Our allotment Stapleton Bristol

To dig or not to dig that is the question.

2013-07-28T02:44:00.000+01:00

After taking on another half plot last year I wanted to put it over to no dig as mentioned in last posting, now I am not completely new to no dig as 50% of my older plots have been that from day 1. The difference is this time it was to be the whole area and more use of cardborad and animal manure (mainly cows).

We are about to enter August and Summer is truly with us so now would be a good time to talk about the pros and cons of no dig gardening.

When I took on the plot I covered it in a thick layer of cardboard followed by a good 2 inches at least of leaves which had not been rotted down followed by a thick layer of cow and horse poo which was still quite fresh although there was no smell of amonia from their pee. I forgot to add previous to this I planted several fruit trees 2/3 years old around the plot. All I needed to do now was start sowing seeds in modules to plant up new plot and wait to see what the fruits of my labour would be.

As the plot had fresher manure I decided it would be best using it for beans, squashes, peas and flowers (well that was the plan). I then went about constructing bean poles and as the time went by aquiring old drawers and pallets which were used as beds and the new plot started to take shape, by adding a good layer of compost in a few of the beds I have managed also to grow beetroot, fennel and not so successfully shallots. I also added a couple of old dustbins for growing carrots turned an old pallet in to a strawberry planter. The bottom line is the new plot has become a bit of a recyling plot to see what everyday items can be reused from old kitchen cupborads to a set of pine drawers.

The result of the no dig so far has been fantastic with healthy beans, peas, squashes, beetroot, fennel and flowers. There has been next to no weeding except in the areas I used horse manure, I am guessing they dont digest as well as cows and where I have had to weed I just pull it by hand which is simple.

The title of this post is to dig or not to dig and the answer for me is a no brainer, why dig when all you need to do is keep adding organic matter and the worms will do the work for you.

I would also add that a great resource for the no dig method of gardening is a book by Charles Dowding titled 'Organic gardening the no dig way' available from green books. Also I have posted lots of photos of my exploits on twitter username @AllotmentGas and videos on youtube which you can click on at side of blog.

Take care and put away your spades the future of gardening is changing.

Sowing and planting leeks.

2013-02-27T22:00:00.000+00:00

After a little chat on twitter the other evening with regards to growing leeks I thought I would share with you all how I do it.

Today I sowed my 1st leeks of the year and the way I do it is to basically fill a medium sized flower pot with compost 3/4 full wet the compost then sprinkle your leek seeds all over the top then top with more compost and just let them grow.

Once they get to size as shown in picture above it is time for planting, this will take around 2 months.

Now you need to empty them from the pot and separate them, they will be all tangled but don't worry just tease them all apart they are stronger than you think.

Next is the bit where you give the roots a good haircut so they go in the ground better and give the tops a good trim. The latter I do not know why I do this, I was taught this way by Harry an allotmenter with over 50 years experience of growing leeks so who am I to argue.

Finally get your dibber and make holes to drop your leeks in, remember the closer you plant the smaller the leeks. I tend to plant them about 6 inches apart and if you grow in rows have the rows about 12 inches apart. Once you drop or twist your leek in to your holes puddle them in,

DO NOT FILL THE HOLE WITH SOIL!

Watering and nature will fill out the hole over time.

So that is how I grow leeks I hope you find this helpful and good luck growing your leeks, until next time goodbye.

New year, new plot, new methods

2013-02-22T21:45:00.000+00:00

Nearly a year since my last blog so I thought I would give it a go again, firstly I would like to give a summary of 2012 allotment year. Dry with drought up until April praying for rain and then as follows-

April rain and floods
May rain and floods
June rain and floods
July rain and floods
August rain and floods
September rain and floods and so on and so forth............

Crops that did alright last year were runner beans, tomatoes and brassicas especially sprouts.

Enough about last year as this year I have high hopes and have taken on another half plot, it is the one I have wanted since I arrived back in 2009. The plot has 3 very old Victoria plum trees on it and the last owner done bugger all in the 3 years they were there.

The new plot will be a whole new adventure as I plan to have it completely no dig, this is a method of gardening where as it says on the tin you do no digging. The digging is done for you by nature it self i.e. worms, the way you do it is mulch and add organic matter. Due to this plot being plagued with couch grass I have laid a double sometimes treble layer of corrugated cardboard and then covered in a very thick layer of manure as you can see in picture below.

