Organic Allotment

A Well Stocked Cold Frame

The seedlings are really racing ahead now after the spell of sunny weather that we've had. I've had a good tidy out in the greenhouse today and moved the bigger ones into the cold frame to make room for the little ones that are coming through. In this picture you can see kale, turnips, beets and parsnips which will all soon be ready for the move out into the big wide world.

For the kale and parsnips these are the only ones that I'll plant this year, though I have got another batch of parsnips that I started straight in the ground. In a week or two I'll put them outside where they'll stay right through the winter until we're ready to eat them. For the beets and turnips they are just the first batch of many that will be planted in succession throughout the season so that I've got the longest possible harvest. I'm trying five different varieties of beetroots which will be planted in roughly fortnightly intervals, with the same regime used for my turnips.

It may seem a bit of bother to spread things out like this but it is really worth the effort to extend your picking season, no matter how small a plot you're working on.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Kim at Fresh As A Daisy

The Rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Write six random things about yourself.
• Tag six people at the end of your post linking to their blog.
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here goes...

1. I love growing pumpkins but I'm not particularly keen on eating most of them.
2. I work in a theatre with very few windows so spend much of my working life dreaming about what it looks like outside.
3. I speak Spanish (badly) but am totally baffled by the subjunctive.
4. I think Border Terriers are the best dogs but sadly haven't got one myself.
5. I don't fly anywhere, ever... that includes cheap weekend mini breaks.
6. I think capers are delicious.

I'm going to tag:
Soilman
Steed Farm
Musings from a Stonehead
Manor Stables Veg Plot
Calendula and Concrete
Tales of a Growing Apprentice

A Little Bedtime Reading

Bedtime reading in my house at the moment is Cuttings by Christopher Lloyd. A bit of an unfortunate obsession maybe, reading gardening books in bed, but this is the perfect pre-sleep browse. It is divided into a chapter for each month, which contain a selection of Christopher's columns written originally for the Guardian. Great to dip into and find eloquently written, expert advice as to what you should be thinking about and when in terms of plants.

Most of the book is focused on gardens with a little bit here and there about veg. However, I'm a great believer that allotments should look as good as well as being functional so any ideas about growing flowers and shrubs is much appreciated. One entry for May entitled "Young Foliage" was particularly resonant for me with its mention of the leaves of the Oriental Poppy which I had just been admiring on the plot. Of course the flowers are beautiful but they are really the second act to the leaves which act as such a point of interest when there isn't much else going on. As Christopher Lloyd puts it, their leaves are "pinnate, having deep indentations and a furry, dew-holding surface." Not showy and over stated like the blousey poppies, which are gone in the blink of an eye, but beautiful in their simplicity and functionality non the less.
 

Cauliflower Challenge

I’ve never grown cauliflowers before so was really pleased to accept these cauli seedlings that I was given by my allotment neighbour, Brian. I’ve always heard that they’re quite tricky to grow but Brian assured me that they’re not so bad if you prepare the soil properly and make sure they’re not allowed to dry out if things get parched in the summer.

I should probably point out at this juncture that our neighbour is extremely good at growing everything he plants. He did have a couple of cucumber plants that died on him last summer, but only when I was looking after them for him when he was away on holiday. He’s one of the old hands at the allotments and has had real experience of growing most veg knowing when’s best to put things in and what grows well where. In fact he’s been a font of all knowledge since I took on the plot and I’ve now come to accept that if he hasn’t got his onions in yet or put out his runner beans I probably shouldn’t be doing either.

This isn’t to say that I just copy everything he does – I’m not an allotment stalker! It’s all organic on our plot and his isn’t. When I first moved on I suspect he thought some of my methods were frankly crazy but now that I’ve got a couple of years’ successful growing under my belt he does occasionally ask me questions about stuff I’m doing on the plot. The caulis will be a test though. Will ours turn out as well as Brian’s? I’ll keep you posted…

Playing Catch Up

With one thing and another I've got a little bit behind myself with planting this year. It does feel worse because Easter was so early but there's no doubt that normally I'm a lot further on at this time of year. Having said that, there's no real benefit in being too hasty about planting stuff. Last year I planted my tomatoes in February but they were never really happy and took weeks to get big enough to move on. This year they've only been in for a fortnight but they already look much stronger and healthier.

Judging by the forecast for snow this weekend it's not a bad thing that there isn't really anything in the ground on the plot. I did get some peas planted into a drain pipe this weekend in the greenhouse though which will be much happier to wait a couple of weeks until it's warmer before they go out into the big wide world. The world may be heating up but last year the last frosts were not until the end of May for us in Manchester so, despite the warm days, it's best to hold off a little before even thinking about getting any of the more tender plants in like courgettes or sweetcorn... Regardless of how strong the temptation may be to plant, plant, plant at the first sign of spring!

Broccoli Part 2

As I explained in my last post, it wasn't looking very good on the purple broccoli front because the pigeons kept getting to it before I could. However, as you can see from this picture, things have improved and the broccoli is now coming so thick and fast that my feathered friends can't keep up with it leaving plenty for us to eat. This has to be one of my favourite crops off the plot so I'm really glad that we've finally got a share of the booty!

With regards to cooking it - the taste is so good that I don't like to meddle with it too much. One of my favourite things to do is pan fry it with a little garlic, fresh chilli and tomato to be served with pasta, fresh pepper and a little parmensan cheese. Deliciously simple!

Who needs a freezer?

We don't have a freezer at home for lots of eccentric reasons but who needs one with the weather we've been having? Finally we've had some real hard frosts at the plot over the last few mornings which has been just what the soil was waiting for! However, this kind of frost isn't without its drawbacks... I went up to the plot on Sunday morning to pick some goodies to take to my boyfriend's parents but everything was frozen hard with it impossible to dig a leek or cut a cabbage.

This is how the purple sprouting broccoli looked and, if I say so myself, I think Birdseye would be jealous of frozen veg of this calibre. However, you may notice from the picture that the pigeons have been the ones having most enjoyment from the broccoli this year, pecking all the goodness out of it at any opportunity, which is a real pain. The plants this year were the biggest and strongest we've had, and the pigeons have taken a real fancy to them which has never been a problem before. I can assure you that next year they'll be netted like all the rest of our brassicas. I don't mind sharing anything with local wildlife and normally argue that there's enough to go round everyone but this time I have to be tough because we haven't had a look in and psb is one of my favourites off the allotment. Any other suggestions for pigeon diversion?

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.