Soil (no pictures)

It's mid-April and it looks like it's time to start catching up with all the jobs I should have been doing in February and March. The cold has kept me indoors and nature has taken a break too, with most plants only now springing into life. I have noticed they wake up with amazing speed when the time is right. Last week I (finally) started pruning my raspberry canes, a job usually done sometime just after Christmas. The longer you leave it, the harder it is to tell which canes to prune. Well, last week they were just canes. This week, most of them have buds or small leaves on.

Last year's onion sets were planted in February and were well-established by April. This year with two weeks of April gone they're not even in the ground yet. I don't mind because I have some over-wintering onions which all seem to be doing OK - therefore it won't matter if my main crop is a bit late, I'll have some to fill the gap. 

So one of my first jobs of spring has been to prepare ground for the onions. I decided I ought to add more pictures of this sort of thing but being quite a fussy photographer I find it hard to capture images I'm happy with. Also, being easily distracted, I rarely remember to stop what I'm doing and take a picture when I'm working on the plot. I'm sure some of the mundane things I do would be best described by a picture. But I seem to have developed a strong urge to post pictures of bare patches of soil. I've taken some pictures and then realised when I got home that it's just an empty bit of brown earth. It's like getting home from a walk in the countryside and finding the picture you took of that brilliant view doesn't really do it justice. Perhaps another allotment gardener reading this blog might understand the feeling of having created something that goes with gardening. When I've prepared a bed I keep going back and looking at it. It feels good. Unfortunately, to the casual observer, it probably doesn't look like much.

There's a huge amount of satisfaction involved in preparing a vegetable patch. I start with a weedy square of vacant ground then remove as many weeds as I can by hand or by digging them up with a spade. I try to get as much root as possible. Then I begin turning the soil over, digging out big stones and other rubbish, and roughly chopping the big clods of soil, trying to avoid murdering worms in the process. Then I go to my compost heap and sift a wheelbarrow full of compost and return to spread it over the surface. Then I mix the compost into the top layer of soil (the worms can do the rest). I find the rake is my favoured tool for this stage, it is also used to bash big lumps of soil into smaller ones until the whole thing turns into a fine tilth ready for planting. 

Talking poo

I wanted to have some compost delivered to the plot again this year, but the council have banned anything bigger than a car from the site due to damage to the ridings. They said I could still have it delivered to the gate, but I don't fancy wheelbarrowing a tonne of compost from the top of the site to my plot, so it's back to the drawing board. According to the council, the ridings are too wet, but I think they're talking poo.

My wife then started talking poo. let me clarify; she was talking poo with a lady who owns a horse. An unlimited free supply was promised, so I got all excited and went to have a look.

The pile was located about two miles from home. There was a huge amount of material, about 10 metres by 5, and nearly 2 metres tall. Unfortunately most of it was straw and woodchips. The decent rotted manure was right at the bottom, the owner of the farm told me, and would need digging out. Hmm, two metres deep of heavily packed straw? Well, I bravely dug into the pile, heaving straw out of the way and eventually getting down to some decent rotted stuff. With lots of huffing and puffing, I managed to extract two car loads before I lost the will to carry on. I don't think I'll rush back; it's useable stuff, but needs further rotting down on my own heap.

Some poo

Hopefully someone else will want to talk poo soon.

New compost bins

Rain again this morning, but by the afternoon the sky changed from its usual grey to a funny blue colour and a strange, bright yellow light appeared in the sky, so I took a chance and disappeared off to the plot for a couple of hours until the light disappeared again.

 I cleared out my 'rubbish corner' and used a combination of new and old pallets to make two new compost bins. It's been nearly a year since I dismantled my previous heap, and I've missed it.

Now harvesting: leeks, parsnips.

The new compost heap

A bit chilly

The whole country has been stuck with sub-zero temperatures for a while now; no point in writing about that when so much has been written and said already (Google News returns over 5,500 articles on 'cold Britain') - the British obsession of talking about the weather knows no bounds when a couple of snowflakes arrive. I can stand the cold by wrapping up warm, and it can be a very pretty time of year, but it's the lack of daylight that really gets me.

As I haven't ventured out much lately, the kitchen scraps for the compost heap have been building  up at home, so I was forced to venture to the plot to empty the overflowing caddy. It was five degrees below zero on my car's thermometer so I didn't stop long.

