In My Seed Box For 2025 - Celery

   

Celery was the one vegetable that I have tried to grow from seed in the past but have never had a great deal of success with until I got some Tango Celery Postiplugs from Suttons in 2022. There were 18 Postiplugs when I used them in 2022 but they all went in at the same time, I just harvested from the tallest to the shortest. 

In 2023 I was planning to grow them from seeds but, the cancer and mobility issues meant that it didn't happen, so the plan was to try and grow them from seed in 2024, but my mobility issues didn't allow it. 

I will not try them in pots in the greenhouse as I have in the past but in the square foot gardening beds again on plot 1 as they were really such a success in 2022.

New to Suttons for 2023 was the Tango F1 Hybrid Seeds in 2023 they were £3.49 for 40 seeds, and they are still £3.49 at the moment.  

The web site says sow in March and April, but I think these need to be sown in mid- February and brought on before planting out after the danger of frost has passed.  I'm planning on sowing 7 seeds in Mid-Feb, 7 seeds in Mid-March and another 6 in Mid-April so I can do some successive sowing and harvesting during 2025. The first 7 plants will go out under a cloche.

The harvest period is between August to the end of October or the first frost.   

The average life expectancy for Celery Seed is 8 to 12 years, and 40 seeds should hopefully last me for 2025 and 2026, as I aim to use 20 seeds a year.  This makes the cost of growing your own celery 8.7p per plant. 

Price of Celery in 2023 was, Sainsbury 43p, Waitrose Green Celery Essential 79p Sainsbury Organic £1 and Tesco organic £1 and that's why we allotment holders and gardeners have a bash at growing a vast range of vegetables each year. 

It's a challenge, they taste better than shop bought, and they save us money, at least during the harvest period. 

 

In My Seed Box For 2025 - Index

Painting The Potting Shed Day 3

 

Not what I had planned for todays visit to the allotment, but all the weeds were still wet from the overnight rain and I was pondering what to hit next when John arrived and we had a chat, and he suggested finishing off the rear gable and front of the shed as it was above 10C today, but rain was on its way lunch time. 

He offered to come and do the top of the gable as my frozen shoulder and mobility issues prevented me from doing that area. So I opened the tin and gave it a good stir. I really need to remove the restraining timber and paint around the frame of the windows but it needs to be warmer and I need more time, to get the windows out painted, dry and then put the windows and new windows back in.

Wally came in just as I had finished the rear gable panel under the window and the front and he also offered to do the high apex area and bargeboards off the scaffold board on paving blocks I had placed there. I am blessed as I have a couple of good plot neighbours who are always willing to offer help.   

It will be interesting to see how this dries out but at least it has a first coat before Winter really sets in. 

I didn't take photos of the patio and path slabs I sorted out the other morning so I took some photos today. 

Slabs moved closer together and the gap between the slabs and Square Foot Garden Bed 2 packed with fresh woodchip. Two long narrow slabs replaced the small rectangular slab and the holes in the paving infilled with woodchips.  

View from the Potting shed door of the paving slabs once the gaps were closed up and woodchip infill around the edges added. 

Mares tail on the end of the Raspberry bed needs digging out and the woodchip replaced on a future visit. 

I used the brush and painted as much as I could of the inside of the door, then it started to spit with rain, and it was getting near lunch time, so a quick tidy up and exit before the rain came down as the forecast for today.  

Re-taming The Bindweed

A couple of hours on the plot On Saturday morning working on the main path, getting the slabs back in line and filling the gaps between the edges of the slabs and the square foot garden beds with woodchip. harvesting another bed of onions and starting to clear the area around the Hotbin of stinging nettles

Clearing stinging nettles from around the Hotbin, and trimming back the tree. Topped the Hotbin up again.

Daleks will go to the edge of the path once I have trimmed back the tree and removed the square bed

Sweetcorn consumed by rats with fluffy tails and bed behind all growth and no Butternut Squash to harvest, so that will all go in the Daleks once relocated along the path

Onions from third bed of onions

24 Hours later Sunday morning ......

I started by removing the cable ties on the netting and clearing the bind weed on the path to the left of the 4th onion bed. 

