Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

Forgot what happened last year - maybe it's here!!
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stewpot
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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billnorfolk wrote:Well done Stewart you have bin working hard ,looking neat and tidy and enjoying some of the fruits of your labour,nice to see the kids enjoying it.My raised beds are 3mx2m that way if need be you can kneel and plant or weed accross from both sides so i dont walk on them unless i realy need to .Keep an eye at B&Q and such places through the winter for cheap compost ideal for filling them raised beds and any stabels for a free load of horse muck.
You should find things a little easyer next year and planning on where things are going should soon be getting under way ,good luck and looking forward to Julys entry )t'


Thanks Bill. Yeah this year has been a case of clear it and plant as much as we can wherever we can. We will probably sit down in the Autumn and do a proper plan for next year. As well as finishing clearing the plot. Still got a sizeable chunk at c.4m wide by say12-15 metres long to go.

Our raised beds are 4 foot square about. Standard pallet size, 3 boards on each side and piece of recycled timber in the corner. I screwed it all together so they are more sturdy and last better. Got some more pallets in the garage and timber although couple of the pallets may be ear marked for a bench. Going to make the compost heap from scaffold boards so a real sturdy laster of 3 no. 4x4ft bins I hope and any spare planks will probably go into raised beds. Although wife has planted the rest of the corgettes where I was going to put them.

Good idea about the compost. At the moment Asda and our local small garden centre are doing 3 70l bags for £10 so not bad, but cash at premium
"Remember as you go through life that a rich man is just a poor man with an incredible amount of money" - Smith & Jones
Stewpots DTL Allotment Diary 2013
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lancashire lass
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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wow, you have been busy )t'

Compost - instead of emptying whole bags of stuff into a bed, just put it where the plants are going, so in planting holes eg courgettes or layer in a trench for potatoes. The raised beds won't seem that full, but think long term and in a few years time they'll be filling up as you add material to them every year. When I gave up a shared plot, I took the wood with me but I was so amazed to see how much the beds had built up in just 5 years.

Runner beans (or even french beans) - in late winter/very early spring, make a trench where they will be going and fill it with kitchen waste (eg peelings, but not potatoes or tomatoes unless you want more rogue plants everywhere LOL) I have a little bin at work in the tea room where people pop in their used tea bags and fruit peelings - I get about half a bucket of free stuff every week ... it's not much but every little bit helps. Cover with soil and leave them to rot down. As runner beans are sensitive to frost, you won't be planting for a while. The main reason is that beans are thirsty plants and these kitchen waste trenches are very moist so should save on water.

In autumn, there are tree leaves to bag up so there's some more free stuff. You can make leaf mould (can take a while to break down though - about 2-3 years but will be good stuff), but I tend to bury some direct in the soil in autumn/winter (not too many otherwise you'll shift the nutrient balance too much) - they'll rot down a lot faster as soil bacteria are in close contact, worms will also feed on them too, and (in my case), helps to break up the heavy clay soil. They will initially take the nitrogen out of the soil (that'll be the soil bacteria multiplying with the introduction of a food source) so I do add fertiliser or manure to the bed in spring to boost the levels up again. Like the bean trenches, I tend to leave the bed for tender summer crops so that warmer spring weather helps the process along before I'm ready for planting.

As you seem to be restricted with how much water is available, perhaps start thinking about using mulches in future. A mulch is basically a layer of stuff over the soil surface to reduce water loss from a baking sun. The stuff can be just about anything but give it some thought about what you can dig in to the soil after the crops have finished for the season. So a layer of grass cuttings or cardboard, I tend to use comfrey trimmings on the squash beds. The downside is that they do encourage slugs and snails to hide in it, right next to your crops.

Sorry, :oops: got carried away but just some ideas to reduce costs as they can mount up when trying to establish a plot
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stewpot
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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lancashire lass wrote:wow, you have been busy )t'

Compost - instead of emptying whole bags of stuff into a bed, just put it where the plants are going, so in planting holes eg courgettes or layer in a trench for potatoes.


That's a good one. At the moment the bottom half at least of each bed fill is soil anyway to economise. We did get a tip of my sister-in-law as well about direct planting as that failed this year as rain caked the surface. She said when you make the trench for the seeds line it and cover with compost which I thought was a good one

Runner beans (or even french beans) - in late winter/very early spring, make a trench where they will be going and fill it with kitchen waste (eg peelings, but not potatoes or tomatoes unless you want more rogue plants everywhere LOL)


Oh wow yes. I remember doing this with my mum in the back garden now. Thanks )t'

I have a little bin at work in the tea room where people pop in their used tea bags and fruit peelings - I get about half a bucket of free stuff every week ... it's not much but every little bit helps.
Did you get funny looks when you first asked :-D

In autumn, there are tree leaves to bag up so there's some more free stuff. You can make leaf mould (can take a while to break down though - about 2-3 years but will be good stuff),


Planning on getting several lots going as so many leaves in Autumn. It was one of the first thing I got the kids doing was collecting leaves. I will be setting at least one wire/nettign cage up maybe more

As you seem to be restricted with how much water is available, perhaps start thinking about using mulches in future.


