Archive for the ‘Gardening Advice Corner’ Category

Allotments: a plot holders’ guide

February 28th, 2009

The Government released a booklet a while ago called “Allotments: a plot holders’ guide” which has some general advice for plotholders and for anyone thinking of becoming a plotholder.

Click this link to download the booklet. (PDF ~250K)

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October 2006 by Award Winning Newcomer Linda (plot 47)

October 1st, 2006

This contribution by Award Winning Newcomer Linda (plot 47)

Linda’s Allotment Diary

Last year, 2005, I applied for an allotment at the Aldershot Road site as my daughter made the suggestion knowing how much I love gardening.
Well, how pleased am I that I made that leap, albeit with trepidation as I had not attempted to grow a vegetable of any description for a very long time – oh 30 years ago a few tomatoes against the house wall, and a few runner beans in the then garden.
When I first saw the plot it was covered in black sheeting, old odd pieces of carpet, even an old duvet and lots of clutter, and it seemed much too large for me to tackle!!
Somewhat daunted, I have to say, I made a start at clearing the plot, with the help of my youngest daughter Ursula.  We did toil and dig and clear.  Slowly we made some headway and actually started planting some seeds; carrots for my granddaughter first in the newly dug ground.
I decided to dig a little at a time and slowly work my way down the plot, making small manageable beds to set seeds, with the help of a book I purchased  – ‘ Organic Allotments’.   I worked on, never dreaming I would become so addicted.
All this since February 2006.  Now in October 2006, I have very nearly worked the whole plot, but the very best part so far has been seeing our efforts materialize. Courgettes, carrots, runner beans, tomatoes, leeks, potatoes and much more all growing; so exciting, and now harvesting,  -  absolutely great!
I have learned loads.  Courgettes need more room to grow, (bigger bed next year) Cucumbers – big leaves (um?).  Next year I will attempt to grow them up a frame!
Tomatoes!  Planted too many!  Potatoes!  Did not plant enough!
Next, I will try to grow a few different varieties.
All so exciting!
Yes, I am in good company with my excitement; Charlie Dimmock, Alan Titchmarsh (my hero) Bill Oddie ( another hero) Monty Donn, Chris Beardshaw and many more and of course, all allotment junkies!.
Lots of lessons learnt to put into practice next year, and I will have a go at growing a much more varied selection of crops.  Herbs are on my list and I have already decided where they will go.
So far, so good!   I will not be daunted by bad weather and will always find my plot my most favourite place to be, even if I just sit and plan what will go where next year. That does not happen often as there are always weeds to be pulled, a bit more digging to be done, checking my many compost bins to see how they are doing.
Think! Think!  Think!  Like ‘Winnie the Pooh’ “What else can I do?”
Fabulous, just fabulous!!!
Linda
Plot 47

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January 2006 and general over wintering advice

