Archive for the ‘Gardening Advice Corner’ Category

Jobs for the month (September 2004)

September 1st, 2004

  1. Well, who said sweet corn was a trouble free crop?  Spoken much too soon!  Our own site version of ‘Big Bird’ namely pigeons, magpies and crows have stripped whole blocks of sweet corn cobs right down to the core. It’s very neatly done.  They peel back the wrapping leaves and work down the cob.  Chairman Paul thought a small deer had eaten his entire crop, but the real culprits had been seen in action, flying in five or six at a time to dine with company.  What is the answer?  Well, we could pick earlier before some kernels peep over the top of the wrapping and give the clue to our feathered friends.  The biggest block of corn on site (about one sixth of an allotment) was largely untouched.  Was this because a cat or fox had good cover to lie in ambush?So, is it plant more?  Net?  Better scarecrows?  You have all winter to contemplate!
  2. The overwintering onion sets are now in the shops.  Definitely worth a go!
  3. Spring onions can be planted now and will overwinter too.
  4. Swiss chard ditto, and winter varieties of lettuce such as ‘Artic King’ or ‘Winter Density’.
  5. Lots of plotholders are planting the overwintering broad bean ‘Aquadulce’ which gives an early crop next spring.
  6. Most onion crops have already been lifted and stored.  Do it as soon as possible if yours are still in the ground.  They need to be dried off before storing.  A good method of storage is ’stringing’.  Have a central string (baler twine is ideal), plait the dry onion tops into this and hang them up in a frost free, dry place.  Then when you need one you can cut it off without the whole lot unravelling.
  7. Maincrop potatoes need lifting now.  They come under renewed slug attack now when left in the ground.  If you are storing them they need to be dry and perfect so inspect carefully.  Store in hessian or strong paper bags which will keep out light but let them breathe.   Small potatoes can be a nuisance.  You must pick them all up otherwise they grow next spring.  They could be carrying disease and they will interfere with your rows of seedlings.  Don’t put them in the compost. They grow there too!  On the farm they would be thrown to the hens or pigs.  After seeing a friend paying good money for what the supermarket had euphemisticly labelled ‘baby potatoes’, I realised there was an easy disposal solution.  You too could have friends who value these rejects! Most potato haulms (stalks) are affected by blight so don’t compost them.  They should be burnt! Our best cropping potato – heavy yield, good blight resistance, almost slug free  -  SPEY.
  8. Those of us who are ahead of the game could be cutting out old canes from the summer fruiting raspberries, loganberries etc.  The rest of us think we’ve got all winter to do it!  If you are planning on planting any of the ‘vine’ soft fruit such as loganberries, don’t buy them.  Walk round the site and find a plot with them growing.  When the plotholder has a big tidy up, lots of stray canes are found to be rooted and need to be pulled out. I’m sure most would happily give you some to pot up and bring on ready for planting out in the spring.  Just ask!
  9. Jostaberries, which are a blackcurrant/gooseberry cross, root easily.  If you cut a stem and poke it in the ground it will grow.    There are several on site.  Just ask!
  10. It’s a good time to take strawberry runners and plant up a new bed.  Don’t buy any.  Find a plotholder with strawberries.  It’s a good bet their strawberry bed is overrun with unwanted runners.  Just ask!

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Jobs for the month (July / August 2004)

July 1st, 2004

Everything on site is looking good! It’s nice to see the new plotholders with such splendid crops. Are they more progressive or just green fingered? Some of us old hands feel distinctly jaded!
We had unexpected strong winds early in the month but crops suffered little damage. The potato crop looks good and the soft fruit is abundant.
There have been complaints about poor germination of small seeds such as carrot, spring onions and beetroot. After trying three times with three rows, we have a total of one spring onion plant (now eaten).

