Wow! Wait a minute. I just remembered that I have this website on allotmenteer.co.uk, logged in, and noticed my last posting to the site dates back nearly 4 months!

OK - let’s say it was during winter this happened - you could sort of understand. But as it happens summer is nearly gone, and this place should be bustling with reports of a bountyful harvest from my plot, so why is it that nothing has happened?

I’m afraid that this season has been another disastrous one for me! The two main reasons being lack of time due to work and family commitments, and a massive, massive mistake I made at the beginning of the season. Let’s rewind……

My previous post read:

On top of that I have, over the last month or so, wheeled in an additional 2-3 tonnes of manure, and spread it in a 2 inch layer on top of the soil. Yesterday most of it was turned into the soil by rotovator (I still need to run over parts of it another time or two), so my entire plot is now ready for sowing and planting out.

I have now learned the hard way! Never - never ever - use fresh manure on your top soil!

Now - some of you may want to know why? Simply because seeds that would have been part of the diet of the animals that produced the manure may not have been digested properly (this is particularly true for grazing animals), and so they will germinate and grow on your plot.

Result? When I came back from my holiday at the end of May, my plot looked like something in between a nice meadow and a lawn! Sad - but true! Now - it takes enough out of me to get the time to go and tend to whatever crops I’ve got, so having to weed out grass from all over the plot was simply more than I could bear to think about.

Needless to say - but most of my plot has been in a horrendous state through most of the season. In saying that though - I have had a decent crop of strawberries, peas, raspberries and beetroot. Also I have had a few carrots - and a few brassicas that I don’t yet know how will turn out. Oh - and my sons sunflowers have been a tremendous success - second season on the run!

I have learned my lesson! I shall get up - brush off the dust - and move on! Success on my plot will happen the third time around - and I’m still adamant that this site will evolve into a valuable ressource for allotment plotholders and/or vegetable growers in the UK and world wide.

Just watch this space….

Technorati Tags: Allotment Digging, Allotment Gardening, Manure

Yesterday was a day of great achievement in my allotmenteer career. After 18 months of hard work I finished double-digging my entire plot! This means that every bit of soil on my plot has now been dug over, using my “Cheat version” of double digging.

In reality, even though this technique is not a labour intensive as “real” double digging - make no mistakes - it still takes a considerable amount of effort, along with (quite litterally) tonnes of organic matter! My estimate would be that over the course of these 18 months, I have wheeled in well in excess of 50 tonnes of horse manure onto my plot, and dug it in.

On top of that I have, over the last month or so, wheeled in an additional 2-3 tonnes of manure, and spread it in a 2 inch layer on top of the soil. Yesterday most of it was turned into the soil by rotovator (I still need to run over parts of it another time or two), so my entire plot is now ready for sowing and planting out.

I’m going to do some of that tomorrow (it’s a bank holiday in the UK), while I promised to also run the rotovator over another plot or two, belonging to some elderly plot holders who would have no chance of doing it themselves. Those machines in themselves are worth a few hours in the gym - so if you’re 70+ years old - you really don’t stand much of a chance. I love helping people - so it’s a problem solved!

Technorati Tags: Allotment Digging, Allotment Gardening, Manure, Rotovating

Winter is losing its grip, and today I went back to my plot for the first time in nearly 3 months. I really enjoyed being back, as did my 4-year old son, but boy did I feel out of shape at the end of the day? My goodness - if I am to achieve anything of what I want this season - I’ve got to kick it into a higher gear!

In saying that though, this year I have invited one of my friends on to the plot with me, and he was there with me some of the time today. I’ve done this mainly for 2 reasons. First of all, there’s just no way that I’ll be able to manage the plot on my own this year, so I thought it would be an idea to invite someone in to share the benefits that can be had from the plot as well. Secondly - it’s amazing what you can accomplish when you work with someone else - rather than on your own.

Between us we managed to pick up well over a ton of horse manure from the local riding school, transporting it onto the plot, and digging just over half of it in. We used my “Cheat version” of the double digging method, but as well this year I’m planning to spread a layer of manure on the top soil, before the whole plot gets turned over with a rotovator.

