Anyone doing anything ?

[Richard]

I'm not !!!!

At some stage I need to dig up the area for some Broad Bean sowing.

Other than that I'm just letting the Chickens scrape and dust bath around the Greenhouse and Veggie Patch.

Richard

[KarenE]

Not yet! I've bought my seeds (last year's sale) and will be digging in my chicken compost but the ground's so soggy that I'll probably do that in late Feb. I've got a few cloves of garlic on the go in a trough (the chickens have eaten all the leaves though) and I've just pruned the low branches off my gooseberries. Apart from a bit of cutting and pruning, there's not much else can be done at this time of year.

I might do a gardening diary this year.

[Sara]

Im throwing the chooks muck on the ground

Ill dig it in in,februrary , so until then im throwing on and letting it rest

[KarenE]

Letting it rest? Like fine red wine That's a good idea, I might do that myself this weekend. I have a corner of the garden where I pile it on and the girls dig it around for me so maybe I'll transplant some of that to my veg plots.

[Richard]

Hi

You may need to chuck a lot of other stuff on it as well. Neat Chicken Manure is very rich.
Certainly dig it in very very well.

With some things it can start your seeds off to a flyer, then......

Richard

[S25ale]

Made a start on clearing the top half of the allotment, we only took it on last July so we concentrated on clearing the end closest to the gate and grew what we could with the remaining growing time. The previous tenant had kept all sorts of poultry at the top end and the area was split into lots of sections with old pallets and chicken wire. Took around 3 hours to knock it all down but the sun was shining. Crumbled spectacularly today and brought seed potatoes from the garden centre which are now cluttering the unused pantry in egg boxes.

[Richard]

Good for you, a great 2015 challenge.

Richard

[lancashire lass]

I've started The potatoes and onion sets for 2015 are ordered (delivery from about March), and I'm also growing a few onions from seed and these are now sown in pots/trays and currently in the house where it is warmer to encourage germination. Chilli seed sowing about to commence any day now as I want to start these off early this year.

I went a bit over the top with the autumn planting garlic purchases but unfortunately was unable to finish planting them out on the plot in time - the weekend before Christmas was ideal but I had to give it a rest to spend time sorting out the house for the festive season and hoped to get to the allotment during the holiday break. The snow and ice from Boxing Day scuppered those plans and instead, I potted the cloves to grow on outside/in an unheated greenhouse and will plant out when the ground is less wet.

Meanwhile, I'm moving the chicken poop and soiled bedding to the allotment as and when I can, weather permitting.

You may need to chuck a lot of other stuff on it as well. Neat Chicken Manure is very rich.
Certainly dig it in very very well.

With some things it can start your seeds off to a flyer, then......

It can depend on a few things - some crops cope well with raw manure than others. Winter squashes and pumpkins should be fine, and my experiment last year with sweetcorn showed they did alright too - both have a high nitrogen demand in the initial growth (start the seeds off in pots of compost and plant out when big enough so they already have a good root system) and by the time the nitrogen is exhausted, the plants need other nutrients such as potassium for fruits and seeds. Also, it depends on your soil type too - heavy clay soil tend to have micro nutrients available whereas sandy soil is easily leached out by weather. So it might not necessarily be the manure alone that may be the problem.

I dig in the soiled bedding, not so much to increase fertility (though it is a bonus) but to improve the soil structure - my plot is mainly heavy clay so digging in the bedding helps to break it up. It is better done during late summer / autumn while the soil temperature is warm so the microorganisms can get to work sooner. Meanwhile, I'm just putting the bedding on the soil surface at the moment to act like a mulch to help prevent winter rains from washing nutrients out of the soil and in the meantime, is helping to weather it quicker so by early spring should be fine. Last year I dug a few bags into the brassica beds in early spring and by the time I planted the cabbages, swede and sprouts out in June (again, seed grown in pots first), the soil was in excellent condition and they grew very well. I think the mild winter and warm spring may have been a contributing factor as well, allowing soil bacteria to break it down a lot quicker.

Carrots and parsnips are probably the two crops where you shouldn't grow in freshly manured beds as they are root crops - too much nitrogen will encourage leafy growth at the expense of roots, and it is said to encourage fanging (where the main root splits into multiple roots)

[Richard]

Very interesting post Lassie.


Thanks

Richard

[Carole]

Havn't been to my plot for about 3 weeks to wet but it's all dug and ready for spring planting. Got a few cabbage and coli growing and of course Japanese onions, roll on spring to get started,going to try sweetcorn this year and my daughter want's some peppers have never grown them so research needed, outdoors or in polly tunnel?

[lancashire lass]

my daughter want's some peppers have never grown them so research needed, outdoors or in polly tunnel?

You can do both - in a good (long, warm and dry) summer, it's possible to grow some outdoors and get a good crop (as I noticed you live in the West Midlands) but it might be an idea to perhaps have a back up in the polytunnel ... just in case. When I first grew some bell type for the allotment, most people were shaking their head as being a waste but they proved to be very productive.

I think the key is to start the seeds off as early as you dare (mid-January) so that by the time the last frost has passed, you'll have mature plants that will go on to flower soon after. It may mean faffing around to make sure the seeds are on heat to germinate and extra light when they appear, but worth it. I recommend "mini" peppers for outdoors as they should ripen quicker - big peppers take longer to grow, slow to flower and often still green by the end of the season. Peppers ripen with warmth (unlike tomatoes where you pop an over ripe banana skin with them)

I fancy trying THESE called Sweet Sunshine F1 but the seeds are a tad expensive

[Sara]

Very interesting, Thanks

It will be my little patchs second year this year, So im still working out what works in this plot.... Its a lot smaller than the plot i had a few years ago, but i actually grew more and better than ever before.
The soil really surprised me when i dug the patch last spring, taking out most of the lawn... It was very good, just rich enough and not very stony.
Through the summer i covered the ground with straw around the roots of everything, it was a huge success, kept the weeding down to a minimum, and halved the watering, so ive just sort of carried that on... No idea if it will work or not

Im also throwing the ash from the wood burner on there too....

[Carole]

Thank you for the info, going to get seeds tomorrow and have a go, start them off in the propagator then they can go in greenhouse at home. Think were asking a bit much for a long dry summer but you never know As long as it's not like 2013 we had a sign up on our allotments saying swimming lessons given, we were all under water.

[jackian]

Sadly we have done nothing since planting onions, broad beans and garlic at the end of last year.
We have two allotments and at the moment it is so wet they are sodden . I cycled to them at the beginning of the week to get some green stuff for the chickens and my Savoy cabbages were frost hard.
I am next week going to clear the green house ready and wash all pots etc.,
I have most seeds but am browsing through catalogues .. Roll on spring .

Jackie x

[mrs boodles]

I have ordered most of my seeds and waiting for them to arrive, bought some seed potatoes yesterday. What is to be the veggie plot is covered in weed suppressant but bit has blown off and needs to be put back although with how the wind is getting up will be putting more back tomorrow.
We have made two areas for the hen manure, filling one bit up and letting it rot down and now filling up the second area. Need to also get some seed compost over next few weeks.