Allotments 4 All

Indoor play indeed, at the moment. I hope more indoor play can be had with the updated database which is now more or less complete I hope. I've sent individual PMs to all participants with a new link. I hope that all the information and photos you have contributed here on this thread are there, with quite a lot of new information too. Let me know if anything isn't right or if there are gaps and do have a play with different views - gallery or grid - and sorting in different ways.

And very best wishes for this new year. May all your seeds germinate, your crops grow tall and your harvests be sumptuous. 

And, by the way, the Circle has exchanged 105 varieties this year. Not of course that it's about numbers, but the quality and range are admirable too. Well done, everyone.

Airtable works fine for me, thank you Jan.  A few duplicates, maybe intentional, mouthwatering photos and in almost all cases a great deal of information too.  A lot of work to collate all this information.  Thank you very much.     

Looking through the database is a tonic on 'indoor days'.  With -9C here, outdoor activity is also kept to a minimum. 

Wishing everybody a great, happy and healthy 2025 and may sunshine and rain be coming in the right quantities and at the right time to bring our circle seeds to fruition.   

Maybe a obvious question, having grown some delicious Winter Squash Uchiki Kuri (Cucurbita Maxima) last year they were full of amazing large seeds I saved and dried 10 .Seemed crazy to bin them , BUT ,I have my doubts they come true this year ?

Squash are very promiscuous.  Chances are they will not come true.  However there is no reason not to grow them as the results will at least be edible (and being cucurbita maxima squashes, there is no chance of that bitter gene creeping in, that made some people sick).

I took a few photos earlier in the year, to show how to isolate and handpollinate squash, in order to get pure seeds.  If you do it this way, your seeds will come true for sure providing you don't start with with an F1 hybrid
 type.  Starting here:  (any questions, just ask)
https://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf2.1/index.php/topic,83530.40.html

Quote from: picman on January 06, 2025, 12:34:42Maybe a obvious question, having grown some delicious Winter Squash Uchiki Kuri (Cucurbita Maxima) last year they were full of amazing large seeds I saved and dried 10 .Seemed crazy to bin them , BUT ,I have my doubts they come true this year ?

I endorse all that Galina has said, but with the one proviso that if this is the only variety of Cucurbita maxima squash you grew, and you have no neighbours growing C. maxima either, they would come true.

I also agree it's a delicious squash and I love the rich colour. It should store well too.

JanG " no neighbours growing C. maxima ?" Is a good question.Our site seems to have become a spuds,beans and tomatoes and chatting site.Over the years it has become more of a social interest for many, not that that is bad, you need a healthy mix,but unfortunately a lot of good horticultural practices have gone out the window.mmmm too many to list!( I have had a plot for 25 years ) I will plant a couple of seeds and will find out thanks for the advice.     

Looks like you fly the flag for greater diversity and perhaps for saving your own seed. Good luck with the squash.

Do you save seed from other crops, eg. tomatoes, beans, lettuces? They should all come true.

JanG, As the price of seed has gone mad, seed saving sometimes, Runners definitely, with an occasional try of different variety, IMO, if they do well on my soil I try to keep some of the seed, Yet to find a carrot that does well, probably too fertile, Think our site was left by a glacier !. Black peat 1 foot down also a layer of compressed ash in places ? but in general soil lacks minerals and rather acid , so bags of mag lime and trace elements help.I saw carrots sown in egg trays worked well , you put the whole thing in the soil after germination, worked well till the squirrel trashed it looking for the eggs ! 
           

I really can't wait to grow these.  Here is a video of what to expect.  Thank you Vetivert for adding these.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P6ghBBp6z4

Picman, excellent carrot tip.  Thank you.  Perfectly spaced after planting too.  No thinning needed.  Shame about the squirrel. 

Quote from: galina on January 16, 2025, 15:14:06I really can't wait to grow these.  Here is a video of what to expect.  Thank you Vetivert for adding these.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P6ghBBp6z4
 

Thanks for finding that great video, Galina. I'll add it to the base. I'm interested in the suggestion that Chinese celery is more adaptable and easier to grow than European varieties. I used to be disappointed with home grown celery because it was tougher than the celery of my childhood which could be eaten raw. But I've come to value it for what it adds to soups, stews and stir-fries. And I like the way it bounces back in spring. In fact, it can be enjoyed at nearly every time of year. There seems usually to be some part of leaf or stalk available for cutting and cooking.

It will be interesting to see whether Chinese celery is, as Baker Creek reckon, even better. 

I remember my mother and OH getting excited if they ever found "dirty celery" I believe from the Fens , I haven't seen any for a long time but I can remember the fine flavour.

Oh wow.  Fenland celery really is a 'thing' and quite a big thing.  It even has protected status. 'Dirty' because grown and earthed up, rather than whatever they do with other celery grown elsewhere.  Isn't fenland soil particularly rich?  And fairly moist?  https://fenlandcelery.com/#:~:text=Grown%20in%20wide%20rows%20with,the%20celery%20as%20it%20grows.

I do remember the celery having a fine almost black soot like soil on the outer sticks. It was never cooked, just raw with a little salt.

Hi JanG, is the lettuce Brune d'Hiver a cos or butterhead?

Good luck it's looking promising.

Quote from: galina on January 17, 2025, 12:01:03Oh wow.  Fenland celery really is a 'thing' and quite a big thing.  It even has protected status. 'Dirty' because grown and earthed up, rather than whatever they do with other celery grown elsewhere.  Isn't fenland soil particularly rich?  And fairly moist?  https://fenlandcelery.com/#:~:text=Grown%20in%20wide%20rows%20with,the%20celery%20as%20it%20grows.

I somehow managed to miss this discussion about Fenland celery which excites me very much now I've found it!

Quote from: markfield rover on January 17, 2025, 13:57:46I do remember the celery having a fine almost black soot like soil on the outer sticks. It was never cooked, just raw with a little salt.

Yes indeed. I remember celery with black fine soil on it from my childhood before I knew of the fens at all.

I live in the midst of an area of rich soil, which I believe grows more vegetables for the UK market than any other. There are fields of brassicas especially, and potatoes, but I've never been aware of celery.

When I looked at Galina's link to Fenland celery I realised that it's centred on Ely which is in the Cambridgeshire fens rather than Lincolnshire fens where I live. The fens are divided into peat fen and silt fen, depending upon which deposit was laid down last. It's quite striking when you move from one area to another, from lighter brown soil to the very dark soil of the peat fen.

My soil is fen silt, very fertile certainly, but not the black peat soil, much of it in Cambridgeshire, where I'm guessing most of the celery growing takes place, rather than the more alkaline soil round here, which is very good for brassica growing.

Quote from: Vetivert on January 22, 2025, 20:41:20Hi JanG, is the lettuce Brune d'Hiver a cos or butterhead?

It's a butterhead. I'm hoping it's true. Having grown from my saved seed myself, I just have a little doubt. It should be a butterhead with a slightly red-brown tinge to the outer leaves.

I have seen it described as a Batavia lettuce.  It is a butterhead, but with crunchier leaves than a 'soft' butterhead. I have seen it listed as a cos too, but this really is not justified when you think of a typical cos, like Lobjoits.