Organic Allotment

Protection

The growing of vegetables is so fraught with possible mishaps that it's a wonder that anything ever makes it from plot to table! Take for example these calabrese. First of all it was too cold to plant them out so I started them off in the greenhouse but they hate having their roots disturbed so need to be planted in paper pots so this doesn't happen when they get planted out. In addition to this they're also very sensitive to being transplanted in hot weather so you need to pick a coolish day to move them to make sure they don't wilt and die. If you successfully overcome these hurdles as soon as they're outside is when the real challenges start...

Nice young brassicas are one of the favourite snacks for slugs on my plot so the cup you can see in the middle of the picture is a beer trap to keep them at bay. The wood pigeons that live in surrounding trees also enjoy giving them a peck and nibble which means they need to be netted as soon as they're planted out and this also serves as protection from cabbage white butterflies whose offspring will demolish a bed of calabrese or any brassica in no time. If that isn't enough regular watering is crucial for them to form the heads of broccoli that you're aiming for.

Simple isn't it? If you make it past all of that your final challenge is to decide how you want to cook it and sit back and enjoy your meal!

Rain At Last!

The pictures on this blog may lead you into the belief that the sun always shines in Manchester. Sadly this isn't actually the case and, after the really hot weather in April, May has been a much more cool and soggy affair. The main benefit of this has been that everything on the plot is growing really well but at the moment it's the flowers that are the star of the show.

The alliums that I planted are all coming through in the herb garden and the oriental poppies look within days of flowering - I'll post a picture as soon as they're ready. And not to be out done the trees at the bottom of the plot in our little woodland garden are now covered in leaves, creating a peaceful haven where you feel like you could be miles away from anywhere. It's bliss!

I'm not neglecting the vegetables totally but at the moment they're no competition in the beauty stakes! I suppose that's the great thing about growing veg though - the expectation of great things to come. Take my potatoes for example which are in this picture. They aren't amazing to look at at the moment but I still can't get over the excitement of digging them - you put one in the ground and get maybe ten more in return if you're lucky. Simple pleasures I know but it still fascinates me!

It's All Go

Everything's starting to take shape on the plot with new plants in the ground for the first time since autumn. The broad beans are now out and holding their own, there's a row of peas, onion and garlic and a couple of rows of Boltardy beetroots. The only problem I've got is that there's so much work needs doing that I've got to spend every spare minute down there keeping up with it. It's ironic really because there are loads of interesting things happening that would be perfect for the blog but I'm not indoors enough to sit at the computer and write them up.Could this be the compromise of the modern garden blogger?

I'm also really jealous when I look round at other people's blogs to see how weed free their plots appear to be! I try and have a dandelion sweep everytime I'm there and pull out mare's tails as soon as they appear but apart from that it's a strictly as and when approach. It is the one time when I feel slightly envious of the non-organic plot holders who just turn up with a bottle of weedkiller and get rid of the lot in one go, and there's me spending hours on my hands and knees weeding at every opportunity. But then nobody ever said that being organic was the easy option and I do think to a certain extent you have to learn to live with the weeds - or does that just show how lazy I am?

To Plant or Not To Plant?

I've been away from my computer for a couple of weeks so it's been very quiet here on the blog but that has meant that I've had loads of time to put in at the allotment and it's all looking good. The weather has been absolutely glorious so all the seeds that I've planted have been sprinting ahead and are fast outgrowing their current home.

These broad beans and beetroots are out of the greenhouse and in the cold frame now but I'm wary about putting them out because the nights are still cool and one frosty night would probably finish them off. I lost my broad beans last year because I was too eager planting them and want to try not to do the same this time but, having said that it's, false economy to let them get pot bound - that could cause them as much damage as the cold.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and let them out into the big wide world one evening this week. I've got another batch of both coming on anyway in an attempt to improve my succession planting this year so it wouldn't be the end of the world if I did suffer some casualties. I suppose the real question of this post should be asking if every allotment gardener gets as attached to their plants as I do...?

Keeping Up With The Neighbours

It's all starting to get busy now with loads of seedlings on the go and all the beds nearly ready to be filled with plants. It still feels a bit cold to plant seeds directly into the soil though so everything is being started off in the greenhouse or on window ledges at home. These beetroots were planted a week or two ago and they're coming on brilliantly. I've planted them up in paper pots which they'll be left in until they're a bit bigger and ready to go in the ground - this is perfect because beets hate having their roots disturbed.

When it comes to growing stuff one thing I learnt last year is that my allotment neighbour Brian knows alot more than me, so if he's planting something it probably means it's the right time to do it! This means I'll be keeping an eye on what he's upto on his plot and what he's planting - it's one of the facts of allotments that the old hands on any site are likely to be able to give you more relevant knowledge than any book that you can read. They're not always right but if they've had a plot for 15 years they tend to be on the right lines and asking  advice is a great way to get the know other people on your site - which comes into its own in the summer when you can swap produce with you new found friends!