January 1st, 2006

  1. It’s a new year and although it’s cold and the soil is still quite wet, there are things we can be doing to give us a head start when spring arrives. The rents were due in October. This is the time when some of us give up but very few have on our site which is good news.
  2. Some of our plotholders are still new to allotments and are struggling to bring once derelict plots into order and productivity.
  3. If you are passionately organic and do not want the stain of using chemical weed killers on your conscience, then you must realise that you will have double the workload. Bear the burden of your faith bravely and get stuck in!
  4. Here is some basic advice:-
  • If someone has helpfully put black plastic on part of your plot to clear weeds, roll it back all at once, at your peril! It may look clear underneath but roots will not be dead. You’ll let in the rain and light and they’ll be off! Only roll back as much as you can realisticly dig in a session.
  • Use a spade for the initial dig on ‘virgin’ soil – NOT a fork! You have the roots of some of nature’s toughest customers firmly embedded in your plot! The three worst are bramble, couch grass and convolvulus. I said ‘worst’ because they all have colonising root systems. You need the spade to cut these as you dig. Use a fork and the roots will simply slide through and remain there.
  • You will save yourself a lot of later trouble if you take these roots out at this point. Shake the soil from them and put them on a piece of iron where they can’t regrow easily. Plan some way to be totally rid of them. Burning works! No matter how organic you are there is no co-existence with these thugs of the plant world. Brambles will puncture your flesh, couch will even grow through your potato tubers and convolvulus will completely smother big raspberry canes. Don’t put them in a heap on earth in another part of the plot. They’ll love that! Don’t try to compost them! Think annihilation!
  • The other way to prepare ‘virgin’ soil is to turn it all over, cutting roots but not removing them, then taking them out later when they start to shoot. This requires constant vigilance and will need a longer time frame than the first method although initially it is faster and not so tedious. If you’ve planted crops in this rooty soil they’ll have to compete for food, moisture and light. Some can but small seeds will stand no chance.
  • Don’t hire a mechanical cultivator and expect a miracle. These will bounce along the top of the ground and be useless unless you get one that is approaching the power of a small tractor. The usual cultivator that is available for hire will only cope with dug ground. It’s patience and perseverance that wins through.
  • There are ways to increase the work rate and the best of these is recruiting extra help form friends and family.
  • If you don’t know how or where to start use the WASHA email. Some of our experienced gardeners will help. Some of us have cultivators and will fine down your dug soil if asked.

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Jobs for the month (September 2005)

September 1st, 2005

  1. This is the time of year to turn surplus into preserves.  Got loads of green tomatoes?  Good pickle recipe in recipe section.
  2. Got loads of pumpkin?  They store well.  You can also freeze them ready cut for roasting.There’s a good pumpkin soup recipe in the recipe section. If you’ve grown a variety such as ‘Sweet Dumpling’ which is delicious but resembles a cannonball in size, shape and durability, then you need to roast it whole and scrape the seeds out when it is cooked and soft.  The flesh can be scraped out and mashed with butter and curry paste  -  nice! Pumpkins and their seeds are specially good for men -  something to do with pollination!
  3. Your onions should be lifted, dried and stored now and also your shallot crop.  Onions are easily plaited on a string.  Baler twine is fine and riding stables will usually give you bags of it if you ask. A plait of onions keeps well as the air circulates and you can easily cut off one without the whole string unravelling.
  4. I’m told that cooked beetroot can be frozen.  Anyone tried it?  Sweet corn freezes very well andif you strip it off the cob, it takes very little room.  It’s not a difficult job.  Blanch the cobs first and plunge into cold water.  Take off the first column of kernels with a small pointed knife then the other columns come off easily when bent sideways.  Fortunately we all have good crops of sweet corn this year as the flocks of cob raiding pigeons, crows and magpies have not returned.
  5. Most soft fruit is finished, except blackberries and Autumn raspberries, so you can start pruning outdead canes.  Strawberry beds need a tidy up.  There’ll be plenty of runners to start a new bed.
  6. Check all brassicas regularly for caterpillars or you’ll get a rude shock!
  7. One might have hoped the slugs had perished in the dry spell but no such luck!  They are back, bigger and hungrier than ever.  You might be waiting for your sprouts to ’sweeten’ after a frost but they are already nice enough for the slimy ones.  They also find swedes tasty.  It helps to keep your paths trimmed as they rest up there in the day.  If you are on site at twilight, the number emerging to tackle your crops is quite depressing.  If you are very organic and a Buddhist, you can collect them up and put them in your compost bin where they will recycle your organic waste.  Keeping them there is the problem!
  8. Outdoor tomatoes have done pretty well on site but the dreaded blight is here now.  Taking off the leaves helps.

