July – My Plenty Food Project

2019 review – the year I nearly lost the plot!

At the start of last year I made 19 allotment resolutions for 2019 – the year didn’t go according to plan (hence my failure to post any updates since March!) but wasn’t a complete failure. Before I post my plans for 2020 I thought I should revisit my resolutions from 12 months ago and see how many (if any) I managed to achieve.

So here they are with my current comments interspersed:

Reclaim and reconstruct my Polytunnel – had great plans for this winter but would be happy to get it back in place in time for Spring sowings etc

Ooh this is better than I hoped! I’m starting with one I can tick off as done! With help from plot neighbour Dave – well to be honest I just stood back & gave encouragement – the frame was fixed back in January, moved back to my plot and the cover refitted at Easter. And then refitted again a few days later after a Spring storm! But it was only in early July that I managed to get beds set up inside, filled with compost and tomatoes and peppers I’d grown from seeds planted out. I later added aubergine, cucumber and tomatillo plants that I’d had to buy in after my seedlings failed – long before they got to the tunnel. From an empty shell almost overnight it turned into a veritable jungle – and I had successful crops of tomatoes, cucumbers and tomatillos. We’ll gloss over the failure of the peppers and aubergines

Continue to develop and fill my lasagna beds so ready to plant in Spring.

A half tick on this one – one of the difficulties was finding enough material to add to the beds. I do save all of my kitchen waste (usually via a bokashi bin) & have also added leaves and weeds/old plants but still needed to top up with bought in compost -at a price. So filled a 3-4 this way and gave me some crops but still have another few that are still empty.

Complete layout of paths with addition of wood chips and add more chippings to existing paths

Back in March I was making good progress with this as there were quantities of wood chips on site and I was taking several barrowloads each time I was there – but so were other folk so the pile soon diminished. Did cover some new areas but sourcing new supplies of wood chips (preferably for free!) is a current priority as my need has increased.

Sort out seeds into monthly sowing order (today!) and resolve to keep tidy and organised throughout the year

A two part-pledge and I achieved the first part but have sadly failed on keeping them organised throughout the year. I ended up with seeds everywhere as moved them from home to shed to allotment etc. And finally a disaster when a leak in my polytunnel ruined about a dozen packets in an open container 😦

Complete garden planner and check measurements etc as I finalise positions of beds and paths. Resolve to maintain the planner and update with any changes of locations of planting – I lost a few plants this year 😉 Use to plan second crops and intercropping.

Oh dear – more good intentions! Limited time and headspace – mainly as a result of the acquisition of Carrot (a dog not a pet vegetable!) have led me into haphazard plantings and not sticking to my plans. But even more problematic has not been recording accurately where I have planted out seedlings. Note to self – must do better!

Resolve to accurately label seeds and plants – at all stages of the growing process. All brassicas look the same to me until they start to reach maturity!

Almost a tick for this one – I diligently labelled all seedlings and kept good control whilst they were in my shed and lean-to at home. But have had some problems on the plot – either because I’ve lost labels or because I seem to have failed to always use a permanent pen on my wooden labels.

Reduce use of plastics

I do reuse all my pots and have also used old yoghurt pots etc. Also made some pots out of newspaper (they do dry out v quickly!). Still using wooden plant labels – cheapest ones I’ve found are sold as tongue depressors!

Reduce costs by recycling as many materials as possible.

A big tick on this one. At times my plot has looked like a junkyard with all the foraged items I had accumulated from abandoned plots and also the school next door which is being refurbished. Still need to convert some items into usable structures. And I compost everything I can. Could do more perhaps to get compostable material from neighbours – they seem to give me some and then stop! Do acquire cardboard for mulching on a regular basis- can get some from a nearby shop but transport has been a little difficult lately.

Reduce long-term costs and workload by planting as many perennials as possible. Develop an area of food-forest on the plot and try to source as many plants from swaps and cuttings as possible.

A work in progress! In April I took on another half-plot next to mine and my intention was/is that I would treat this as my perennial food forest area and use my existing plot for the polytunnel, annuals etc. It all started well as the site had allegedly been cleared of brambles but I turned down the offer of rotavation as I strongly suspected there would be many roots of perennial weeds and brambles still in situ and rotavating would just spread them further. But before I could get the ground covered I took a decision that has had a major impact on my capacity to cope with my plots – at least in the short term. I adopted a rescued lurcher, who has been appropriately named Carrot, and hopefully in time will be an excellent allotment companion. But I had seriously underestimated how much input he would need in terms of training. For much of the summer I could neither leave him home alone nor can I get much done on the plot when he’s with me. And the result has been that the brambles are back! And so are many weeds including bindweed and docks. I am now having to arrange help and support to allow me to tackle these but its hard work and could have been avoidable if I had got ahead of myself with this new plot and could have spent some money on coverings.

Save seeds from as many crops as possible – beans, peas, tomatoes etc Reduce the number of new seeds purchased so saving a few £££

I did sow some seeds that I had saved last year – with mixed results! A few tomatoes, but failures with a pepper and squash. Some germination but then failure as seedlings.