  1. Lettuce seeds haven’t failed, but now that the hotter weather is here, remember that they will not germinate during hot spells.
  2. Swedes are always easy to germinate but if you don’t cover them for a while, flea beetles eat them down to a stub. The older leaves are tougher and not so easily attacked, although Swedes are a member of the brassica (cabbage) family and the tender central leaves are often colonised with grey and white fly which stunt their growth. It’s worth spraying them!
  3. If you are growing asparagus (definitely a long term project), you may be amazed to find the whole plant becoming a pale shadow of its former self. If you put on your reading glasses and look closely, you’ll see they are being eaten by a small black grub. This is the larvae of the asparagus beetle and though 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.
  4. Leeks and purple sprouting should be planted out by now, or as soon as you can.
  5. Treasurer Brian’s tip for successional purple sprouting: plant variety ‘Rudolf’ which does exactly what it says on the packet and is ready for January; then Early Purple Sprouting; then the normal variety. If you want larger headed spears try ‘Claret’ or ‘Red Arrow’. Purple sprouting does take up a lot of space for a long time and it is prone to all the usual brassica pests including ‘club root’ and ‘cabbage root fly’, but it produces tasty abundant crops in the early new year just when you need those extra vitamins. It’s always expensive to buy and any surplus freezes well.
  6. It’s time of year for the cabbage white butterfly which is busy, busy all day, laying clusters of its yellow eggs all over your brassica crops. If you see these, squash them as they hatch into caterpillars which won’t leave much for you. You’ll probably have to spray! If we didn’t have to cover the crop with netting from our pigeons we would have the smaller birds feasting on the grubs!
  7. The weeds are flourishing too, and if your compost bin is overflowing with them, then you could use plastic bags for rotting them down. The ones that are black inside are best (commercial compost bags or bark chipping bags). They don’t take up much room and if you put in a spadeful of manure, you’ll get the worm activity as well. After a few months, they are easily tipped onto the soil you are digging. Weeds are best regarded as green manure. Don’t throw them away from your plot! They carry soil on their roots and you are discarding your precious topsoil as well as losing organic matter. Most weeds are harmless and will rot away, roots and all. The exceptions are the roots of couch grass, mare’s tail, dandelion, dock and bind weed (the pretty white flowered creeper). They should be kept off the soil while they dry out completely, then burnt. The ash is rich in minerals, especially potash.
  8. You may think your courgettes will continue fruiting till first frost, but they won’t! They produce a set number then stop. If you’re not sick of eating them you might consider planting a few late ones.

If you’re going on holiday and would like your crops watered, why not use the WASHA email to ask for help?

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Jobs for the month (June 2004)

June 1st, 2004

  1. Earth up your potatoes otherwise some tubers will show through the ground, become green and therefore spoilt.  Green potatoes are poisonous.
  2. Remember that all parts of the potato except the tuber are poisonous, (same family as deadly nightshade), so warn your children.  The flowers set into seed pods that resemble small green tomatoes.  Incidentally not all potatoes flower.
  3. After a spell of hot humid days look out for potato blight.  You may need to spray with Dithane.
  4. Nice to see lots of sweet corn planted on site.  This is a trouble free crop.  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 tassle from the central stem below.  The pollen grains have to fall and stick to the tassle to produce a well filled cob of corn. There is corn on site which will grow to three times the height of sweetcorn.  This does not denote a plotholder with a secret feeding ingredient!  This is African maize.  No need for jealousy!  It’s completely tasteless.  Apologies to Joram for my lack of appreciation!
  5. Lots of runner bean beans have appeared with a variety of supports.  Everyone has their own method and the September winds will make the final assessment of architectural strength.
  6. 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 grow the dwarf variety.
  7. 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.
  8. Carrots, beetroot, parsnips and spring onions will need to be kept clear of weeds.  Best to do it with a pointed knife while they’re small.  If you want to keep carrots free of carrot fly maggots, you’ll need to cover them with fleece.  Some plotholders plant marigolds among the rows to hide the carrot smell and confuse the flies.  Does it work?  Parsnips should be thinned out to at least four inches apart.
  9. Brussel sprouts should be planted out by now.  Chairman Paul is the champion sprout grower.  He recommends the variety Icarus, which seems to like our soil.  It is also an advantage to have a father-in-law who brings the seedlings on in his greenhouse.
  10. All sorts of brassicas (cabbage family) are appearing on site now with a variety of pigeon protection devices – netting, humming lines, rotating Compact Discs and cardboard cats with bright eyes.  Even so – rare to see a starving pigeon.  Ours are particularly fat!
  11. 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.  This becomes tough and inedible but is easily discarded when the onion is prepared for eating.
  12. Plotholders with polytunnells are planting out peppers, capsicums, aubergines and tomatoes.  Is there any point in giving advice for just one pollytunneller?  No!  But we all wish him good luck and all of us at the lower end will be in to inspect during rain showers.

