Digging & Dreaming

The Allotment Planner by Matthew Appleby

I have lots of gardening books. Probably more than I need, and more than I would care to admit to! But when I leaf through the pages of a new one I find it hard to resist adding it to my library. It was for this reason that I was particulalrly delighted to be sent a copy of The Allotment Planner by Matthew Appleby, hot off the press, a couple of weeks ago.

The book's author is on the team of Horticulture Week, where he also writes his own blog about gardening. As an allotment holder himself, this book is an irreverent guide to keeping an allotment, and is totally different to other allotment books that I have read. If you are looking for a guide to growing specific crops and to plot maintenance this may not be the thing for you. But if you are looking for an imaginative way to rethink your allotment and the things that you do there it could be just what you are looking for.

The book is beautifully designed and offers month by month suggestions of what to do when on your allotment. From tips on keeping chickens to growing super sized veg, the book is ideal to dip into and find inspiration for projects to try on your own allotment. It offers specific tips to get different projects started alongside sections to record on what you have been doing on your own plot.

I think this book is a great addition to any gardener's library and adds a new angle to your thinking on growing, alongside more traditional horticultural books. You can pick up your own copy of the book here.

 

Now It All Makes Perfect Sense

It was Bette Midler who said:

"My whole life has been spent waiting for an epiphany, a manifestation of God's presence, the kind of transcendent, magical experience that let's you see your place in the big picture. And that is what I had with my first compost heap."

As I was taking wonderful, fresh compost out of my compost bin in the garden this afternoon I have to admit that very similar thoughts crossed my own mind. Compost rocks! That's an indisputable fact and one of the things that I'm proudest of in our garden, and on the allotment, is the quality of the compost that we make. Of course, anyone can make half decent compost if they leave waste green materials long enough (and I'm not going to go into the mechanics of compost making here because there are already plenty of excellent places to find that information on the web)... But I'm pretty proud of the fact that our composting system is now so well honed on the allotment that we're able to turn garden waste into precious, dark, delicious compost in around 3 months! Impressive huh?

So what is it that makes me so crazy about compost? There are actually a couple of different motivations that I'd like to share with you here...

• Home made compost is pretty much the best thing going to feed plants and add condition and structure to your soil. It's actually so rich in nutrients that it needs to be diluted down with other soil if you want to use it as a potting compost for seeds and seedlings! That's pretty potent stuff made all the more amazing by the fact that if you leave garden waste to its own devices it will kind of make it itself.
• A compost bin is a great way of getting rid of food waste at home (as well as plant waste in the garden or on the allotment). 40% of food that people put into the rubbish could go straight into a compost bin and what's not to love about using leftovers and scraps to create nutritious , free food for you to use in the garden?
• Finally, without wishing to sound like I'm straying too far into hippy / good life territory, Bette isn't far wrong with her evaluation of the experience of making compost. I wouldn't say I'm quite so hardcore as to compare it to some kind of religious epiphany but the process of composting does highlight the maginficence of the processes that are occuring all the time in nature. I mean, how amazing is it to think of the cycle of plant matter that's no longer needed being composted to create a substance to feed plants that, when they grow, will in turn die back and become plant matter that's no longer needed that will be composted to create a substance to feed plants that, when they grow...? You can see what I'm getting at here can't you? And the best thing is that if we are able to appreciate and understand these processes, and our own part within them as growers and gardeners, we're able to create gardens and allotments that are as abundant and self supporting as nature itself.

And that, my friends, is why compost rocks!

Happy Birthday Plot 45

It was around this time five years ago that we first got our allotment. I can't remember the exact date but I remember vividly being shown round the different plots that were available by Brenda, our Site Manager. She showed me a couple of different plots, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Typically for me I chose the most over the top and un-manageable plot out of the four that I was shown.

Plot 45 had been perfectly tended by its previous owner but it was at least twice as big as what I had imagined, included a beautiful pond (that I didn't have a clue how to look after) and, as the then chair of the Committee had put it:

"That plot is really unsuitable for a woman gardener. Much too big for them to deal with."

Of course that was like a red rag to a bull for me and made me absolutely determined to take the plot on, no matter how big and unwieldy it may prove to be...So, going into my sixth season as an allotment gardener, what do I think that I've learnt from my experiences on Plot 45?

• Despite what any book or newspaper column may try to persuade you, looking after an allotment takes alot of hardwork. Especially in the first year when you probably won't have a clue what you're supposed to be doing.
• Despite what any grumpy fellow allotment holders may try to persuade you, this hardwork is not thankless and boring. It will soon become some of the most satisfying time you will invest and, despite what they may also try to persuade you, you will be well able to deal with it.
• Listen to the old handers on your allotment site when they offer advice - they've got a whole load of knowledge that can really help you out cultivating your plot. However, don't feel that everything they say is right! Everyone grows in different ways and it's about each individual finding their own way of doing things that works for them.
• Listen to your soil and respond to what it tells you. It knows everything that it needs and the knowledge is all there for the taking if you respond to the way that your soil behaves and accept that this may not be the same as you're told it will behave in the books that you have been reading.
• And finally, enjoy yourself. Cultivating an allotment is a pleasure and a privilege that not everyone has access to. It is also one of the most satisfying ways you could hope for to spend your down time. Remember this above all else and you can't possibly go far wrong.

Happy Halloween!

We're going to celebrate Halloween by making a risotto using this beautiful pumpkin that we picked a couple of weeks ago.  In case you want to have a go at cooking this delicious dish here's the recipe, courtesy of Antonio Carluccio.