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Jobs for the month (August 2005)

August 1st, 2005

  1. The planting season is drawing to an end and it’s full scale harvesting now.  Here’s a planting check list.  Your leeks, purple sprouting, and winter cabbage and cauliflower should all be transplanted out now and your Brussels should be well advanced.  They won’t be a lot of trouble but don’t neglect them.  Keep them weeded and free of pests.  These are going to see you through the winter providing fresh green veg.  Latest medical news tells us that as little as 1.5 oz of broccoli per day helps fight cancer.  We plotholders who are grandparents find our fresh veg much in demand for the youngsters.
  2. Now is the time to sow your overwintering or ‘Japanese’ onions.  Senshu is a good variety.  Sow the seeds the same way as spring onions.  The trick is to get them to germinate in the continuing dry weather.  The clay soil has dried out very quickly the summer this year.  No matter how fine and friable soil used to cover the seeds has been, it has soon formed a hard pan.  The small seed has difficulty pushing through from below and water from above just runs off.  I’ve noticed that some plotholders have started replacing the covering soil with peat.  This is proving successful.  The peat, unlike the clay soil, stays soft and crumbly.  Once the ‘Japanese’ onions get a good start, they survive winter and will be ready to eat in June.  They are the sweetest juiciest onions and can’t be bought in shops.  It’s worth hedging your bets and planting some of the sets as well.  They’ll be appearing in the gardening shops later this month.
  3. Other seeds that can go in now and survive the winter are chard and spring onions.  Why are they called spring onions?
  4. It’s potato harvesting time.  Most plotholders grow earlies only and don’t bother with maincrop for storage so their spuds are out and eaten before the slugs and blight get a hold.  However if you are harvesting maincrop for storage here are a few tips.  Choose a dry day, expose the freshly dug tubers to the sun for a few hours to let the skin toughen, inspect closely and only reserve perfect tubers for storage, then make sure the storage container is dry, porous  and free from light.
  5. Are your beans and courgettes coming to an end?  They don’t keep on producing till the first frost so remember this next year and plant for succession.  Too late now!
  6. crops last year.  What’s happened to them?
  7. Need more compost?  Use an old bottomless 44 gallon drum or similar, bring up all your household scraps, paper, cardboard, throw in all your weeds and vegetable waste, use the bags of grass cuttings Malcolm leaves near the shed and eventually you will have a drum of  – soil.  Forget all the gardening programs with their smug presenters running peat-like ‘compost’ through their fingers.  No, your drum will have what looks like normal soil in it.  It’s best to put a wire rack over the wheelbarrow as you empty the drum into it to take out the non-organic waste which even the best trained family will have thrown in.  Vacuum cleaner bags are worst!  What are they made of?  This stuff is still the best soil improver of all and costs nothing.
  8. This is the month of surplus.  Share your bounty!

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Jobs for the month (July 2005)

