Mossey's (not quite new anymore) Allotment: Year 3
Posted in allotment gardening, garlic, grow your own, narcissi, strangeweather
A bit of a mixed bag as it’s my first tumblr post for a while. It’s garlic planting time so thankyou kings seeds for some really nice bulbs of my three chosen varieties; Solent wight, carcassone and early purple wight. Planted them out into open ground this year as my beds will be rotated around to exclude alliums. The rather beautiful narcissus is a variety called “Thalia” which is flowering VERY early in my containers at home. I’m just grateful the tulips are still dormant.
The Land That Feeds
Posted in allotment, foraging, gardeners, gardening, grow your own, saladstarter, urban farming
Week 22 of the 2018 growing season.
Birthday watermelon cake! Perhaps the most incredible thing I’ve learnt over the past year (and arguably my 20s as a whole) is that you can turn a watermelon into a cake; essentially just by covering it in cream. Also, peak foraging season! There’s, blackberries, elderberries, apples, and plums all over the hedgerows. Tasty.
3kg of tomatoes, 2.8kg courgettes, 2.3kg cucumbers, and 400g of salad mix. Also a pepper, some (300g) beetroot and some (400g) radishes. Sweet peppers are just too slow to do anything so I don’t think I’ll grow them again, at least not outdoors. I think I need to give the beetroot a lot more space next year too, as they were all pretty tiny still (about 25g each beetroot, with a goal of over 50g each in the same growing time) even after about 13 weeks of growth. £10 in for a bulk collection of produce. I think the regulars are all on holiday. Or dead. I’m figuring it’s 50/50 at this point.
Adventures on an allotment
Posted in Books, Charles Dowding, Dr Hessayon, grow your own, james wong, Nigel Slater, RHS
New blog! Five handy books on growing your own
We have now had our allotment for almost six years, and even before that I had been growing edibles in containers in our small back garden for quite some time. Whilst there is a plethora of information online about growing your own produce, you really can’t beat a good book for guiding you through the process. The books highlighted in this blog are those I have found particularly interesting…
Adventures on an allotment
Posted in Charles Dowding, compost, grow your own, No Dig, Organic Matter, RHS, Soil Erosion, Sustainability
New blog! On why I am considering giving up digging
Digging. An activity which for many years has been considered an essential feature of gardening, particularly in the vegetable patch. But is it all it’s cracked up to be? This blog is about the pros and cons of digging a plot, and where I am currently at in my own practice. (more…)
New blog! On my participation in the MY Harvest project and yields from my allotment in 2017
During 2017 I took part in a research project being conducted by staff at University of Sheffield, under the banner of MY Harvest, into the impact of home grown produce on UK food production. The project involved enlisting domestic gardeners who grow their own fruit and vegetables, either on an allotment or at home, to submit data about their crop yields throughout the year. This blog post is…
Adventures on an allotment
Posted in gardening, grow your own, Health and Wellbeing, National Allotment Society, Public Policy, Social Cohesion, Sustainability, urban gardening, Urban Greening, Wildlife
New blog! On why allotments remain relevant in the 21st century
We have had an allotment for the past 5 years. As well as enjoying the fruits of our labour in terms of the produce we have grown, I have also been an active member of the allotment colony’s association committee which has provided some insight into the issues associated with managing an allotment site. This blog is a reflection on the role of allotments in modern life and why, in my view, they…
Little London Allotment
Posted in allotment, allotment gardening, gardening, grow your own, organic, polytunnel gardening, runner bea
Mossey's New Allotment - Year 2
Posted in allotment gardening, beetroot, french beans, grow your own, onions, raspberries, runnerbeans
Yesterdays haul, loads of onions (centurion) ready for stringing, two big(ish) tubs of raspberries, french and runner beans and a trio of beetroot that had gone to seed.
My first ever parsnips!! Gladiator F1 grown from seed and they were delicious. Also picked loads of “moonlight” (runner bean/French bean hybrid) very tasty and no strings!
