Planting & Sowing in Spring-It’s All a Matter of Timing

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April is the month when planting and sowing is on most allotmenteers minds. Looking in some of the gardening books they talk about getting your first early potatoes in late March and sowing parsnips in early April. But beware – they don’t take into account where you live or the current weather conditions. In fact you get the impression some of the writers must live in Cornwall and have a garden with a south facing wall! And of course they are often stock articles written ages ago and don’t reflect the current weather. There are two things to consider-Frost and Soil Temperature. Frost can knock out the tops of delicate plants overnight. In our area we can get light frosts as late as early May-it’s a result of being too far away from the sea and hence the warming effect of the Gulf Stream. Potato tops are vulnerable so you need to plant them so the tops come out after early May which usually means sowing them mid April. I have to admit I plant all types at the same time whether they are earlies or maincrops and I know many people on the site do the same. Delicate things like climbing or French beans, sweet corn and pumpkins and squashes also need to be planted late. Often they are started off in a greenhouse. Plants such as broad beans and peas are toughies and can be sown in early April or sometimes earlier as can onion and shallot sets. Soil Temperature is important as seeds will only germinate within a range of temperatures and usually the higher in that range the better. Some seeds like broad beans, peas and radish grow at quite low temperatures. Parsnips and carrots need a bit more. Parsnips need about 12C to grow well but they will grow a bit at 5C. Hence there’s no point in sowing them until the soil warms up to those temperatures. That of course depends on the weather. We all know some April weather can feel like early March. So don’t rush out to plant them until it warms up enough and the forecast says will stay warm for a while. Otherwise the seed just rots in the ground. However you can of course use cloches to keep the temperature up. A good test if the weeds are growing well so will your seeds!

A website that allows you to find the best dates for planting/sowing  for your area is gardenfocused. 

Happy sowing and remember keep an eye on the weather forecasts!

George Gray

 

In the Bleak Midwinter

What to do on the Allotment over Winter

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Well we have had the first proper frost so soon winter will be upon us so what can we do on our soggy frozen plots?

Well here are a few ideas:-

1 Dig the plot over to allow the frost to break up the soil. That will make rotavation a lot easier in the Spring. Do it in bits but try and avoid standing on the ground when it is very wet as it compresses the soil (particularly our clayey soil!)

2 Straighten the edges of the paths.

3 Clear the plot of any rubbish that make make good hiding places for slugs and snails.

4 Prune fruit trees and bushes. Winter is an ideal time for that as they are dormant.

5 Tidy up the shed

6 Check all fruit bushes and repair any stakes etc

7 Harvest winter veg. This year I have swede, winter cabbage, Caveolo Nero Kale, Brussels Sprouts, Everlasting Spinach, Swiss Chard parsnips and carrots. I don't bother digging out my carrots to store them as it will take really extreme temperatures to freeze them solid. So whilst growth will slow down and stop there should be plenty to eat over winter all being well. But remember, slugs can still be active in a mild spell, and if you haven't done already net the brassicas so the wood pigeons don't get them!

George Gray

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Pop Bottle Irrigation

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To stop water getting onto leaves when the weather is hot causing burns to the leaves, use a pop bottle irrigation system. Drill two tiny holes into bottom of pop bottle. Remove the cap and sink bottle into ground besides the plants that you want to water e.g. tomatoes. Fill the bottle using a rubber hosepipe attached to your watering can nozzle so no water can accidentally get onto plant. Replace the pop bottle cap and let the water drip. This will also ensure that you get a steady supply of water to the roots.
Stella Turner

Coffee Grounds for Fertiliser!

Apparently people have used coffee grounds as a slow release nitrogen fertiliser and Costa are offering them free if you contact you local Costa Coffee!

