Allotment Vegetable Growing in May 2004

The New Allotment Shed

06/05/2004

By May everything is in full swing. The shed means the tools have left their hiding place behind the heaps and the sun has started to shine!

Complete with pink door and smiley, but the shed is vaguely weatherproof. Bags of all purpose compost (4 for £10 from a local garden centre) sit in front ready to help when planting into the clay.

Still got the barrel and the junk pile is fairly tidy!

The Bench Seat

06/05/2004

A gift from another plotholder who makes them up from waste wood. Gave it a good couple of coats of cuprinol and it's great to have a seat to flop down on.

It's important to remember to take some time out to just enjoy the plot and reflect on what you are doing

Brassica Cage

06/05/2004

Those pesky pigeons haven't gone away so to try and save the brassicas I netted them using metal tube chair bases and bamboo poles,

In the background you can see the large polythene cloche purchased for £4 in France.. and worth about 2p as it turned out! The hoops just weren't up to the job.

The Broad Beans

06/05/2004

Starting to really shoot up now, the broad beans turned out to be one of my best crops this year.

Better shot of the French cloche in the background.

Early Potatoes

06/05/2004

Looking quite good - the first earlies did really well but the blight really hit the second earlies and maincrop.

Onions in the background. They weren't too bad either.

More under cloche

06/05/2004

The spring planted onion sets are doing well under there, protected from pigeons and thinking the season is more advanced than the rest of the site.

The Comfrey Patch

06/05/2004

Ground turned over and compost rotovated in the comfrey bed is prepared. See Location & Preparing the Comfrey Bed

In the background the leaves are settling - all the excess has now been put in.

The green compost bin sits waiting for a proper home

The French Fork

06/05/2004

I've not seen a fork like this available in the UK. It has wide tines which are great for shifting manure and for digging up potatoes.

The long handle gives a lot of leverage but it broke near the stem the second time I used it. Bit far to take it back to the shop but I got a replacement handle on our next trip over the channel.

You can see the shed is in full use.. I wonder how I managed without it.

Holding back The Weeds

06/05/2004

Taking on a new allotment plot was a bit more work than I'd bargained for.A lot of the plot had just been covered in wood chippings and then had sheds and greenhouses placed on top.

It took some years to get it productive but there was one problem that I never completely solved, horse or mare's tail. It's one of the hardest weeds to deal with, even with chemicals, but eventually I had it controlled if not eradicated.

At this time of year the weeds seem to grow faster than you can prepare the soil. So to slow them down I covered patches with some plastic sheets.

This held back weed growth until I could get around to cultivating the soil. Truth be told, I really don't like seeing lots of plastic on allotments, but a useful aid nevertheless.

Salads on the deep bed

06/05/2004

On this deep bed I decided to plant salads - some in the open and some lettuce under the cloch.

You can see I have started splitting the plots behind this bed. Next door has dug over a fair area of his plot too. His plot had been rented by the same people who had mine.

Horse or Mares Tail

06/05/2004

When I took it on I was warned there was a bit of horse tail...

A BIT!!!!

Turned out the top half of the plot was completely infested. The previous tenant had a novel control method - he tried to hide it with chippings. Not recommended.

More Horse Tail

06/05/2004

The only answer was to spray with Amicide. That puts the area out of commission for 8 weeks and if a second spray is needed 16. So that was my new cropping plan in tatters.

Still, next year it will have been destroyed. I don't like herbicide but for mares tail it is, I think, the only realistic route.

NB Amcide is no longer licensed for use as a herbicide

Planting Comfrey

13/05/2004

I took the root cuttings and planted them in pots until they popped their heads up. Then into the well manured and weeded bed. As the comfrey will be there a long time, I give it the best possible start surrounding it with all purpose compost.

It worked a treat!

See: Planting, Cultivation, Harvesting & Problems of Comfrey

Tomato Tents

31/05/2004

I had some excess tomato plants so popped them in behind the shed - south facing so plenty of sun. These cheap plastic tents, from Asda, should get them off to a good start.

Well - they did well until the blight hit. See Tomato Troubles & Diseases

Broad Beans Away

31/05/2004

The broad beans have fairly jumped up.. magic beans!

Actually the plot is looking pretty good now. I think we had some decent weather as well.

Runner and French Beans

31/05/2004

The plastic sheets have gone and the soil has been dug and rotovated. Runner bean teepees on the left and dwarf French beans to the right

At least the plot is starting to be productive and pay back the efforts.

Women and Children on the allotment

31/05/2004

It's nice to see that allotments are not an exclusive male preserve even north of Watford. And even better to see some children coming on board.

The little one has face paint on, by the way