If I mention any facet of veg growing my husband's eye glaze over and he switches off.  He reckons no-one but me talks about vegetables    Which is why I have to come here to chat 

So, what I really need from my patch is continuity so I have veg in all year round. I will have winter salads, leeks, brassicas.  I have swedes too

CQ, you can always pm me, and join in our discussions here as well! (if you want to that is, listening to a couple of old dears muttering to each other about greens after a third glass of whatever...;0)

You hit the nail on the head regarding continuity - its a key word in gardening, especially allotmenteering, because next year will be totally different, and I'm spending so much time thinking about - say - Bed no. 23, that I forget that its already got a load of parsnips just waiting to come out - but not for three months...

[Growster...]

Growster, this sounds like a very familiar conversation 

My battle is always continuous cropping.  My plot neighbours have commented that there never seems to be a space on my plot and this is what I want to achieve, but I still get twitchy if I have a bare bed for more than two weeks without anything planted 

As I try to avoid using chemicals where possible, I usually allow for 30% crop failure due to insect and/or disease.  It doesn't always work - I lost all my brassica seedlings twice over to slugs this year but I know it has been a particularly bad year for them. 

We have all these individual beds Angela, and about six have become vacant as the peas or whatever have finished.

It took me a bit of time to decide to replant them, and hope for a decent autumn, which would in effect mean another season!

Agree about chemicals - we use all organic ferts, but zap the pests with the full metal jacket armoury, as they have no right to deprive us of a feed. We're in charge, not the slugs!

(PS, Been in sunny Hastings this am, and bought a cracking pair of walking boots in Milletts! The Memorial was really pleasant to wander round today! - Even Tescrows was a cooling experience...)

[Growster...]

I've had a half plot with my daughter since January 2010 and in March 2012 got a second half plot of my own (in reality I look after both plots  ), and aspire to never having any uncultivated ground. This year it all went to pot (excuse the pun), when disasters happened due to the heat in March, the wet in April and the cold in May this year. However, I am nearly there and like other posts to this thread, have been over whelmed with the effect of what a few days of wall-to-wall sunshine can do. 
What I need is a plan that will take me through the whole year as I just dont get over- wintering onions and sowing broad beans in the autumn for example. And I have tried to get to grips with crop rotation but it is still a mystery.
And how can you manure / add compost / lime the ground in the autumn / winter if there are still things growing??? 

Interesting dilemma Yana, and not dissimilar to one we always face!

To save too much boredom, though, I make up a spreadsheet in Excel, and garden from a desk first. That way, you can plan ahead, work out next year's crop rotation, and fiddle about with timings etc, because its all there in front of you while you dream...

Then buy the seeds...then get it wrong a few times...then say to hell with it, I'm going to do this...etc etc etc...;0)

Always works!

[Growster...]

I am also struggling with what to grow over winter as I am not a big fan of brassicas, and it seems all the winter things belong to that family. I don't mind them and will eat them, but not in great enough quantity to grow them!

Why not grow Sprouts & Kale, as you only pick what you need and let the plant keep growing.

Absolutely Terry! Spot on!

[Growster...]

What I love is the continuity of it all, year on year, and learning from what went not so well to try to get better crops the next

And the unexpected challenges too, like dealing with last year's raspberry glut, and weather based ones, like droughts'n'waterlogging

Just love it all 

Too true KC!

Always going to be a challenge, but why not, everything else in life is!

[allotmentann]

Why not grow Sprouts & Kale, as you only pick what you need and let the plant keep growing.
[/quote]

Yes I was wondering about kale, I think if you can just cut what you want I might do that (I don't think I would ever eat sprouts - I have tried many times to like them but just don't. They are only veg I  have ever found that I don't like). Would I have trouble with flea beetle at this time of year? They seem to love my plot!