Wintertime gardening--I'm still not quite in active gardening mode. Just a little bit of harvest once a week or so (leeks, radishes and swede this week). I'm really enjoying having some fresh veg regularly; most winters it's all run out by now, bar a small leek or two. I credit this foresight to actually writing down a garden plan last winter. I guess it's time to write the next one, though as the first was fairly successful I don't anticipate making any major changes.
I originally divided my available space into six major sections at the allotment, plus another two in the kitchen garden at home (a much smaller space). I decided which crops I would focus on for these sections, going for bulk rather than variety. The allotment: tomatoes, beets, squash/corn (interplanted), beans, leeks, pickling cucumbers. Home: zucchini/salad cucumber (interplanted), brassicas (mainly kohlrabi, with cabbage and pak choi).
I also allowed for succession planting, starting certain seeds later in the year to follow on; for instance lettuce, pak choi and spring cauliflowers to follow the two beds in the kitchen garden. I also put later sowings of radishes, turnips, beets to follow on from broad beans and snap peas. This way, I was able to pad out my harvest totals, and keep the beds in production rather than going back to weeds.
This year the slight deviation will be to grow some potatoes. We are a low carb family so I don't grow potatoes very often--every few years is plenty. However, I'm ready to buy a small bag of seed potatoes for this spring, probably to grow in my big containers at the allotment. I'll also try sowing all my beets directly this year (the first bed in the spring were all transplants), hopefully to increase my yields even more. Other than maybe a few fine tweakings, my plan is ready to go.
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