George Gray

Planting Garlic

Late Autumn is the best time of year to plant Garlic. We have garlic now for sale in the shop (variety Solent White) and here are some tips on how to plant to get the best results
Prepare the soil

Well drained soil is needed. Consider a raised bed or large tub. While cloves put in early in winter will have a longer cold treatment and will respond to lengthening days more quickly than those put in later, there is always a risk of the cloves
rotting in a cold wet soil.
Add and incorporate well, a good dressing of a general garden fertilizer such as Fish Blood and Bone before or at the time of sowing, well rotted compost is also beneficial.

When to sow

Generally speaking, garlic can be planted in autumn through to early winter. Autumn planted garlic will remain dormant for a few weeks, and then develop roots and a shoot. With the onset of the cold of winter, growth is fairly slow until temperatures warm in spring. The cold of winter is needed to initiate the side buds that will ultimately grow and swell to become cloves. The lengthening days of spring are the signal for the initiated but undeveloped side buds to start forming into cloves. It is possible to sow in early spring and get a reasonably good harvest, but everything is against you - wet, difficult to work soil; no early root growth; less exposure to winter chill. Early spring planting is possible, but definitely a second choice, as the shorter season means the bulbs are often smaller. 

How to sow
Do not split the bulbs until ready to plant. Choose the biggest and fattest seed cloves, and sow them root end down, standing erect, and plant between 3 - 4 inches under the soil surface. Put them about 4 -6 inches apart, with rows 8 inches apart.

FEED YOUR GARLIC

Care 
In February apply Sulphate of Potash to your garlic; this gives it all the nutrients it needs to grow.
At the main growing stage, from about May onwards give your garlic every advantage by adding a top dressing of
a general fertiliser such as Growmore. Liquid manures are also beneficial. Water as needed, especially in dry weather, Dry soil when the leaves are developing affects the yield quite badly, mulch them to conserve water. Garlic competes poorly with weeds, keep the weeds down by hand weeding or - if you use a hoe be careful not to damage the garlic bulbs that are forming.
Stop watering completely during the last few weeks.

Harvesting
The plants are ready to harvest when the foliage has died off, or mostly died off. If it is very wet near harvest time, consider lifting them a bit earlier and drying them under cover. Left in wet soil, the outer parchment often rots. And if there is disease in the root plate, it may develop too far and cause the bulb to fall apart when it is lifted. 
Wash the bulbs, especially the roots, and leave them for a week or so to dry- so long as it is fine. If you live in a hot climate area, you will have to dry them out of the sun, or your precious bulbs will sunburn. If the weather is dubious, dry your garlic under cover. When the bulbs are dry, you can trim off the roots, scuff off the outer discoloured parchment, and braid your garlic for storage.

Storage
Store garlic in a dry place- the kitchen is OK, and towards autumn (if there is still some left!) check for soft bulbs (rotting internally), and sign of insect damage. Throw out damaged bulbs. The ideal storage conditions are temperatures of around 10C/50F, dry, and well ventilated.

 

The Hungry Gap

Well it’s been a very mild winter considering what the last two winters have been like and everything seems to be ahead of itself.  Many people have still some veg left on the plot from last year – leeks, cabbages, broccoli, kale and a few carrots and parsnips. But the cabbages and kale are starting to bolt (although some kinds of kale are grown for their bolting stems!) and the parsnips and carrots are regrowing. You need to harvest them now before they go woody or in the case of Brassicas bitter.
We are now going into the period called the Hungry Gap. Since we live in a country with cold temperatures in winter we have to wait for the ground to warm up before we can start sowing and planting our veg. So we usually don’t see the products of our work until the beginning of summer. People in tropical and subtropical countries don’t have that problem – they can grow the crops all the year round provided there is enough rain. But then we don’t get hurricanes or tropical storms!
Of course you can give nature a helping hand using cloches, frames or polytunnels but unless you have heating there always a limit to how soon you can have early crops. The secret of course is to freeze crops when you have a glut and enjoy them during this period.
One thing that is important though is not to rush out and plant or sow things too early. You need to go by the soil temperature not the day of the month! More crops are lost by planting too early that planting too late. If you plant them later the soil will be warmer and they will catch up!
 
