Welcome to our allotment blog. We've got a plot, now we're trying to figure out what we're doing! So please join us - put the kettle on, sit back, and dream about Living The Good Life...

Sunday 1 February 2009

Lots of stuff


We've been shopping. Yesterday we went to the allotment shop to buy our seed potatoes. We've ended up with 'Arran Pilot' first earlies, 'Wilja' second earlies and 'Cara' maincrop. I'd post some pictures, but I think you can all just imagine what a string bag of potatoes look like...

We also got a bag of 'Green Windsor' broad beans, ready to sow when the weather warms up a little bit. And we got some 'Centurion' onions and 'Yellow Moon' shallots. We've already planted some red and some white onions on the plot, but we use onions in everything so a few more won't go to waste!



We had some garden centre vouchers from Christmas so today we decided to use them to buy our seeds, rather than send off a big long list and pay postage. And - extra bonus - the garden centre had 25% off all seeds! Excellent! We had a list of things we'd chosen from a catalogue, but there weren't as many varieties available on the shelves so we didn't always get the exact variety we wanted. But then, a beetroot's a beetroot, when it comes down to it. As long as it grows and can be eaten, I'll be happy.


Ready for a list? We've bought...


  • 'Cobra' climbing french bean
  • 'Firetongue' borlotti beans
  • 'Oasis' and 'Twinkle' peas
  • 'Cobnut' butternut squash
  • A mixed selection of winter squash
  • 'Marmande' beef tomato
  • 'Alicante' regular tomato
  • 'Golden Sunrise' yellow tomato
  • 'Marketmore' cucumber
  • 'Sundance' sweetcorn
  • 'Bosworth' brussels sprouts
  • 'Autumn Giant 2' leeks
  • Perpetual spinach / leaf beet
  • 'Kilaton' autumn cabbage
  • 'Ruby Ball' red cabbage
  • 'Neapolitan' basil
  • Mixed leaf salad
  • Rocket (great on pizza!)
  • Swiss chard 'Bright Lights'
  • 'Parador' yellow courgette
  • 'Defender' green courgette
  • 'Globe 2' beetroot
  • 'Purple Haze' carrots (purple!)
  • 'New Red Intermediate' carrots


And left over from last year we have:

  • 'Scarlet Emperor' runner beans
  • 'Panache' parsnip
  • 'April' spring cabbage
  • 'Rainbow' mixed radish
  • Dwarf green curly kale
  • 'Marian' swede
  • Acorn mixed summer squash
  • 'Tasty Trio' beetroot
  • 'Emilia' spinach
  • 'Rainbow' mixed carrots
  • 'Golden Ball' turnip
Plus (plus!) Suttons were offering a free pack of certain seeds when you bought two other packs... so we've also got three (three!) packs of 'Purple Dragon' carrots, two (two!) packs of 'Hilton' Chinese cabbage and a pack of poppy seeds, called lilac pompom.

Can't blame a girl for sneaking in some flowers...