July 1st, 2005

  1. The long dry spell has broken at last.  Hopefully any small seeds planted now will germinate and thrive.  If you’ve had trouble with carrots and spring onions, it’s worth sowing some more.  It’s not too late.
  2. Now is the time to sow swede turnips.  They germinate easily and quickly but are immediately attacked by flea beetles which eat the first leaves down to the stalk and kill the whole plant.  The whole row needs to be covered with fleece for protection.  Take it off when the tougher leaves develop.  Thin them out and spray any insect infestations at the heart of the plant.
  3. Interesting to see Jamie Oliver praising the new potatoes of a well known supermarket.  Note the price!  Unfortunately the hot humid weather encourages potato blight.  Don’t imagine it to be some sort of mouldy rotting infestation.  It is the same browning of the leaves effect as was noticeable when they were frost bitten.  However the plant will not recover from this damage and the whole crop will be affected almost overnight.  It will spread to the tubers and they will rot!  Dithane spray is effective and set your sprayer to produce a fine mist.  Spray as much of the foliage as you can to the point of run off.  When digging potatoes try to clear every potato, even the tiny ones.  They will re-grow if left in the ground and next year will appear as strong, healthy, deep rooted plants just where you least want to have to dig them out -  usually in the middle of your spring onions or carrots!
  4. There are fine crops of brassicas on site.  They are prey to a wide variety of pests.  The pigeons eat them, but rarely to point of death.  The cabbage white butterfly is busy laying clumps of its little yellow eggs on the undersides of the leaves right now.  These hatch out to voracious caterpillars which prefer the tender heart of the plant.  Either squash the eggs every day or spray the grubs.  You can be standing proudly looking at a fine row of brassicas and notice that a few seem to wilt in the heat.  This is not good news.  The plant is stressed and there could be two reasons.  First, and most common, is that it has been attacked by the cabbage root fly which lays eggs in the soil near the central stalk.  The grubs hatch out, move down the gap between the stem and earth and proceed to eat the plant’s roots.  If you dig up one of these stressed plants, you find they are virtually rootless.  What to do?  Well you can squirt insecticide down this gap.  I don’t know whether it does any good but it can make you feel better.  The second is club root.  This is a nematode invasion of the roots producing great knobs and deformities and eventually killing the host.  The only way to combat this is to not get it at all, so practice good rotation of your crops as the nematode stays in the soil.
  5. All bean crops are now under heavy attack from black fly.  There are lots of ladybirds about but they’re not eating them fast enough.  Yes we all squash as many black fly as we can, but they cause enough damage to kill the plant so spraying with soft soap or an insecticide is usually necessary.  Keep all beans well watered.  Pick while the bean is young and tender.  Leaving big beans on, sends a signal to the plant that its work may be complete.  Keeping big beans sustained also wastes the plants energy and yours too when you try to chew them!
  6. Keep the hoe going! The weeds will reappear quickly with a bit of rain.  You can compost most of them.  Regarding them as green manure helps keep you positive.  Some of us love weeding!  Mare’s tail, dandelion, couch grass, convolulus (bind weed) and dock can’t be composted unless certified dead by an expert.
  7. It’s the time of year when we are obliged to ‘waste’ a lot of time picking!   Still, we gardeners are not ones to complain, are we?

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Jobs for the month (June 2005)

June 1st, 2005

  1. This is the hungry time, just before the first of this year’s crops are ready.  Brassicas that have come through the winter look tough and inedible but it’s worth checking how they cook up.  It’s normally heat, not cold, that makes vegetables tough.
  2. If you have a row of chard which overwintered, you will have plenty of fresh greens.  This is a good source of vitamins and has a milder flavour than spinach.  It will cook in the water it’s washed in.  You need to start with a potful as it cooks down to very little.
  3. Speaking of spinach  -  the ladies on plot 6 have been eating spinach for weeks and they only started on their plot in January.
  4. Broad beans are going to be ready soon.  Don’t wait till they are large and tough like those on sale in the shops.  Start on them early when they are not much bigger than a pea.  This may seem profligate but that is why we have our plots  -  maximum flavour and freshness!
  5. Many seeds are programmed to start growth when they get a good soaking. We haven’t had enough rain in the last month to help small seeds germinate.  Hot dry days take a toll of those seedlings that do come up.  Watering helps but some good rain would be a real boost!
  6. Carrots, beetroot, parsnips and spring onions will need to be kept clear of weeds.  Within the row, between the plants, this is best done with a pointed knife while they’re small.  Between the rows the flat hoes that cut roots are best.   If you want to keep carrots free of carrot fly maggots, you’ll need to cover them with fleece.  Parsnips should be thinned out to at least four inches apart.
  7. It’s June and we must stop cutting asparagus now.  As soon as the shoots lengthen you will find they are attacked by a small black grub.  This is the larvae of the asparagus beetle and though they are small, they are voracious.  They even eat the bark off the stems!  You’ll have to squash them or spray!  No plant will survive being ring barked.
  8. There are good crops of potatoes all over the site.  They soon recovered from the frost damage and some of them are nearly ready to lift.  Yes, the tubers will be small, but delicious!  After a spell of hot humid days, look out for potato blight.  You may need to spray with Dithane.  For those who haven’t managed to plant their spuds yet, it’s not too late!  Your seed potatoes may have long straggly shoots and the tuber may look shrivelled and spent but it’s still viable and will produce a good crop.  At this time of year, shops almost give away these left over bags of sorry looking seed potatoes.  They’re worth buying!
  9. The sweet corn is doing well in the warmer weather and dry spells don’t bother it either.  It rarely needs watering.  The pollination is done by wind, not insects, so plant fairly close in rows or blocks.  The male flower appears first from the centre top of the plant and is followed by the female flower which appears as a silky tassel from the central stem below.  The pollen grains have to fall and stick to the tassel to produce a well filled cob of corn.  This is an American plant but our birds have learnt to strip the outer wrappings to get to the kernels, so be aware!
  10. Runner beans can be unreliable croppers, so why not have some climbing French beans as well?  These never fail to produce heavy crops and are less susceptible to black fly.  Cobra (pencil shaped pods) and Hunter (flat pods) are good and there are purple and gold varieties as well.  Of course they taste different to runners, but are still delicious.  Those who like bending or can’t spare the time to erect supports can grow a dwarf variety.
  11. When beans are carrying a heavy crop, they need plenty of water.  A sprinkling will not do.  You need to soak the roots.  You also need to keep the pods picked young as the plant will use a lot of energy producing large tough beans that no one wants to chew.
  12. Those who planted overwintering onions last Autumn are happy now to see the bulbs swelling at the base.  These are particularly sweet and succulent onions.  They have a tendency to ‘bolt’.  A large stalk with pointed seed pod appears through the centre of the foliage.  Pick these bolted ones now while this central stem is tender and can be eaten.  If left to maturity this stem becomes tough and inedible but it is easily discarded when the onion is prepared for eating so don’t chuck these bolted ones on the compost heap!  These overwintering onions are not good for long storage.

