2022 what can we do this year

Our plan this year on the allotment is to only grow what we eat. Over the years we have gotten carried away growing things because they look good, because we see other people growing them and we also get carried away and plant far too many things. We have been wasting a lot of what we grow because either we don't need it or we don't like it.

With bills and the cost of living going up we have decided to concentrate on what we eat. It will be an experiment to see if we can cut back on the cost of our fresh food shop and over the course of the year I will keep you all up to date on if it is working or not.

So what we will be growing and where this year.

Hot House

This year we are planning on growing cucumbers in the hot house and moving the tomatoes to the polytunnel. I have read that you can grow onions, carrots and parsnips with cucumbers so we will most likely plant some carrots in with them. We will also be using the hot house for starting our seedlings.

Polytunnel

Like I said, the tomatoes will be moved into the polytunnel. This year we will not be growing as many different varieties. We think the best plan for us is to stick to what we like and what produces the highest yield. Last year we tried the fancie heritage tomatoes like you see everyone one on instagram growing, but they were hit and miss and not liked by everyone in the house. Like last year we will start our potatoes in the polytunnel then when the temperature gets higher we will move them outside. We will not be using coco coir for them, we found that the ants love the coco coir to nest in, which killed the roots of our crop last year. We will also be growing cabbages, peas and cauliflowers.

I will be creating a salad bed in the polytunnel this year so we can produce lettuce and herbs. I want to try sweetcorn again in the tunnel, last year it didn't work out and I can only think that it didn't germinate because there wasn't enough of a breeze. This year I am building a new bed in front of the rear door, this is for the sweetcorn and will hopefully give them the best chance of germination. If you don't know sweetcorn needs the wind to pollinate each over, so by putting them in front of the rear door and opening the front door that should create a wind channel for them.

Outside Beds

Outside we have a few beds to grow in, one already has strawberries in and that will stay the same, we also have a bed that our rhubarb is in that will stay the same. I will be using a full bed for red and white onions but this may change. I may do two separate beds for the onions. We will also be growing some sweetcorn outside just in case it doesn't work inside. This year I will be creating a new bed for our potatoes. The plan is to use large pots to grow in but bury them in the grown. I have heard this will help with regulating the water and also help protect them from pests, our soil has worms that love burrowing through them. We also have a bed dedicated to broad beans. That leaves the three smaller beds that are for things like Kale, beetroot, broccoli etc. Then last of all our decorative archways will have peas and beans growing over them.

strawber

Small Greenhouse

Like always we will use the greenhouse to grow our peppers and chillies, we find this to be the best place for them as being small we can keep the temp regular easier.

Once again if you're reading this, thank you for taking the time out of your day. I am not an expert; I am just sharing my experiences with you and maybe it helps in some way. For more on our allotment head over to our Instagram page @allotment102. We try to post a few times a week and we share everything good and bad