Once the majority of the bind weed had been removed from the path, and put in the Dalek on the left I started hitting the bindweed on the path on the right of the onion bed. I'm only putting the weeds in the Dalek to keep them dry so I can burn them without generating too much smoke once I have cleared around the incinerator.  

Strenuous work for someone who can't get down on their knees to work and is worried about falling over or tripping on so much bind weed. It did catch me a few times. 

That bindweed that got in the bed has circled around the timber framing and gone round and round and in and out of the planting membrane. It's grown so fast this year plot 1A was clear of all bindweed until I was diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago. 

It's going to take a few more visits to remove all the bindweed and harvest the onions which are really small and only a couple of sizes larger than the sets that went in. The foliage got nobbled by slugs and snails early on and I think that was what stunted their growth this year. 

The woodchip on the path on the right has totally broken down into soil and both paths need removing and replacing in full like the one in the photo three up. 

What it did enable me to get at the apples safely and harvest them ready to process so my daughter Emma can make some cake and crumble with them.   

I was down on the allotment early and went to TESCO on my way home at lunch time, only to find a numpty had parked over my car that was in the disabled bay when I came back from getting my shopping.  

It does annoy me when people don't consider others, I backed in there because it's easier to get out if there are two cars parked more sensibly. 

New Tomatoes From Suttons

I have four New varieties of tomato coming from Suttons to add to my tomato seed collection and to trial next year. 

Tomato 'Vivacious' F1 - 8 Seeds - £3.99 a pack

• 
  
• Perhaps the healthiest tomato there is!
• 40% of your Vitamin A in one fruit!
• Up to 70 fruits per plant

 

Tomato 'Fraise' - 6 Seeds - £2.99 a pack

Heart-shaped tomato delights

Incredible shelf life after harvest

• Resists cracking and fruit drop

Tomato 'Toddler' F1 - 8 Seeds - £3.99 a pack

• 
  
• Exceptionally sweet
• Cocktail tomato
• Good resistance to late blight

 

Tomato 'Tiny Temptations Mixed' - 6 Seeds - £4.99

• 
  
• Trailing/basket type
• Brightly coloured super-sweet fruit
• Good disease resistance

New Tomatoes From Organic Gardening

I have two New varieties of tomato coming from Organic Gardening to add to my seed collection and to trial next year. 

Tomato 'Ormato' (Organic) - 5 Seeds - £3.99

High yielding with trusses often branching

Plum-shaped orange fruits

Sweet and firm

Tomato 'Fraise' - 6 Seeds - £2.99

Heart-shaped tomato delights

Incredible shelf life after harvest

Resists cracking and fruit drop

New French Dwarf & Climbing Beans

Suttons Seeds have kindly sent me two packs of French Beans one Dwarf and the other a Climbing variety that they have added to their catalogue and range for 2025 to trial in my Climbing Frame Greenhouse.

Climbing French Bean 'Vine' - 40 Seeds - £3.99 

• From the same breeder as 'Cobra'
• Same quality and flavour as Cobra
• But extended cropping period for even bigger harvests!

Dwarf French Bean 'Quartz' - 120 Seeds - £2.49

• Superb heat tolerance
• Good for areas with warm summers
• High yielding

Organic Gardening have sent me a new variety added to their 2025 catalogue 

Dwarf French Bean 'Faraday' (Organic) - 200 Seeds - £2.99

New dwarf variety

Popular with professional growers

Excellent disease resistance

Dalek Storage Solution

A question that comes up on Gardening Forums on a regular basis is regarding tools on the plot. Either a new user who has not yet acquired a shed, or someone who has a shed and it has been broken into and the tools stolen, and is now thinking of humping tools backwards and forwards to the plot and is asking for suggestions how as they don't have a car, or someone on an allotment where sheds are not allowed.

here is my solution to the problem. Dig a hole and bury half a blue barrel, B&Q builders bucket or bottom of a kitchen swing bin in the ground, then place a plastic Dalek over making sure there is enough height from the bottom of the blue barrel, builders bucket or kitchen bin and the lid of the Dalek to drop in the rake and long handled gardening tools.

Place hand tools in a B&Q builder bucket and lower into the Dalek, even better if the diameter of the container in the ground is a smaller diameter than the bottom of the Plastic Dalek, and you can offset the two slightly, then you have a shelf you can place the hand tools in the bucket on.