I will keep people updated through twitter @AllotmentGas and hopefully this blog and how well no dig works compared to other methods, one big advantage is you save your back from the pain of digging. I have to say though no dig does not mean no work so don't think you are getting off lightly if you adopt this method. Horse and cow manure still has to be forked in to wheelbarrow and wheeled to said area!

The other big winter project was acquiring a summerhouse as the wife and myself had nowhere to sit and relax while at the plot. After much deliberation I opted for beach hut style summerhouse which I bought from Waltons garden buildings. The construction was straight forward and barring another lick of paint and interior design being finished we are there. Here are some photos of progress so far.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I promise to be back soon with more updates.

3 1/2 tons of shit

2012-03-10T02:52:00.000+00:00

Delivered today, pictures on twitter as unable to upload on this computer. Lack of blogging so far this year due to being really busy but things at our allotment are moving along nicely and I am looking forward to Spring and Summer. Lets hope this year brings us some warm sunny days, something that has been lacking the last 3 summers.

As I said I had a large load of manure delivered and have started mulching the beds it's still quite fresh so I will allow some to rot down. Where it is being used I will be growing beans and squashes so not too bothered it is fresh as they will thrive, I think some people are too over cautious whilst using manure and panic it has to be years old before use. Seeds I have sown so far this year are as follows Leek Musleburgh in pots, Mange Tout, Sweet peas, Cosmos, Tumbling toms, Cabbage atlas and greyhound, Sprouts, Basil, Corriander and Rocket.

I have a weeks annual leave next week and hope to get hold of some raspberry canes and more bare root fruit trees for the new plot which as previously stated will be mainly fruit and lower maintainence. This year will also be the year that I finally start an asparagus bed.

Happy gardening and speak soon, don't forget you can follow me on twitter @AllotmentGas but be warned my language and views are not to everybodys taste.

Planning for the year ahead by being prepared

2012-01-17T21:32:00.000+00:00

After the rush of Christmas I have now started planning for the year ahead at our allotment, the plan is trying to do as little as possible and let the plot work for us. The first thing that keeps coming to mind is finally planting asparagus, this is something I wish I had done when we first got the plot as we would be reaping the benefits this year. The seed catalogues are coming out and some internet research will take place to decide which is best variety to purchase they need to be planted out in April and come as crowns.

Seeds have been saved from last years pea and bean crops so no need to worry about buying them so St George runners and mangetout golden sweet will be the peas and beans of choice again. I am determined to be more successful at successional sowing of crops this year in particular lettuces and pak choi.

The top half of our allotment is no dig so working that is easy I have added organic matter like compost and manure and the worms do the rest. The bottom half which is beds but ones we dig does not need too much as work as beds have been covered that have no crops remaining and 5 of the beds have permanent crops in. The new half plot which we took on already has several fruit trees and bushes and garlic growing away, the rest of it was cleared,dug and covered in thick balck plastic membrane in the autumn.

I don't want to sound smug but to me that is the key to keeping an allotment you need to spend time in autumn and winter getting things oraganised as it saves you time and effort in spring when you have a million and one things to do. All I have to do is sow my seeds plant out and keep on top of the weeds.

New video comingI was lucky enough to be given an HD video camera for my 40th birthday so hope to start making some how to videos as well this year.

Happy new year to everyone reading this!

This years harvests in photos

2011-11-19T18:36:00.000+00:00

These are photos I have taken on my phone throughout the year of things we have harvested at our allotment and I thought I would share them with you. Also a big hello to wherever you are in the world reading this, going by stats I see a lot of people who read this blog are scattered all over North America, Asia, Far east, Austrlasia and Europe. Thank you once more for taking time to look at my blog.

Bountiful plot

2011-11-18T20:22:00.001+00:00

Managed to get down our allotment today and take some photos and as you can see the plot is still very much alive with winter veg, crops planted earlier in the year that can remain in the ground and next years crops emerging ie garlic. Harvested the last of the tomatoes and peppers today and cut all the peppers right back to roughly 30cm height and trimmed to barely nothing in an attempt to overwinter them. They are within in the tunnel and will be doubly insulated by placing old water cooler bottles over them, I have also dug some up repotted and they are going to live in spare bedroom overwinter, fingers crossed some will come through and start new growth in the spring. Nice to see the garlic emerging I have had to put some pea netting over it as the allotment cat has decided it is a nice bed to shit in which did not impress me, on the plus side he does keep the rat population down.

