27th September 2017 - Winning Again!

Just a short post today, last night I went to the 3rd Annual Bradford Allotment Awards.  The awards involve all of allotment sites in the district and is well attended.  The evening starts with some food and a drink before the awards ceremony starts.  As part of the process people submit photographs of their plots and it's so nice to see all the different styles and how people have worked their plots.  

Last year I won the best container for my fairy garden; this year I submitted the living wreath with the purple and white pansies (see post from 29th April for how to make it).

I also submitted my bathroom sink, which I first blogged about on 2nd May when I used the rest of the pansies, they put on a lovely show through the spring but once it got a bit hotter I replanted it and was really happy with the results (even if I can't remember the names of the plants I put it in - doh!)

I am absolutely delighted to say that my living wreath won the best container award.  I am so pleased and really didn't expect it - especially after it was so simple in comparison to my fairy garden.  The judges described it as "simple elegance" which was just so lovely!

The trophy and certificate will go into my shed alongside the one from last year.

24th September 2017 - No Dig Gardening

As many of you know I've often talked about no-dig gardening but I don't know that I've ever really explained why I decided to use the method.  Charles Dowding is a pioneer in no-dig gardening and his website is very helpful.

https://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/no-dig-growing/why-no-dig/

There were a few things that really struck a chord with me.  First was that building fertility from the top and allowing the worms and bugs to draw it down is more natural than digging it in.  In the woods etc., organic matter always lands on top and is drawn down.  Secondly, I am gardening on clay and need to add plenty of organic matter; after only 2 seasons on this plot my soil is already significantly better and much easier to work.  Finally, whilst I enjoy working at the allotment, I find it very difficult to dig (especially in the clay) for any length of time and so the idea that I might be able to have a very nice plot without the need to dig was very appealing.

I've heard many people say that they can't have no-dig because their plots are full of couch grass, bindweed or horsetail.  When I took my plot it had all three (as well as the usual perennial suspects).  I used a strimmer to get it all cut down to the ground, marked out my beds and began.  I laid a good layer of cardboard at the base of my beds and then filled them with a mix of compost, manure and topsoil.  I did not dig into the beds before I covered them, I did not remove any roots or the top layer of grass.  I simply added on top of it.  In the first season I pulled up any perennial weeds that appeared; including the couch grass, bindweed and horsetail.  All of them poked their way through at some point.  The horsetail was particularly in my rotation beds.  As soon as I saw the slightest tip of it I pulled it up with as long a piece of root as I could manage.  The bindweed was making its way up through the raspberries and again, I just pulled it out as it appeared.  The couch grass appears all over the place and - up it comes!

Now at the end of the 2nd year, I get very little bindweed and horsetail.  The horsetail especially is very leggy and weedy.  I actually haven't seen any bindweed in my raspberries this year but it does appear from next door which is very frustrating.  The couch grass does still appear all over but I don't know if that's coming through from underneath or blowing in from other parts of the site.  

In terms of crops, I'm sure you've seen the photographs in the last few weeks showing my harvests.  I have been so happy, particularly with my root crops.  Interestingly Charles Dowding talks about root crops coming out cleaner and I've certainly seen that both with my carrots and potatoes this year. I mentioned the other week that Beechgrove Garden had done a dig / no-dig comparison and they found that the crops in the no-dig beds were significantly better in terms of yield.

http://www.beechgrove.co.uk/module_uploads/2/Factsheet_2017_-_Prog_18.pdf

Even though the results were extremely compelling, it did appear that George was recommending the no-dig mainly on the basis that if you can't dig any more you should try this.  I hope that my observations (and if you see the results from Beechgrove) that you'll realise that no-dig is better that digging for many many reasons and not just for people who are struggling with digging.  

5 year Crop Rotation Plan

I have updated my crop rotation because I now have a 5 bed plan and so I wanted to share it with you all.  I hope it's helpful.  If you are on a 4 bed rotation I have previously blogged about that (4th September 2016).  I hope this is helpful to you all.

 

 

17th August 2017 - Composting

As you've seen my blog posts have slowed down because frankly there's not much that I need to do and so there's not a lot to talk about but I will either post blogs or vlogs as things come up.

We are at the end of the season and so that means that I'm sorting out my compost and preparing my beds for things that I can plant now as well as which of the beds I need to tuck up for winter.  Last year there was one bed that I didn't cover and didn't plant anything in to and in the spring it was very weedy.  I won't be doing that again!  Back to the compost then - I have a 3 bins system which were made from old pallets.  I don't turn my compost regularly because there's simply too much of it.  What I do is fill up bin 1 throughout the season.  At the end of the season I empty bin 3 onto my beds and I move the contents of bin 2 into bin 3 and the contents of bin 1 into bin 2.  


One of the things I really do notice is that even at the end of the first season the stuff I've put in has broken down well.  I work hard to give my compost lots of variety of green and brown stuff.  I have blogged about making compost before so I won't go into it in any detail again but I will say that I do cold composting, which is essentially chuck it all in and let it do its thing.  I don't have formal layers so things just go in as they're needed.  I bring cereal boxes and egg boxes fairly regularly and kitchen waste that can't go into the wormery (such as onions and citrus fruits).  Tearing or screwing up paper and card creates air-pockets which also helps.  

Because I move the compost into the next bin at the end of the season it means that the very green stuff on top of bin 1 gets put to the bottom of bin 2 with all of the compost that's already started to breakdown piled on top of it, which again helps it to breakdown.  The compost in bin 2 could be used straight onto the garden at the end of this season (this is the stuff that was being put into bin 1 all season last year) but I like to let it breakdown further so that it's really really good stuff at the end of the 3rd year. 

As you can see the compost in the 3rd bin is very good.  I've been really pleased with how it's broken down and as I've said above it could be used now.  I did consider using it straight away and then giving my 3rd bin over to a leaf mould bin because I don't want to have an empty bin and I don't currently have anywhere to make leaf mould but I've stuck to my guns and I hope that means I'll have really good compost at the end of year 3.

I am a no-dig gardener and so adding organic matter is really important to the way I garden.  I don't actually add any more compost to my garden now than I did when I used to dig, the only difference is that I just leave it on top and let the worms do all the work for me instead of me digging it in.  

This year has been more successful in some ways than last year.  I've done well with the peas, I've done fantastically with cabbages in the polytunnel and I'm really pleased with how I've managed most of the crops in the polytunnel.  I've not done so well with the outdoor brassicas - I got one good cauliflower but the others went over.  The cabbage whites got to my sprouts and they need pulling out.  The swede look great; even though the leaves are now all gone.  I'm going to think about how I protect my outdoor brassicas better next year and I've already talked with Mr L about what he can build me that I can easily get into but that will fold up to be put away.  He pulled a face at me but you never know! The most successful thing was the sweetpeas which I really enjoyed; I'm letting them go over now and I will be using those seeds for next year.

My next task will be to plant onions and garlic to be ready in the spring and I'm going to get some spring brassicas planted so fingers crossed on them too.  I don't want to repeat last year where I didn't get up to the plot really at all during the winter.  I might not spend as much time there but I will be popping up and doing small jobs throughout the winter.

Until next time then - happy gardening!