Everything was covered in a thick frost except for the pile stable manure that the council have dumped near the entrance, which was gently steaming and adding to the mist. I did take a couple of barrows of the stuff but it is mainly straw and wood shavings - the latter I have been warned not to use as soil improver as they actually decrease the nutrients available to plants while they rot.

I took the opportunity to retreive some more parsnips. Being so large I have only used a couple of them so far this winter, leaving plenty left for Christmas dinner. I expected the ground to be frozen like concrete but was pleasantly surprised to find there was just a thin frozen crust. Underneath it was, well, just soil. I turned a couple of spades over so the local robin red breast could have a go at finding some worms, then made my way home to defrost with a cup of cocoa.

Tomatoes: Don't believe the hype

I have heard from various sources that you can successfully ripen green tomatoes by putting them in a drawer, box etc. with a banana. The gas released by the banana as it ripens will turn the tomatoes red. I am happy to confirm that this is complete rubbish. All you get are mouldy tomatoes, a wasted banana, and if you're really lucky some nasty liquid will dribble out of whatever container you're using. The best thing I have found for green tomatoes so far is to chuck 'em straight back on the compost heap.

Easter update

I've just had a week off work and managed to get loads done on the plot. Spring has definitely kicked in, as the weeds have started growing  - neighbour John told me that's the best way to tell if it's time to plant you're own seeds.

The local farmer I mentioned in my previous post has turned up trumps. I phoned him on Monday morning and within the hour he turned up at the allotments in a big digger, with two tons of compost in the front bucket. A bargain at £25, it is composted green waste collected by the council and rotted down in huge, steaming silos on his farm.

It is a bit coarse, having bits of stick and branch in it, so I have been sorting it through an old shop bread crate before adding it to the beds. I've been adding about four wheelbarrow loads per bed, and I still think that I could probably add more, but that is about as much compost as I can stand to sort through the holes in a bread crate in one go.

The onions I planted have started to come up, and it turns out they are shallots. That's good because that is what I wanted to plant first. The rest of the onions went in last week, red and white. 

This evening I planted my first potatoes of the year, ones that survived The Moog's efforts to eat them raw, called Blue Danube. I also dug over another bed in less than 30 minutes, with my azada purchased from Get Digging. It would have taken me at least a couple of hours with a spade, and I would have aggravated my back too - no such problems with the new tool. I have yet to decide what to call it; one of my neighbours called it an axe-hoe, which I think suits it a bit better than azada.  Apparently there is an ex-Ghurka here who has one very similar, and he reputedly dug his whole plot barefoot using it, after turning down the loan of a British spade.

Things to do in March

If you visit any gardening website this month, pretty much all you will find is "a list of things to do in March." I assume this is because the journalists are all too busy enjoying our recent spells of milder weather to write anything new and are happy to post the same thing they did last year.

Anyway, here is what I've done in March, which is different to last year:

• Planted Sunflower and Gazania seeds - never grown Gazanias before, got them free off the front of a magazine and not sure where I will put them yet. They're coming up already.
• Put a load of Chive seeds in, these I collected last year from my own plants so not sure if they will germinate, I have patchy results with collecting seed.
• Planted some squash seeds. I have read (in a list of things to do in March) that squashes benefit from early planting because they take so long to reach maturity, so I've popped some seeds of 'Avalon F1' in pots on the windowsill.

Other things happening on the plot this month include burning of old rubbish that has been stacked up since August waiting for a dry spell to burn it, and adding organic fertiliser to my garlic and onions. Well I think they're onions, they could be shallots, I don't know.  I've also dug up most of my compost heap and used the compost on a couple of beds, but I will need a load more for the rest of the plot. As mentioned before, I don't think I've been adding enough.  I have the number of a local farmer who I'm told will deliver a trailer-full of locally composted green waste on his tractor, I will try this and report back.

Keeping busy

My friend Tom thought it would be all quiet on the allotment front at this time of year, but allotmentalism is an all-year round sport. He was surprised to find me planting leek and sweet pea seeds on the kitchen table last Sunday. We used a paper potter, which seems to be a good way of using up some of the many free newspapers people keep pushing through our door (much to the annoyance of the Moog). It was a Christmas present from Maria and Cameron, thanks guys. The seeds are already starting to show their little green heads.

Meanwhile, down on plot 29, work continues apace whenever the weather allows. I've started digging over beds and straightening up the paths - my plan is to narrow my paths to gain more growing space and use the woodchips supplied by the local council to cut down on the amount of lawnmowing I have to do in the summer. I wasted considerable effort on mowing and strimming paths in 2008.