The chopped back pepper plants

Cauliflower all year round and Kale hungry gap.

Florence Fennel Tauro.

Swiss and Rainbow Chard.

Winter lettuce unknown name?

Kale Scarlett.

Sweet peas old spiced mix.

Rosemary cuttings.

Garlic in pots to plug any gaps if any dont germinate outside.

Garlic just emerging.

Leeks now being harvested these can stay in all winter and picked as required.

Savoy January King put on alot of growth due to mild weather, no real frost yet this year!

Brussel Sprout Maximus, slightly decimated by whitefly.

Globe Artichokes putting on new growth due to unusualy mild weather.

First harvested fennel which I will be having with some smoked haddock.

I hope to add more photos of this years harvests soon until next time goodbye.

New plot

2011-11-06T19:06:00.000+00:00

We have taken on another half plot which has been cleared and dug over and is ready to go for 2012, we will cover it now with a thick black damp proofing plastic to stop any nutrients being washed away in the winter rains. That is not to say nothing has gone in the ground on our new plot, we could not leave it all empty as that is not in our nature. Garlic music which we had spare after planting out on our other plots was put in 2 rows of 32 cloves also our Blackcurrant, Redcurrant and Gooseberry bushes have been moved to the new plot as they needed more room.

This week also we manged to bag ourselves some cheap bareroot fruit trees from Asda they were priced at £7 but when at the checkout they came in at £3.50 so we got the following trees and they are also planted on new plot.

Conference Dessert Pear.

Bramley Culinary Apple.

Sunburst Dessert Cherry.

Cox's Orange Dessert Apple.

Spartan Dessert Apple.

Idared Culinary Apple.

Beurre Dessert Pear.

Golden Delicious Dessert Apple.

So as you can see by the above list hopefully over the next couple of years Our Allotment will be providing us with lots of fruit to go with all our bountiful vegtables. The rest of the allotment and tunnel is still providing lots of goodies including Parsnips, Carrots, Tomatoes, Chard, Chillis, Celeriac, Celery, Leeks, Sprouts, Kale and J Artichokes. Plus what we have planted and growing for spring more Kale, Savoy cabbage, Offenham spring cabbage and not forgetting enough garlic to sink a small ship. I will try and get to plot this week to take some photos to post but due to inner ear infection everything I do at the moment is a struggle so no promises.

Hope you enjoyed the update on our allotment take care Jamie.

Saving seeds

2011-10-01T13:50:00.000+01:00

To save money on seeds and to have your own strain of seed now is the time to think about saving seeds, as we have only had our allotment a couple of years this is something we have only started doing and with time we want to save as much as we can. This year we have grown french marigolds,poppys, runner beans and mangetout from saved seeds with great success. Peas and beans are really easy to save as you just leave the pods on the plant to grow to full size and when the plant dies back and they dry out pick and shell them and stick in an envelope in a cool dry place. Flowers like marigolds and poppy's etc will produce their seed pods just collect them and store them the same as before and sunflowers like in the picture above have their seeds in their heads. One of my favourite blogs vegtable heaven which I have link to on my home page goes into more speacilised seed saving and crossing of breeds and heritage varietys, well worth a read and something I would like to be doing in the future.

On another note what is going on with this weather again this year it has been wall to wall sunshine in Bristol the last few days with temperatures in the mid 20's and today looks set to be the hottest October day on record it really has been a funny year. I have taken some more photos for you to see we now have our winter cabbages and kale all planted out and the squahes and the strawberries are still producing, a couple of disappointments something is causing the leeks to wilt and yellow an whitefly have decimated the sprouts.

Until next time enjoy the pictures and this lovely indian summer bye for now Jamie.

Pictures from today

2011-09-13T22:00:00.000+01:00

Winter crops in tunnel cauliflowers, Chard, Fennel, Pak Choi and lettuce

Sweetcorn on new plot surrounded by weeds!

Harvested butternut squash some are an odd shape.

Harvested gardeners delight in fridge

Cosmos flowers blown over but still looking good.

Leeks cant wait to tuck in to these!

Butternut Cobnut romping away.

Celery giant pascal doing well I think?

Globe emerald artichokes.

Planted out today hungry gap kale.

Jeruselem Artichokes cut down they were over 12ft

Scarlet and Curly Kale planted out today.

Celeriac.

Zuchinni not as prolific as last year.

