Allotment - Peas

To sow the peas this year we am trying something different. Last year we simply planted the peas out direct, sowing them where they were to grow. This year however I am going by the policy of planting a plant and not a seed (with a few exceptions to this rule...)


The variety we are using is called 'Early Onward' and cropped very well for us last year. We plan on sowing 1 double row which equates to 46 plants overall. The double row will eventually be spaced 6 inches wide and each plant 2 inches apart. 


If you are fond of peas you may wish to sow another, if not two additional double rows. Sowing should then be staggered for a longer cropping period with new sowing's made every 2-3 weeks until the end of July. Each double row should be spaced 24 inches apart which is a reason why we chose to sow only 1. 


We filled 46 2" diameter pots with good quality all purpose compost making sure to compact the compost before sowing. This will mean when it comes to planting them out the root ball will be nice and compact instead of loose which can lead to damaged roots when transplanting. 

Using a dibber, pencil or whatever you have to hand make a hole around 2 inches deep and drop a pea seed into each, backfill and set aside. Germination should occur from 7-10 days.

Allotment - Harvest 2011

Looking back on 2011 in the Allotment I wasn't overly happy but on seeing some of the pictures again I don't feel too bad, we did manage a good crop of a lot of vegetables. I felt a little disappointed in the returns overall but that was down to my own mistakes as much as anything else. Not protecting vegetables from pests was a major faux pas that we wont be repeating in 2012. 


Below are some pictures of the harvests from last year. 

Digging up the first of the Main Crop Potatoes. 

A good selection of veggies for dinner. Left to right from picture, some Alpine Strawberries, Butterhead and Cos Lettuce, Peas, Potatoes, Runner Beans, Carrots

After we harvested all our Main Crop Potatoes, we set them on some newspaper in the apartment to dry before placing them in a large plastic container to exclude light, we left the lid slightly ajar so the air could circulate . They stored in this manner until Just after Christmas when all we were left with were the small potatoes we were too lazy all along to peal. It does not look like many in the picture but for our needs they were ideal. 

Some of the carrots harvested, we generally harvested them as we needed them until October when I lifted them all, cleaned, peeled and froze them for later use.

The first Turnips were harvested in early July. These ones are a variety called 'Purple Top Milan' and were harvested a little bigger than tennis ball size. The Turnips following on from these suffered from a lot of pest damage due to not being covered during their growing season. Also in the tray was some Rocket. We were not short on Rocket for our salads during 2011 at least, it grew quicker than we could harvest it. That said we did plant about 10 plants so we were knee deep in Rocket before long. It really is a prolific cropper.