No body is going to look in a Dalek for tools on your allotment, especially if you have three or four Daleks in a row and it will save you humping gardening tools backwards and forwards to your plot each visit.

It's Going To Be A Cold October

As the cost of energy has increased and the pensioners winter heating allowance is being removed, it is reported that Low pressure from the Atlantic is set to arrive on October 11 and into the weekend bringing areas of cold rain.

The weekend of October 12 to 13 is forecast to see "a mixture of unsettled showery spells and longer periods of rain is most likely", however, there will be "some brighter spells with the driest weather in the south", which is good for me. I don't mind cold and dry, but I can't get on with much on the allotment if its wet. 

WXCHARTS predicts that large areas of Scotland will see the worst of the freezing conditions on October 13 with thermometers to drop as low as -2C to -4C in many areas.

It's been noticeably colder the last couple of days and this morning my central heating turned itself on.  

Planning and Reviewing October in Previous Years

 Reviewing the diary over the last twelve years for October 

2012 - 19th October I took my first allotment on at Mill Green Plot 1, and got my key to the gate. I started this blog and recorded the state of the allotment before I touched it and then the progress made on the first day trying the clear the plot.

The purpose of the blog was to record my progress and perhaps get some feedback and comments on what I was doing right and wrong and to remind me how much I had actually achieved when I really didn't really feel like I was getting anywhere or moving as fast as I wished. This blog has grown into so much more than my original scope and reason for starting. 

I purchased my first three Allotment books, of many that were to follow, and got my first packs of seeds with two of the books I bought.   

2013 - By the end of September and the start of October this year I had eight beds in place and was still clearing weeds and putting in an infrastructure of paths and beds in place. I created a portable chicken wire hoop frame to stop the site foxes from digging up the beds as I was creating them. 

I had manged to source a number of paving slabs off freecycle. The first formal plan of how the plot was going to ultimately going to be laid out was drawn, and as I worked nearby most dry lunch hours were spent on the plot doing little and often.

I harvested Cabbages and Cauliflowers, Tomatoes and Potatoes and I had real peppers growing in the blow-away greenhouse erected next to the shed and on the 9th of October the company I was working for informed me that my job was at risk and I was on the Redundancy list!.

The end of October was very wet and I recall being very frustrated  that I would not be able to get on with building the infrastructure.  

2014 - September this year had been the driest on record, and I started October by harvesting Marrows for the first time, other harvests included courgettes, Onions, Spring Onions, Carrots, cucumbers then on the 4th & 5th October and we had the first frosts. Continued to harvest runner beans, beetroots and peppers from the greenhouse. Picking up leaves from the pavements and at the end of the month picking Brussel Sprouts and I came up with a neew design for the slug traps.    

2015 - Due to the developments around Mill Green I had taken on an additional plot on Spencer Road Allotment and was working on clearance and infrastructure as well as working on Mill Green Allotment during the start of the month because of the dry and mild weather.  Tomato plants still growing in the greenhouse, Cabbage seeds in modules. 

Keith dropped off loads of Strawberry runners, Cutting down Mustard green manure on plot 1A. Clearing 23B and marking the boundary and the first two beds weeded and installed.    

Harvesting carrots and beetroots and planting cabbage.

2016 - Saving Tomato seeds, Infrastructure works progressing on Spencer Road plot 23B. cutting weed membrane for paths, beds and planting membrane sheets. All the tomatoes in flower buckets in the back garden removed, Green tomatoes in the Space Saver waiting to go red. harvesting King Edward spuds, first frost 8th October and lost some squash to it. Rest of the squash harvested and stored in the shed. Runner Beans cut off at the bottom so those left on the plant can die and dry out and be harvested for seeds. 

Additional beds created at Spencer Road, Break-in's and damage by vandals every other night for a week. then rain stopped their and our play on site. Following a committee meeting we tried to get everyone's email address and set up a Spencer Road Facebook group so we can let people know when we see shed doors open or polytunnels burnt.

Over wintering onion sets in modules, Horse muck delivered  and barrowed to the plot laid on beds and in Daleks to rot down more as too fresh.          