Leeks again oops!

Offenham spring and January King ready for planting out!

Tumbling toms still going strong.

Patio sizzlers chillis

Peppers and Basil.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures our allotment will continue to be productive even during the winter months.

Batten down the hatches!

2011-09-12T20:58:00.000+01:00

Today we have had the remnents of hurricane Katia across the country, here in Bristol its not been as bad as Scotland where they have had gusts of 87mph our biggest was 50mph. Still with winds this high you do need to make sure your crops are ok and be prepared to lose some, after checking on the plot tonight I am pleased to say the runner beans and climbing French have survived but we have lost a few sweetcorn so on the whole not bad. I am also pleased to see the polytunnel held up well but its still blowing hard outside so I am not going to count my chickens just yet.

When you are erecting your bean supports in the spring you forget that come September they will be fully grown and in full leaf and taking winds like today. I always make wigwams as supports but add extra support at the ends for weather events like today. The trials and tribulations of growing fruit, flowers and vegtables in the good old British weather is what makes what we do so enjoyable be it frost, wind or drought we love a challenge.

My next big challenge will involve trying to beat the elements as I attempt to over winter the peppers and chillis we have growing in the polytunnel. This will involve cutting them back to around 30cm height at the end of the growing season and trying to protect them from frost, I am going to do this by having cloches within the tunnel and then hoping they regrow again in the Spring. I will sow some in January just in case my overwintering fails.

Come wind, rain or shine there is always something to do at our allotment until next time goodbye.

Goodbye Summer

2011-09-07T18:44:00.000+01:00

Autumn offically started on September 1st and for once this year the weather seemed to know what season we were in. Gale force winds and heavy rain showers plus the nights drawing in faster than Usain Bolt on a false start got me realising I need to think fast for Winter/Spring crops. Hopefully this weekend I will sow some pak choi and winter lettuces for the tunnel and will plant out what I already have in modules January King 3 savoy cabbage, Scarlet Kale and Florence fennel. The fennel will hopefully grow inside tunnel everything else will be outside under netting to protect from pigeons. This weekend I will also take some more photos to show you how things have progressed.

Due to the high winds I cut down the artichokes which had reached at least 12ft tall as last year they all got uprooted in the high winds as our allotment is exposed. I did not want to do this but they were leaning so much I did not want them ruining my neighbours plot, a shame really as the flower on them is lovely. I guess by doing this they can concentrate all their energy in to the tubers rather than producing flowers. A work colleague buys the ghastly daily express and according to their headline today we are in for a cold, wet and windy Autumn followed by another cold Winter, I take everything that paper says with a pinch of salt though.

This year looks like being another good year for butternut squash and I think there should be some ready now for picking as soon as I get a chance I will harvest and take some pictures. I will leave you with a lovely recipe for a warming buuternut squash soup just in case the express are right this should warm you up.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

1 Onion

1 Carrot

1 Small/medium Butternut Squash

1 Red Chilli

Pinch Salt & Pepper

2 Cloves of Garlic (finely chopped)

1.5 Liters Vegetable Stock

1 tablespoon Olive oil

1 teaspoon Butter

Preparation method

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins

1.Chop roughly the carrots, onion, butternut squash and chilli. Pour the oil and butter into a large saucepan, add the chopped vegetables and sweat for four minutes. Crush the garlic cloves and add to the pan, allow to cook for a further one to two minutes until you can smell the garlic cooking, take care not to burn the garlic as this will leave a nasty bitter taste.

2.Add the hot stock to the vegetables along with salt and pepper, allow to simmer for twenty minutes until reduced. Once reduced, take off the heat and blend with a hand blender or pour in a food processor and blend until all lumps are gone.

3.Taste and add salt and pepper if you feel it needs more. You will be left with a silky smooth soup, simply served in a warm bowl alongside some crusty bread to dunk

The year so far

2011-09-03T17:42:00.000+01:00

On our allotment has been a funny one, I think mainly due to the seasons being all back to front . The year started with an extremely dry January, February, March and April following on from a exceptionally cold December this also coincided with very warm weather March and April. We followed this with a dull cold summer which has resulted in very different results with each indivudal crop.

The winners for me this year have been the peppers and chillis grown in the polytunnel due to the unseasonal warm temperatures they were planted out earlier than would be normal and the result is very large plants full of lots of fruits. This is the same for my tomatoes as well they were all sown indoors late Januray early February and were in their final posistions March/April. To say I have had peppers and Tomatoes coming out my ears this year would be an understatement.

