Taking over existing allotment in decent shape

[PeterWMember]

Charles

I was inspired by your video on the Permaculture website and have just bought Organic Gardening and Veg Journal.  It’s great to read some proper teaching about the no-dig approach that we’ve been trying on our home veg patch, mainly by applying and planting into/through an annual mulch of cardboard covered with rotted guinea pig bedding/garden compost mix – but without really understanding the approach in much more depth than that.  At last, a couple of veg books that make sense!  Your recommendation to be relaxed about rotation was particularly welcome.

We’ve just taken over an existing allotment.  There’s one grassed-over border that we’ll bring back into cultivation following your technique in the box on p29 of Organic Gardening, by mulching and letting the weeds die off.  There are a number of threads here on this issue that I’ve read and that explain the approach clearly.  I’m less clear, however, about how to approach the two borders (4m x 8m and 4m x 6m) that were planted by our predecessor last year (and cleared before he handed it over).  They’re in quite good shape.  We’ll divide them into borders that we’ll raise.  There are some small weed seedlings, and a few perennial weeds.  Can we afford, bearing in mind that it’s now end of April, to treat this as the second year as described at the bottom of p25, to dig out the few perennials carefully, pick out/hoe the weed seedlings, start planting now and wait until autumn before adding a couple of inches of compost in the autumn, or should we put on a layer of compost now to prevent further weeds emerging, and then plant?  We’re keen to make the most of this season!

Thanks very much

Peter

 

 

[charlesModerator]

By all means, there is no rule that you have to mulch with compost, only that it gives better growth! Weed, sow, plant now. You can also spread some compost as a thin mulch between rows of seedlings and around larger plants as the season progresses, optional extra. Great that you are really enjoying it.

[PeterWMember]

Looks like we’ve got a busy bank holiday weekend, then!

[RhysParticipant]

Just tried it out for the first time the past 4 weeks and it has certainly made the broad beans, peas and onions roar away.

I just went out walking with a green waste council bag as a receptacle and cut a bagful from various woods. Then I stuffed a Poundland big pot with no holes in (which I thought was useless for growing things but becomes great for preparing teas) with nettles, filled it with rainwater and left it to brew for 4 weeks. Then I filtered it 3 times through a kitchen steamer pot with holes in and stored in old olive oil jars, wine bottles etc. I used it to date twice at a 1:10 dilution the day before heavy rain was forecast. I wouldn’t guarantee anything yet, but it certainly seems to have increased the growth rate of the broad beans especially. We’re in early May and they are 4 – 5ft tall and are showing pods now after early flowering through April.

[PeterWMember]

When I started to put the plan into effect, I discovered that meanwhile rather a lot of weeds had appeared in some parts of our plot.  In particular little marestail shoots had emerged everywhere, there was some bindweed and some of the innocent-looking tufts of grass had the long white roots of couch grass.  Some parts were better than others, and there we planted onion sets and potatoes. 

We built a raised bed with 15cm deep pallet wood sides on one patch of grass, and then laid seed potatoes on the grass and filled up the bed with some very well-rotted compost from the previous owner’s heap.  This new bed is at the front of our plot, next to the track through the middle of the allotment, so it generated quite a lot of interest in starting a no-dig bed on grass among our neighbours and passers by.  No pressure there then!  I’ve realised that I probably planted the potatoes a bit deep, but they seem to be able to grow from quite deep within a compost heap, so I hope they’ll make it up to the surface.

Meanwhile I had been offered a tonne of farmyard manure from a local farm, so I decided to make use of it to start killing off some of the perennial weeds.  I carefully dug out marestail roots and the largest clumps of couch grass, ignoring the annual weeds.  On one of the beds (we should end up with 9 4m x 1.35m raised beds on the plot I put a couple of layers of cardboard down on the soil (it was a bit too windy to put it on top, as Charles recommends, and I had nothing to weight it down) and then 10cm of manure on top.  I buitlt some pallet wood sides for that one too.  On two of the others I put 10cm of muck straight on the soil.  It’ll be interesting to compare the two approaches.  One of the 30-year veterans of the allotment commented that the manure was nicely rotted, but one of the committee members said that plants don’t like too much manure, so I hope I haven’t overdone it.  The manure is still a bit clumpy, so instead of sowing carrots there as planned, I think I’ll plant out the runner bean and pumpkin that I have started in modules, and then plant broccoli and kale later in the season when the manure has broken down further.  I’ll put the carrots in one of the beds where the weeds weren’t so vigorous, in the finer soil where I think they will cope better.  Now I just need to scavenge more pallets to finish off the other raised beds and make a couple of new compost heaps…

[RhysParticipant]

Peter

I’m doing my first experiment with a potato tower this year and the Sarpo Miras (which I was provided evidence do well under tower conditions) and, with three levels of the tower now filled with compost, the seed potatoes have had to grow through the best part of 50cm (which is 20 inches) to break through. This they have just done in just under 6 weeks. I’ve added comfrey leaves at each stage of topping up, so hopefully the plant will have a nice nutrient source throughout the whole tower.

Does say that potatoes will grow successfully despite quite a deep planting…………..

[peatParticipant]

Remember that when farmers  plant their potatoes, they hill them up straight away, no waiting for the haulms to come through. 

[bluebellParticipant]

Had to laugh a little at a fellow plot holder that didnt bother to dig out potatoes last year – just covered with a plastic sheet. over 6 months later they removed the sheet and yes without light or much water the potatoes were still growing. Good job they are edible.

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