I think its more getting enough containers and cutting the trees back to let the rain through more in spring/summer. We have got one big barrel and three dustbins at the moment. Hoping to get my hands on an IBC from work (Big square plastic container surrounded by wire cage) which will greatly increase the capacity. Its just getting enough rain to fill.

You can tell how dry and hot its been now as I can't even find any worms to take fishing! {cry} But mulches are a thought. No real slug problem there so far, but we have enough grass. I will have a think on that one. Maybe where I'm going to plant the more sensitive ones I will lay cardboard/plastic/fabric and plant through it.

Sorry, :oops: got carried away but just some ideas to reduce costs as they can mount up when trying to establish a plot


Don't worry it's great to have the feedback. Reminded me of a few things from my childhood and youth (Seems so far away now lol)
"Remember as you go through life that a rich man is just a poor man with an incredible amount of money" - Smith & Jones
Stewpots DTL Allotment Diary 2013
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lancashire lass
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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stewpot wrote:
I have a little bin at work in the tea room where people pop in their used tea bags and fruit peelings - I get about half a bucket of free stuff every week ... it's not much but every little bit helps
.

Did you get funny looks when you first asked :-D


Surprisingly no - I just put a little notice next to the bin (more like a bucket with a lid in which I line with a cheap bin bag so that I can take it out when full/end of the week), asking people to consider using it instead of the dust bins, with what can go in and what not to put in (like meat, sauce etc) and it gets filled regularly. Banana skins are the best because they are full of potassium so I fill trenches with these for the outdoor tomatoes. In return, I bring in surplus stuff, usually courgettes (but no-one has complained yet LOL), and if I've had a good year then apples, pears and any spare winter squashes or garlic etc, and people help themselves. A sort of trade which works well for everyone.
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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The end of July is almost here so I better get you up to date.

Well after the rain the almost endless sun. Nice for fishing but not for the plants. But having said that it's been really nice to get harvesting.

Everything was doing well in the sun to begin with:

ImageImageImage

Our first carrot - yeah!

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Sweetcorn going mad about 4' tall now

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Got a bit of a problem with some of the lettuces bolting though
"Remember as you go through life that a rich man is just a poor man with an incredible amount of money" - Smith & Jones
Stewpots DTL Allotment Diary 2013
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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Looking good )t' It's nice to be harvesting stuff after waiting for it to grow.

Re: lettuce bolting. Successional sowing is the key - just a few seeds every other week so that older plants get used up before they reach that stage especially during hot weather. Most important, don't ever let the soil dry out as this triggers younger plants into going into seed mode. Basically, it's survival is at risk from drought, so it sets seed for the next generation when conditions are improved.
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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Thanks LL

Good to know these things. I suspect the dry conditions are to blame especially as they were in raised beds. No problems with the salad leaves we've been picking though which is good. Thank goodness for the bit of rain we've been having though
"Remember as you go through life that a rich man is just a poor man with an incredible amount of money" - Smith & Jones
Stewpots DTL Allotment Diary 2013
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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Here's an unusual one but welcome

Compost potatoes!

Our unruly compost heap which I am starting to tackle has potato plants sprouting from it. I started to dig it out and found a nice lot of baby new potatoes. A great free crop along with the existing raspberries (About 3-4lb in total for the raspberries)

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Raspberries

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I have enjoyed the raspberries a lot - raspberry coollee and ice cream, raspberry meringues, a huge raspberry pavlova and home made raspberry ripple ice-cream which was particularly nice

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"Remember as you go through life that a rich man is just a poor man with an incredible amount of money" - Smith & Jones
Stewpots DTL Allotment Diary 2013
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stewpot
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Re: Stewart's Allotment Diary 2013

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Well my scounging paid off last week. Got a load of scaffold planks delivered to the allotment. 3ft, 4ft and 5ft. They were dropped inside the gate and I had to shift them all another 50m up the patch to our plot. 30 degree heat and 40 odd planks on your shoulder wipes you out >dum<

But it will be worth it - compost bins and raised beds.

Image

There are about another 8 x 5 footers out of the picture as well
"Remember as you go through life that a rich man is just a poor man with an incredible amount of money" - Smith & Jones
Stewpots DTL Allotment Diary 2013
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