On Sunday I attended my first ever potato day.
A potato day is where you can purchase a wide range of seed potatoes (and other plants). The main difference to purchasing here rather than at a garden centre or from an online supplier is that you have the option of purchasing as few or as many of each variety as you want. There can also be quite a large number of heritage and heirloom varieties available
It was held at the Hulme Community Garden Centre in Manchester which was in itself a lovely place to be - lots of plants for sale, plenty of willow and hazel poles (some of which I may be going back for).
Hulme Community Garden Centre
I wanted to get a few more varieties to try out on the plot.
I already have maincrop (Anya), first early (Pentland Javelin) and second early (Maris Piper) so I wanted at least one more of each type.
My wife had requested that I try to grow some blue potatoes, so the first pack I looked at was Salad Blue, a heritage maincrop. These were on sale for £0.25 per tuber, or 1kg for £2.20. I bought a kilo containing 22 tubers.
Next I got a kilo of Cassablanca first early and also a kilo of Bambino second early for £1.50 each. These are both new-type potatoes so there were about thirty tubers of each.
All I need now is about six more egg trays and enough space in the conservatory to get them all chitting in time to be planted out at the start of the potato growing season in March
Moving on at last
At long last it looks like the drainage problems on the top half of my plot might be starting to clear.
The drainage channel has been dug slightly deeper to allow any surplus water to drain away, and the land on either side is noticeably better.
Flags were then laid on top of the bark and stamped down to level.
I didn't have enough spare flags to complete the pathway, but I discovered another problem whilst I was working there
The rhubarb bed had been created in line with the pond which in turn had been made in line with the paths that border the plot, but when I made some rough measurements it seems that the end of the bed closest to me in the picture is about five inches closer to the existing beds to the left of the picture than the far end.
I did the measuring late in the day when I was very tired, so it is entirely possible that I have got it wrong. I was sure that we did all the measurements when we first set the bed up.
I will have to re-measure next weekend when I am fresh and slightly more awake than I was on Sunday.
The drainage channel has been dug slightly deeper to allow any surplus water to drain away, and the land on either side is noticeably better.
There is still standing water up near the top path, and I have still got to dig a couple of side trenches to try and clear this but for now the improvement there is has allowed me to start to create the paths that will border my fruit and herb area.
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| Bark on top of Weed fabric |
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| A few flags on top |
The path was made of several inches of bark chippings on top of weed suppressing fabric. In some places the bark had to be almost six inches thick as the ground underneath was still so soggy that I was still sinking into the mud even through the bark to start with.
Flags were then laid on top of the bark and stamped down to level.
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| Before |
I brought several bags of stone from home to fill the drainage trench, but it was only enough to fill just about half of it's length, so I decided to start at the edge of the plot and move inwards which would allow me to start to make the path on that side also.
I filled the trench to within an inch or two of the surface and then used part of the spoil heap left by the digger to completely fill it in.
This spoil heap needed moving anyway as it was in the way - I need to move the rhubarb bed back towards the path about four feet.
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| The trench part filled |
I didn't have enough spare flags to complete the pathway, but I discovered another problem whilst I was working there
The rhubarb bed had been created in line with the pond which in turn had been made in line with the paths that border the plot, but when I made some rough measurements it seems that the end of the bed closest to me in the picture is about five inches closer to the existing beds to the left of the picture than the far end.
I did the measuring late in the day when I was very tired, so it is entirely possible that I have got it wrong. I was sure that we did all the measurements when we first set the bed up.
I will have to re-measure next weekend when I am fresh and slightly more awake than I was on Sunday.
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| Rhubarb crown #1 |
If it turns out that the beds are misaligned it won't be a major problem as one of the beds I was planning to run between the two paths is for the fruit bushes, so once they have grown a bit the edges of the beds will be hidden a bit so it shouldn't be too noticeable.
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| Rhubarb crown #2 |
I have enlisted the help of son Will next weekend to get the rhubarb bed moved to it's correct position.
Once that has been done I am hoping that I will be able to transplant the rhubarb both from home and also from bed 2.
I might even be able to bring in Stepdad Ken's rhubarb from his house too.
