It's time for corn - sweet!

Growing in the Yorkshire Dales can be tricky with most veg so it was quite an adventure to try sweetcorn this season. Twelve plants outdoors and eighteen in the polytunnel.

Last time I tried it in the tunnel the plants were pushing at the roof before the cobs had formed. This year I tried an earlier cropping variety and the indoor plants had cobs on them by the middle of July. I waited until this week, the last one of the month and the results so far have been really heartening.

 

The big advantage of home grown is being able to eat them within hours of harvesting. After five minutes in boiling water the cobs are sweet and tender.

Deja vu.

Once again it is winter on the allotment - time for planning and overwintering those veg which will grow in the polytunnel.

This year I am growing garlic, onions, broad beans and peas in the tunnel through the winter. Last year's onions (Radar) were ready in May and hence were out in time to allow successional cropping.

Outside I still have sprouts and leeks. Other plot holders have good displays of winter brassicas. Kale is very popular on our site as you can see.

This coming season will be a bit of a departure for me as I plan to grow sweet corn in the tunnel. It would probably grow outside but our site is very susceptible to wind damage so the tunnel is a safer bet. I have chosen Earlibird F1.

Our allotment association is a member of the Kings Seeds Scheme. This means that we buy good quality seeds and earn cashback for our funds in the process. Other seeds already earmarked for the tunnel include Tumbler F1 tomatoes, Cobra climbing French beans and Burpless Tasty Green F1 cucumber.

Winter's icy fingers

Deep into November and most gardeners will not be doing much other than sitting by the fire planning next year's horticultural campaign. After all, there is nothing happening on the allotment.

With the sun low in the sky the temperature was zero at 10 a.m. this morning. The allotments were deserted. Just the right time to check on what is growing in the polytunnel.

 

 

 

I am told that size does not matter but in the case of tunnels then the bigger the better. This is because the bigger ones do not get too hot in the summer months, and from a northern gardener's point of view the growing season is much extended. I was lucky enough to get a plot with a tunnel already on it, 10'x25', and the price that I paid the outgoing tenant nine years ago has turned out to be a real bargain. I planted beetroot inside in June and am expecting to be still cropping at Christmas.

 

I always grow Boltardy. In the past the outdoor ones have been hit and miss depending on the weather and the field mice. This is my second attempt at indoor beets and the results are good. The additional watering is more than compensated for by the fresh beetroot on the table every week.

 

I also sowed spring onions and mixed leaf in September. The mild autumn has meant that the leaf has regenerated after the first crop and we have now had fresh salad stuff for the last eight weeks!

 

 

Elsewhere in the tunnel I have removed the tomato plants, replenished the bed with well rotted compost from the heap and have planted garlic and onions. The onion sets were a gift from a fellow plotter - Radar - so I am hoping that they will be ready before the maincrop go in outside in the late spring.

 

 

Outside the brassica cage took a beating from the gales last week but its main function, to protect my brassicas from marauding woodpigeons is still OK. Sprouts, caulis and swede will soon be our main fresh veg from the plot.

 

 

Not forgetting, of course,  my favourite winter vegetable - the leek! For the last 5 years I have only grown Musselburgh as my neighbour's leeks always did better than mine. I asked him why that was and he said Musselburgh and chicken manure pellets - a winning combination.  Using poo pellets means that I can plant the leeks quite close together and still get decent results. Musselburgh is a very hardy variety which is what we need in the Dales!

 

 

We eat about three leeks a week so this patch will see us through the winter providing that I can get them out of the ground when it freezes - my favourite winter sport.