Digging & Dreaming

To Water Or Not To Water?

On days like the one pictured above where I was imprisoned in the greenhouse by torrential rain it's hard to imagine that anything ever needs watering at the allotment. Of course, this isn't true and it only takes a day or two of sunshine for plants to need a drink. I have to say that on the whole I take a tough love approach on our plot and only water when absolutely necessary in the the belief that most plants do better if they're allowed to find water for themselves. And if your soil is high in organic matter and you mulch whenever you can you'll be amazed how much moisture the soil will retain even in the hottest weather.

Despite this there are some things that definitely need an extra drink from time to time. For example, all the plants in the greenhouse need watering at least once a day. Twice on a really hot day. In addition to this all seedlings need to be well watered when they're planted out until they're well established. Don't be tempted to leave them to fend for themselves too early as any weakness at that stage in their development will leave them more vulnerable to attack from slugs and other pests. You may also find that if the weather is particularly dry potato, onion and garlic plants won't reach their full potential so it's worth giving them a good drink if this situation arises. If you do need to water any crop outdoors you're always better to give them a really good soaking once or twice a week rather than a cursory dribble of water everyday.

One thing that can cause some degree of controversy on our plot is what time to water. I'm of the argument that on the whole you're better to water in the morning so that the water warms up as the morning sun warms the plant. I also always try to use harvested rainwater as it will have warmed up where it has been stored and be much kinder to the plants. My partner in gardening crime however is of the opinion that watering in the evening is the better bet as the plants will have the chance to absorb more of the water before it is evaporated by the strong morning sun. What we both agree on is not to water at the warmest part of the day and to always water the roots, trying to avoid wetting the leaves if possible.

So there you go... My simple, or not so simple, guide to the practice and politics of allotment watering! To water or not to water? Morning, evening or not at all? I guess that is the question...

A Splash of Colour

Although vegetable plots and allotments are essentially functional spaces I am a great believer that they should also look beautiful. Of course, beautiful can, in turn, also be functional but I'll come to that later...In my search for the perfect horticultural aesthetic I've developed a few different strategies over the years to try and make my plot as gorgeous to look at as the produce is to eat!

The first thing I do is try to plant in a way that is as relaxed and informal as possible. In practice this means mixing different crops together in a patchwork of colour and texture and avoiding planting large blocks of one crop on its own. For example, I love planting things of different heights together to give a real interest in levels, meaning you'll frequently see lettuces growing at the bottom on bean poles on our plot. On a practical level this way of planting also helps protect crops against pests and diseases as plants that are not planted in large, mono-cultivar beds seem to be much less prone to attack. If you want to know more about tried and tested planting combinations that will help keep your plants happy and healthy I suggest you take a look at Bob Flowerdew's Complete Book of Companion Gardening which is an absolute mine of information on this subject.

My pursuit of all things beautiful also means that you're always going to find lots of flowers growing all over the plot. Some of these are purely for show like the tulips that are in full bloom at the moment, a number of which may also end up as cut flowers in the house. Others are also great companion plants that play an essential role in attracting beneficial insects to the plot and having a key part in protecting our crops from attack - again Bob gives bags of advice on what to plant where and when.

Some of these companion flowers are perennial plants that come back year after year, but the vast majority are annuals that need to be planted each season. If you haven't planted any already, now's a perfect time to do it. And here's a selection of some of my personal favourites.

Cosmos is an absolute beauty that will flower for weeks on end, with large flowers that bees love.They vary in colour from pure white to bright pink and their loose, relaxed flowers look wonderful as a cut flower.

French Marigolds are one of the easiest flowers to grow. Their leaves have a delicious, distinctive smell. They are known to repel soil nematodes and whitefly from tomatoes.

Nigella Love in a Mist has both flowers and seed heads that make excellent cut flowers. Sowing them near or in carrot seeds is believed to keep the crop free of carrot fly.

Pot Marigolds are the queens of companion planting. They attract bees, butterflies and hoverflies. If you let them go to seed each year they are also happy to spread themselves all over, popping up as the weather warms up in Spring.

So, there's a couple of my favourites. Any I've missed out that are absolute essentials on your plot?

 

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!

Just Add Plants

This week I finally got time to give the greenhouse a good spruce up. It's a job that I always do at this time of year before the planting really kicks in and it's bursting at the seams with plants. This time the task was particularly important because there was blight on the tomatoes in here last year and I didn't want to take the risk that it may still be hanging around.

All the windows have been disinfected, the floors have been swept and the potting bench that you can see in the corner has been cleared ready for action. If you're wondering what the wooden trough on the left is for - it's the only place that we've ever managed to grow carrots successfully! When it was first built it was christened "Courgette Corner" but now it's been renamed "Carrot Corner"...And it's been moved out of the corner...

As you can see from the picture it all looks clean and tidy now, but a little sparse as well... Time to start planting and fill it up!