I've never been any good at the over-wintering thing. Even last year's
broad beans that I planted in November failed, and they seem to be the
most famous over-winter crop.

Other than broad beans and peas, what else can I plant now (either under
glass or straight out in the ground)?

Any advice - flowers, veg or herbs that can be started off in the next
week or so - would be appreciated.

wrote:

Other than broad beans and peas, what else can I plant now (either under
glass or straight out in the ground)?

You can plant out Broccoli, cabbage, caulis, most other brassicas if you
get in quick. You can sow onions and garlic from sets or bulbs any time
up till mid Nov. Possibly you could sow root some veg from seed
(parsnips maybe? turnips or swedes?). Its a bit late for winter potatoes
unfortunately.

I have a load of brassicas already planted out, and I'm planting my
onions and garlic this weekend. This will all be a spring crop, and then
I'll plant something else in the space for a late summer crop.

In message ,
writes
I've never been any good at the over-wintering thing. Even last year's
broad beans that I planted in November failed, and they seem to be the
most famous over-winter crop.

Whether that's successful depends on the variety and the weather. Last
winter I was successful with Aquadulce Claudia and Bunyards
Exhibitition, and failed with The Sutton.

Other than broad beans and peas, what else can I plant now (either under
glass or straight out in the ground)?

Any advice - flowers, veg or herbs that can be started off in the next
week or so - would be appreciated.

Garlic, onions.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Mark McIntyre wrote:
You can plant out Broccoli, cabbage, caulis, most other brassicas if you
get in quick.

Yeah, I sent off for some brassica plugs, but they haven't turned up
(probably stuck in the post) - I'm more interested in things I can
plant from seed.

You can sow onions and garlic from sets or bulbs any time
up till mid Nov.

Again, I sent for garlic and onion sets - the garlic turned up and
was planted, but no sign of the onions yet. We didn't have much
success from the overwintered alliums last year - got to spring and
they all got white rot. :-

Possibly you could sow root some veg from seed
(parsnips maybe? turnips or swedes?).

Hmm, I thought it was too late for them. I have a row of late carrots,
+ beetroot and some chinese leaf that I put in a month or so back, but
the sowing instructions I think finished in August so I figured I was
already pushing my luck. I tried turnips (or swede, can't remember)
and bok choi, with no success, think they were a duff batch of seed.
Not a single seedling (unless something munched them before I noticed)

Its a bit late for winter potatoes unfortunately.

Chickens keep digging them up anyhow. :-)
I did put a bunch of green chitted potatoes that were from this summer's
crop and had spent a couple of weeks in the fridge out in an old
strawberry planter last weekend, with an upturned hanging basket over
them to keep the birds off. not sure if they will survive the weather
or not. I may drag it into the greenhouse (if I can without doing my
back in!) once the tomatoes are out.

I have a load of brassicas already planted out, and I'm planting my

Did you plant your brassicas from seed? I had my best ever brassica
year this year (caulis came up lovely, for the first time ever, cabbages
are still going and are excellent, calabrese was so-so, but still going
in places, and the sprouts look like they'll be ok. Oh, and the purple
sprouting broccoli is looking hugely healthy for the spring!) but they
were all from seedings, not seed. pound a strip for the calabrese and
sprouting, 20p for 'we are selling this off cheap cos it's dying' a
strip from B+Q for the rest. Bought a load of the 20p strips in the
summer and potted them up for the school fair and I've seen the results
on other people's plots and they're all doing really well.

I've figured my problem with growing from seed in trays is the compost
I use not being good enough for seedlings, so I've invested in some
John Innes (1+2, iirc) for the new season. Previously I've been using
peat free multi-purpose, which I'll save for large pots and potting up
in future, I think.

onions and garlic this weekend. This will all be a spring crop, and then
I'll plant something else in the space for a late summer crop.

We're quite good with sprint/summer planting (sweetcorn, beans,
potatoes, courgettes, pumpkins, etc), but I just can't get my head
around pre-planning for spring. I think my enthusiasm drops off with
the weather. Although it's great weeding/digging weather atm!

Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
Whether that's successful depends on the variety and the weather. Last
winter I was successful with Aquadulce Claudia and Bunyards
Exhibitition, and failed with The Sutton.

Ah, that may have been the issue. I think one of mine was The Sutton,
too. iirc, they worked ok (nto spectacular, but 'ok') from a spring
sowing. I think I have aquadulce and "something I picked up from a
field I was walking through that had left some stuff lying around after
harvesting" for this year. :-)

Garlic, onions.

