Summer Harvesting - Peas, Onions, Garlic

Harvesting and Storing Peas, Onions, Garlic,

It’s the end of June and we are probably more than half way through our growing season, depending on whether or not you have a heated greenhouse or even a green house or a poly tunnel – like me!

While some crops have been a total failure for me this year, others have been a spectacular success.

Peas – Talking to one of my neighbours a few days ago, she laughingly said, ‘I see you grow peas by the Mohammed method’. She went on to say that her son used the same method with similar wonderful results.

Mohammed has been gardening on our Allotments Fields since the year Dot and is arguably one of, if not the best, grower in our Allotment Association. When I was chatting to him a couple of years ago, comparing, among other (many) things he was doing so successfully compared with my miserable crops, he looked at my peas rows ( well! Very intermittent rows) and effectively said that my methods were rubbish. Yet I had followed the instructions in various vegetable growing publications.

Prepare your row ( from me – a channel about 3” ( 6 – 7cm) deep, really it’s not critical), and about 2 – 3 “ wide( 5cm ).  For the width of my plot, about 4 – 5 metres, take three packets of seed and just throw them along it (making sure all the seeds are in the channel and are reasonably evenly spaced.

Well, okay, I thought, this is worth a try, certainly Mohammed’s crops were way better than mine so, last year I tried his method in a modest way. The results were just great and I had lots of peas to freeze for the winter.

This year I thought I’d do it properly. A fellow plot holder buys seed in bulk from Tucker’s Seeds in Devon (www.edwintucker.com  their site is still under construction but phone or write for a catalogue – Google it).  I bought a kilo of Hurst Green-Shaft from him for around £4 and I sowed all of them in 4 rows across my plot. I didn’t leave enough space between the rows as I really didn’t have room but, the crop has been amazing. Already I have had about 6 buckets full of peas and when podded have filled a drawer in my freezer. I have probably harvested about half of them.

When freezing, there is no need to blanch. Just pod, pack into suitable containers –boxes or bags, bung in the freezer and enjoy all winter. The only downside – podding is quite a lengthy process – put on a good film or watch your favourite TV programmes and you won’t notice the job being done.

It’s still not too late to sow seed for a late crop.

Onions – my autumn planted onion sets have definitely exceeded my expectations this year, especially considering the long dry spell we had during April and May. I didn’t water them ( I just don’t have the energy to water everything) and I’m hoping that this will have contributed to a high dry matter in the onions and will encourage them to keep. I have, so far, tied up 5 strings of onions with probably another 2 to go. The spring sown onions are still growing and may be good – or not. The same can’t be said for my shallots which are just not worth harvesting. I planted fewer garlic this year and while they have been good, I am now wondering if I have grown enough to see me through the next winter.

I have noticed, over the last couple of years that many of my plot neighbours are reporting ‘white rot’ in their onion crops. This is a serious fungal disease which, if it appears on your crops, will prevent you from growing any of the alliums ( onion family) for many years. It doesn’t travel like blight but can be transferred on implements, boots, etc so, where you walk on you plot (or others’) you are likely to spread it.

I feel that, although my onions have been most satisfactory this year, they are the crop which shows least difference to those you buy in the supermarket. Added to that, they are cheap to buy from the supermarket and are disease free. I have therefore, decided that I won’t grow them next year. While onions may not taste any different from those in the supermarket, other members of the allium family certainly do – especially garlic and leeks.

When onions and garlic have stopped growing, the top greenery will fold over. At this point, lift them and leave lying out for the top foliage to die back/ become brown and fairly crisp. At this point you can tie them in bunches or strings and store in a cool dry place. Don’t store them when any part of the plant is still wet. As I discovered to my cost – they will rot.