If you’d like to contribute to this column. Please use the WASHA email.

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Jobs for the months (March, April, May 2005)

March 1st, 2005

  1. Well we got away with it last year, but most potatoes on site look as if someone took a blow torch to them.  This is frost damage, but don’t worry too much as this tough vegetable will recover.
  2. Apart from some warm days the weather has been too cold for lots of veg. that we got off to a flying start last year.  Some plotholders have lost early plantings of beans and courgettes.  Some have survived but are looking sickly.  They will revive with warmer weather.
  3. Don’t forget to earth up your potatoes so that none of the developing tubers are exposed to light which will turn them green.  Green potatoes are poisonous, as is all the potato plant showing above ground.  It belongs to the same family as ‘deadly nightshade’ so don’t let your children pick the flowers or green seed pods which look like green tomatoes.  Some potatoes don’t flower at all.
  4. There is a lot of sweet corn being planted again this year as well as a crop of African maize next to the container.  It will outstrip the sweet corn.  Don’t forget to plant extra as the birds will take a percentage share.
  5. Speaking of birds: this is the time of year when we begin to wonder if we’re on a RSPB reserve.  They are everywhere.  If you’ve got soft fruit then cover it up now.  Don’t wait till it’s near ripening as birds eat it green.  They’ve already started on cherries and redcurrants.  All brassicas need covering too as the pigeons regard them as a salad starter.  The robins think we’re working for them and are right by the spade as we dig.  It’s nice to see them get a beakful of those nasty cream coloured wireworms which eat the roots of our seedlings.
  6. When you’re planting out seedlings don’t forget to firm the ground round them and water them in even if it looks like rain.  the water expels the air and settles the soil around the roots.
  7. All the small seeds should go in now – parsnips, beetroot, carrots, spring onions.  Give them plenty of room, especially carrots and parsnips as their leafy tops are always bigger than you expected.
  8. Shallot and onion sets should be planted by now but it’s not too late.  They are often pulled out by birds too, but no one seems to know why.  You can easily push them back in and once the tops show you need to keep weeds at bay with a hoe that slices them off without disturbing the roots of the onions.  Shallow hoeing is best.  If you let the weeds get established, this option is out.
  9. Leeks need planting now in a seed bed.  They prefer the great outdoors to a tray.
  10. It should be safe to plant beans now.  If you put them straight in the ground you could lose them to mice and squirrels.  They transplant quite well so it’s safest to start them off in a tray.
  11. Plant lettuce seeds now.  They won’t germinate in hot weather.
  12. There are lots of brassicas (cabbage family) being planted out.  Plant extra as they are prone to club root disease and cabbage root fly, as well as an assortment of caterpillars.
  13. Those who have established asparagus beds are eating well at the moment.  Forget the fancy recipes.  Two minutes in the microwave with a knob of butter  -  delicious.  Stop picking in June to let the crop build up strength.
  14. Loads of really fresh juicy rhubarb around the site.  Ask if you want any!  Any good recipes?
  15. Once again it’s good to see newcomers doing so well.  However some are having a tough time of it.  If you have taken in a plot that has not been dug for twenty years, then you will need some help.  At the WASHA AGM members offered help with digging, clearing and rotovating.  Our soil is clay.  It will grow great crops but is difficult to work initially.  When dry it’s like brick and when wet it’s plasticine.  You have to work with the weather.  Rain and frost will make it easier to break down clods of earth.  It takes time and patience.

