Little Helpers, Frantic Hoeing and a Final Hurrah

As the summer turns to autumn and the available hours of daylight lessen, the final push to have the allotment ready for winter reaches fever pitch. I seconded the help of my two girls, getting them used to visiting the plot and learn about the food we are going to grow.

Serena Helping Out in Her Own Way...                                                  Half the Plot Still Looks Very Green

After an initial enthusiasm for the idea of helping to get everything ready; carrying tools, boards and wooden blocks to make the low planters, when it came to some of the more arduous task of clearing the still very green third of the pot, she found her own way of helping.
While we began yet more hoeing, Serena read her book, out loud, keeping me entertained whilst I cleared a few more meters of weeds.

With an early on both days at the weekend, we finally cleared the plot of the persistant weeds, revealing the wonderful soil beneath. Adding two more planters for shallow rooted salad leaves and radish gave me an idea as to what space would be left for root vegetables, legumes and brassicas.

                      Four Shallow Planters                                                      The Area Reserved for Substantial Crops

The only downside of clearing a plot that you inherited in an overgrown state is the volume of material you need to clear and what to do with it. Continental Landscapes, who run the site on behalf of the local council, provide one skip per month to remove waste generated by the site, all 112 plots. They have recently reviewed this policy and have withdrawn the service for 2015 as they believe that much of the waste would be better composted than removed from site.

For a new allotment holder, the skips provided could be of huge benefit, allowing the removal of a majority of the perennial persistant weeds in one go, as they cannot be used for compost as this would simply re-introduce the weeds back into the soil.

Aware of this, I brokered a deal with Continental Landscapes, agreeing that if I cleared the allotment and located the weeds at the head of the plot, where they could be easily collected, then they would remove them from site on my behalf.

I regret to say that this agreement seems to have been forgotten, with the calls to their liason and monthly site inspections failing to have the desired effect. After consulting with some of my fellow allotment association members I took matters into my own hands and constructed a make-shift structure to hold all of the green waste, with plans to allow it to rot down naturally over the winter and use it to plant Courgette, Marrow and Butternut Squash next summer...

Weeds, Seeds and Autumn Treats

Looking at the plot this weekeknd, I feel both delight and guilt, seeing the new shed all painted and full of tools is a wonderful thing, but the lush carpet of green shows how little I have been doing on the site during it's construction.

Saturday saw the start of the push to get the allotment ready for winter, starting with a few hours hoeing.
Once we had a few meters of the site clear, I knocked up a quick shallow planter from an old pallet, covered it with a double layer of weed suppressant matting and filled it with freshly weeded soil.

First Small Planter                                                                Sowing the First Seeds

With the summer rapidly waning, and autumn creeping up on us, there is little to plant at this time of year, so we opted for two crops that should provide greens between now and the true winter months.

The first crop we hope to harvest will be two rows of mixed red and green salad lettuce; sown in 1/2inch deep drills into soil already raked and watered. the first shoots should be sowing by mid September and ready to eat by the end of the month.

Our second choice was two rows of winter cabbage; Sown along with the lettuce, they should be ready for cropping in late Novemeber. With reasonably mild winters along the Dorset coast, and a little bit of luck with the frosts, we may be get them right through until the new year...

First Seeds Sown and Netted                                      Two rows each of Late Lettuce and Winter Cabbage

Once sown, the rows were marked, with the planter then covered with a light net to keep the local pidgeon population from eating the seeds and new shoots.

While we wait for the first seeds to grow we are able to pick the few things already on the plot.we are now eating the butternut squash that we transplanted from tubs at home into the allotment (See 'Raspberry Squash - 20th July), along with a few rogue potatoes that are popping up in random locations across the site. I thought we had cleared the plot during the initial clearance, but it would seem that the recent rains and late summer sunshine have prompted new growth from the few i missed.

Butternut Squash                                                                                                 Potatoes