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| The top half of my plot as it was on Sunday when I finished. |
More new plants for the plot
I think I will have to stop going for the food shopping - the local supermarkets are having so many seasonal special offers in every week that are just so hard to resist!
For example, this week I picked up another 24 strawberry plants (8 early, 8 late and 8 all year) and a pack of shallots from Aldi all at £1.99 per pack.
I also picked up a 3kg box of Blood, Fish & Bone powder for £3.99, and it was touch and go as to whether I purchased a cold frame, but I manfully resisted the temptation - for this week at least.
I was actually looking for a few packs of Asparagus, but they had already sold out despite them only having been on sale that day.
I had previously decided that I wasn't going to grow asparagus as it would tie up a bed completely, but this was a deal almost too good to miss.
Unfortunately I missed it.
This will add another £12 to my costs for the year. I have also decided to include the costs of any seeds that I purchased last year to be used this year.
The drainage channel has had a bit of a test over the past few days as we have had snow, rain, hail and everything in between. A couple of sections need to be deepened by a couple of inches, and I also need to carry on deepening the channel through the orchard to allow the water to drain more easily but overall it appears to be working as planned.
I have some 3/4" stone at home which I am going to use to fill the drainage channel but I hadn't brought it with me today so I couldn't start to lay the path over the channel as planned.
Whilst looking at the rhubarb bed which is currently the only piece of infrastructure in place on the top half of my plot (apart from the pond) I have realised that it is in the wrong place and needs to be moved about 3 or 4 feet back to line up with the edge of my plot. This is a bit of a nuisance as the ground under the bed has already been dug over and enriched with loads of manure, but there is no helping it. Also, part of the spoil heap left by the digger is in the way so I will have to move that first.
As I couldn't start on the path over the drain I decided to start on the path next to my existing beds instead. I laid some black membrane down and covered it with a few inches of bark chippings, then moved some of the flagstones from the existing paths to the new path, mainly to give me an idea of the amount of space that I will have to build the new beds and also plant the fruit bushes between the two new paths.
Another cost that I hadn't counted on will be the cost of some scaffolding boards to make the soft fruit and herb beds. I am not going to use the planks I already have because the new beds will only be 24" wide, and as the original wood I have is 3" wide that will be far too much of the bed taken up by the wood edgings.
We have quite a large number of scaffolding boards on the plot at the moment - cost to plotholders is only 20p per foot, so as I will need approximately 48 foot to start with, that works out at roughly £10 for a bed 19' by 2'.
Not bad at all.
I also picked up a 3kg box of Blood, Fish & Bone powder for £3.99, and it was touch and go as to whether I purchased a cold frame, but I manfully resisted the temptation - for this week at least.
I was actually looking for a few packs of Asparagus, but they had already sold out despite them only having been on sale that day.
I had previously decided that I wasn't going to grow asparagus as it would tie up a bed completely, but this was a deal almost too good to miss.
Unfortunately I missed it.
This will add another £12 to my costs for the year. I have also decided to include the costs of any seeds that I purchased last year to be used this year.
The drainage channel has had a bit of a test over the past few days as we have had snow, rain, hail and everything in between. A couple of sections need to be deepened by a couple of inches, and I also need to carry on deepening the channel through the orchard to allow the water to drain more easily but overall it appears to be working as planned.
I have some 3/4" stone at home which I am going to use to fill the drainage channel but I hadn't brought it with me today so I couldn't start to lay the path over the channel as planned.
Whilst looking at the rhubarb bed which is currently the only piece of infrastructure in place on the top half of my plot (apart from the pond) I have realised that it is in the wrong place and needs to be moved about 3 or 4 feet back to line up with the edge of my plot. This is a bit of a nuisance as the ground under the bed has already been dug over and enriched with loads of manure, but there is no helping it. Also, part of the spoil heap left by the digger is in the way so I will have to move that first.
As I couldn't start on the path over the drain I decided to start on the path next to my existing beds instead. I laid some black membrane down and covered it with a few inches of bark chippings, then moved some of the flagstones from the existing paths to the new path, mainly to give me an idea of the amount of space that I will have to build the new beds and also plant the fruit bushes between the two new paths.
