What’s Growing On My Plot?

I’ve been getting many questions about what I’m growing on my plot and I always seem to just say, “Oh, you know, some onions, some potatoes, that kind of thing”. When, in reality, I’ve been growing quite a lot, or at least attempting to so I decided to do a blog post on exactly what is growing on plot P26 right now.

Celery. By some sort of miracle, I have grown six gorgeous, healthy celery plants, which is not the easiest thing to do in our climate. I don’t fully undertand how this happened, or why it happened to me, I just planted them on a whim to see what happened and BAM (they didn’t make that noise unfortunately), four months later I have lovely celery. It is a proud moment.

Red Cabbage. Another crop planted on a whim, when I last mentioned these, they were tiny plug plants for which I was making collars, now they are huge! Really huge, another success in my brassica section, which now as I mention it was the one type of crop I wasn’t really interested in at the beginning.

Kale. I just planted this on my last visit to the plot, it’s one of those veggies that reminds me of childhood, searching for the pennies in my colcannon on halloween night. Kale thrives in our climate so I’ve high hopes.

Purple Sprouting Brocolli. I love this plant. I had never even heard of it until two years ago when my Dad grew it on his plot. It’s an overwintering variety so won’t be ready until next spring.

Lettuce: I have a few types of lettuce growing on the plot and my favourite is definitely Lollo Rossa, a lovely red crispy loose leaf lettuce. It’s lovely in a salad and even on its own.

Swiss Chard/Perpetual Spinach. i grouped these together as they’re so similar. The leaves are delicious cooked or raw, I’ve been eating my way through them for weeks now, they’re long cropping too, so should last through the winter.

Spring Onions. I aim to always have some of these growing on the plot, they’re relatively easy to grow and so yummy, far nicer than the type you buy in the shop.

Borlotti Beans. The current pride of my plot. These gorgeous plants are a dwarf variety of borlotti bean, they have lovely red and white speckled pods and the beans inside are the same. The thing to do with these, or so I’ve read, is to let them dry on the plant and store them throughout winter for a regular supply.

Peas. So many peas. I’ve peas on the brain. Pea-brain.

Onions. My onions are ready to come up, in fact, I’m pulling them up tomorrow, there is much excitement! Watch this space.

Carrots. When I planted my carrots, I did it very late. It was mid June. I didn’t have much hope for them as not only is it a bad year for carrots in terms of the weather, but they were one of the (many) casualties of my four week absence from my plot, but lo and behold, about half germinated and it looks like I might get a few carrots this year.

Rhubarb. YUM! I lament every time I see my golrious rhubarb that I can’t eat it this year. It pains me. I can’t wait to eat mountains of it next spring.

Artichokes. These were one of the crops that I really wanted to do well and so far they’re doing great! The two plants are thriving where they are and I have a few nice hearts to pick tomorrow.

Salsify. Another crop I was eager to try and it seems to be thriving, The tall leaves almost look like a variety of grass, it’s very pretty, though it’ll be another few months before I can eat it as it’s a long cropping plant.

Strawberries. Despite having six healthy plants, I’ve had very few strawberries this year, I’m chalking it down to the weather. That being said, the few I have had were delicious so at least that’s something.

Raspberries/Redcurrant/Blackberries: I planted all of these a while back but they are only beginning to get established, It’ll most likely be next year before I see any berries.

Turnips, Pak Choi, Mustard Greens. I’ve simply grouped these together as I just planted them last week and so are still very much in between being seeds and plants.

I also have quite a few cornflowers, sweet peas, lupins and other colourful additions and a few pots of herbs and a lovely lemon balm plant that I have to smell every time I pass it. I also have tomatoes growing at home, I keep meaning to take some photos of them but by the time I decide to, I’ve already eaten them. That’s not even mentioning all of the crops I’ve already harvested and all of the failed crops I’ve had, and trust me, there’s been many, but it’s all great fun and as I close in on the six month mark (only two weeks away), I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve accomplished so far, long may it continue.

I’ve a lot of work to do on the plot this weekend, including quite a huge amount of digging and tidying up so will hopefully have lots of news on the blog in the coming week. Happy Digging.