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Seed and Cultivation Diary Here we keep a log of the sucesses according to variety on our plot and document the types of seed and veg we are going to be using this year. This is in order that we can plan what to use according to our soil's preferences and type in order to maximise yeilds and sucesses of crops on our allotment. 2007 Varieties In the table below are the varieties we are intending on sowing and using on the plot this year, this includes some Winner varieties fom the lists below and more new varieteis as we still are in a period of experimenting with our soil type and what seeds it likes. The table shows the variety, when in was sown, whether it was in or outdoords along with how well it germinated, grew and cropped for a full report on its progress throughout the year. All crops marked with a * are varieties we have used and proved successful ont eh allotment onprevious years and are what we refer to as WINNERS! | | Sown | In or out? | Germinated/Comments? | Grew? | Crop? | Runner Bean Hestia | April | In | X | | | Runner Bean Prizewinner Stringless | April | In | √ | | | Runner Bean (Lottieblogs 2007) * | April | In | √ | | | Runner Bean (Lottieblogs 2006) * | April | In | √ Better than 2007 Beans | | | Runner Bean Sunset * | April | In | X | | | Dwarf Bean Purple Tee- Pee | April | In | √ | | | Dwarf Bean Opera | April | In | X | | | Climbing Bean Blue Lake | April | In | √ | | | Broad Bean Cobra | March | In | √ | | | Broad Bean Aquadulce * | March | In | √ | | | Broad Bean Bunyards Exhibition | March | In | √ | | | Purple Sprouting Broccoli Redhead | March | In | √ | | | Broccoli Calabrese | March | In | X | | | Purple Sprouting Broccoli Early Purple Arrow * | March | In | √ | | | Cabbage F1 Minicole | March | In | √ | | | Cabbage Kalibos | March | In | X | | | Cabbage Early Savoy | March | In | √ | | | Cabbage Greyhound* | March | In | √ | | | Brussels Sprouts Falstaff (Red) | March | In | √ | | | Brussels Sprouts Bosworth | April | In | √ | | | Brussels Sprouts Trafalgar | April | In | √ | | | Swiss Chard Bright Lights * | May | Out | | | | Swede Bora | May | Out | √ | | | Swede Invitation | May | Out | | | | Cauliflower All Year Round | March | In | √ | | | | Cauliflower | March | In | √ | | | Parsnip Javelin* | April | Out | X No sproutings, old seed anyway | | | Parsnip White Gem | April | Out | √ | | | Parsnip Tender and True* | April | Out | √ Germinated best and sproutngs transplanted | | | Lettuce Lollo Bionda | April | Out | √ | | | Lettuce Little Gem* | April | Out | √ | | | Lettuce All Year Round* | April | Out | √ | | | Lettuce Iceberg | April | Out | √ | | | Lettuce Mixed Leaves | April | Out | √ | | | Beetroot Boltardy* | April | Out | √ | | | Beetroot Alto F1 * | April | Out | √ | | | | Beetroot Globe 2* | April | Out | √ | | | | Beetroot Detriot | April | Out | √ | | | Radish French Breakfast | April | Out | √ | | | Radish Scarlet Globe | April | Out | √ | | | Carrot Early Nantes | April | Out | √ | | | Carrot Baby Ideal* | April | Out | | | | Carrot Chantenay Red Cored 2 | April | Out | √ | | | Carrot Kingston F1 | April | Out | √ | | | Leek Mussleburgh* | May | Out | √ | | | Leek Autumn Giant 3 | May | Out | √ | | | | Onion Sets Red Karmen | April | Out | √ | | | | Onion Sets Turbo | April | Out | √ | | | Onion Sets Snowball* | April | Out | √ | | | | Shallots Golden Gourmet | April | Out | √ | | | | Shallots | April | Out | √ | | | Garlic Elephant | December | Out | √ | | | | Garlic Christo | December | Out | √ | | | Pumpkin Jack Be little | May | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly | | | Pumpkin Hooligan F1 | May | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly | | | | Pumpkin Becky | May | In | X | | | Pumpkin Atlantic Giant * | May | | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly | | | Squash Crown Prince* | May | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, one survivor | | | Squash (Lottieblogs 2006/7) * | May | In | √ Germinated but some rotting off | | | Butternut Squash Watltham | May | In | √ Germinated but some rotting off | | | Butternut Squash Avalon F1* | May | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, one survivor | | | Courgette Defender F1 * | May | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, some survivors | | | Courgette Tondo Di Toscana | May | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, one survivor | | | Courgette Orelia F1 | May | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, one survivor | | | Courgette Gold Rush F1 | May | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, one survivor | | | Sweetcorn Incredible F1 | April | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, some survivors | | | Tomato Sweet Million F1 | April | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, | | | Tomato Totem F1 | April | In | √ Germinated but rotted off quickly, | | | Tomato Alicante * | April | In | √ | | | Tomato Moneymaker * | April | In | X | | | Chilli Jalapeno * | April | In | X | | | Chilli Cayenne * | April | In | √ | | | Chilli Inferno F1 | April | In | X | | | Chilli Apache F1 | April | In | √ | | | Pepper Californian Wonder | April | In | √ | | | Pepper Yolo Wonder | April | In | X | | | Potato Rocket* | March | Out | √ | | | Potato Kestrel | March | Out | √ | | | | Potato Anya | March | Out | √ | | | Potato Pentland Javelin | March | Out | √ | | |
Cultivation Results Please find below details of some of the seeds and plants we have used in our soil over the past few years and how sucessful they proved to be. In our initial year unfortunately, we were foolish enough to throw away some of the packets of seed once we had finished with them and last year we tried so man varieties we have only documented the great sucesses for your and our reference. They have helped us to decide which varieties to use again and even avoid in future. We hope this proves useful to anyone needing guidance in the Northamptonshire area or people with simmilar soil types and we would be delighted to hear if you can comment, confirm or expand on any of our findings. These results of course are only from our experiences on Northamptonshire Soil so please do not exclude any which we have not included and keep experimenting as new varieties and strains are developing alll of the time. 2006 Leek Musselburgh Excellent leeks of various sizes produced will use again. Onion Ailsa Craig Large, strong flavoured and has good keeping qualities. Purple Sprouting Broccoli Early Damage by Pigeons, good recovering charactaristics. Carrot Baby Ideal Large crop and tasty, if left turn into good larger carrots. Spring Onion White Lisbon Good crop, strong Flavour. Tendency to bulb. Tomato Alicante Huge crop of good tasting fruits. Tomato Sunglod Excellent highly sweet species. Beetroot Globe 2 Very sucessful and high yeild, tasty and keeps well. Salad Leaves Niece Oriental Mix Tasty if picked young. But has tendency to bolt early. Carrot Chantenay Red Cored OK crop, tasty. Fanging and splitting present. Parsnip Tender ad True Some canker, fanging and leaf rot. Good harvest. New Red Fire Letticue Some resistance to bolting. Little Gem Letticue Some resistance to bolting. Wilja Seed Potato Reasonable crop. Prone to scab slightly. Rocket Seed Potato Very high yeild, better resistance to scab. 2007 Celery Giant Red Very good germination rate, hardened off and potted on, planted out and growing on well, now substantial plants and continuing to grow healthily. Cropped Poorly
Leek Giant Strong seedlings, continuing to grow well, once at transplantable size dibbed into holes and have settled well, large leeks forming.
Leek Musselburgh* Strong seedlings, sucessful last season transplanted into dibbed holes well, some losses but most plants grew well & good tase.
Broad Bean Aquadulce 100% germination sucess rate, strong seedlings hardened off and planted well. Growing well, slower progress than longpod but less prone to blackfly. Eventually became infested but pods less damaged and plants endured longer than Tomato Moneymaker Quick germination, seedlings strong and stout, resisted becoming leggy transplanted well Tomato Alicante* Fast germination, strong seedlings, some need to thin however made strong robust seedlings however, transplanted well Destroyed by Blight
Jalepeno Pepper Moderate Germination, Strong Seedlings, growing and plated out well. all peppers and chillies thriving in Monolith.
Cayenne Pepper Moderate Germination, Strong Seedlings, transplanted well, all peppers and chillies thrived in Monolith.
