Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16 Weather weirdness prevails !

[bookbook]

Hello to everyone !
pull up a garden chair and join in with the trials and tribulations of growing your own , against the odds of weather , pests and diseases.
Previous thread is HERE

Morning!
welcome Dandelions pull up and take a garden chair - which bit of Yorkshire? , ( East Yorkshire here ) , and though I haven;t got greenfly , I do have weeds trying to grow !
It is a bit quiet at this time of year , so planning and dreaming are good - I am just waiting for my seed order to arrive , so I can work out whats what . We normally go away in January , but not this year ( surprise ) , so I may get the broad beans sown and going after Christmas in the greenhouse .

Hi bookbook I'm in South Yorkshire, maybe it's a bit warmer here? I've got a lot of weeds growing too. Could really do with the ground to freeze and give everything (and me) a winter rest. Good idea with the broad beans. I usually start sowing chili's in January under grow lights as I just can't wait to get growing again by then.

Loving this thread.

Happy Christmas all
I popped to pick my christmas veg this morning - its freezing and has been snowing ! most of the morning
Wishing you peace , joy and veg in the New Year.
:)

Merry Christmas all. My secret Santa got me a selection of seeds - some interesting looking things - speckled cranberry French beans (borlotti?), globe shaped carrots (parmec), white radish amongst others

Started a new vegetable plot early this year and so pleased with my sprouts on Christmas day

This was it in April

And now

All my seeds are ordered for next year and looking si forward to growing more veg, I had a few disappointing things such as cauliflowers ...they went to seed/ died but potatoes/peas/beetroot/sweetcorn was lovely for my first time growing...and tips on here is so helpful ...leeks are still very small

I live in a rural village so lots of rotted horse/ cow/sheep manure.

Looks like you've been really busy @Ziggydancer! FIL has offered me lots of manure from the farm near them, probably the most useful present he's ever thought of

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and wishing you all the best for 2021

Evening
wonderful work there Ziggy
been very busy doing other stuff , so no plot .
Just wanted to pop in to say Happy Growing in 2021 to everyone :)

Happy growing to you too @bookbook, and to everyone else on here! I'm planning to have a good tidy up in the garden when the DC go back to school. They won't join me at the moment as it's too cold for them and I can't keep an eye on them when they're indoors!

Bookbook a lady in my village told me to look on here as she said there was a allotment gardening thread... Really loving this thread and as a newish veggie grower I really appreciate you all posting info on when and how to plant things etc

Also it has been the most stress busting thing I have ever done! Gardening is so good for calming the nerves! all the fresh air has been really good for me this year and you also keep so fit with all the digging, weeding, carrying water etc. Also I have never eaten as healthy as I have this year

Happy New Year all

I'm contemplating sowing chillis indoors right now having seen people say that they always start theirs in January. Does anyone here start them this early?

Also researching coffee grounds in compost - good or bad. There's loads of conflicting info I've dumped some in the raised beds on the advice that it keeps cats away but the frozen ground seems to have deterred them for the time being anyway

Well, this was a cheerful sight on a grey January day! Oca, New Zealand yam, Oxalis tuberosa. About a 10-fold yield so feeling quite pleased, even though it's a couple of meals. They're a bit tricky up here - they have a long growing season, so need to be brought into the greenhouse for the autumn otherwise they get killed by frost before making tubers.

@MereDintofPandiculation those Oca look brilliant well done. I've just ordered some tubers to grow this year. I grew them a couple of years ago and they're lovely, everyone liked the flavour. I liked the long growing season as they keep the weeds down in one bed at the plot, as well as having pretty flowers.

What do you do with Oca, how are they eaten?

Treat them like potatoes. Don't peel them.

I haven't eaten enough to do anything apart from simply boiling them. You can roast them. Too small to be cut into chips and it'd be a waste to mash them, but presumably you can bake them.

We roast them too, lightly coated in oil, they're really nice.

@tizwozliz I'm starting my chilli's this month but under grow lights. Usually I start them too early and they look sad and straggly and I end up planting a second lot in March that overtake the early lot anyway, so I'm going to see if grow lights help this year. What varieties are you growing? I love having something to start early in the year spring can't come soon enough.

I'll be growing Hungarian black chillis again which were a great success last year and have really pretty flowers. I also got a mix of seeds which included mild jalapenos so I'll probably do those too.

I'd not heard of Hungarian Black but can see they have purple flowers from a quick Google, they look really nice. I'm growing Hungarian Hot Wax which are usually tasty and reliable, and 'Explosive Ember's which looked pretty in the photo but I haven't tried before.

Oca - when lightly cooked they're crisp, like water chestnuts, with a distinct lemon flavour. when cooked for longer, they go floury, potato texture, with less of a lemon flavour.