November Allotment Tour (Steve’s Plot)

Things are starting to quiet down on the plot now, all the beds are planted and productive, or dormant until spring, so there’s not much to do but pull up the odd weed and harvest. Well that’s not totally true, I’m still raking up leaves every few days from the cooking apple trees which are the only thing on the plot that takes more work than the value they deliver.

The side bed that I show at the start of the video I planted a few weeks ago with spare salads. On the last tour I’d planned to put in garlic, but I decided against that because of the shade from the fence, so it went in on Jennie’s plot instead.

There are a few beds that are starting to come to the end of their productive life though, the beetroot will probably all be harvested by next month, the French beans will too and a few more of the carrots. Luckily I have plenty of seedlings at home, ready to restock these beds, with veg that will be harvested in early spring.

The water on the site was switched off today, I had to beg the committee to leave it on for another month. Right now lack of tap water’s not as issue as I have 1250 litres in my water butts, but they don’t switch the water on again until the end of April and, on my plot at least, the 10 weeks from mid Feb to May can get very water hungry! Collecting water from my little shed roof doesn’t contribute much to that problem.

I’m also working hard on my planting schedule for next year. I’m creating it in a google calendar, which I will be sharing publicly, so everyone will be able to critique my plans, and take advantage of what little experience I’ve gained in the last 18 months.