If you’d like to contribute to this column, need help, or would like to have a plot plan with your neighbour’s names, or would like to be introduced to others on site please use the WASHA email.

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Jobs for the month (May 2004)

May 1st, 2004

  1. The rain has given the grass a great spurt of growth and it’s a battle now for control.  Once it reaches the length where it lays over, it is twice as hard to mow or strim.  If you’ve got the strimmer or mower out why not check whether your neighbour needs help?
  2. All newcomers are advised to clear and dig as much as possible so that when the compost arrives you can add it to make your soil more fertile and easier to work.  Remember that the basic soil type on our site is clay.  It will grow good crops, but as the season advances and the ground dries out, undug
  3. At the moment, with the rain, the clay exhibits its other natural form which resembles plasticine.  If you are planting, remember that your weight will compact the soil so use a board if possible to distribute the load.  When you are finished, working backwards, use a small rake/fork to remove your footprints and leave the surface even.
  4. Many plot holders are planting sweet corn, beans, courgettes and even tomatoes.  Don’t be discouraged if they look poorly.  They won’t really thrive until it warms up a bit.  If a frost is forecast, you’ll need to give them some protection!
  5. There are lots of plots with potatoes showing through.  We still could get a frost but most potatoes can survive a slight touch of frostbite.
  6. On our site, with its large population of resident slugs, it’s good to use a potato with some resistance to slugs. (I guess this just means they find some less to their taste).  First earlies Sharps Express and Accent are fairly unattractive to our slimy friends.  Second earlies Kestrel, Yukon Gold and Maincrop Spey, Nicola and Majestic are also not slug favourites.
  7. Any trailing cane fruit such as loganberries, tayberries, balckberries etc. should have had their number of canes reduced and securely tied in.  If you don’t thin out the number of new shoots you will get a crop of berries larger in number but smaller in size.  Doesn’t make for efficient picking!  Boysenberries are particularly prone to producing far more canes than required.  Harden your heart and cut them out!
  8. Check your blackcurrants for big bud.  Pick these monstrosities off and destroy them.  They contain a small insect which spreads a virus through your bush and reduces the yield drastically.
  9. If you are planning to grow the super sweet varieties of sweet corn, remember that they are more difficult to germinate.  They have extra sugar which lowers the starch content.  This starch is needed for germination.  Wait till the weather warms up or give them extra heat onto the seedtray.
  10. Our site is rich in wildlife and we love it on the whole.  Remember our many little squirrel friends and their grounded cousins, the mice, when planting beans, corn or peas directly into the soil.  You may arrive next visit to find a row of little holes with no thank you note for the free food.  It is extra trouble to germinate these in a seed tray in safety, but they do transplant well and it saves on Kleenex and buying more seed!
  11. All the small seeds can be planted now  -  carrots, parsnips, beetroot, spring onions etc.  You need the soil to be friable (crumbly) so it can be brought to a fine tilth.  The soil on the lower allotments is too wet at the moment, but there’s plenty of time!
  12. It’s not too late to plant onion and shallot sets.  If you’ve been keeping off your wet soil to avoid compaction, don’t despair.  It can’t keep raining!  Can it?
  13. Similarly there’s plenty of time for potatoes to go in.  Don’t worry if they’ve got shoots.  They’ll survive!  This is one tough vege until it gets to blight time of year!(which isn’t yet)
  14. If you’re planting brassicas (cabbage family), you could put some lime on the soil as they like it.  Lime will also make clay more friable, as will compost, but don’t put them in together.
  15. If you’re new and you’d like some of your neighbours rhubarb, just ask.
  16. Remember, your plot is 10 rods.  This is an old Imperial Measure which doesn’t easily translate into metric.  Let’s just say it’s a big piece of land.  You have plenty of room, so give your plants a fair go and space them out.  You have to try to think of their full grown size and the fact that you have to move among them.  If you allow for this when planting out, your spacing will look ridiculously generous.  This means you’ve got it about right!
  17. This is a great time of year to have an allotment so let’s all enjoy it.  If you need a plot plan giving your neighbour’s names, or would like help, or introductions email WASHA (click on the Contact Us section).

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