Blog

Vegetable Growing – February

Posted on by oldlanelottswp

February is often the coldest winter month & what you can do on your allotment in February often depends on the weather. Do not slavishly follow instruction’s to sow or plant outside in February: think of the conditions, cold & wet ground will not germinate seeds it will just kill them off. If the weather allows,  you can direct sow broad beans along with early peas best chance would be to start them in a cold frame and plant outside later. Onion seeds can now be started off indoors or in a heated greenhouse at home, they need to be 15 degrees C to get them going for planting out later. The greenhouse border can be brought into productive use, a row or two of early carrots can come out in eight to ten weeks,  by this time the beds will be needed for tomatoes & so on.

If you didn’t plant your garlic out last November pop them in now, they like a cold spell so frost will not harm them. Conventional advice is to sow parsnips now but you will get much better germination rates in March, they will still be ready by the time the next frost arrives. Hardy lettuce can be started under glass, to provide an early salad crop along with rocket & some radish varieties.

Blog by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

Bolting Plants

Posted on by oldlanelottswp

BOLTING PLANTS

Bolt – To produce flower & seed Prematurely –

This can be caused by sudden low & high temperatures, , drought, sowing seeds at the wrong time. Plants under stress may respond by bolting so they can produce seeds before they die

Can You Eat a Plant After it Bolts?
Once a plant has fully bolted, the plant is normally inedible. The plant’s entire energy reserve is focused on producing the seeds, so the rest of the plant tends to become tough and woody as well as tasteless or even bitter. Annuals will inevitably flower but good growing conditions will encourage rapid growth and formation of a usable portion (lettuce hearts, for example) and so an adequate crop should develop before flower production.

Blog & Research Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

 

 

Planning Your Allotment Year

Posted on by oldlanelottswp

Photo by Tookapic on Pexels.com
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

The Allotment Diary

One of the most useful things for any gardener is a diary. Unless you are blessed with a photographic memory it will prove invaluable for the years ahead. In the diary you can keep a record of conditions, your actions, & of course your results. Make a record of what you sow, the date & the variety and also where you have sown on your plot. Make a note of what the weather is like , when the first & lasts frost occur which is useful recorded information. Its also worth recording quantities in your harvest & acceptability. When you come to order your seeds the following year you know what has grown well for you & whats not grown so good. It can be very confusing what you have grown & where recording your information will help you keep track. A diary is also useful to remind yourself of jobs that need completing writing a brief note over the growing season. Organisation & planning is key to a thriving allotment.

Blog by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

Crop Rotation – Part 2

Posted on by oldlanelottswp

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

How To Do Crop Rotation

Divide your allotment into equal sections of equal size (depending on how much of each crop you want to grow), plus an extra section for perennial crops such as rhubarb & asparagus. Brassicas : sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohl-rabbi , oriental greens, turnips, swede & radish. Legumes : Peas, broad beans, French & runner beans suffer from fewer soil problems & can be grown wherever. Onions : onions, garlic, shallot, leek. Potato Family : potato, tomato, (pepper & aubergine suffer from fewer problems & can be grown anywhere in the rotation).  Roots : beetroot, carrot, celeriac, fennel, parsley, parsnip. (& all other root crops except for turnip & swede which are brassicas). Move each section of the plot a step forward each year so that for example : brassicas follow legumes, onions & roots, legumes, onions & roots follow potatoes & potatoes follow brassicas. Below is a typical three rotation where potatoes & brassicas are important crops.

Year one section one : Potatoes  section two : Legumes, onions & roots, section three : brassicas.

Year two section one : Legumes, onions & roots, section two : brassicas, section three : potatoes

Year three section one : brassicas.   section two potatoes, section three : Legumes, onions & roots.

Blog & research By Mark Burton ( Allotment Secretary)

Crop Rotation – Part 1

Posted on by oldlanelottswp

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Crop Rotation

Crop rotation is to grow specific groups of  vegetable’s on a different part of your allotment garden each year. This helps to reduce a build up of pests & diseases & it organises groups of crops according to their cultivation needs.

Benefits of crop rotation

Soil fertility : different crops have different nutrient requirements. Changing crops annualy reduces the chance of a particular soil deficiencies developing as the balance of nutrients removed from the soil evens itself out over time.  Weed control – Some crops like potatoes & squashes with dense foliage or large leaves, suppress weeds, thus reducing maintenance & weed problems in following crops. Pest & disease control : Soil pests & diseases will attack specific plant families over & over again. By rotating crops between sites the pests will decline in the period when their host plants are absent which helps reduce build of spores, eggs, & pests.  Common diseases like club root in brassicas & onion white rot can be avoided.

To be continued – crop rotation part 2 to follow

Blog & research By Mark Burton ( Allotment Secretary)

Allotment Tasks For December

Posted on by oldlanelottswp

 

The days are now shorter & the weather is even colder. There is still plenty to do down on the allotment, its that time of year to carry out those little jobs that are difficult to complete when the growing season is in full swing

Here is a checklist that might help you over the winter period.

Clean & disinfect greenhouse, pots & seed trays, any repairs to your structures. keep turning over your compost, winter dig, lime your plot, keep things tidy to prevent homes for winter pests, pruning, cover winter vegetables, store leaves for next years mulch, put weed suppressant ground cover down on the land.

Those cosy nights at home plan your allotment for next years growing season, and sort out your seeds & what you want to grow.

Blog by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

 

 

Sorting & Storing Your Vegetable & Flower Seeds

Posted on by oldlanelottswp

When your seeds arrive sort them out into sowing order (earliest date first) & store them in a cool dark place ready for the growing season. Remember if you already have packets of seeds stored these need to be sown first remember to check the sow by date on the packets. I personally don’t use out of date seeds if they don’t germinate it will put you back at the start of the busy growing season.

Don’t forget that growing instructions in a book are standardized so check on the seed packet , especially for those close-spaced varieties. I always read the instructions on seed packets as it gives you that reminder.  Check the weather as seed varieties can be planted in February at the start of the season,  but now the winter months seem to be longer as we learnt from early March last year, with the really bad weather conditions. The weather is always key to planting seeds.

 

Blog by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)