Ingredients

600g of pumpkin flesh, chopped into very small chunks

2 tbsp olive oil

90g butter

4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 2 finely chopped, 2 whole

1 garlic clove

1 small onion, finely chopped

300g risotto rice

1 litre vegetable stock, hot

50 g freshly grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and a third of the butter in a pan. Then add the pumpkin, whole sprigs of rosemary and the garlic clove. The pumpkin will automatically exude some liquid so no water needs to be added. Cook for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin softens and dissolves. Remove the rosemary sprigs and garlic clove.

In another large pan, heat half the remaining butter and fry the onion gently until soft. Then add the rice and fry equally gently, stirring continuously, for a few minutes. Add a little stock and then the pumpkin mixture. Gradually add the stock little by little until it is all used up and has been absorbed by the rice. You will need to keep stirring the rice so it doesn't stick to the pan.

Take the rice off the heat and beat in the remaining butter and the Parmesan, and sprinkle with chopped rosemary to serve.

Perfect comfort food after a hard day's work at the allotment!

Fierce Tomato

 

We ate this tomato and thought it looked totally like a lion. Because we can be a little juvenile at times in our house this revelation caused at least ten minutes of uproarious laughter. And that was good fun so I decided to share it here with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

PS - It tasted great as well.

Thank You Rain!

Plot 45 looking great after a night of rain. Just what it needed!

To Rotavate Or Not To Rotavate?

Some people really like rotavating their soil. Although this can be a good thing and save a lot of time there are things that you should consider before you dive in...

• Rotators are really good if you need to break up lots of soil. If your allotment is small and you don't have much soil you're better to use a spade or fork. Doing this you will get to know the ground that you are working much much better.
• If you really need to rotavate do it in spring or autumn to break up the soil but don't keep doing it over and over again on the same area of soil. It really isn't doing the soil any favours.
• Rotavating the soil when it's wet is a guaranteed way of destroying its structure.
• Rotavators do not work the soil as deeply as a spade or fork will do which can cause problems for plants when they are trying to send roots down.
• Worms are your friends. Rotavators are worms' enemies, breaking them up and lowering their population.
• Weeds are your enemies. Rotavators are weeds' friends, breaking up their roots and increasing their population.
• Rotavators make a lot of noise! Respect your plot neighbours and try to rotavate when there aren't other people around enjoying the peace and quiet.

Snowy Times

We've had lots of snow here over the last couple of days - think we may need a drill to get the parsnips out of the frozen soil for Christmas dinner. Once the greenhouse roof was swept to make sure the glass didn't break under the weight of the snow we couldn't resist taking advantage of the deep snow at the allotment to make this snowman.

Happy Christmas to you all, and here's to plenty of good gardening in 2010!

Fair Exchange

This morning I went to visit a friend of my Dad's who had offered to give me some advice on some work that I am currently developing. Obviously there is nothing I like better than spending Saturday morning talking about accountancy and finance and there was no motivation in my visit at all to get to have a look at their beehive...! When I go to visit people I always like to take some produce along as a gift if I can so today I took one of my Turks Turban winter squash. One of the best things about growing things is having enough to share with other people and the pleasure it gives them to receive some fresh veg, a bunch of cut flowers or a jar of home made jam - simple things in life but still the best!

Today was a particularly good day because, as I mentioned earlier, my squash was in exchange for a look at my host's bees - firing me up even further that honey is the next produce that I want to have a go at harvesting so this is where I will be going in spring to start putting that plan into action! In addition to that John and Pat are also keen growers themselves so I went away with this beautiful, sweet bunch of grapes that they grew in their conservatory. I can tell you they didn't last long after I took the photo...

Allotments Are Really Good Because...

This isn't the first time I've used my blog to say how great I think allotments are... Yesterday when I headed up to my plot in the afternoon I went into the greenhouse to discover that my neighbour, Brian, had left this beautiful bunch of gladioli for me in my watering can. Brian's a really nice man, but come to think of it so are most of the other plot holders at my allotments -  they're always ready to give advice on growing, to swap seeds and seedlings and to share out their produce when they've got a glut that they can't keep up with. I'm a great believer that allotments are one of the few places in modern towns and cities where a real sense of community still prevails and this belief has, on the whole, been proved true in my years as a plot holder.

I live just around the corner from my allotment and having the plot means that I now know loads of like minded people in my local community who I would have never got to know without the allotment as a starting point. I also love the way that allotments are essentially public spaces and it's great to see how this kind of resource can really change the dynamic of a community. It's no surprise then to see that allotment waiting lists all over the country are now so long with people wanting to get their hands on plots that many groups are now lobbying local councils to set up more sites because current provision goes nowhere near meeting current demand. The Channel 4 Landshare website has been a perfect illustration of how great the desire is for people to get out into the fresh air and get growing. But the site also illustrates that there is a much greater demand for land to grow on than can currently be met.

So you've tried all avenues and still can't get your hands on a little plot of your own? Why not try getting together a group of like minded people and lobby your local council? If you can prove that there is local demand that isn't being met by current provision councils have a legal obligation to try and meet your needs, or at least come up with a very good excuse why they can't... There's no guarantee this route will lead to success but it's worth a try (my friend in Warwickshire got allotments set up in her community this way) and even if you aren't successful it's really important that people keep reminding the local powers that be that "We want more spaces to grow on and we want them now!"