Traditional Allotment Veg

[matthew2riches]

Just wondering what everyones views are on what exactly "traditional" allotment veg is?

[Alison]

No idea, why do you ask? Suppose it could be potatoes, carrots, cabbages etc rather than the tomatillos I'm growing on mine.

[matthew2riches]

Just trying to put together a picture of a "traditional" British allotment maybe 50 years ago.

[Alison]

Ah, that'd be my grandad's plot then.......... Remember it about 35 years ago and then it was very much the big open plot with no pathways / beds and contained sprouts, cabbage (but not that new fangled red stuff!), carrots, swede, spuds, onions, parsnips, peas, beans (runners and broad but none of those new fangled foreign ones from France.........), lettuce (soft green ones only) and probably not that much more. He also grew toms in his greenhouse at home. Everything was very basically coloured and shaped, nothing unusual at all and I'm pretty sure he grew exactly the same varieties every year. Some of this could have been down to the fact that him and my nan liked simple food but some of it may have been availability also.

[zazen999]

This lot I suppose:

Dig For Victory WWII layout of Allotment or Victory Garden

[Snadger]

Owt you could bung into a soup or stew, I reckon!

[blackkitty]

When we first got our allotment I was up there early in the morning and one of the old timers came over to chat. he asked me what I was putting in the bed and when I said cauliflower replied 'Oh, proper veg then, that's good'. he's never commented on any of the more unusual stuff we've planted since.

[maytreefrannie]

In the garden, My father used to grow potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, turnips. And lettuce - of course!

As he grow older, the constructed an eccentric greenhouse from parts of old windows and he grew really nice tomatoes in there.

He grew marrows one or two years, but as he or the family (1) had no idea how they were used and
(2) when they discovered how to cook them, they didn't like them,
he didn't use them - instead he sold them to a local market trader - this was back in the 1980s, so he got a nice return on them.

Nowadays, I grow courgette and we all love them - have our palates grown up or have we just got posher?

[susieq100]

Grandad had a huge garden and he grew potatotes, onions, shallots, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, peas, broad and runner beans, cabbages (red and green !), cauliflower, marrows, celery, PSB, outdoor tomatoes and cucumbers and a variety of fruit. My Gran used to make jams, pickles, chutneys and bottled fruit. She also made wine - elderflower, parsnip, dandelion and apple. Happy memories of her scullery and the Kilner jars of fruit and the great big jars (like the display jars you get in sweet shops) full of pickled onions, piccallili etc.

[Pumpkin Becki]

PSB.

I'm a bit surprised by PSB - I think I always thought of it as a relative newbie to the veg plot. How interesting.

[Alison]

Nah, PSB is an oldie, just one that the supermarkets have decided we didn't want and therefore a newby to many people. Ate loads of it as a kid out the garden or from a market stall.

[Florence Fennel]

My uncle grew the traditional stuff you have all mentioned and that was 50 years ago. He never referred to his plot as "the allotment", he would say "Just going up to the gardens". He also produced magnificent chrysanthemums at Christmas time.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Nah, PSB is an oldie, just one that the supermarkets have decided we didn't want and therefore a newby to many people. Ate loads of it as a kid out the garden or from a market stall.

Well, there you go, thank you. It just goes to show what impact supermarkets/ market forces have on what we eat.

[Flummery]

Owt you could bung into a soup or stew, I reckon!

I'm making a stew today and it contains amongst other things, green bellpepper, chilli pepper, garlic, achocha, Highland Burgundy spuds, Green Zebra and Brandywine tomatoes, bird's egg and cherokee shelly beans - not what my Grandad grew!

[zazen999]

That told you Snadger