Have saved peas – Kent Blue and Roi des Conserves – from this years crop and also beans and tomatoes and tomatillos.

Erect shed – make functional for storage of tools etc

Still awaiting construction of a base!!!! A priority for 2020

Encourage more wildlife including pollinators, natural predators etc by growing flowering plants, companion plants, bug hotels, and a wildlife pond.

Do have some flowers – marigolds, nasturtiums, sunflowers, borage etc which are good insect attractors. No bug hotels yet. And my pond is in (slow!) progress! In return for not having half-plot rotavated I cheekily asked contractors on site if they could scoop out a pond for me – which they duly did. It has filled up with rainwater which doesn’t drain out due to the clay subsoil so I haven’t yet got around to reshaping and modelling it. And it is now surrounded by weeds and brambles.

Use Garden journal regularly to keep track of what sown/planted etc

Have used my journal irregularly since Carrot came into my life – and the planner too. Am trying to get back on track.

Record weight of harvested produce – to enable tracking and comparison in future years

Ha ha! Initially no harvests worthy of weighing. And now not organised enough to do so. Will look at how to start doing this – maybe with specific crops eg tomatoes, potatoes rather than every lettuce leaf.

Make home-made pesticides from soap etc and use regularly against pests

Did this one! Made a spray from soap & used it on blackfly on broad beans. Possibly helped although seemed to get a rust infection afterwards. Cinnamon to deter ants has not worked well so tried nematodes in polytunnel with mixed results.

Sign up as a mother garden with Food Forest Brum and pledge to share cuttings of perennials I am trying together with surplus annual veg plants.

Not done this yet – still on back burner

Volunteer regularly with Stirchley Fruit & Nut Village – to learn skills, contribute to planting trees and forest garden in area and make new friends.

Started off well with tree planting and a grafting workshop but arrival of Carrot hampered this one.

Photograph plot and write regular blog articles about my allotment and other growing activities

Most I’ve managed are a few tweets and photos on instagram. Since Carrot arrived I’ve been under so much pressure just to do something when on the plot that I haven’t had time or capacity to take many photos. And its looked such a mess! Hopefully will start to improve in 2020!

Take time to sit and enjoy the sound of the bees

I’ve barely noticed the bees – although the ants are another story! But as I start to get back on top of the overgrown areas hopefully will be able to find solace once more.

So a some successes – and a few failures or put on hold for now. What the above doesn’t mention is the impact of my role on the allotment committee during a year when the council were implementing major works including construction of a new road and installation of a clubhouse and storage sheds. It had a major impact both on the actual time it took but also on my stress levels and the sense of enjoyment I had on the site. Thankfully the work is now (allegedly!) complete and in 2020 I should be able to give more time to my own plots.

Oh dear – it’s been a while……

So much for my good intentions to write regular blog posts about my allotment adventures over the summer! It’s not that I haven’t written anything but its been in my personal journal and not for public consumption – apart from the occasional tweet. So for the record and to catch up I’ll try and summarise what’s happened over my first 6 months on my plot.

April –

Bokashi bin

New compost bin

Seeds

Germination

1st pallet collar raised beds

Mulching weeds

Windowsill seedlings

Frustrating first month as waited for ground to dry out, weather to warm up, seedlings to germinate and to find a source of ‘cheap’ manure/compost. But the seeds did germinate and I had them all over the house on window ledges and in my shed. Assiduously labelled everything and enjoyed watching them grow. But quite a few got bit too leggy and spindly before conditions were good enough and I had some beds set up to plant them out. Constantly on search for more cardboard as mulch as I gradually used up all of my stores from the house move. Failed to stick to my plan – carefully drawn up in my garden planner.

Positives – found good source of pallet collars for raised beds. Also tracked down Care Compost for £2 per bag and eventually got hold of the manure man. And most seeds did OK.

Negatives – V disappointed with cheap(!) compost bin I had bought – thought it wouldn’t last (I was right!)

May –

Scorzonera?

Chitting oca

Lovely stuff!

Loading manure into bed

Tractor delivery

Field beans

1st bed planted – gooseberries, strawberries with wool fleece protection

1st rustic bean frame

Mad rush to get everything planted out and established before my trip to Canada at end of month. Financially strapped so couldn’t afford to splash out on enough compost etc so got fewer beds planted up than planned but manure man had eventually put in an appearance – delivery by tractor! Made a start with adding woodchip to paths between beds – with son’s help. First bed planted with free strawberry plants and gooseberry bushes from a Handsworth allotment by way of Gumtree. Constructed some bean wigwams for runners and french beans. Field beans planted out too.

Positives – definite signs of progress and v pleased to actually see some plants in the ground.

Negatives – shortage of compost/money! Huge storms at end of month put paid to some plans before holiday.

June =

First half I was in Seattle/Vancouver whilst kids looked after my plot! Did do a bit of horticultural tourism – a visit to University of British Columbia Farm for the Farmer’s Market and tour of their sustainable farm which was great. Worthy of a whole blog itself but a few pics will have to suffice.