The Moog, the Moog's friend and Mrs Moog-Keeper came to the plot yesterday and whilst Moog and his friend played with empty plastic bottles, we broke our backs trying to turn over one of my claggy clay beds. The west side of my plot has quite poor soil, and it really needs improving fast. I am going to have to bite the bullet and buy some horticultural grade grit from the garden centre at some point to break up the clay. Before that, though, I was pleased to use the first of my very own compost. All the stuff I've been chucking on the heap for over a year now has turned into some lovely soft soil conditioner. Let's hope it does the trick.

Murphy's Law for beginners

Everything is growing away strongly on the plot now, I'm just waiting impatiently to start harvesting stuff. I was so nervous earlier in the year that my carefully chitted potatoes weren't going to come up that I actually dug one up to see if anything had happened (of course it had). Now I'm a little more laid back - patience is a virtue. Not that I should have worried of course. I carefully prepared the soil, diligently chitted the specially-sourced seed potatoes in my spare room, acclimatised them to the outdoors, painstakingly planted them at the recommended spacing and depth, added fertiliser to the soil and weeded and earthed up...

Meanwhile, amongst the kitchen scraps, left alone, forgotten, discarded and with no attention whatsoever, I now have 3 healthy potato plants and a spire of brocolli sprouting luxuriantly from my compost heap!

Compost bin

Moog thought that instead of building a shed I ought to sort out some more space for compost first. After clearing a lot of the weeds I noticed that the front corner of my plot slopes downward, and after this year’s floods I don’t want to plant things where they are likely to get waterlogged so I used the spot to build two compost bays out of the old pallets that I found on the site. Moog’s very pleased with the results.

Mike's Wisdom Shed: Tip No.3

"Best results only come from a well-manured ground. Never buy manure from dodgy unauthorized people who may come around, they'll quote one price, then after delivery claim a higher price. Compost from mushroom farms is supposed to be the best, but may be difficult to source. Keep tetanus booster jabs up to date; it is easy to cut oneself in the course of digging, etc. There is no substitute for deep digging, get that manure down there; turn weeds over & bury them, keep the soil broken up & open using a good wide rake, use a hoe (both types) to eradicate germinating weeds. "


Moog thinks dodgy unauthorised people should stay away. They come past the house often, and get barked at for their trouble. Moog thinks: "I like to bite dodgy unauthorised people on the leg. They tend to go away when I do that."

Number 29

Today The Moog has mainly been thinking about my new allotment. Number 29. I chose a site that was (a) nice and close to the water tap; (b) in full sun but next to the tall boundary hedge for shelter; (c) next to an active old gent who can offer me advice, and (d) not too badly overgrown. Moog thinks No. 29 will be far enough up the hill to avoid being waterlogged. He thought I should pick up the keys yesterday, so I did.

Moog thinks the first job will be to clear the whole site of the choking weeds that have arisen(personally I think he copied this idea off the old man next door on Plot 28). Luckily the site has been worked a little bit in the last couple of years so most of the weeds are not too high, there aren't any massive brambles, or overgrown trees. There is plenty of bindweed to contend with, amongst other things. Moog thinks that, on the plus side, the weeds are a good sign that the soil is fertile. I agree.

Moog thinks that although he'd like the allotment to be as organic as possible, that glyphosate weedkiller to get into the roots is going to be necessary, as suggested by my new allotment neighbour, otherwise we'll be here till kingdom come trying to get the site ready to grow things on. Looking at the amount of digging that will be necessary if I don't use weedkiller, I'm inclined to agree with The Moog.

Moog thought it would be good to order a cheap compost bin from the council, they are subsidised and only cost £9.00 including delivery. So I ordered one today. Good call, Moog. Moog thinks it will be OK to compost the weeds, when they've died back, as the weedkiller won't remain toxic once it's done its initial job and will deactivate in the soil so I can grow stuff again. Where he gets his info from I'm not sure but it sounds fairly well researched.

The other things Moog has been thinking about are where to get some black plastic or carpet to put over the ground to stop the weeds growing back, and what the best spot will be for a little shed, so I can have a cup of tea. Moog thinks that I should build my own shed, as prefabricated ones are over £100 for the very smallest. Thrifty Moog, good job I'm handy with a saw.