If you need help please use the WASHA email.  All members on site are anxious for newcomers to succeed.

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Jobs for the months (December 2004 / January, February 2005)

December 1st, 2004

Bad weather can keep you off the plot during winter but everyone is planning for the spring and ordering seeds.  If you join the NSALG you get the King’s catalogue for members with half price seeds.
Here’s a summary of information and advice from our site plotholders.
Best Brussell Sprout variety for our soil  ‘Icarus’.
The Marshall’s free sample packet of Broccoli ‘Sakura’ did well.
The D.T.Brown seeds recommended for successional cropping of cauliflower works well.  There are three varieties, all F1, ‘Regata’,'Optimist’and ‘Aviso’, which are planted together in May, then transplanted together and the cropping is staggered over three months.  Lovely caulies and no gluts!
Purple Sprouting ‘Rudolf’ is ready early.
Good results from potato ‘Charlotte’ were reported.
‘Spey’ is a good main crop spud.  ‘Sharpes Express’ is a reliable all rounder and can be early used as an early.  You can buy seed potatoes now and chit them (put them in box to sprout).
Nicola is a good yellow potato.  Best for salad but versatile.
Magda grew baby sweet corn.  She reports that it was difficult to tell the size under all the wrapping and it was not easy to pick.  Even though she often picked it oversized it still tasted delicious.  She doesn’t plan to grow it again and has real sympathy for those who have to pick it commercially.  Maybe machines do it?
Christine had good results with cucumber ‘burpee’ grown along wires and twigs.
Brian always has good results using a wigwam.
If you are considering which pumpkin to grow, remember the ones that are tropical in origin such as ‘Crown Prince’,and ‘Queensland Blue’ won’t ripen many fruit, (often only one) in our climate.  ‘Butternut’ will have a prolific crop.
Davinia’s favourite is ‘Hubbard golden squash’ which she says tastes creamiest.
‘Sweet Dumpling’ is a small striped pumpkin which really is sweet.  It stays rock hard so has to be cooked whole and the flesh scraped out when soft.  Delicious!
Our soil grows good leeks whatever the variety.  ‘King Richard’ is easiest to pull up. It has very little root system so doesn’t need levering out with a spade.  It grows very tall and looks as if it is barely coping, but it’s tasty.
Get plenty of sweet corn seed.  Remember you lose a lot to birds.
If you are very fond of birds, you could plant something special just for them.  Last year Plot 45 had rows of sunflowers which were alive with green finches.
Bull finches love thistle seeds but it’s an unfriendly plant which is hard to get rid of.
Now is the time to plant garlic bulbs.  It’s also a good time to plant soft fruit such as raspberries.  One of the first vegetables to be ready to eat are broad beans and allotment growers can have the luxury of eating them small and tender.  Plant them in a box of compost at home away from the mice, squirrels and birds.  They soon germinate and transplant well. You could also start some early cabbage off in
a seed tray now.
Many plotholders are well advanced with their winter digging and will be off to a flying start in the Spring.
Any contributions to this section will be welcome.

