Another extraordinary week of weather. Seven days ago temperatures were nudging towards the mid-Twenties, by the weekend an almost northerly gale made it low teens and in between some considerably heavy showers.
One of the characteristics of gardeners, I think, is their ability to live in the moment. Live in the moment, is that not just a trendy modernism? Perhaps. But that characterisation means that whatever the weather has thrown at the gardener, heat, freeze, drought or flood is gone. It is the " right now " that matters. It is the right now that directs was has to be or what can be done. And today to start with it has been picking and storage. I planted half a dozen bush tomato plants around the runner bean wigwam, variety Roma VF https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/tomato-roma-vf/259TM Not really a salad tomato, they are the basis for pasta sauces and soups where their fleshiness comes into its own. There has been a huge crop, today I have picked another 4kg. They are designed to be used in another first for us, home made tomato chutney. New jars are ready for them. I have been the tenant of Plot 106 at Lancing Manor Allotments for eighteen months now. Wow! I have grown considerable weights and types of produce and am very conscious that you must give as well as take. Manures, compost have been the staple food so far but this Autumn I am branching out into greening by growing green manures as the soil becomes vacant. Thus far I have not become too hung up about the strict rotation schemes that feature in al, the good vegetable growing and allotment books. This is not as a result of a wilful streak in me. Clearly, I am not going to be planting potatoes after potatoes or onions after onions because that would invite trouble. The sort of trouble brought by a build up of pests to and diseases that end up with no crop. My general conception is to grow the produce in blocks of about a metre or two squared each apart from the permanent or semi permanent crops like globe artichokes and potentially asparagus. I will not be having three blocks of say different types of beans or root veg but one of say beans next to one of say parsnips next to one of say sweetcorn. We will see. But what I am doing is immediately a crop is cleared, sowing a green manure. That becomes a new crop that instead of feeding my family will feed the soil. I have started this Autumn with Phacelia Tanacetifolia https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Vegetable-Seeds/Green-Manure-Seed/Green-Manure-Phacelia-Tanacetifolia.html#.X3Tt7Ot4WK0 Crimson Clover https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Vegetable-Seeds/Green-Manure-Seed/Green-Manure-Crimson-Clover.html#.X3TuUOt4WK0 and Autumn/Winte Mix https://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/Vegetable-Seeds/Green-Manure-Autumn-Winter-Mix.html#.X3Tujet4WK0 They have all germinated in a week and I will allow them to grow until they begin to show flowers when I will thresh them and leave them to decompose down to feed the soil. The roots I will leave in as they fix ( place ) nitrogen in the soil. I am following a no dig regime but if you try green manure and are all for digging the simply dig them/turn them into your soil October is the month when we get our annual bill for renting our allotments from Adur and Worthing Councils https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/parks/allotments/ Plot 106 is 5 rods ( 10 rod allotments are available too ) and the annual rent is £58.00. My age means that I get the OAP discount of 30%, my annual cost is £40.60. OAP is a type of profiling I suppose, but if I am to be profiled then OAP is infinitely better to me that what I get in texts from the NHS, that I am in a " vulnerable " or on one occasion an " extremely vulnerable group " - spoiler alert, do not worry about me, these come because I am aged over 55. And tangentially, I am going to link, not for the first time, the considerable benefits to having an allotment. That is about a sense of achievement, particularly if inheriting a wilderness, fresh air, exercise and friendships .... Oh, and some produce as well. Next time, I will be musing on my plans for a mini vineyard on 106 ...
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AuthorI launched this website on 16th August 2020 to bring together my thoughts on gardening,, its importance for health and wellbeing and two projects running concurrently, a renovation of my own garden on the West Sussex coast at Lancing and a nearby allotment. But also to learn from other gardeners about the inspirations for their plots, about their gardening projects and enjoyment of beautiful plants and gardens Archives
February 2024
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