As for courgettes they have not been as productive this year due to longer dryer periods as the watering can does not have the same affect as a good old pour down of rain. Runner beans also have not been as abundant, still very good cropper though and enough to keep the Wife and myself plus lots of neighbours happy.

What I still need to learn is successional sowing and not to plant everything at once I think this is an art and even the most seasoned of vegatble growers ends up with a glut of something. Our allotment has served us well again this year with lots of things still to look forward to like parsnips, sprouts, butternut squash, carrotts, leeks, celeriac, more cabbage, beetroot and 2 types of arichokes.We also have lots of things in modules ready to go in the ground inside the tunnel and out. I promise to try and post some harvest pictures soon and post my updates of new stuff going in also if your on twitter I put regular photos on there follow me @Jamie_Milton

Gluts

2011-08-20T07:57:00.002+01:00

What to do with them?

No matter how good you are at successional sowing or planting what you think is the right amount of plants most if not all allotment gardeners end up with a glut of at least one vegtable or fruit. The question is what do you do with all the extra fresh veg you have? This year as per usual we are now experiencing our glut period and it is the usual suspects that are providing us with more than we can cope with runner beans, tomatoes and courgettes. Here is what we do, knock on neighbours doors and give them a little bundles of food, freeze as much as we can including tomatoes for making sauces later on and make chutneys. When arriving back form Cornwall last weekend we had a vast amount so I decided to pick and bag stuff and bring it in to work to sale and made the princely sum of £16.50.

My next venture is to purchase a food dehydrator and dry fruit and vegtables for later use, I would also like to make prunes from the huge amount of plums we have. Here are a couple of my favourite chutney and pickle recipes.

OLD DOVERHOUSE CHUTNEY
1 1/2lbs plums (preferably Victoria)
1 1/2lbs cooking apples
8 oz tomatoes-red or green
1 lb raisins
8 oz onions
1 1/2lb Demerara sugar
about 4oz glace or preserved ginger (or failing that, about a good teaspoon of ground ginger!)
1 clove garlic-finely chopped
1 ½ tablespoons salt
1 pint pickling vinegar
¼ oz chillies, or about a teaspoon of chilli sauce

Wash plums, stone & quarter them
Roughly chop tomatoes & put them both into a large pan.
Put onions, apples, raisins, ginger & garlic through the coarse blade of a mincer or chop finely in a food processor, then add to pan with vinegar , sugar & salt.
Tie chillies in a gauze square using string & suspend them from the pan handle (into the mixture!!!). If using sauce, put straight into pan.
Cook chutney very slowly for at least 2-3 hours (no lid on pan!) until most of the liquid has evaporated. To test if it’s ready, make a channel across the top of the chutney using a wooden spoon. If the spoon leaves a channel imprinted for a few seconds – without it filling with vinegar – then it’s ready.
Give it a few good stirs during cooking, especially near the end to stop it sticking to the pan.
Pot whilst still hot, into hot jars. Seal with wax discs & tight vinegar proof lids.

LEAVE FOR AT LEAST 3 MONTHS, IN A COOL, DARK PLACE, BEFORE EATING. IT SHOULD KEEP FOR AT LEAST 12 MONTHS !

Spiced Mustard Pickle (Piccalilli)

Ingredients
2 oz (50 g) dry mustard powder
½ whole nutmeg, grated
½ level teaspoon ground allspice
1 oz (25 g) ground turmeric
2 medium cauliflowers, divided into 1 inch (2.5 cm) florets
1 lb (450 g) small pickling onions, peeled and halved, through the root
2 small cucumbers (each weighing 9 oz/250 g), peeled, cut into ¼ inch (5 mm) rounds, then each round quartered
1 lb (450 g) dwarf green beans, topped and tailed and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) lengths (or 1 lb/450 g runner beans, destringed and cut into 1 inch/2.5 cm diagonal slices)
4 oz (110 g) sea salt
2 pints (1.2 litres) malt vinegar, plus 5 extra tablespoons
6 oz (175 g) golden caster sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed with 3 teaspoons salt
1 level dessertspoon fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
1 oz (25 g) sauce flour

Method

You need to begin this the day before. What you do is place the prepared cauliflower and onions in a non-metallic bowl, and the cucumbers and beans in another. Then whisk the salt into 4 pints (2.25 litres) of cold water to make a brine, and pour this over the vegetables. Now put a plate with a weight on it on top of each one to keep them submerged and leave them for 24 hours.