As far as I’m concerned, you can’t dig in too much organic matter of this kind. It would be different with stronger types of manure, like cow/pig/chicken manure, but horse manure is quite mild - and excellent to get some air into the soil. I’m hoping to see some results of my hard work last season, digging in tonnes of manure, in terms of an improved soil structure as well as a sharply increased amount of earthworms to help me do some of the hard work.

Talking of worms - I cant remember if I mentioned this before - but all the worms in my wormery was wiped out last year because of all the rain. This year I’m going to start all over again - and we may even start a proper wormery on the site - because we have found out that it can help us with composting, while it can raise some funds to improve things on our site. I’ll keep you all updated on that one.

Other than that I’ve got nothing much to say today. I promise updates to the site will start to become more regular, as I get the time I need to build it, and I’ve got something worthwhile to tell you about.

Technorati Tags: Digging, Allotment, Manure, Riding School

I hear you say “What?”. By now you probably think “This guy is off his head! Isn’t he 2½ months ahead of time?”

Well - no I’m not! In fact I’m 2 weeks late - because I’m talking about the gardeners’ and allotmenteers’ New Year - October 1st. This date is among gardeners reconed as the start of a new season - we can take stock of the season behind us - and start looking forward to a new season with everything that brings with it.

You may well have noticed that not a lot has been happening on Allotmenteer.co.uk these past few months. Those were the months where I should have told you all about my crops - rejoyced in the fruits of my hard labour - and showed off what was happening on my plot during summer!

Problem is - I’ve had nothing to show for all my hard work! As I’m sure most of you guys would agree - the “summer” just gone has been nothing less than an absolute disaster - and my allotment plot has been no exception! This doesn’t mean that my labour has been in vain - I’m sure all my digging over and incorporating truckloads of organic matter to my plot will pay off in seasons to come - but this year has been a massive let down.

My main crop this year was potatoes! They were doing fine up until the last week in July, and as you can see in my previous article I was still optimistic at that point, still digging and planting (hoping to get a good yield at the end of september), and hoping for better weather to come round. At that point most of my potato plants looked as if they were doing just fine - with exception of a few plants that I thought had been subject to slug attacks.

One week later all my potatoes were gone! Dead! Obliterated by blight - not slugs - and all my tomato plants followed suit! There has been two successful crops on my plot this year! My Squash (marrow) plants gave me a few fruits - nothing like they would have with better weather - and my son’s sunflowers excelled! That’s it! Everything else ended up absolutely useless!

Not that it was any consolation to me - and then in a way it was - I visited my college tutor and his 2 colleagues in the walled garden at Croxteth Park, Liverpool. Their vegetable garden didn’t look any better at all - and between them - these guys have got more than a 100 years experience growing vegetables, fruits and ornamentals. I guess it isn’t just me who was hit hard then!

Now - obviously - this has hit allotmenteer.co.uk quite hard as well. Not that I wanted it to - but with the summer we’ve had - I turned my attention to other projects. At a later point I’ll tell you more about what I’ve been doing - although it has nothing to do with allotmenteering - but I need to see it work first.

I will get back to updating this website more regularly, putting new information on it that will benefit allotment plotholders, but for the time being I have to keep my focus on other things - including getting my plot ready for next season. As previously announced I’m also expecting an addition to my family in about 5 weeks time - and those of you knowing what having a baby in the house means - will know why my postings will remain erratic for some time.

This is just to keep you updated on the goings on around here. Please bear with me - this website is not dead - just in a bit of a slumber. I still intend on making it the place to come for allotment plotholders and vegetable growers worldwide.

Technorati Tags: Allotment, Rain, Sunflowers, Blight, Potatoes, Croxteth Park, Liverpool

Wooshhh! And before you know it - another month is nearly gone and over! The latter part of this june has been as wet as they come, which is good in one sense - and not so good in another. Well - at least for me that is!

