Blog

The Great Tit on Old Lane Allotments

I thought I would add some bird facts to Micks picture. The Great Tit can be seen in woodlands, parks & gardens across the United Kingdom. They can be seen all year round, they eat insects, seeds & nuts. A Great tit clutch can be anything from five – eleven eggs, with the female doing all the incubation. The chicks usually leave the nest 20 days after hatching. The Great tit owes much of its success to its adaptability, while increasing numbers in Britain may well be because it is an enthusiastic user of garden feeding stations.

Blog & Research by Mark Burton – Photograph by Mick Cooper

Planting potatoes

Plant your chitted potatoes when the soil starts to warm up, usually in mid- March to early April. Start by digging a trench 7.5 – 13cm (3-5 inch) deep, add a sprinkling of fertiliser to your trench before you begin planting. Plant early potatoes about 30cm (12 inch) apart with 40-50cm (16-20 inch) between the rows, second earlies & maincrops about 38cm (15 inch) apart with 75cm (30 inch) between the rows. Handle your chitted seed potatoes (tubers) with care, gently setting them in to the trench with the shoots pointing upwards, be really careful not to break the shoots. Cover the potatoes lightly with soil & fill in the trench. As soon as the shoots appear, earth up each plant by covering it with a ridge of soil so the shoots are just buried. You need to do this at regular intervals creating a small mound around the plant to prevent any sun damage or element damage.

Harvesting

Your home grown potatoes should be ready for lifting from June until September, depending on the varieties & the growing conditions. Earlies can be lifted & eaten as soon as they are ready, this will be when above -ground growth is still green,& usually as soon as the flowers open on the plant. Second & maincrop varieties can be kept in the ground much longer, until late September, even though above-ground growth may well be looking past its best. Two weeks before you lift the crop, cut the growth off the plants at ground level. This should give the skins of the potatoes sufficient time to toughen up, making them far less prone to damage from lifting and easier to store.

Blog written by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

Arium Summer Workshops

Please click/double click on the link above to access this years Summer workshops that will be taking place through :

Leeds City Council (Parks & Countryside Department) The Arium, Thorner Lane, Seacroft, Leeds, LS14 3FB

Anybody wishing to be involved need to contact The Arium direct

Blog Created by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary) – Working with LCC (Parks & Countryside) Department.

The carrot originally came from Afghanistan round about 5,000 years ago, in those days it’s roots were purple or violet rather different from the now familiar orange. We believe an orange carrot was selected in the Netherlands around 1600 , but the story that developed was to honour the Dutch Royal House of Orange which is fictitious but widely believed. Carrots are an excellent source of beta- carotene & fibre & are rich in A, C, K & B8 folate. They are high in anti-oxidants & provide a good source of minerals.

Carrots prefer deep fertile sandy soil If you have stony soils opt for the short root varieties. Carrots do not like manure so don’t grow in freshly manured soil, avoid carrot root fly by covering with mesh or choosing disease resistant varieties.

The orange colours in carrots is due to the presence of beta-carotene believed to enhance night vision. Did you know Mel Blanc who performed the voice of cartoon character Bugs Bunny did not like carrots !!

Always remember  to read sowing instructions on seed packets

Blog & research by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

SUCCESSIONAL SOWING

Successional sowing

It is easy to freeze are vegetable’s if we have a glut of crops. Fresh vegetable’s however that have been picked a few hours earlier & cooked always taste so much better. So to avoid growing a glut over the growing season we need to have smaller quantities ripening over a period. Say we are going to use a cabbage each week , take a modular seed tray & plant three seeds, label them with the variety & date. While they are developing pot on into three inch pots. Then three weeks later sow another three seeds as your first set of seeds are developing. Continue the process, that way you wont have too many of the same crop all ready at the same time.

This method can be applied to any crop that you have started in pots.

Blog By Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

KEEP BRITAIN TIDY

Please Help with the Great British Spring clean running from 22nd March – 23rd April 2019. Anyone who gets involved is making a real difference.  If everybody picked up 5 pieces of litter imagine what an impact that would have on our Country. It would really help turn the tide on litter pollution. Lets improve the environment on our doorstep.

PICKING UP LITTER ON OUR ALLOTMENTS OR ON THE STREET

  HELPS TOWARDS THE NATIONAL CLEAN UP OF LITTER

Blog created by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

 My good friend Mick Cooper sent me these two pictures which I will explain.  The seed potato on the left hand side has been left in a dark environment this showing that the growth is light in colour & also looks weak, and will continue to grow spindly.

The seed potato on the right hand side has been placed in a light frost free environment showing that the growth is dark & healthy.

You should have your seed potatoes chitting at the moment, check on them and see how there looking.

Blog created by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary) / Content Mick Cooper Plot 12E

The English word cabbage is believed to derive from the French word cabache a term for head. Research says the 1st cabbage appeared in England in the 14th century, the savoy cabbage were not developed until the 16th century. Today China is the worlds leading producer of cabbages, growing 30 million tons a year. It is said Ancient Egyptians used to eat them before meals to help prevent drunkenness. With some careful planning there is no reason why you cant have cut cabbages for twelve months of the year. Cabbages grow best in undisturbed fertile soil that has been dug over in the Autumn & not prior to planting. They will flourish from a reasonably sunny position & need plenty of room to grow,  use cabbage collars if cabbage root fly is a problem & protect from birds when plants are young.

Cabbages contain no fat & are extremely low in calories & are very high in vitamins C, K, B6 and are an excellent source of folate, manganese, & calcium. Again historically cabbages were thought to have extensive medicinal advantages. Ancient Greeks used to use them as a laxative , an antidote for mushroom poisoning & to help heal bruises.

Always remember to read sowing instructions on seed packets

Blog & research by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)

THIS YEARS ON SITE COMPETITIONS

Photo by Public Domain Pictures on Pexels.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

OLD LANE ALLOTMENTS  WILL BE RUNNING 2 X COMPETITIONS THIS YEAR

FINEST WORKED PLOT

(First prize & 2 x runner up prizes)

OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER TO OUR SITE

(First Prize & 1 x runner up prize)

IT WILL BE JUDGED OVER THE GROWING SEASON !!!

PRIZES WILL BE ANNOUNCED OVER THE YEAR

OLD LANE ALLOTMENTS ASSOCIATION

Weeds & Hoeing

Most of the annual weeds spread thousands of seeds that lie in the ground until the elements & conditions are right then they will appear. Turning over the soil brings those seeds to the surface, hence they will begin to pop up all over your allotment garden. Most of these weeds can be dealt with by hoeing through them, leave them to dry on the surface then transfer them to the compost bin. Catching the weeds early is the best way, better to hoe little & often. Make sure the blade is horizontal to the surface then move the hoe back & forth just under the soil surface. This slices the weed off its root & both root & stem die.

Do not hoe in wet conditions, the soil will cling to the hoe & you will end up pushing the weeds back into the ground & not slicing them. The weeds would probably then survive & re-root. There are other weeds that present a bigger problem, these are perennial & live from year to year. As a general rule hoeing them just cuts the tops off & the weed will rise again from its deep roots. I have listed below the perennial weeds,  you will have to dig out the roots to stop them coming back.

REMEMBER WEEDS ON YOUR PLOT CAN MAKE YOUR NEIGHBOUR CRINGE 

NETTLES, DOCK LEAVES, DANDELIONS, BIND WEED, COUCH GRASS, HORSE TAIL.

Blog by Mark Burton (Allotment Secretary)