Selfsufficientish.com

October 1st 2009

Hi, Ive just taken on an allotment. Wanted one for a few years now. Heres how it looked two months ago

Looking the other way

Dug a big hole to fill with compost. This is now waterlogged (Nov 30th 2009) but its nearly full aswell! Gonna keep going up turning it into a compost heap!
I fill my compost pile up in layers, one layer green waste, two layers brown waster, one layer soil + compost. Plus a bit of seaweed meal from time to time.

Weeds strimmed and weedproof matting put down over half the plot. Must get some more.

October 25th 2009

Double Digging. Half the plot will be double dug. Here I will plant corn, potatoes, onions, garlic, leeks, parsnips ect

the other half will just have the weeds dug out and covered with weedproof matting. Here I will plant Leguimes and brassicas.

Good luck! I don't envy you the double digging!

All the best with it, whatch your back

All this reminds me how lucky I was to get an allotment that had been worked the previous year so it was just weeding (well 'just' can be a pretty interesting thought after a wet summer but even so)

Xmas 2009

Well the seasons are behaving themselves this year, a wet autumn followed by a big freeze Only wish I'd got more digging done before the round became unworkable. Anyway I've not been idle, Ive been making a "waste recycling processing factory" (compost bin).
Made from 4 pallets, an old bed, a 3x3 post and some chicken wire.

09 Jan 2010

Fixed some guttering on the sharred shed so I can collect the rainwater as theres no tap. Also ordered my seeds.

I got a great book for xmas, John Seymores the new self sufficient gardener. Using it as my bible! Going to go for deep bed gardening where you dig narrow beds as deep as you can and never walk on them. Allows you to plant closser together, less weeds, incesed yields, better water/nutrient intake ect. And means you can manage your beds better for the specific crops your growing. Im gonna have 17 beds in total!!

16 Jan 2010

Marked out most of my paths and beds today. Most of my seeds have turned up yey and ive planted a blackcurrant bush (£2 from wilkos) hopefully it will survive. also got two coldframes up there.

Question is there a good green manure crop to sow in late winte early spring with the view to digging it in before planting veg? Or are green manures better to be planted after harvest to over winter?

On a garden scale, I have come to the conclusion that green manures are more trouble than they are worth, except possibly quick growing mustard. The others just hide weeds and slugs. Better to spread some compost or well rotted manure on the surface.

23 Jan 2010

Marking out the beds and paths.
All my beds are 1m wide and surounded by paths. This will allow me to reach into the beds to plant/weed/harvest without treading on the soil and compacting it. As many beds as possible will be double dug and the rest single dug. This technique (deep bed) allows me to plant crops close together thus maximising yields and reducing space/light for weeds

Also turned my compost heap to speed up decomposition.

13th Feb 2010 Spent the weekend double digging a bed for 1st Early potatoes. Plenty of well rotted manure dug deep in the ground. Also turned the compost heap again.

13 March 2010

Just realised ive not updated this in a while but think it'll be usefull for me to write down what I've done so I've got a record somewhere I cant loose it! (Do the mods back the threads up at all?)

Spring is here but its that starange transitional period where winter may still come back to bite.

I have 17 small beds in total.

Bed 1

Sweetcorn intercroped with corgettes and a butternut squash. Bed is part double dug. Plants wont go in untill may.

Bed 2

Onions and garlic. Bed double dug. Planted sets last autumn, garlic doing well, onions need the gaps filling in but I cant find the spare sets

Bed 3

leeks. Bed double dug. Sowed 1st seeds today under glass!

Bed 4

Carrots. Not touched this beds yet. But I have some drainpipe to fill with sandy soil to grow the carrots down

Bed 5

Parsnips Double dug in autumn, single dug today. Ive put a long cloche up to warm and dry some soil for seed soing next week.

Bed 6

1st early spuds. Almost finished digging. Will plant a handfull of spuds tommorow. I meant to do this today but forgot.

Bed 7

2nd early spuds. Nowt done here yet

Beds 8 & 9

Maincrop spuds. Nowt done here yet.

Bed 10

Peas. Double dug. 1st ealry seeds sown today under glass

Bed 11

Broad beans intercropped with dwarf french beans. Double dug. Sown 1st broad bean seeds today

Beds 12 & 13

Runner beans and sweet peas. Nowt done here yet

Beds 14,15,16 & 17.

Brassicas. Weeded. One solitary spring cabbage plant has survived the winter.

And then ive also planted 6 raspberys canes and 3 blackcurrant bushes a couple of weeks ago.