Alan's Allotment

This month in GYO Magazine I've been lucky enough to get five different varieties of tomato seeds free. This is my first year in a long time that I've had a greenhouse, and I'm excited to be growing under glass so I'm thinking ahead already. Having read around a bit...I've decided that I'm going to try and grow for a successional crop...and according to what I've read, I could be in Tom's until November.  So, here's my plan: Growing the largest fruiting varieties first, in February, with a second day sowing of a standard tomato in April, and a third sowing in June of a cherry type. So it will be Roma and Marmande first, with moneymaker and gardeners delight second. Some of these will end up outside due to space. Then I'm going to raid my seed box for some cherry ones to go in last. That's the plan...I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm inundated with monthly newsletters telling me what to do in the garden each month. Here's my own version of the monthly newsletter with what I'll be getting up to this month. In the flower garden • Prune overwintered fuchsias back to one or two buds on each shoot. I brought 3 hardy fuschia plants in the autumn for a splash of colour. It's time to cut them back ready for them to burst into life again.  In the vegetable garden • I'm sowing parsnips ourtdoors. • Hoe vegetable seed beds. The frosts have broken up the clumps in the mushroom compost I have spread. • Plant out winter brassica under cloches. These were a bonus as I planted a load of seeds in November and they all took. I'll be planting out All the year round cauliflower, spring greens, perpetual spinach and chard bright lights. I've gone for cloches as they're still young. In the fruit garden • Plant out strawberries. I opted not to move strawberries from the allotment for two reas...

I received my email 'to do' list via Gardeners World and thought it opportune to see how well I was doing myself, and look back over the month to assess my progress.  January Jobs Winter prune apple and pear trees to remove any dead, damaged, congested and diseased branches  - Yep...done. All six apple trees have been 'tamed' and are ready to burst into bud once the weather warms up.  Sort out your seeds, throwing away empty or out-of-date packets and noting down any to buy for the coming season - Well I'm a sucker for old seed packets and I know I have a few beyond their dates!  Plan this year's crop rotation to ensure you grow each type of crop in a different bed to previous years  - Done. I have divided up my new beds into 4 and hope that I'll have enough space. The jury is still out as to whether or not I'm going to do potatoes this year. You can’t beat home grown, but space is now limited so I may have to go without.  Prune goo...

After much deliberation I've decided on my chicken run. In reality, the biggest factor was cost, but once my budget was set, I was looking for quality, floor space and the ability to stand up inside to clean it out. This one has approximately 36sqft of floorspace and comes in at about 5ft tall. I will have to stoop, but it allows me in easily to tend the birds. I'm aiming for three to start with, but know these things have a habit of growing in number. Whilst I was doing my research, I had a number of locations in the garden in mind. Now I've chosen the coop, I have to site the thing. And that's easier said than done. So I've build it in sections and carried it out to the garden, placing it in various points around the garden. It looks like I'm going to have to move the fruit bushes as it looks best right where I put them in. Not a problem, I just need to wait for the ground to thaw as it's been frozen solid for the past two weeks. I'm going to...

Winter is definitely upon us and the heavy frosts we've had this week mean work in the garden is slowing.  I've turned my attention to the 'structural' job of tree pruning. We have 7 apple trees in need of a 'short back and sides', a plum tree which needs turning back into a plum tree, a small lop sided cherry and a large/massive ornamental purple tree (possibly plum/cherry decedent). Knowing not to touch the stone fruits at this time of year I set to the biggest of the trees first. Here's the before pic: Given that it blocks a lot of sunlight from the garden (it's on the south side), the advice of 'prune no more than 20%' had to be discarded.  I needed to tame this beast and would use all the shredded limbs to form the walkways between my veg beds. Larger limbs would form my log pile at the back of the garden to encourage even more wildlife. This turned out to be a longer job than anticipated. Working well into the dar...

Mushroom compost. Literally, yes, I've brought a tonne. I don't think my back will thank me for it, but hey ho! Mushroom compost is a useful by-product of mushroom farming. The compost is made by using organic materials such as hay, straw, corn cobs and hulls, and poultry or horse manure. These products are formed into a rich organic media. Once a couple of mushroom crops have been grown on it, it's discarded by the mushroom farm and people like me can buy it. Mushroom compost is a type of slow-release, organic plant fertiliser. It's sterilised before use, so it shouldn't have any weed seeds in it either. I'm hoping it will not just go towards filling my new beds, but also condition the soil, provide valuable nutrients, and also help improve my chalky soil. If I use it on top it should be a pretty good mulch over the winter before I dig in come the spring. UPDATE - A tonne doesn't go a long way. it's all shifted through to the back garden and 2 and ...

The idea of having a herb area outside the kitchen door has always been something I wanted. At our allotment, we grew some amazing herbs in car tyres. They grew huge and loved their position. Oregano, chives, thyme, mint, rosemary, Egyptian walking onions meant we had a continuous supply of herbs for food and (very importantly) drinks, however, it wasn't ideal having them at the allotment. We couldn't just pop outside to get them as and when we needed.   We were quick to mark this area as our herb garden. When we moved in, we were given sage, rosemary, mint and lemon thyme (which is great with a bruschetta by the way) which we planted in the trough and sink.  I cleared the wall this week to allow us to get the sage, oregano and thyme from the allotment in the wall. There was a tonne of bindweed running just below the surface. I think we'll be at war with it for a good few years! We're hoping that this area will have a Mediterranean feel to it come the summe...