Allotment news 2019
1st January 2019
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Soil Association Approved compost made from naturally filtered peat
Commercial extraction of peat is not acceptable in organic gardening. So, if you haven't already got a supply of home made leaf mould (we haven't yet), you need to find an alternative to peat based seed compost. The compost used in the picture on the right contains peat collected through water filtration and is approved by the Soil Association.
Wool compost
An environmentally friendly seed compost that avoids using peat altogether. We've made early sowings of leeks and cosmos in both composts.
Green in January
The plot is still quite green...
we've got leeks, perpetual spinach and a few lettuces still
Onions and garlic ...
We planted onions and garlic at the end of last year and some more at the beginning of January. We had to net them to stop the birds pulling them out.
Broad beans
Aquadulce 'Claudia' broad beans are winter hardy and were sown in November. Spring sown broad beans tend to suffer from black fly attacks - because they have tasty new leaves just when the black fly emerge. The autumn sown varieties will have tougher leaves by then, so they will be less attractive to black fly.
Bird Box
This is Les, in his natural habitat
Les very kindly offered to show me how to make a bird box
It's going to be a blue tit box...
... with some slightly wonky bits...and I didn't break any drill bits either...
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I enjoyed that ! Les is excellently informative (and patient)! And I feel like I've done something really useful. You can see more of what Les gets up to at lesmccallum.com
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Just need blue tits now...
As well as Les, the RSPB have a useful guide to making bird boxes at rspb.org.uk.
Will has fixed the box securely at top of ladder height, to give easy access for cleaning out. It is facing north east so it is out of direct sunlight and protected from prevailing wind and rain.
Meanwhile, getting back to the plot,
Will has been busy making a 'beehive' style compost bin from reclaimed wood.
It looks fabulous
It looks so neat! Will has constructed the bin in layers with wooden battens to hold them together, each fitting securely on top of the one below. This means the bin can be built up at the same rate as we add the compost material. As the contents decompose we can remove layers and start a new heap.
More allotment news - 2021
A beautiful addition to our allotment this year - Will's wild flower meadow.