2017 -  I started doing my seed storage box audit and producing lists here on the blog. During the first week of October Redrow finally did the work to create the drop off and pick up area that I managed to negotiate with them. I had made the decision that I was going to keep on Spencer Road long enough to get everything I needed for plot 1 on Mill Green moved over including the Dalek, Shed and bed frames etc. 

My son-In-law helped me remove items from Spencer Road and bring them to Mill Green. 

Clearing beds on Mill Green Plot 1 and putting them to bed. Gross miss management of allotment plots 138 plots that could have been occupied and bringing in revenue.  

I worked out how much weed membrane I was going to need to cover the plot and ordered it off ebay. 

Pumpkins for carving were picked up from Spencer Road and the kerb stones I had transported over were laid on flat along the bottom of plot I defining the boundary. The 29th October was a full day of clearing and burning debris from Mill Green plot 1 

The plan layout for my new kingdom was drafted out in CAD based on the vision I had in my head at the time of taking over the plot.  

2018 -  Not a lot on the allotment front actually happened in October 2018. Three weeks of rain and my brother-in-law Keith who was more like a brother to me was seriously ill and we didn't know it at the time but terminally ill, in hospital during this month so days spent visiting him rather than the allotment. 

2019 -  Woodchips for the paths dropped off, Daughters Wedding stopped allotment play followed by bad and wet weather meant that sorting out seeds and planning next year took place for a week and a half during the middle of the month.  

124 people out of the 429 people on the waiting list that a plot is just waiting for you to view and accept.

In terms of lost revenue as the vacant list are no longer shared I can be exact with figures as in previous years, but assuming the plots are a mix of 250m2 and 125m2 at one end and possibly 250m2 at the other the council is losing revenue of between £9,176 - £11,594 pa which would pay for an admin clerk.

Taking little man Finn down to the allotment to harvest Pumpkins for carving for Halloween Harvesting Mini White Cucumbers & Kiwano's 

2020 -  In My Seedbox series of post started so I could see what seeds I needed. Clearing the shed in prep for the wall to be demolished and replaced with a fence. Rebuilding the extension to the shed now the wall has been replaced with a fence. Winter Squash Harvest. So Much Foliage So Little Butternut Squash. Natural Grower Review. Coco Coir Litres to Volume. New Tomato Varieties from D.T.Brown. Research and Planning Square Foot gardening.  

2021 -  In My Seedbox undertaken during this month as not a lot of visits possible due to a lot of rain with Spencer Road Allotment flooded again, Last of the potatoes harvested, Onions, tomatoes and Raspberries    

2022 -  In My Seedbox undertaken, lots of wet weather and inability to get cover to look after Jen so mot many visits this month. Andy Emma and I hit the allotment and harvested Suttons Depurple Cauliflowers and Cabbages, runner beans

2023 -  In My Seedbox not started in October this year, as because of my mobility issues and the radiation therapy cancer treatment for five weeks started. I didn't have the energy to maintain this journal, I just posted to Facebook and around Christmas started to catch up with updating the journal based on the Facebook posts and the photos on my phone. Sowing Broad beans to over winter. Harvesting Three water melons, Potatoes in Buckets, Parsnips & Tomatoes from the greenhouse and my first and only Aubergine with Emma & Kelly and seeing a mouse in one of the beds.

  

October is normally the month for last harvesting and overwintering plus bonfires to clear the blighted foliage and if the weather holds infrastructure works and closing down beds for the Winter months.  

Mill Green - Plot 1

Re Add additional supporting timbers to the roof of the shed - TBD

• Greenhouse 1 - Modify the frame and door or replace with larger greenhouse 
• Infrastructure - Convert standard 2.4m x 1.2m beds to 2 number 1.2 x 0.9m Raised beds with a path between.
• Beer Traps - Set Up Beer Traps
• Potting Shed - If weather allows complete painting with V33 Woodstain 
• 
  

Mill Green - Plot 1A

Re Add additional supporting timbers to the roof of the shed - TBD

• Greenhouse 1A - Set up more Coffee to dry out - DONE
• Beer Traps - Set Up Beer Traps - Done some more needed  
• Bed Near Hotbin  - Clear Netting & Hoops and Vegetation into Hotbin
• Daleks - Add more Daleks along the path with plot 2A
• Main Crop Potatoes  - Harvest and store
• Onions - Harvest and dry out
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