Another cost that I hadn't counted on will be the cost of some scaffolding boards to make the soft fruit and herb beds. I am not going to use the planks I already have because the new beds will only be 24" wide, and as the original wood I have is 3" wide that will be far too much of the bed taken up by the wood edgings.
We have quite a large number of scaffolding boards on the plot at the moment - cost to plotholders is only 20p per foot, so as I will need approximately 48 foot to start with, that works out at roughly £10 for a bed 19' by 2'.
Not bad at all.
First Signs of Life
After planting up my first leeks and beans just over a week ago I thought I would share their progress.
No signs at all from the Runner Bean Sonesta (on the left), but three strong plants from Runner Bean Enorma and eight out of twelve of the Broad Bean Aquadulce are coming through.
These have been kept on my kitchen table which is out of direct sunlight and watered from the bottom.
One thing I have noticed is a couple of very spindly shoots also sprouting alongside the beans, obviously sonething that is coming from the potting compost.
As fast as they come up I have been removing them, but I am a bit disappointed that the compost isn't as sterile as it should be.
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| Broad and Runner Beans - 10 days after sowing |
These have been kept on my kitchen table which is out of direct sunlight and watered from the bottom.
One thing I have noticed is a couple of very spindly shoots also sprouting alongside the beans, obviously sonething that is coming from the potting compost.
As fast as they come up I have been removing them, but I am a bit disappointed that the compost isn't as sterile as it should be.
I also planted up 48 leeks at the same time as the beans, but so far only one shoot is showing.
A little bit disappointing, but the shoot that is showing looks to be quite a strong one.
If they all come up like that then they should be soon ready for planting out at the plot.
15 Seconds of Fame?
It was a bit of a different start to the day on the allotment yesterday.
I found myself crouching down over my cabbages with our Association Secretary, Diane, and having to hold that position for several minutes whilst a very industrious photographer snapped away at us from all angles.
For a while now, Diane and I have been talking about starting a 'Grow it Yourself' group that would provide advice and a place to go to for help with any aspect of gardening, whether it be allotment related or even what to grow on a small balcony of a high rise flat.
We had long felt that with the recent upsurge in interest in growing your own food many people had gone out and bought seeds and seedlings from the local Garden Centres, planted them out but then didn't know what to do with them, so their crops failed. We wanted people to be successful and to be able to complete the whole cycle from seed to plate.
We have managed to get a room at a local school and even persuaded local plot holder to do a short talk for us. All allotments in the area had been contacted and asked to support us by attending, but what we really needed was to get the general public involved.
Click here to see the Advertising Poster for GYO Group
I had a contact at the local free paper, so we sent her a press release and she was straight in touch the following morning, very enthusiastic, and wanting to send over a photographer to get pictures to make the story stand out in the paper.
So there we were, grinning inanely for the camera as we pointed at cabbages, leaned on forks and shovels and generally tried to look both industrious and intellectual at the same time. I hope it works and there is plenty of interest and attendance at the first meeting.
I found myself crouching down over my cabbages with our Association Secretary, Diane, and having to hold that position for several minutes whilst a very industrious photographer snapped away at us from all angles.
For a while now, Diane and I have been talking about starting a 'Grow it Yourself' group that would provide advice and a place to go to for help with any aspect of gardening, whether it be allotment related or even what to grow on a small balcony of a high rise flat.
We had long felt that with the recent upsurge in interest in growing your own food many people had gone out and bought seeds and seedlings from the local Garden Centres, planted them out but then didn't know what to do with them, so their crops failed. We wanted people to be successful and to be able to complete the whole cycle from seed to plate.
We have managed to get a room at a local school and even persuaded local plot holder to do a short talk for us. All allotments in the area had been contacted and asked to support us by attending, but what we really needed was to get the general public involved.
Click here to see the Advertising Poster for GYO Group
I had a contact at the local free paper, so we sent her a press release and she was straight in touch the following morning, very enthusiastic, and wanting to send over a photographer to get pictures to make the story stand out in the paper.
So there we were, grinning inanely for the camera as we pointed at cabbages, leaned on forks and shovels and generally tried to look both industrious and intellectual at the same time. I hope it works and there is plenty of interest and attendance at the first meeting.
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