Tomato Sungold* Reasonable germination, strong seedlings, growing well, became leggy quite quickly. Planted out well, Destroyed by Blight
Redskin Pepper Slow to germinate, grew reasonably well. all peppers and chillies thrived in Monolith.
Jumbo Pepper Very slow to germinate some malformation of seedlings, potted on and now doing better all peppers and chillies thrived in Monolith.
Parsnip Tender and True~* No signs of life from initial sowing in March, sparadic germination but seedlings now becoming stonger and growing fast some scattered seedlings now showing, those who have germinated have made good string plants. Despite fanging some good sized and tasy roots Parsnip Javelin~ No signs of life from initial sowing in March, some initial seedlings present but not all sowings sucessful, now making strong plants. Harvested large good roots.
Red Onion Set.~ Quick Sprouting, healthly leaves produced, prone to bolting but now bulbing well, grown well, resisted White Rot despite the dampness and ready for harvest, kept poorly.
White Onion Set.~ Quick Sprouting, healthly leaves already produced, now bulbing well, healthy plants resisted White Rot despite the dampness and Shallot Sets. ~ Slightly slower sprouting but very healthly leaf sets now formed, now bulbing and growing well good variety of sized specimines produces, huge yield, harvested but still drying in a dark area before pickling/stringing.
Swiss Chard Bright Lights~ Very sparadic germination, re-sowing in order, better success rate on second sowing, excellent growth rate and regular harvests taken.
Carrot St Valery~ Good germination, sedlings growing fast, better response to latter sowings, some attack by carrot Baby Carrot Ideal~* Quick germination but also sparadic. TO RE- SOW Limited success from resowings some specimines harvested, some attacks by carrot fly.
French Breakfast Radish ~ Quick germination, more delicate seedlings but now florishing and two crops already harvested, Scarlet Globe Radish~ Strong seedlings, quick to germinate, excellent, tasty and firm specimines, two harvests already taken keep well, good tubers produced and various harvests already had.
Beetroot Globe 2~* Moderate Germination, strong seedlings, growing well good tubers, already harvested.
Beetroot Alto Hybrid~ Moderate Germination, small seedlings now thickening and substantial plants becoming present, excellent harvest. Letticue All Year Round~ Good Germiantion, growing well, wil soon be ready to harvest good yeilds and flavour.
Wheelers Imperial Cabbage~ All seed for cabbages mixed together and sown, germinated well, flourished under fleece, decimated by birds and so may need to be re-sown. Have recovered somewhat and most healthy left to continue growing, Greyhound Cabbage~ " " Derby Day Cabbage~ " " Cabbage Kalibos~ " "
Seed Potatoes Aaron Pilot Good sprouting rate, strong plants, now flowering and no excessive leaf growth, excellent, mostly disease and pest resistant tubers of a variety of sizes produced, will use Seed Potatoes Maris Peer Medium Sprouting rate, most tubers have now produced leaves, good plats produced but not all planted tubers have sprouted, small yeild, some eelworm and slug damage.
Sweetcorn Baby Quick Germination, strong seedlings, large full sized plants produced, cobs being produced.
Purple Sprouting Broccili Red Arrow Quick Germination, strong seedlings, some have now begun to bolt. Grew well after this however, cropped well.
Runner Bean Sunset Medium germination time, robust seedlings, quickly leggy, hardened off and planted well, some slug damage, recovered well, now substantial plants, smaller yield.
Dwarf Stringless Bean Opera Strong seedlings medium Germination, transplated and growing well, already in flower, good pods being produced, very tasty, will use Butternut Squash Avalon Slow germination this year, now strong seedlings and repotted and planted out well, already has mini fruits set.
Atlantic Giant Pumpkin Good germination, very robust seedlings, repotted and flourishing now transplanted and one large specimine already produced.
Crown Prince Pumkin Excellent germiantion, strong seelings, repotted (Seed saved frm 2006 crop) well. Slug Damage but recovered well and happy now transplanted and producing lots of leaves and fruits.
Courgette No current germination. 2/3 plants now germinated and looking healthy, transplanted Sweetcorn Scrat (courtesy of our Hamster) Limited Germination, another sowing made. Second sowing now seeming sucessful, grew well indoors and now planted out large plants | | |
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