Organic Allotment

Winter Oaks

Last spring when I was tidying up the plot I found a couple of acorns which must have been buried by a squirrel during the winter months and which were well and truly sprouted and fighting for life. One of my big problems as a gardener is that I can't stand to let any plants die if I can possibly help it so I decided that the best course of action was to pot them up and see how they got on. As seems typical with an unplanned or not strictly wanted plant they flourished, grew tiny oak leaves in summer, shed them in autumn and did great over the winter to such an extent that they're now nearly out growing their little pots.

The problem I now face is to find a home for my 6 tiny oak trees! Clearly I can't plant them on my allotment or in my garden because there simply isn't enough room - it's a big deal growing a tree the size of an oak and I think there's nothing worse than seeing a tree squashed in where there isn't really space. Another option is to plant them in the woodland park next to the allotments and see how they get on but I'm quite attached to them now and don't know what chances they'd have of survival in the big, wide world. Maybe the best possibility is to put them on Freecycle (if I can't get rid of them there I never will) and pass on the responsibility and guilt to another unsuspecting gardener.

A Little TLC

A rhubarb plant or two is a common sight on allotments everywhere but as a plant it is much neglected (well it certainly has been on my plot anyway). Part of the problem is that pretty much whatever abuse you throw at it it'll carry on growing so its needs often get forgotten in the wake of the demands of more demanding crops. It is probably this lack of care, combined with the rotten weather, that meant that I had a less than glorious harvest last year; there was lots of rhubarb but it was a bit weedy and the stems weren't strong at all.

This year I decided to buck the trend and give my rhubarb bed a little TLC and if you want to do this now is the perfect time of year. I had a general tidy around the bed as well as giving each crown a good covering of about 3 to 4 inches of garden compost which will serve to give them a good feed but also protect the early growth from any frost in the coming months. Now is also the time to have a go at forcing rhubarb as well if that's your thing; I've never done it myself but it means that the stems are more tender, sweeter and don't need to be peeled.

All you need to have a go is a container to exclude light - anything will do like a dustbin, a big plant pot, a bucket... If you place this over the rhubarb as soon as it begins to show signs of growth the lack of light and the heating effect of the container will rapidly bring on the rhubarb and it should be ready for eating in about four weeks, a good month or so before rhubarb that is not forced. When the rhubarb is picked (or it outgrows the covering) remove the covering and leave the rhubarb to recover for next year.

Happy New Year!

2007 seems to have gone so quickly as a gardening year with the weather being pitted against growers for much of the time. The start of the New Year also means that this blog has nearly reached its first birthday, which in turn marks my entry into the third year of allotment vegetable growing. In traditional New Year form I feel that it's only appropriate to mark these milestones with some resolutions for the year ahead.

1. Replace the wood around at least some of the beds - it's getting pretty rotten in places!
2. Finally find a workable use for the "problem" bed I've got next to the pond. Any suggestions?
3. Create a woodland area out of the shaded lawn that's between the shed and the composters.
4. Keep on top of mowing the grass paths which look oh so lovely when they're neat and tidy but oh so horrible when they're rough around the edges.
5. Hope for a nicer summer to make more use of the camping stove in the shed for alfresco, evening meals - one of the high points of allotment gardening for me.