The next day, drain away the salt water and briefly rinse the vegetables. Now place the cauliflower, onions and the 2 pints (1.2 litres) vinegar together in the pan. Then add the nutmeg and allspice, bring it up to the boil, cover and simmer for 8 minutes. Next, take off the lid and stir in the cucumbers, beans, sugar, garlic and ginger. Now bring the mixture up to simmering point again, cover and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. The vegetables should still be slightly crisp, so don't go away and forget them.

Next, set a large colander over a large bowl, pour the contents of the pan into it and leave it all to drain, reserving the vinegar. Then mix the mustard powder, turmeric and flour together in another bowl. Gradually work in the additional tablespoons of vinegar and 2 tablespoons water so the mixture becomes a fairly smooth paste. Now add a ladleful of the hot vinegar liquid drained from the vegetables, stir again and transfer the sauce mixture to a saucepan.

Bring it to the boil, gradually whisking in the remaining hot vinegar. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes, then transfer the vegetables from the colander back to the large bowl, and pour over the sauce. Stir really well now to mix everything evenly, then spoon the piccalilli into the hot, sterilised jars. Cover straightaway with waxed discs, seal with vinegar-proof lids and when cold, label and store the piccalilli in a cool, dry, dark place to mellow for 3 months before eating.

The two recipes above are both from Delia Smith and the old dowerhouse in particular was a big hit with the family last Christmas. So if you have a glut get chutney and pickle making nothing needs to go to waste bon apetite Jamie.

Pictures of the rest of Stapleton allotments.

2011-08-07T20:42:00.001+01:00

As promised last time here are some pictures of other plots on our site and to think the council want to get rid of over 20 of these to put a new bus lane through on to motorway.

Hope you enjoyed looking at some of the other plots at Stapleton allotments.

Planning ahead for winter and spring

2011-07-29T17:59:00.001+01:00

This is now the time of year when you have to start thinking about winter and spring on the allotment so over the last few days I have been sowing seeds for said months. I have sown some florence fennel to grow over winter inside the tunnel, last year I grew this outdoors and sowed it on the longest day as it is prone to bolting if done before. I did not know it could be grown inside tunnel as a winter crop until I read about it in a book that came as a gift with my tunnel from first, I wll keep you posted on results. I have also sown Swiss chard and rainbow chard in modules also for growing overwinter in tunnel along with lambs lettuce. Outside crops I have sown in modules are Savoy cabbage January king3, scarlet kale and cauliflower all year round. Must have a look at dobies of devon website tonight so I can order more seeds I would like more kale, spring greens and another variety of cabbage.

Winter is not a time for plots to lay bare and I truly believe you should have something in the ground 365 days a year, I am not saying every bit of space on our allotment is used all year round but most of the plot is productive even during winter months. Everyone is different and have differing views but that is mine I hate to see so many bare patches of ground on allotment sites during winter months. Areas that are not being used will have a dose of fresh chicken and duck poo which will be broken down ovewinter and ready for planting in next spring.

I will be taking the camera back down the plot in the next few days and hope to take some pictures of the best bits of Stapleton Allotments and show you all my favourite other plots and what other people are doing and growing. I will leave you with a photo of Harry and his sunflowers taken by John last year.

Video of our allotment yesterday with captions and music

2011-07-27T22:07:00.000+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWLLxKRy8Mw

Hope you enjoy a little walk round our allotment.

Bed system versus growing in rows?

2011-07-10T19:49:00.002+01:00

Right for the first time whilst writing this blog I am going to attempt a bit of education/debate. Anyone who has an allotment or visited one will know the two most popular ways of growing vegtables are either in rows(the traditional way) or Beds which can be raised or flat.

Planting in rows seems to be the most favoured way at our allotments and it tends to be people who have been working their plots for years or the older generation in my opinion. That is not to say newcomers don't do it this way. When growing this way the whole area is worked and you plant your vegtables in rows and gaps are left between each row so you can walk between your plants to hoe and water. I think this way is bloody hard work and if you do not use the correct digging methods or tools you could be in for back trouble later in life. The reason it is harder is you have dig over the whole area every Spring or Autumn as you have compacted the soil down by walking on it day in day out for months on end. I feel you also have to be hoeing more regular in between the plants. I also believe you do not get as big a crop yield through this method, but if anyone would like to prove me wrong please do. The advantage to using this method I find is how aesthetically pleasing vegtables look growing in rows be it big fat cabbages, beetroot or carrots.

