Today’s video shows the process of emptying last years hot bed and then filling it again and also filling the new hotbed. The process is fairly simple to describe: First I fill the empty hotbed with 18″ of compressed horse bedding (manure). Depending on the proportion of droppings I also...
In this video I take you through the approach that I’ve taken to planning the allotments this year. Last year I invested in a fancy online planning app, but it was too complex, inflexible and inconvenient to access on my phone. This year I’m going back to basics. I’m keeping...
Here’s a quick video review of our allotment year, and in summary it’s been fantastic, although it’s had it’s difficult moments. The allotments have proven to be incredibly life enriching, allowing us to work outdoors, be part of a lovely community and eat wonderful – near – organic food. In...
Here’s a quick video review of some of our allotment harvest highlights for 2017. The allotments have proven to be incredibly life enriching, allowing us to work outdoors, be part of a lovely community and eat wonderful – near – organic food. In 2018 we expect to be 95% self-sufficient...
This is a quick tour of Jennie’s plot in December. The work on the landscaping is essentially complete now and we’ve planted the new trees – Braeburn, Pear and Plum. All of the alliums are up, as are the broad beans and the brassicas are fantastic. Especially the Kalletes (a...
In this video I take you on a tour of Debbie’s plot. This month she’s planted two minarette trees, cleared the Bolotti beans and harvested the Oca, but apart from that the focus has really just been on day to day harvesting. The winter salad staples, Lambs Lettuce and Winter...
This year I planted most of my tender veg in cold-frames and hoop tunnels, but I left some outside so I could compare how well they coped with the winter weather. Up until the first really hard frost (-8C) the lettuces that were growing outside did slightly better than those...
It’s a wonderful frosty day on the allotment and I’m struggling to find things to do. Ideally I’d be out hiking, but I have a stress fracture in my foot so I’m taking things easy. The allotment provides a perfect distraction, composting, I turned one of my big bins –...
We planted five oca (New Zealand Yam) tubers this year, our first attempt at growing them. Only four of them survived and only three thrived. They didn’t grow much in spring, but put on a lot of growth in late summer. The tuber’s don’t seem to grow until late autumn...
Most of my cold-frames are only protected by a single layer of polythene. This is great for protecting from, wind, snow, hail and heavy rain (light rain is welcome) but it’s not a great insulator. Last year I insulated one of the frames with an inner layer of fleece and...