*nod* Problem with alliums is that I have limited space I can plant
them in due to the diseased crops we had last year. I've filled the 1st
allotment's empty potato patch with garlic (elephant, lautrec and solent
white, iirc), and if the onions ever turn up I'll replace the pumpkin
patch with onions, but there is currently nowhere else I can safely
plant them without risk of infection.

wrote ...
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
Whether that's successful depends on the variety and the weather. Last
winter I was successful with Aquadulce Claudia and Bunyards
Exhibitition, and failed with The Sutton.

Ah, that may have been the issue. I think one of mine was The Sutton,
too. iirc, they worked ok (nto spectacular, but 'ok') from a spring
sowing. I think I have aquadulce and "something I picked up from a
field I was walking through that had left some stuff lying around after
harvesting" for this year. :-)

Garlic, onions.

*nod* Problem with alliums is that I have limited space I can plant
them in due to the diseased crops we had last year. I've filled the 1st
allotment's empty potato patch with garlic (elephant, lautrec and solent
white, iirc), and if the onions ever turn up I'll replace the pumpkin
patch with onions, but there is currently nowhere else I can safely
plant them without risk of infection.

White rot doesn't usually affect the whole crop unless you plant very close,
we plant all our alliums at 9 inches each way and a few get the disease but
those next to them don't so we just plant a few more than we will need to
cover the losses. Sure it wasn't downy mildew? Your choice of Garlic is not
what we would have chosen, Elephant isn't actually a garlic it's a leek
relative and we didn't find a use for it, and Solent White was a disaster
for us a few years ago, nearly as bad as Marco last year. We have planted
Thermidrome and Germidour both of which have proved excellent on our plot,
also planted Chesnok Red as a trial.

We also found it not worthwhile planting Broad Beans or onions to
overwinter, too many died and they don't crop much earlier than spring
planted anyway.

What we have got in for the winter/spring are Brussels sprout two varieties
that extend the season, Winter Tundra cabbage, Savoy, Walcheren Winter
Armardo Aprl caulis which have to be the easiest and cleanest ones to grow.
Also Leeks and Parsnips and a few Swede left that need using before they
rot. All of which have to be grown from seed about May/June time.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

Bob Hobden wrote:
White rot doesn't usually affect the whole crop unless you plant very close,
we plant all our alliums at 9 inches each way and a few get the disease but
those next to them don't so we just plant a few more than we will need to
cover the losses. Sure it wasn't downy mildew?

Oh, I don't know. Hang on, I'll just google for images ...
Nope, google images seems to back me up, the photos that claim to be
white rot on google do look like my onions and garlic last year. (Kind
of white fungal looking fluffy goo with black damaged bits)

I think about 80% of the crop was totally unusable, 50% of what was left
was rescuable to cook and freeze, and the last 10% has been stored (and
since then a few of those have rotted, so I must not have filtered them
out carefully enough even then!)

We got it last year, too, on a different patch, so I suspect the whole
allotment site has a problem with it, unfortunately. I don't think we
were the only ones to succumb to it.

Your choice of Garlic is not
what we would have chosen, Elephant isn't actually a garlic it's a leek
relative and we didn't find a use for it, and Solent White was a disaster

Ah, it wasn't really a 'choice' so much as what the Independent Offers
from Mr Fothergill was offering at the time I thought of it. ;-)

for us a few years ago, nearly as bad as Marco last year. We have planted
Thermidrome and Germidour both of which have proved excellent on our plot,
also planted Chesnok Red as a trial.

Last year Nick sourced all his overwintering onions and garlic carefully
- 3 different colours of onion and a bunch of different garlics, and
look what happened! And the same the year before. this time I think
he's given up, so it was just down to me and my whimful purchasing.

We also found it not worthwhile planting Broad Beans or onions to
overwinter, too many died and they don't crop much earlier than spring
planted anyway.

I think I may do what I 'accidentally' did last year with broad beans,
which is to plant a patch out, and the same amount in pots in the
greenhouse, then use the greenhouse ones to patch up the gaps in the
outdoor planting when 3/4 of them fail to thrive!

rot. All of which have to be grown from seed about May/June time.

Yeah, bit late for me there, unfortunaetly.

wrote:

was planted, but no sign of the onions yet. We didn't have much
success from the overwintered alliums last year - got to spring and
they all got white rot. :-

This is my first try at onions over the winter. Both my allotment
neighbours always do it, and one side even survived a foot of floodwater
so we'll see !

Possibly you could sow root some veg from seed
(parsnips maybe? turnips or swedes?).

Hmm, I thought it was too late for them.

Probably. I planted turnips from seed a few weeks back and I'm now
swamped with 3" ones. Lots of soup I think...

I have a load of brassicas already planted out, and I'm planting my

Did you plant your brassicas from seed?

plugs.

are still going and are excellent, calabrese was so-so, but still going
in places,

my spring-planted PSB is still going strong.