Plot 6 is a year old!

A few days ago was the 1 year anniversary of me getting hold of Plot 6 at Anson Way... In the last 12 months I have learnt a lot, but I've still got a long way to go!

Here are a couple of pics to remind you how much has happened in 12 months:

This time last year I was just beginning to dig the ground over for the first time. This year I am getting ready to harvest the broad beans and garlic, and over half of my crops for this year are planted - so far I have garlic, onions, potatoes (early and main crop), runner beans, broad beans, carrots, parsnips, spring onions, sweetcorn, peas, courgettes, beetroot, cucamelons, salad leaves, chives, asparagus, brussels sprouts, green cabbage, red cabbage, romanesco cauliflower and dahlias all planted out. There are a few things still to go out - leeks, more beetroot, tomatoes, more runner beans and the winter squashes (which will go where the garlic and onions are currently) but I am running out of room.

Broad Beans will begin harvesting this weekend!

I have really enjoyed my first year on this allotment, and the gang of people who have the other allotments around me are great.

Time to plant some potatoes

Learning from previous years when I planted everything very early and got caught out by a late frost, I have decided to hold on a bit this year as I figure that things planted a little late will always catch up pretty quickly. The things that I can't wait any longer for though are my early potatoes - International Kidney and Arran Pilot this year.

The seed potatoes have been chitting away in the garage for a couple of months now, and they are now definitely ready to continue their germination in the soil. Now that I'm on an allotment I don't have the luxury of an MF Tractor with a plough on the back as I have done in the past:

Richard Dixon preparing for potatoes at the old plot

This year it is going to be all done by hand! My process was slightly different to normal as some of the potatoes had fairly long chits on them and I was concerned that they would break when covered in soil, so this is what I did:

1. Put out the line and dig a trench 8-10 inches deep
2. Sprinkle a good helping of slug pellets in the bottom of the trench
3. Place the seed potatoes in the bottom of the trench, with chits facing upwards
4. Cover the seed potatoes with general purpose compost
5. Sprinkle pelletised chicken manure on top of the compost
6. cover the trench over and ridge slightly

It isn't really necessary to put a full ridge over the potatoes yet as I can do that later in the year when they start to appear above the ground. All there is to do now is wait until late June to harvest them!

Trench dug and slug pellets sprinkled

Seed potatoes in place

Covering of compost

Chicken manure applied

All planted

New year, new start!

It's hard to believe that it is March already and spring has most definitely sprung! Here is an update of what has been done since my last post in October:

December 2015

• Uncovered the broad beans as they were hitting the top of the small 'poly tunnel'
• Harvested Leeks and Brussels Sprouts for christmas

January 2016

• Tidied the shed and installed some shelving
• Planted the last garlic (Solent Wight)
• cleared away the remaining brassicas
• covered half the allotment in a tarpaulin to try to keep the weeds at bay

February 2016

• completed filling the raised beds with a compost and sand mixture
• built the runner bean climbing frame

March 2016 (so far)

For valentine's day this year Jo gave me a couple of things that she considered essential for the allotment - a small hip flask and a portable DAB radio - what can I say other than what a great addition they make, along with my purchase of a 'thermos' flask. 

Most weekends in January and February were taken up with work, so I knew that I had to do a lot in a small space of time to get back on top of the allotment. Last Sunday was to be my first full day at the plot of the year, so I prepared myself - spare batteries for the radio, flask full of coffee, hip flask full of Chairman's Rum (the best Rum to come out of St. Lucia), 4 cans of cider, welly boots and plenty of layers of clothing.

Essential Allotment equipment

Having been down to the allotment the previous Tuesday afternoon to plant 8 asparagus crowns and remove the tarpaulin, I knew how bad everything was looking. After 5-6 hours of work I had managed to weed and feed the garlic/onions/broad beans and rough dig/weed more than 2/3 of the allotment.

2/3 dug

I wasn't finished though, so on Monday afternoon I trekked down again with some more coffee and rum to finish the digging.

All dug

During my recent visits I have been pleased to notice that the asparagus crowns are already shooting through the soil - it is obviously warmer than I had imagined. I plan to plant some asparagus seeds towards the end of the month to supplement the crowns.

We have Asparagus

What I've learnt in 5 months...

Brassicas

It seems as if I have had the allotment for way longer than 5 months, but a quick check of the calendar has confirmed that I picked up the key for the allotment almost exactly 5 months ago! This post is a summary of what I've learnt about the Anson Way Allotments in this time.

To Autumn Plant or not...

Apart from Garlic and Onion sets, I have never been one for planting much in the autumn.

At my previous house, the raised beds were always already populated with things to pick nearly up until christmas, and the plot at Fencott regularly flooded in the winter so autumn planting really wasn't an option.

Preparing for Winter

Now that the summer is finally over (booo!) it is time to plan for next year. As in the past I am using the Suttons Garden Planner to get my outline plan. I eventually got around to measuring the allotment accurately and discovered that it is 5.5m wide by 17m long, so I put those dimensions in to the garden planner and came up with my plan for next year:

2016 plan

Paving slabs, garlic and a bumper harvest

I have been scouring the local freecycle and freegle groups for weeks now on the lookout for anything that I could use at the allotment, and recently I put up a wanted ad for paving slabs. I had just about given up waiting for a response when out of the blue I had an email with a phone number saying 'I have paving slabs - give me a call.' So I did, and I am now the happy recipient of 12.5 60cmx60cmx5cm paving slabs.

We have potatoes!

This is just a very quick blog to update you on progress at Plot 6.

One of the first things I planted was a couple of packs of potatoes - in fact the last two packs that Poundland in Bicester had in stock... Ever since I have been eager to dig up a couple and see how they've done.

The Harvest Begins (and a raised bed is built)

On the 19th of July a milestone was reached when I harvested the first produce from Plot 6! Or to be more precise, due to the stoney ground, it harvested itself. I was very proud of my first carrot, even if it was quite deformed and greatly derided on facebook when I posted a picture of it. At least I grew it and it tasted great.

Six weeks on and things are progressing nicely

I have now had Plot 6 for almost exactly 6 weeks and a lot has happened in that short time...

Thanks to Ernie I have a shed!

Thanks to my Father-in-Law Ernie I now have a shed to shelter when it rains thanks to Sally a waterbutt to collect rainwater from it's roof. I have lots of guttering ready to install on the shed but I haven't got around to connecting it all together yet.

...and so it begins

For some time now I have been thinking about getting an allotment near to home.

Up until a couple of years ago I used to farm a plot with a friend of mine, and I had a few raised beds and a greenhouse in the garden at home. When I moved in with my fiancée (now my wife!) we got a little westie called Dexter and it looked like my home vegetable gardening days were over. The plot had also proved to be very wet and difficult to get on at the beginning of the year which meant that we were perpetually trying to catch up, plus it was a 20 minute drive from home so was fairly impractical.