On our allotment we use the bed method the top end of the plot are no dig raised beds and the bottom end are flat beds, which we fork over and add organic matter ie compost and manure. Using the bed method we plant our vegtables closer than the seed packet and books tell us but still get fantastic crops. We do use a hoe but most of the weeding is done by hand. Another reason I went for raised beds at the top end of the plot is that it is prone to flooding so this also eliminates the problem of not being able to grow overwintering vegtables in certain areas of our allotment.

To sum it up the bed method is my preffered choice on the allotment what is yours? Maybe its because I'm a lazy git or maybe not as daft as to want to be digging over 300 square yards every year. Although at our site there is a farmer who comes with his tractor and can plough and rotavate the lot for £30 every year which a lot of people have done. Whatever method you use it is down to personal choice and what suits each individual although you may get a few head shakes from the old boys who know best.

Photos at a very wet plot today.

2011-07-08T22:42:00.000+01:00

Cucumber Telegraph

Fruits just starting to form

Pepper sweet mini red

Harvested mini red

Tumbling toms in baskets

Cayenne chilli pepper

As you can see really prolific

Patio sizzler these are really hot

More Cayenne plus Halbenero

Inca bush tomatoes

Gardeners delight

As you can see I have not trained my tomatoes its like a jungle

You can really see how big the pepper plants are in this picture fantastic!

Tomatoe Black Prince

The wobbly sunflower with James willows in background

A self seeded tomatoe what variety?

Butternut squash Cobnut

Red onions starting to fall over

Stutgarter onions also falling over not long now

iceburg and little gem lettuces

Leek Muselburgh

Foremost and Home guard spuds now dying back so harvesting

Fisrt harvested cauliflower of the year!

Jeruselem Artichokes

Globe Artichokes from seed this year

Lupins and various other perrenial flowers from roots planted this year

Runner St George slower this year

Celery Giant pascal first time growing it!

Climbing french bean golden gate and cobra

Celeriac this year I will protect from frost

Zuchinni courgettes

I hope you enjoy the pictures and any comments, questions or tips are welcome speak to you all soon Jamie.

Pictures to take.

2011-07-07T16:30:00.000+01:00

Yet again appolgies for lack of blogging, I will take camera to plot tomorrow and get some pictures posted. I must admit I have been adding photos on twitter which I have just started using more so follow me there for more pictures on a regular bascis from my mobile. I will try and put my twitter link on homepage if not I am @Jamie_Milton. We are now getting rain and the plot has had a good watering today, everything seems a little behind this month outside I think it was due to colder June and the fact it has been so dry. The polytunnel is now rewarding us with tomatoes and chillis/peppers which are ahead due to warm March and April in fact the cayenne plants are huge and full of peppers as our the sweet mini reds. Hopefully back tomorrow with lots of pics speak soon Jamie.

Oh for the joys of Spring

2011-05-09T10:35:00.000+01:00

We finally had some much needed rain and our allotment is alive with the joys of spring, strawberries seem to be extremely bountifull this year and also very early. When the rain arrived it was a joy to behold as previously stated the ground has been like concrete and I have had to resort to the watering cans, yesterday I spent a good few hours at plot sorting through trays that have been sown in tunnel and giving quite a bit away. Celeriac was planted out Saturday along with remaining parsnips, we also have celery giant pascal to plant out it is a trench variety and we have never grown it before so I am a bit unsure of exactly how I make a trench and how to plant it out. Managed to take lots of pictures so here they are I will try to add captions enjoy!

Inside the tunnel tumbling toms are in the hanging baskets

Rocket growing like mad

Leeks and peppers almost ready for planting out

Gardeners delight, Golden peardrop and Incas.

Imperial longpod broad beans and Lettuce all year round

Our first chillis of the year these are Cayenne

Various chilli plants Cayenne, patio sizzler, Halbenero and sweet mini red.

Same as last year mange tout golden sweet growing up front of shed.

Stutgarter onions with garlic in background(already sending up scapes).

Strawberries getting ready to ripen.

Strawberry bed looking really full.

Perrenial flower bed.

First lupin in flower.