It’s a well publicised fact that I’ve not managed to do all the work I’d have liked to on my plot these last few months, and so have not got everything out of it that I wanted to. I still have to do some planting as I move along digging - which is down to me being a bit stubborn - and wanting the plot to be dug over fully this season.

The main reason for this is that I’m probably going to struggle on the time issue even more next year - due to an addition being made to our family this autumn - but also because I have seen the benefit of digging the plot on the parts where I’ve managed to get it done.

The good thing about the rain is - obviously - that the plants on my plot gets the water they need, without much effort on my part. That is without a doubt a very good thing. And it has given me a bit of time to do some research and write a few articles to be posted on this site in the next week or so on the subject of…. watering! How ironic!

Well - summer could still be on its way - it could turn very warm, and in certain areas of the UK this means that restrictions will be put in place on the use of water, so even though it’s raining cats and dogs at the moment, things could well change!

On my plot this weekend I managed to get a bit of weeding done, I got those of my potato plants that needed earthing up seen to, and I picked a small bucket of raspberries that another plotholder on the site let me help myself to. This is one of the things I love about allotmenteering - the social aspect of networking and helping eachother out.

Technorati Tags: Allotment, Digging, Rain

Another weekend is gone - and it has been a busy one! I’ve been digging, preparing seedbeds, tidying up and I’ve started planting out!

Thursday afternoon I had news of another delivery of manure to the site - and so I decided to make the most. Finally managed to finish digging over one part of my plot (way behind schedule), but with my job getting busier time has been sparse.

Now I quite litterally put in plants/seeds as soon as I’ve dug the soil over - so I’ve had to let go a bit of my planning. I’m sure I’ll be ok though. The important thing is to get things done at the moment - and I’ve still got plenty to do.

I put in my raspberry canes in their final position, as well as my redcurrant. The redcurrant and the early variety of raspberries will not be producing a crop this year - but I’ve got things to look forward to then.

Also I have planted out my sons sunflowers - 28 of them to be precise - after just under half of them was devoured by snails. I hate the little buggers!

Finally, I managed to get my strawberry plants planted out. The majority of them will not be producing a crop this year, as they are first year plants, and they have been in the pots for by far too long. Some of them has set flowers in the warm weather though, and one of them had tiny fruits on it, but still I’m not too optimistic.

In the coming week I hope to be able to but my potatoes in the ground (the first early ones at least), and as well I’m hoping to be able to put in my marrows and sweetcorn after they have been hardened off during the last 10 days.

As you can tell there’s enough to do before I’m jetting off on another family holiday on friday afternoon. I just hope the weather will treat me kindly - though the forecast doesn’t look too good.

Technorati Tags: Allotment, Raspberries, Strawberries

What a week! Back into the daily grind? You bet! As you might guess, being a gardener, this time of the year is quite busy for me on and off the plot - yet I managed to get a good bit done. Not as much as I wanted to - but then - is that ever going to happen?

Started my saturday digging! I had the equivalent of 40 binbags of grass-cuttings - from the previous day in work - that I didn’t manage to get to the skip in time before they closed. Ah well - it will do for not having any other manure on the site until the end of the coming week.

I’m nowhere near done digging my plot over, like I intended to do, but I think I have enough space to put in the plants that I’m growing this year.

Once the digging was done, I went to see my college tutor, and check on the progress of the plants that I have growing in their greenhouse. They are coming on very nicely! The marrows and the sweetcorn has now been moved from the greenhouses to a polytunnel for hardening off, and should be ready for planting out in a weeks time.

I then moved my wormery from my back garden to my allotment. The main reason for this is that my son and his mates have a very hard time leaving the worms alone (!) - and then I have a wast amount of food for them on my plot anyway. Or so I thought! I found out that a lot of the bags of leaves that I gathered last year - and was hoping to use for worm composting this summer - has been home to lots of slugs and snails! They are now being dug in!

All in all a quite busy day - so today sunday I’m going to rest - and stay away from the plot! Should be interesting to see how I’ll manage….

