I’m writing this diary in Caffe Nero on Sunday morning, warming up after a frosty visit to the allotments, yes you heard that right, frost in September, when our normal first frost date is 10th November! We definitely seem to be having later and earlier frosts now, even as the...
Last year I decided that planning my allotment on a spreadsheet wasn’t for me. I’m a visual person and I found messing around with a spreadsheet was a real chore, I wanted to enjoy my planning. I decided to use Airtable as the basis for a solution, I chose it...
This document captures answers to the most common questions that I get about our allotments, what we grow and how we grow. Where are you? England North west Lytham St Annes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytham_St_Annes The allotments are here: https://goo.gl/maps/3XBLthZwqp8AddHh7 Are you really by the seaside? The house is ½ a mile from...
This is the third draft of my guide to growing an abundance of vegetables all year round, especially in the so called Hungry Gap. The “jobs for the month” sections have been expanded in this version and I have new photos! I’d love a bit of feedback on how useful it...
Yesterday I posted a list of the ‘best’ seeds to sow in October, importantly October might not be the best time to sow these seeds, my criteria in selecting them was only whether you stand a reasonable chance of getting a successful harvest, this late in the year. This article...
This article outlines what I consider to be the ‘best’ seeds to sow in October, importantly October might not be the best time to sow these seeds, my criteria in selecting them is whether you stand a reasonable chance of getting a successful harvest, this late in the year. I...
I’ve been away hiking this week. I walked the hills, the beach and the cliffs and it was wonderful. It meant of course that there was very little time on the allotments. I managed to plant a few dozen turnips in containers at home and on my first day back...
I’m away hiking next week so I’ve mainly focused my attention on sowing, clearing beds and planting. As a result I’ve spent 12 hours on the allotment and 2 hours sowing seeds, bringing me up to my average of 14 hours and it’s been wonderful. I’ve only managed a couple...
After last weeks big push to tidy the allotments this week has been very relaxing. I only spent 7 hours on the plot including 3 hours of harvesting. I’ve spent a couple of hours sowing seeds, pricking out and planting in the garden too, but it’s been a nice break. ...
I love writing these monthly reviews and plans for the following month, so much seems to happen in such a short time and our diet changes as each month clicks by. The fruit changes the most. July saw us awash with berries, August with tomatoes/peppers and plums and September will...
Last week I mentioned that we’ve decided to give up Jennie’s plot at the end of the year. I was a bit sad for a few days, but then the psychic weight of having to care for it lifted and now I just feel relieved and excited to be re-planning...
We made a big family decision this week, we decided that we would give up Jennie’s allotment, my favourite allotment! Actually it was an easy decision. For positive personal reasons Jennie and Jon will no longer have time to work their plot and that would mean more of the load...
I normally like a balance in my week, a leisurely mix of reading, hiking, cycling, walking and gardening as well as a few projects that can take many forms. This week though I decided to focus exclusively on the allotments: a full 23 hours of focus and it was great....
Before I get started, just a quick note about the future! I’m experimenting with a few changes to how I write this diary. I won’t be including as many weekly statistics because these just duplicate data that’s already available in my Airtable databases. This reduces all the redundant cut and...