Allotment Gardening

Soil Capping

Sprout — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:16:41 +0000

Soil capping is the forming of a hard surface crust in the top 1 to 10 mm of bare cultivated soils. Caused by heavy rainfall on exposed bare land, the surface structure of the soil breaks down under the continual pounding of the water droplets. This is then hardened by sun and drying winds, to [...]

National Beanpole Week

Sprout — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:58:20 +0000

National Beanpole Week, 21st to 26th April 2012. Run by the Small Woods Association, this is an annual event which was first held in 2008, and celebrates Britain’s traditionally managed coppiced woodlands.

How To Make Garden Netting

Sprout — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:13:19 +0000

Making your own Pea and Bean support netting is remarkably simple and quick to do. Depending how large the net links are, a surprising amount of netting can be made from one ball of string. Saving money with very little time or effort. If the netting is made of a material such as Jute (the [...]

An Organic Guide for Beginners [Paperback]

Sprout — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:50:09 +0000

Allotment Gardening is a practical guide to growing your own fruit and vegetables organically. Aimed at those who have not had an allotment before, or are new to growing their own, it is packed with advice -from choosing and planning your allotment through to harvesting and storing your produce. In Part One, Susan Berger discusses [...]

10 Tips to Grow Vegetables in a Drought

Sprout — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:49:48 +0000

Growing vegetables on the allotment when there is drought can be difficult. Here's 10 simple tips to get the best from your crops, and make sowing and growing them easier.

Garden Cloche

Sprout — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:48:31 +0000

A garden cloche is invaluable to the allotment gardener. Whether used to warm the soil and get a head start on the sowing season, or protect tender vegetables from cold temperatures. The cloche doesn’t need to be an elaborate structure, and I’ve had great success with this design over the years. One sheet of corrugated [...]

Gardening Poetry

Sprout — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:11:07 +0000

This is a guest post from Kate Williams, who is a many-times published poet. Now specialising in garden poetry, which she reads to gardening clubs around the country. The two gardening poems below are just a small selection from Kate’s website, Kate Williams Poetry Our Allotment We don’t get a lot on our allotment, [...]

Chitting Seed Potatoes

Sprout — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:34:47 +0000

Seed Potatoes. These are the tuberous growths on the roots of the potato plant. Grown in disease free conditions and harvested before maturity. Stored in a controlled environment until conditions are right for planting the following season. Chitting Seed potatoes. This is a method of starting the small seed potatoes into growth before out [...]

Allotment Shed Security

Sprout — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:21:20 +0000

Top Tips for Allotment Security Renting an allotment opens up many exciting opportunities. It allows you to grow fresh fruits and vegetables and to be a part of a fun community effort. As wonderful as renting an allotment can be, there are problems that may arise. Allotment security is an important issue. Instances of theft [...]

Diary – May 2011

Sprout — Tue, 31 May 2011 21:58:27 +0000

The hot dry weather continues, it’s an absolute pleasure to be gardening in shirt sleeves this early in the season. Night time frosts were forecast as a possibility in the first week, so the early potatoes were covered with straw to help protect them. This is something that is usually done as soon as they [...]