We have reached a turning point as far as the allotment is concerned. Beds are now being emptied and we are squirreling food to last us through winter. We now need some rain to soften the ground so that soil can be dug over. It always gives us a good start in the following growing season if we have some beds ready to plant up.
One of my jobs last week was to lift the onions. The tops had bent over, so the onions wouldn’t grow anymore. The aim now is to dry them off so that they will store well over winter. We had two beds given over to onions and shallots. The two beds had produced quite different results. The first lot is shown on the left below. All the bulbs were a good size and showed no sign of disease, We don’t aim to grow really large onions as they are not practical when cooking for just two people.
The second bed, shown above on the right, had several bulbs affected by rot. We’ve never grown onions in this part of the plot before so we will avoid growing onions in this bed again.
Some shallots grown from seed were also planted in these beds. Each seed produces one large bulb. Some are more the size of an onion.
I was told that if I planted these shallots in the following year they would produce a bunch of smaller bulbs. I decided to test this out and planted two bulbs. They did form clumps of shallots but these were unimpressive and misshapen so I won’t be trying this again.
Martyn dug a couple of lots of potatoes, Nicola on the left and Sagitta on the right.
Both varieties produced a good yield. Some tubers were huge.
I did do some planting. Some new plants were planted in a bed that had been cleared of old worn-out plants.
Of course, we still had lots of harvesting. I just pulled enough carrots for dinner.
I totally forgot to take group photos of the other harvests last week but they featured, French beans, runner beans, apples, peas, more raspberries and courgettes.
We haven’t had much success with tomatoes this year and are only picking enough to eat fresh from the plants. Last year we froze lots that were used to make pasta sauce throughout the year.
For a change, at Temple Newsam we decided to walk around the formal area of the walled garden. 
On our walk around Nostell Priory, we noticed that the cygnets are now much more independent and are not sticking by the parent birds.
The heron that we regularly see on the lake should no longer pose a threat to them
A couple of the meals last week that used some of our produce were, firstly a Moroccan chicken dish that used our onion, garlic and courgette.
French beans, onion, garlic and red chilli went into a turkey stir fry
That’s all for this week so, as always, until next time stay safe and well.
I am again linking to Dave’s Harvest Monday post on his Our Happy Acres blog.
PS: My stats show lots of visitors don’t comment which is fine and you are very welcome but I would love you to say hello at some point,
Looks like you’ve had a brilliant haul of spuds and onions.
My tomatoes started slow but producing enough fruit. In fact I’ve cut the tops off mine now so the plants can concentrate on ripening the green fruits.
We bought oir tomato seedrom a diggerent supplier, Steve and are a but suspicious. The tomatoes that have grown don’t look like the varieties they should be.
Coo, loads of spuds and onions! I may try shallots again next year but often struggle with slug damage.. I guess it’s time to start planning…😖
Shallots seem to be one thing that our slugs leave alone, Belinda
It looks like you will be well supplied with onions! I’m with you on the size of them, and smaller ones are just right for the two of us.
WE usually are self-sufficient with onions Dave as the over-wintered ones fill the gap
I’m always apprehensive over really big potatoes. They seem to absorb so much water that they lose flavour. What a shame about the shallots. I do love them lightly roasted, enough to have them soft and squishy inside and golden crispy on the outside. Do let us know how the large ones taste?
The big potatoes tasted lovely Debbie as do the large shallots
My tomatoes have been rubbish this year. The seeds took ages to germinate and were so slow growing that I ended up buying a couple of plants and they haven’t come to much either. There isn’t much fruit and the tomatoes that are there are taking an age to ripen, I should get the first taste this week if I’m lucky, we’ll see.
We are picking slightly more tomatoes this week Jo but nothing like previous years.