Oh My, How You’ve Grown! Shallots, Lettuce and Mange Tout

Posted on 22. May, 2011 by Tracey in Veg Plot

Oh My How You’ve Grown was a saying my auntie, uncle, mother’s friends use to say with some regularity when I was a youngster. But I always thought it was quite annoying and silly as it is one of those sayings that could never be said the other way around, Oh My How You’ve Shrunk, it just doesn’t work.

Luckily none of of my vegetable plants have shrunk or mysteriously disappeared so far this year and I haven’t seen one slug yet (touch wood). Its been a month since I last checked and weeded my vegetables and oh have they grown. The above average temperatures for the month have been working wonders on my newly sown and planted veggies and have even created a lettuce frenzy in one of my raised beds, an occurrence never to be seen again, no doubt.

Here’s whats been happening in the last month.

Shallots

Shallot Roots

Shallots Late April

New Shallot Growth - May 21st

What a difference one month’s growth makes! The shallots look great, plenty of green bushy shoots. Monty Don’s Tip from Gardeners World certainly is working so far. In case you missed the Top Shallot Tip Video, read my post: You Learn Something New Every Day.

Other Posts on Shallots and Onions:

• Rooted and Shooted Shallots
• Shallot Seeds and Sets and When to Plant them
• Growing Autumn Planting Shallot Sets
• Reasons to Grow Your Own Onions

Mange Tout

Mange Tout Seeds

Mange Tout Seedlings

Mange Tout Purple and Green

Mange Tout are my favourite vegetable to grow because you get the best of both worlds, flowers and vegetables. Now usually I’m not a flower type of person, what I mean is I cannot seem to grow them as they always die or get eaten by slugs. I love looking at flowers but don’t have any stamina when growing them.

So refreshingly its great when a vegetable produces flowers because I know I’ll have to look after them to gain the lovely flat mange tout pods that I’m so waiting for. I’m currently growing Mange Tout every year and working my way through each variety as some have different coloured flowers.

More Mange Tout Posts:

• Flowering vegetables To Brighten Up Your Back Garden
• How To Grow Mange Tout
• Mange Tout Rodney, Mange Tout
• Mange Tout Variety: Golden Sweet – Yellow Pods and Multi-coloured Flowers

Lettuce

Lettuce Late April

Spring Onions & Lettuce

Lettuce May Frenzy

My record of growing lettuce has been rather patchy and usually unsuccessful to say the least over the years, so it came as a great surprise that there is a lettuce frenzy in my plot 2. Now I’m no mathematician but I have come up with the following equation for the reason of this frenzy and I can truly say it is a fact.

No Slugs = Lots of Lettuce

I wasn’t aiming for complete coverage in my raised bed but some of the lettuce seeds seem to have spread into my spring onions and carrots. Of course those lettuce rebels got harvested first this weekend and I could almost hear the sigh of relief from the spring onions who will be able to breath a little easier now. The Lettuce variety above is called: Black Seeded Simpson.

Other Lettuce Posts:

• How To Grow Lettuce
• Growing Slug-Free Lettuce
• Inspirational Lettuces

For more up to date news on what I’m sowing in my plots, please read my Dear Veg Plot Diary.

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Tags: april and may growth, growing lettuce, growing mange tout, growing shallots, Growing Vegetables, grown vegetables, one months vegetable growth, vegetable plot report, vegetable plot update