Tried and tested
Plants which grow well and produce a worthwhile yield, that I like and that have survived at least a couple of winters in my allotment or nearby with no special protection.
Still on parole
Plants which I have in the garden and which show promise, but which I haven’t tried eating yet, which haven’t survived a winter yet or which I’m just generally not sure of.
Failures
Plants which haven’t done well in the climate here, that have behaved badly, that don’t produce a worthwhile yield, that are far too fiddly to harvest or that taste really bad. While this last is a matter of taste, I’ve tried to only include a plant for this reason when others I have spoken to generally seem to agree.
Wish list
A case of my eyes being bigger than my allotment.
Hello Alan
You kindly shared your thoughts about my Portobello allotment plans some months ago. I hope you had a good growing season, I feel 2014 was pretty successful overall. I am excited to have acquired some interesting multiplying onions from the U.S. & am hoping to get more perennial leeks. I have planted some big leek offset bulbs & have a Babington leek, also a leek flower head with many plantlets which I will prick out.
I wondered if you have any experience with Allium ampeloprosum Perlzwiebel (Pearl Onion) or similar (e.g. Oerprei). And if you might sell / trade? I did grow elephant garlic but did not eat the bulbs much, preferring real garlic. These other varieties of ampeloprosum seem to make more edible leaves & shank which I would use more in the kitchen.
Yours, Alex
Hi Alex. I grow Babington leek, but not a named variety. For some reason it had a very bad year and grew poorly this year, but usually it grows well and produces a nice head of mixed bulbils and flowers. It makes a nice leek with a decent length of shank. The main drawback is that it is only tender for a short period in the spring, starting to make a somewhat tough bulb soon after. It still fills a gap in the leek season nicely though.
I always like the number of ways in which you can propagate leeks. I have a few bulb offsets in myself this year and one of my allotment neighbours has planted several heads of plantlets which are growing away nicely.