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb

The rhubarb bed is coming on a pace now that the weather is warming up. I'm not a great fan of it myself but I've got enough family and friends who love eating it to warrant keeping it on the plot. It offers good cover next to the pond that the frogs, toads and newts really appreciate but the plants can get a little unruly towards the end of the season and need to be kept in check to stop them spilling out and blocking the paths.

The leaves of rhubarbs are supposed to be good for making an organic insecticide though I haven't actually tried this myself. Joy Larkcom has also got some suggestions about doing this in her book, Grow Your Own Vegetables, which is the essential day to day reference book on my allotment. Be careful though because the leaves contain oxalic acid which can also poison friendly visitors like bees.

A Bit of Colour

All the spring flowers are in full force on the allotment at the moment. These are in the big flowerbed that is at the front of my plot and is presently dotted with primulas, like these, crocuses and daffodils, and the tulips won't be far behind.

Aside from this bed I grow flowers all over the plot partly because I love colour but also because companion planting is crucial in any organic garden. If you want to have a go you won't go far wrong by having a look at Bob Flowerdew's book which is a veritable companion planting bible. It's also brilliant to be able to pick fresh flowers for the house and, if your planning is good, you can have some available for most of the year. Sarah Raven is an expert on growing flowers for cutting and her website has loads of tips and ideas to get you started.

Worth the Wait?

Just as I'm thinking about planting some purple sprouting broccoli for next spring this year's batch is finally ready. Of all the veg you can grow this is one of the ones that involves a significant investment of time being a year in the growing. It is also a big plant and needs quite a bit of space on the plot but having said that, once it's in the ground it can be left pretty much to its own devices so isn't at all demanding in that respect.

Last year I started mine off in pots in April on the kitchen windowsill then moved them into the cold frame where they stayed until the peas were finished at the end of summer and a space could be made for them. This seemed to work so I'll be doing pretty much the same again this time.

I also grew calabrese which is the plant that most people would be more familiar with as broccoli. It was pretty easy to grow and is very quick from planting to plate but the problem I had was that I got loads of little spears but no big heads of broccoli. My allotment neighbour, who is a font of all veg growing knowledge, told me this was due inconsistent watering during the hot dry weather so I'm going to have to be much stricter with my regime next time round.

The question is, is it worth all the effort? Well, both calabrese and broccoli taste so much better when you've grown them yourself so I'll be trying both again this year.

A Hop, Skip and a Jump

I was browsing through a book by Lawrence Hills and came across a little section about spent hops and how useful it can be for the organic gardener, especially as a mulch or activator for compost. So, imagine my glee when I spoke to a friend on the phone who had claimed a couple sacks of the stuff for me from her local pub, who also happen to have their own micro brewery.

Hops are like legumes in that they fix nitrogen so they give a really good feed to a plant when they are used as a mulch. I researched a little further and found that they are perfect for currants, fruit trees and other berries so all of my blackcurrant bushes have been given a hefty portion to set them up for the year ahead. I also put a pile into each of my composters to get things moving along a bit more quickly in there. From a practical point of view it's really user friendly because it's nice and clean so you can just dive into the sack with your bare hands and it smells beautiful. Another added extra is that the little birds really like pecking around in it for a feed as it dries out and more birds can only be a good thing.

For me hops is a really attractive plant when it's growing but I've been wary about giving it a try because the plants can be very unruly need up to 5 metres to climb up, but I've managed to find a dwarf variety which will be better suited to a small garden or allotment.

Signs of Life

It's great to finally have some signs of life on the allotment again after the winter months. Of course the brassicas are all still standing but once the weather gets cold they don't make any real progress so these garlic are the first real sign of spring's arrival. My boyfriend planted them before Christmas so they've been in the ground over three months now, but it's been in the last couple of weeks when they've really started putting on any real growth.

Last year I didn't get round to planting them until well into April and they weren't a great success. There was alot of foilage but the bulbs were pretty disappointing when I picked them - small and just one big bulb with no separate cloves. It's supposed to be the cold weather in winter that causes the garlic to form cloves so we're hoping that the extra time in the ground will have helped them along in this respect. That said, the weather has been so mild this winter, with no more than a couple of frosts, I'm not convinced that it will have made too much difference. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed until it's time to pick them at the end of summer when the leaves start to go yellow and dry out.

We've planted Casablanca and Germidour which are the normal style garlic and are supposed to be reliable to grow in all parts of the UK, with Casablanca having a slightly stronger flavour. We've also had a go a planting Elephant garlic which is the really huge garlic bulbs that you often see in the shops- strictly speaking it's a member of the leek family and not actually a garlic at all but from my perspective as a grower it's just treated in exactly the same way as the other two varieties we've planted. I really love garlic so I'm hoping to have a little more success than last year, and it's such a great crop as properly dried out there's no reason that it can't be stored for use throughout the winter months.