Globe artichokes grown from seed and jeruselem artichokes in background.

Blackcurrant, redcurrant, gooseberry and rhubarb.

Potatoe home guard and foremost as you can see they got frosted last week.

Another view inside the polytunnel, I hope you have enjoyed the pictures I am off now to discover and learn the joys and mishaps of growing celery.

When the wind is from the east it blows no good for man or beast

2011-05-03T07:37:00.001+01:00

So the saying goes and that could not be more true at the moment, we have not had any significant rain in Bristol for well over a month. The ground at our allotment is like concrete and I have had to resort to the watering cans which is very unusal for the time of year. One thing that is undetered by this very dry spell is my old friend the couch grass that just keeps on coming. One thing about the recent warm dry weather though is we already have lots of green tomatoes on our tumbling toms which are in baskets within tunnel it has also caused all our pak choi to run to seed so I will be pulling up and starting again.

I now have a few days off work to catch up with things on the plot sow and plant out so as promised before I will post pictures soon(this week). I am off to do a rain dance now so here is hoping to some of the wet stuff.

What month are we in?

2011-04-21T21:31:00.000+01:00

Bloody hell it has been warm over the last week or so I forgot it is only April, shame I've been stuck in work on late shifts. Really looking forward to getting down the plot on Saturday and planting out some crops. I plan to get our cabbages, sprouts and cauliflower out and start sowing my squashes and beans. I have all my tomatoes planted in the tunnel which I sowed in February also plan on planting out the rest of my chilli plants in tunnel. Going to have to cut this short phones are going off the hook again in work, I will get some pics up and report on progress after or during the weekend. Lets hope this good weather continues with some overnight rain for our plots.

Dry March makes for busy times at plot

2011-03-31T07:04:00.000+01:00

With March being such a dry month Our allotment is ahead of schedule with spring cleaning and preparation of beds for the coming season and lots of things have been started in modules or sown direct and even planted out in tunnel.

So here is what has been sown over the past couple of weeks 16th March planted seed spuds Foremost and Home Guard these have been planted 2 days earlier than last year so even more riskier due to late frosts. I have fleece at the ready just in case it is required and have also put hoops over bed to support it. 18th March onion sets Stutgarter and Red Baron planted this was followed on the 22nd by sowing in modules within polytunnel Sprout Maximus, Celeriac brilliant, Mange tout golden, Leek musselburgh, Cabbage Atlas and Greyhound, Sweet peas and Sunflowers. We also bought some plug palnts from Aldi 15 Cauliflower £1.98 and 6 Pepper sweet baby bell x2 at £1.98 each. I also have managed to erect pea net and sowed direct in ground on 23rd Mange tout golden.

The tomatoe and pepper plants in the loft are growing away really well and on the 25th I took one of each tomatoe Golden peardrop, Gardeners delight, Inca, tumbler F1, Tumbling yellow and Tumbling red plus one of each pepper Halbenero, Patio sizzler, Cayenne and Sweet mini red and planted out in tunnel. They are all doing fine at present it is a bit of a gamble with the weather being changeable but nothing ventured nothing gained.

One more foot note before I go lots of rain last night just what the doctor ordered.

My loft room is getting overtaken

2011-03-13T20:19:00.000+00:00

By tomatoe and chilli plants I have repotted today as they were getting leggy and half dead due to me neglecting them and not giving them a drink.

Here is what they are all looking like now!

Also at front of the picture are 6 globe artichokes called emerald, I am growing from seed even though most books say to grow from root cutting. This is another plant I have never tasted but I like the look of them so wanted some on plot. I finish my shift at 0330am tonight so hope to get to our allotment tomorrow and start sewing in modules not sure what yet? I may well sow some broad beans direct as well and hopefully start properly planning the beds for 2011.

I don't want to set myself too much to do but I would also like to start setting up my bean net as I would like to sow direct mange tout golden sweet this week. Also I think a visit to Scats is in order as they are selling chicken manure pellets buy one get one free at the moment. Lets hope the monster rat has ate all his blue corn seeds up as well because I can not be dealing with him jumping out on me.
On a more excitng note it is only 2 weeks until the clocks go forward and we can all start enjoying longer evenings, with a bit of luck the politicans will see sense and go with double summer time proposal which is being talked about at the moment. I know they are against it in Scotland but they have their own parliment so they can vote for thier own time zone if they so wish.

Until next time ta la.