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Jobs for the months (October/November 2004)

October 1st, 2004

  1. Autumn has definitely arrived and the crops susceptible to frost are living on borrowed time.  However, as we’ve had good rain and reasonable warmth, those who gambled and planted later successional crops are still picking good yields.
  2. Now have a look at your plot!  Have you got veg to see you through the winter?  You should have parsnips, sprouts, cauliflower, purple sprouting, chard, swede turnips, winter cabbage, leeks, kale and carrots.
  3. If not, you may have fallen victim to the Early Spring Rush Syndrome.  The symptoms of this are an overwhelming desire to sow early, plant out early, then sit back and forget about successional and winter cropping.  Newcomers to allotments are particularly prone to this disease.  Everybody likes to be eating fresh veg as soon as possible.  However, it’s the fresh veg through the winter that is very valuable in terms of saving money and providing vitamins.  Some, such as sprouts and leeks need a long growing time and the seeds should have been planted back in May.
  4. So now it’s time to tidy your plot and think ahead to what will happen during winter when bad weather could keep you at home for weeks on end.  You’ll find the weeds will still growthrough the worst of it.  Most of them are easily removed in the spring, but do you want them using your dug in manure for their lush growth?  If you want a weed free area already manured for an eary crop, you might be advised to cover it now with a weed supressant such as old carpet or black plastic.
  5. Some plotholders have turned their soil over quickly and easily using large ‘third world’ hoes. Where to get them?  They are actually ‘Chillington’ hoes and are only available by mail order. Check their website ( http://www.chillington.co.uk ) or order their brochure by email at crocodile@chillington.co.uk  This is the common hand tool for agricultural work in the third world where the survival equation of food=energy=work=food is critical.  We don’t have this survival problem but we do have bad backs and shortage of time.  The ‘heavy duty’ hoe will deal with the worst weeds including brambles.  The blade is the same size as a spade so it can be used to dig.  The action then comes mainly from shoulders and arms and backache can be avoided. The smaller version – ‘trenching hoe’ – is one third lighter and smaller but does the same job. The winter months for plotholders is a time of planning and pouring over seed catalogues.
  6. A few points to consider!  Why not join the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners? ( http://www.nsalg.org.uk/ ). This is the national body campaigning for preservation of sites so we should support it.  The annual subscription is £15.00 and for this you get a quarterly magazine called the ‘Allotment and Leisure Gardener’.  This is not a glossy production, but it is written by and for plotholders. It contains all sorts of gardening advice and information specific to allotments.  You can also read how other sites are coping with difficulties and get useful tips on regeneration.  You also receive the Kings seed catalogue for plotholders.  This too is a plain booklet with no pictures but it offers seeds at discounted prices and includes a selection of larger packs, seed potatoes and flowers.  The NSALG is the only organisation through which insurance for public liability can be obtained for allotment sites.
  7. Winter is a good time to check whether tools are marked.  Street number and postcode will ensure they are returned.  You may think you can recognise your trusty spade but it was mass produced and someone will have one just like it.  Wooden handles can be marked with a router or you can burn into them with a heated piece of metal such as a skewer.  Painting tools a flourescent pink has been shown to make them less likely to be stolen.

All newcomers with overgrown allotments; dig through the winter months, a little at a time and by spring you’ll be on top of it.  You’ll also be very fit!  Don’t sit out the winter waiting for the spring!  If you need help ask!

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