Hints And Tips
These Hints and tips have been forumlated from our experiences in our years of allotment gardening, and of course should be followed with consideration of your own soil and land type, we hope you find them helpful. All tips should be followed with care and attention should always be payed to manufacturer or sowing instructions.
Pumpkins- Identify yourself!
The use of canes or indicators to show where the roots of your pumpkin plants are once your patch becomes more etablished, can be very beneficial. Once the leaves of the plants cover the entire area it is incredibly hard to find where the plants spring out from the groud to feed, tend or water them. When using canes in this way it is best to use the longer types so when bending down to water you do not risk jabbing yourself in the eye. However, other methods such as coloured cloths tied to sticks or even to the stem of the plant itself can also be just as effective and in general this technique can save you a lot of time and effort trying to find the most apropriate place to water these moisture guzzling plants.
Odd's and Sodd's.
We suggest that people conisder leaving an extra bit of space on thier
allotment/home garden to accomodate extra crops you may decide to put in as the season progresses or in case some of the things you are planting cannot end up in the place you intended. We refer to this as the "odds and sodds" patch on our plot, its contents develops with the plot througout the season and it usually ends up being more productive for some reason than the spaces you allocate especially for certain crops. Doing this gives you an extra bit of leway with regards to planting as well as can be a useful space with experimentation of crops or varieties of fruit and veg.
Crop Protection.
We have had huge sucesses courtesy of the Hotricultural Fleece we have been using to help protect our tender young seedlings. We initially placed it over our young radishes, salads and mixed brassicas to protect them in some of the colder previous months and now we find ourselves reaping the rewards. The above crops estalished well with very little slug or bird damage and as a result were soon ready for harvesting. Another beauty of the fleece is that it is very versatile, (despite seeming delicate) it can be used by simply draping it over plants, weighted down at the edges with stones (adding a few sticks vertically in the ground whent the crops grow larger) or as part of a more intricate scheme as some of my neighbours are using to deter carrot fly.
Waste not want not.
Packaging often provided by DIY and garden stores for the transport of pot plants can come in very useful at this time of year. They are the perfect size to give your larger seeded vegetbale varieties (such as pumpkins, squashes and courgettes) an ideal start in life. They are large enough to allow such seedlings to establish themselves well, whilst also being excellent in saving space and money as you will not have to spend large amounts on various sizes of seed trays and pots. Just stand them on something so the holes in the bottom do not leak water everywhere, and voila!
Mulching.
When planting our potatoes we have tried something a bit different. We have been able to obtain large amounts of surplus shredded paper which we can put to good use, in particular we have used it as a mluch and water retention intiative beneath our potatoes. By placing the potatoes on a thick bed of the shredding, and using it and straw to protect the soil from the fierce heat of the sun in summer, it will hopefully help to insulate them in the remaining cold weather and prevent them from drying out later in the year and so possibly produce a better crop.
Remember to cover up.
We have the been the victim of horrific vandalism in the past, specifically the saddening discovery that the local pigeons fancied our Purple Sprouting Brocolli plants, resulting in the loss of most of the leaves and some young florets which were forming. We learned our lesson and would therefore advise anyone intending to over winter brassicas, to use some kind of netting to protect them from such damage. However regular visits are required to check that your local pheasant doesnt get stuck in it :-).
Ways of watering.
The use of upturned plastic bottles with the base cut out, placed in the soil, and filled with water to feed it directly to the roots of various plants can be invaluable throughout the summer. These bottles should be buried with a significant amount of plastic protruding from the soil line to prevent bugs and other wildlife falling in and drowning. This is especially good for water hungry plants such as squashes and beans etc, and is a tip we will definatley be employing this season. This tip was provided to us by a French reader who kindly allowed us to share it and it proved most sucessful on our plot last year. Compost Bins. Check around your local builders merchants for discarded pallets which they no longer require. These can very easily be turned into wonderful, large compost bins in the matter of an hour and with a few nails. The best part is they cost just pence or nothing at all if your lucky. Always remember to ask permission of the owner beforehand however.
Cheap Seed.
A wonderful tip for getting your seed for next to nothing is to visit your local Wyvale or other garden centre, as late in the season they can reduce all flower and vegetable seed down to around 50p a packet. Most will be perfectly in date and usable for next season. Getting seed like this means you can be more adventurous in the varieties that you grow.
Rotation.
We would reccommend the regular rotation of crops to anyone thinking about growing vegetables. This helps prevent the buildup of pests and gives you good opportunities to condition the soill and add organic matter in stages rather than on a huge scale. We do this on a yearly basis and have 3 areas to deal with, one we manure, one remains fallow and one is limed. The easiest way of dealing witht his is to split your crops into groups according to thier soil and ph preferences and keep them, in the area they prefer as you move it around your plot. Anything that likes acid soil or is a hungry plant such as beans and squashes should be in the manured section, onions and small root crops in the limed and brassicas and thier relatives such as parsnips in the fallow. We tend to liime the area which contained the brassicas the year before, then manure the area which was fallow and completely leave alone the area which was manured. We know it sounds like a complicated business but once you get to know what each variety likes and your routine it becomes elimentary, and far outweighs the possible consequences such as clubroot which can build up in its abscence and take decades to eradicate.
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