Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum'

Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum'
[ Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum' ]

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Planting for the coming year

Posted by Brian on 3/1/2026, 11:48 pm

After a very successful year on the allotment we are starting to plant seeds for early germination. We put onions, shallots and garlic in end of November and were still lifting veg the week before Christmas with romanesco, beetroot, red cabbage and leeks, as well as new potatoes we planted in September for Christmas day lunch.
Four chilli varieties, 3 aubergine and a couple of sweet pepper as they all have a long season will be down over tge next week or so, we have winter cabbage and pak choi in the polytunnel. The apple and pear trees will have a light prune as they are now how I want them, we've put in a double graft plum tree a couple of months back, seed potatoes are ordered, we have most of our seeds so we won't need anything extra.

Our allotment has provided fresh food for 8 months of the year we are aiming for 10 months eventually but we also had so much stuff we made almost 200 jars of chutneys, jams and pickles, and gave a couple of crates of veg and fruit to the local foodbank.

The weather was exceptionally warm which did affect some growth but if we got the same again I wouldn't complain. So here's hoping for another good year of fresh organic produce if we get anywhere near the amount of produce as this past year I'll be ecstatic .

Re: Planting for the coming year

Posted by Norman on 4/1/2026, 9:32 am, in reply to "Planting for the coming year"

You must be a really great Gardener Brian feeding yourselves with veg & fruit straight from the allotment.I wonder how many other allotment holders do what your doing ie feeding the family for most of the year?

Re: Planting for the coming year

Posted by Brian on 4/1/2026, 10:06 am, in reply to "Re: Planting for the coming year"

I'm not really,we all help each other with advice etc. Some allotment holders grow flowers, but the majority grow fruit and veg, you learned to stagger planting how and what to feed, we make a lot of our own feeds, Even some of the most pernicious weeds can be turned into a feed. The weather made this past year exceptional eg the strawberry bed produced around 12kg of fruit, over 70kg of potatoes of various strains, 80kg apples, 30 kg pears from a tree that hadn't produced for 10 years and has took me 3 summers to get it in the condition to produce again, we think its a French variety a Comte, some of the fruit were over 500g. It made a very nice jam with chestnuts. Mine isn't a showpiece, I encourage nettles and comfrey in some areas for feed and to encourage pollinators, it mighten look as nice as others but it produces and produces well.

Re: Planting for the coming year

Posted by Margaret McD on 4/1/2026, 1:27 pm, in reply to "Re: Planting for the coming year"

And in which town is your allotment Brian?

Re: Planting for the coming year

Posted by Brian on 4/1/2026, 1:37 pm, in reply to "Re: Planting for the coming year"

It's in Fenham in Newcastle Margaret.

Re: Planting for the coming year

Posted by Steve in Australia on 31/1/2026, 5:29 am, in reply to "Planting for the coming year"

When our children were 5, 2 and new born we lived in Country Queensland, we were next door to an old farmer, He taught me what and when and how to set up my vegie patch.... ( I had a half acre back garden with rich black soil ) My children ALWAYS had fresh vegetables on the dinner table, and just a couple of years ago my eldest son ( A chef in London ) had a write up in a professional publication and mentioned ""Dads vegie patch""

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[ Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum' ]

Rules! No bad language or derogatory remarks or we will delete. Anyone sharing our content on Face Book must credit 'Hebburn and our Neighbours'.