Technorati Tags: Allotment, Digging, Wormery

Our little family break is over - time to get stuck in with the daily routine again - until I go away for another holiday in 3 weeks

You could be forgiven for thinking that I’m doing nothing but going on holiday. I wish! But then life would get boring - and my plot would end up overgrown! We can’t have that now - can we?

Well - as you would expect - things has kept on happening in spite of me being away. First thing is - the last bit of plants I ordered from Dobies (my soft fruit bushes) had arrived. Great! Although I’ve known for the bestpart of a month that they would arrive sooner or later, I’ve been to busy to really prepare for them, so they are now temporarily planted in one corner of my plot.

Back on my plot yesterday afternoon - and delighted to see that I’ve had a new neighbour! Last year his plot was completely overgrown with thistles that shed truckloads of seeds on my plot. Not this year they won’t! Had a small chat over the fence - welcoming him on site. He’s a great guy! A good bit of his plot is cleared and dug over already, though he’s only been on for just over a week, and it looks great. He’s trying to do things organically as well.

While we’re still waiting for some more manure to be delivered to our site, I had a chance to do some more clearing up. Finished clearing a space behind my derelict greenhouse, where the former plotholder put down some timber that has played host to more than a few bugs, slugs and snails. Not anymore!

A well I managed to start preparing seedbeds in the soil I’ve dug over in winter. First impression - my hard work has paid off! I hope I’ll have the crops to prove that later in the year as well.

All in all a good and productive afternoon on my plot. Hopefully I’ll get quite a few more of them in the next few weeks!

Technorati Tags: Holiday, Dobies, Allotment

Remember me telling about buying a wormery about 6 weeks ago? If that’s not the case - have a look here!

I thought I would take some time to update you on how things are with my wormery, to give you an idea whether getting your own would be an idea or not.

First of all - I love the idea of cutting down on the amount of waste that goes into landfill from UK households - and I’m trying to do my bit to ensure that it happens. From that point of view every household should have a wormery.

Secondly, for the gardener, providing good food for your plants is very important. Well - you’ll struggle to buy better plant food than natures own thing - it’s been proven for thousands of years!

So how much work is involved with having a wormery? Next to none! The worms are quite happy to look after themselves, and munch away at the rubbish you throw at them. They will eat quite a big variety of it as well.

The worms that comes with most wormeries are Dendrobaena worms. They should be able to eat up to half their bodyweight every day in waste. So far my worms have eaten nowhere near that amount - but I recon it’s just a matter of the temperature going up a bit.

When turning over the compost, something you should do 2-3 times a month, I’ve noticed a few baby worms and several worm cocoons. In other words - my worms are busy reproducing - which is a good sign they are quite happy where they are.

Overall - I would definately recommend any allotmenteer to start a wormery of their own. It’s relatively cheap - it’s very easy - it will provide the best compost money can buy - and taking out the rubbish will be more fun .

Technorati Tags: Wormery, Worms, Compost

With the easter weekend being two days longer than what a normal weekend would be, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a good bit of time on my allotment, and best of all I have something to show for it!

I nearly finished digging the half of my plot I have been working on for far too long - only we ran out of manure on the site - so from now on I’m back to picking more up from the riding school myself, until they can deliver a new load. Should be in a weeks time or so.

On thursday - on my way back from work - I did something I’ve been planning for some time. I went to a local garage - and asked them did they have an empty oil barrel. They were more than happy to give me one. Saves them getting rid of it I suppose!

I got my grinder out - took the lid off it - and made a couple of holes (10cmx10cm) in the bottom third. Woopie Doo! I got myself a rubbish burner for free by adding just over an hours work. In my opinion no allotment site should be without a couple of these - and my plot has certainly benefited from it.

As well - I got my seed potatoes put out in trays for chitting. A bit late I know - at least for the early varieties - but then I’ve only got a few of them from a “starter pack” I decided to order with my seeds, just to try them out. My maincrop potatoes this year will be Maris Piper and King Edward. I love them for making excellent chips and roast potates.

All in all a very productive weekend. I could do with another 5 of them

Technorati Tags: Allotment, Easter, Potatoes