UBC Farmers Market

UBC Farm Tour

Came home mid-month into a heatwave which was to continue for next couple of months or more. Son had done watering and most seedlings had survived but there were a few casualties – notably courgettes and squash which had disappeared completely. A & R had also gone ahead and used pallets I’d left to build a compost bin – not quite the design – or the position – I’d anticipated but I appreciated the gesture 🙂 Its proved useful since for several things but not yet making compost!

I’d missed the allotment auction but my neighbour T had bid on my behalf and I discovered I was now the proud owner of an 8×8 shed and a 20ft long polytunnel:-)

Field Beans

Polytunnel

Shed

Positives – great holiday! Excited by shed & polytunnel

Negatives – loss of courgettes & squash etc. Weeds! Sleepless nights trying to work out how to move shed and polytunnel.

July –

Beetroot

Potatoes in woodchip

Manure with worms

1sr French beans – Cosse violette

Onions – Red Baron

Velvet Queen – a stunner

Carrots

Leeks

More beans

Field Beans

Well this is when I really started to see results! Real actual harvests! From tiny seeds germinating on my windowsill back in the cold of spring to harvesting radish, onions, potatoes, carrots and beans in the heat of summer. This felt like success. But was still struggling to get my replanted courgettes & squash going and was on to my third unsuccessful sowing of lettuce. And there were some other casualties too – achocha, brassicas looking very peaky and most of my raspberry canes had all succumbed to heat or insects.

Positives – harvests and my beautiful Velvet Queen sunflowers

Negatives – hours of watering, crop losses and still those sleepless nights working out the logistics of moving shed & polytunnel!

August –

Aidan & me

Propping upthe beans – again!

Tree spinach

Bergamot

Digging trench for the polytunnel

Bee friendly sunflower

Tackling the brambles – this will be site of my mini-food-forest

A little helping hand with clearing brambles

Fermenting purple french beans

Chinese Gooseberry in the garden

Summer gloriousness of Velvet Queen

Chinese gooseberry

The heatwave continued unabated and lots of time still spent on watering. Some things still looked peaky – brassicas very motheaten (probably literally!) but decided not to uproot in the hope they’d perk up and I hadn’t got any plants to replace them with anyway! Still very little progress with the courgettes/squash and sweetcorn very slow. But lots of purple french beans (Cosse Violette) so had a go at fermenting some with OK results even if they lost their colour.

Having acquired blackcurrants from my neighbour’s plot in July this month I found plums & damsons on trees at the margin of our site – and apples in the communal ‘orchard’ – they found their way into crumbles and gin. And sheltering from a sudden deluge in one of my neighbours many structures I made good use of my time and helped myself to a couple of bags of her blackberries (with permission of course!) Good size but flavour not so good as wild brambles.

Had a helping hand from son and we made an impact on tackling a lot of weeds and brambles at top of plot and covered over to prevent further growth. Plan to put shed and move compost bin up here. After some rain we also managed to dig out the polytunnel I’d bought and my sister then helped dig out a couple of trenches around the space where it was going to go on my plot.

Positives: Clearing weeds, harvesting, and general progress

Negatives: Clearing weeds and sleepless nights thinking about the polytunnel!

September –

Month started very well with the moving of the polytunnel:

And then there was even some planting in the polytunnel:

But then we had the first of the named UK storms – Storm Ali – and this was the result:

Oh dear! I hadn’t completed the job of digging in the polythene cover – but it seemed sturdy enough and had been weighted down either side so I couldn’t imagine it moving very far. But the day I went to tackle the digging in ahead of impending storm Bronagh I walked down the path and suddenly realised I couldn’t see it behind my neighbours’ runner beans as I approached. It simply wasn’t there – and at first glance it wasn’t anywhere in sight at all. It was only after I’d walked up to the top of my plot that I spotted in in the distance having come to rest against someone’s compost bin right up against the boundary trees. I managed to get the cover off – surprisingly appearing to be in one piece with only a couple of small tears in the ventilation mesh – and stashed away. The frame appeared pretty mangled on first view but at the time of writing I have a plan to salvage it if possible with the help of Dave on my neighbouring plot. So all may not be lost just yet!

September wasn’t completely a failure – I discovered that where allotment growing is concerned patience really is a virtue! I finally harvested my first courgettes, lettuce, broccoli and kale. But can’t claim the tromboncino – that was from Kings Norton Farmers’ Market.

Mizuna seedlings

Tree spinach next to oca

First courgette 🙂

Pink tresses on sweetcorn

Morton’s Secret Lettuce Mix

Mange tout with flowers

Yellow courgettes

Tromboncino – from farmer’s market

And the month – and my first six months of being allotmenteer ended with a real treat. No! – not my Allotment Association AGM at which my election as treasurer at an earlier EGM was confirmed 😉 But a trip with my sister to the Malvern Autumn Show – an absolute delight.