George Gray


Watering

Well it is nice to be complaining about having to water plants
after last years deluge! Here are a few tips and comments about watering.

Firstly our allotment society has to pay for all the water
we use as our water is metered. As a result plotholder are only allowed to
use hosepipes (attached to the allotment water points) to fill up containers
(watering cans, water butts etc). Hosepipes can’t be used to water plants
directly , via a sprayer or by any other attachment.

Secondly, the motto is “Water Plants not Weeds”. Dry
conditions are good at reducing weed growth so if you are careful to water just
the plants and not the area in between the plants you will find you will
save yourself a lot of work weeding!

Thirdly, some plants need very little water and others only
need it at certain times during their growth. All plants when they just been planted
need a good watering but once they are established many need very little water
afterwards. Brassicas (cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale
etc) rarely need much watering. The exception for broccoli and cauliflower is
when they are forming their curds/florets. Root vegetables (carrots, parsnips
etc) don’t need a lot of water as does sweetcorn. Beans and peas need a
moderate amount mainly when the pods/beans are forming. Potatoes only
need water when they are forming their flowers (which is when the
tubers are growing underground) but quite frankly I rarely water mine. Bush
fruit such as raspberries and strawberries need a moderate amount of water when
the fruits are forming. The plants that tend to need a fair bit of water are the
cucurbit family (squashes, pumpkins, courgettes, marrows etc). One tip is to
cut the end off a plastic bottle, put a hole in the cap and push it in the soil near the plant.Then fill it with water to act as a reservoir. Other plants that need moist soil all the time to
do well are celery, celeriac and bulb fennel. Of course if you mix lots of good
compost with the soil you will help it retain  any moisture and save yourself work watering!

George Gray
 
This Year on the Plot –Tales of Huge Slugs and Tiny Potatoes

13/12/12

Well now winter is really upon us (-6.9C in my garden last night!) it’s time to take stock of the year on the allotment- and what a year it has been! After a dry winter it never stopped
raining all spring and summer. It wasn’t just the rain that affected plant growth and ripening but also the lack of light and relatively low temperatures compared to average. Autumn was generally colder than average so any chance of crops improving after the bad summer were dashed. Then there was the massive rise in the slug population!

Whilst last year I had potatoes to last me until the early summer this time I will have to buy my spuds for Xmas dinner - as well as the Brussels Sprouts! I had the magnificent
total of 6 carrots after sowing three packs of seeds and even the broad beans,
which are usually very reliable, were disappointing. I didn’t even have a single beetroot worth talking about and the climbing beans finished early. Other people on the site have similar stories and commercial growers have equal tales of woe.

In the 20 years I have had my plot on the site I have never known such a difficult year for growing!

So all those who have just started and are disappointed by the results of your first year on the allotment don’t despair! You’re not doing anything wrong – you have started in the worst year for allotmenteering for (at least) 20 years!

Keep up the good work and you will reap the benefits. Surely next year must be better!

George Gray

Recycle your used Potting Compost

When I clear out my greenhouse and hanging baskets etc I end up with quite a lot of waste Multipurpose compost . What I do is shake the compost from the roots and put in in an old compost bag. Usually by the end of the year I have 5-6 bags full. I then put this on my plot. Whilst it has lost any nutriments it is still excellent material for building up the structure of the soil.
As well as digging or rotavating it in to the soil I also use it to grow carrots and parsnips. Our allotment has clay soil and this can make it difficult to grow carrots or parsnips successfully as they usually have to be sown directly into the ground to grow well. After many failures I discovered that if I score out a small line with a hoe about two inches deep, fill it full of compost and then sow the seeds in this I get good germination with no risk of the soil "panning off" if we have a dry spell. I also use the used compost to grow my runner beans and climbing French beans by making a trench about six inches deep and planting them in this
However never use compost if you have had diseased plants in it and remember Ericaeous Compost is for acid loving plants!
George Gray Plot 32  

What to do on your Allotment in April

March is the month when things really start to move in the growing season, in fact the start of the year used to be The Feast of the Annunciation, 25th March until 1752 in Britain when we adopted the Gregorian calendar and started our year on the 1 st January.
April is great, the soil is warming up and spring should be here. Do keep an eye on the weather forecast though, even in the south of England a cold snap and snow are not unknown in April. Keeping horticultural fleece on standby in case of cold weather is a good idea.
Harvest
We're in the 'Hungry Gap' between the last of the winter crops and start of the early crops but there are still a few things available, late sprouting and chards for example plus you may have some early salad crops from the greenhouse border.
Do re-check your stored crops. On a fine day, empty out the potato sacks and check for any rotten potatoes. If you've strung onions, watch out for the odd rotten one and remove it before it spreads,
General Tip
If you have any horticultural fleece, you can peg that onto the ground a week or so before you plant. The small rise in temperature of the soil can make a big difference
Sowing, Planting and Cultivating
There's quite a list to sow and plant outside, especially if March has not been suitable.
Do remember the weeds are springing into action, so keep the hoe going. Don't forget, a sharp hoe is the best friend a gardener can have. Just slide it back and forth slightly below the surface of the soil and you'll stop the weed seedlings in their tracks. Hoeing is also good in the event of drought as the disturbed soil surface stops the water being sucked to the surface by capillary action and evaporating in dry winds.
Things to Sow
Beetroot
Peas
Broad Beans
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Kale
Chard
Kohl Rabi
Leeks
Spinach
Beet spinach
Rocket
Lettuce
Radish
With your carrots, covering with a fleece and ensuring the edges are buried will stop the carrot root fly from gaining entry to lay eggs by your carrots. The eggs hatch in larvae that burrow into the carrot root, killing the plant or at least ruining the crop.
Plant Outdoors
Globe and Jerusalem Artichokes
Onion & Shallot Sets
Asparagus.
Easter is the traditional potato planting time. If you have a comfrey bed and it has sprung back, the first cut laid in the trench under the potatoes will provide nutrition to get them off to a good start.
On the subject of comfrey, if you make a comfrey tea it will help you to a great crop to use it on your potatoes. Many novice growers wonder why they have small crops of potatoes and most often this is just down to lack of food for this hungry crop.
Sow in Heat (Greenhouse or Windowsill)
Aubergine
Celery
Outdoor Cucumbers
Tomatoes (if you've not already done so)
A good tip in a windowsill is to stick some silver cooking foil onto cardboard and place on the inside to reflect light back onto the seedlings. This will help prevent them being drawn.
Sow Outdoors Under Cloche
French beans
Lettuce
Sweetcorn
Alternative Method for Sweetcorn
I like to pre-chit my sweetcorn, I lay the seeds on a layer of damp kitchen paper and then place a layer of paper over in an airtight box. An old ice-cream carton or a Tupperware type box is ideal. Check carefully each day and as soon as the small white sprout appears, plant the seed about half to an inch deep in a 3" pot of general purpose compost in the greenhouse.
When the shoots appear about an inch high, plant out under cloche being careful not to disturb the root (sweetcorn hates root disturbance) under a cloche. Sweetcorn needs a lot of nitrogen and a teaspoon of dried blood per plant or water with urea (this is a chemical, I do not mean pee on them!)
Many of the crops you can sow directly will also benefit from cloching or started off in modules in a cool greenhouse or coldframe and then planted out later.
Fruit
Strawberries can be planted out now, it's best to remove flowers in the first year as you conserve strength for growth and gain larger crops in subsequent years. An easy way to gain strawberry plants is to plant the runners into pots and when rooted cut the runner. The plants don't last forever so you need to rotate them ever three to five years.
A good layer of compost around the base of fruit trees will ensure they have the nutrition to provide another good crop for you.
Gardener's Pests
I've mentioned the carrot root fly but the gardener's worst enemy is awakening. The evil slugs and snails are coming out to eat entire rows of succulent young seedlings overnight so take action now.

From Christine Westall            2012