JANUARY
Welcome to another exciting new year in the vegetable garden! Even though we're not experiencing the same severe winter conditions of 12 months ago, it can be difficult to imagine that this time of year is when the growing season cranks into gear. But as with so many things, the key to a successful year on the plot or in the garden is in the planning and preparation.
It's a great time of year to be clearing out the shed or the greenhouse, getting rid of broken pots and trays and sterilising the ones you have left. Just give them a good wash with a dilute solution of Milton or Jeyes fluid to get rid of any trace of compost-borne diseases. And you'll be amazed how many slugs and snails have overwintered in there!
At Bridgend, we've been doing lots of work on our paths lately, getting out the worst of the weeds and putting down fresh woodchips that will keep everything dry underfoot. There will also be repairs to raised beds, flat wheelbarrow tyres and broken tools.
If you've not already ordered your seeds for the coming year, then now is very much the time to do it, as sowing can begin in January for certain crops, provided you have a heated space in which to germinate seeds and nurture precious young plants. Summer cabbages and caulifowers can be sown now, as well as early lettuces - just make sure you get the appropriate varieties. If you have the right conditions, greenhouse crops such as tomatoes and peppers can be sown indoors during January to give you a headstart.
Whatever the weather brings us over the next 12 months, it's good to know you've done everything you can in preparation, and start as you mean to go on. It'll be great fun whatever happens!
Don't lose the plot!
OCTOBER
Autumn has definitely arrived! It's a time of change everywhere, and the allotment plot is no exception. This is typically the month where the first frost of the approaching winter occurs, so it's the end of the line for all those tender crops out there - courgettes, runner beans - unless they can be protected in some way. If you've still got tatties in the ground, now is the time to be lifting them for storage.
But not everything is coming to an end - tradition says that parsnips should never be harvested until a frost has developed their flavour. And for some crops, October marks the beginning. Garlic and overwintering onions and broad beans can all be sown and planted towards the end of the month. Just make sure you get the right varieties: Aquadulce Claudia is the best bet for broad beans; senshyu yellow is a fine onion to overwinter. Prepare the ground and plant just as you would for spring crops.
Otherwise, most of what we're occupied with at Bridgend is tidying up and preparing for winter - filling up the compost bins, mulching the soft fruit bushes, repairing paths and raised beds. All those jobs that help keep the place looking (reasonably) neat.
Don't lose the plot!
Welcome to another exciting new year in the vegetable garden! Even though we're not experiencing the same severe winter conditions of 12 months ago, it can be difficult to imagine that this time of year is when the growing season cranks into gear. But as with so many things, the key to a successful year on the plot or in the garden is in the planning and preparation.
It's a great time of year to be clearing out the shed or the greenhouse, getting rid of broken pots and trays and sterilising the ones you have left. Just give them a good wash with a dilute solution of Milton or Jeyes fluid to get rid of any trace of compost-borne diseases. And you'll be amazed how many slugs and snails have overwintered in there!
At Bridgend, we've been doing lots of work on our paths lately, getting out the worst of the weeds and putting down fresh woodchips that will keep everything dry underfoot. There will also be repairs to raised beds, flat wheelbarrow tyres and broken tools.
If you've not already ordered your seeds for the coming year, then now is very much the time to do it, as sowing can begin in January for certain crops, provided you have a heated space in which to germinate seeds and nurture precious young plants. Summer cabbages and caulifowers can be sown now, as well as early lettuces - just make sure you get the appropriate varieties. If you have the right conditions, greenhouse crops such as tomatoes and peppers can be sown indoors during January to give you a headstart.
Whatever the weather brings us over the next 12 months, it's good to know you've done everything you can in preparation, and start as you mean to go on. It'll be great fun whatever happens!
Don't lose the plot!
SEPTEMBER
Strange month in the allotment calendar, September. Not really summer anymore – so not much to be sown or planted. But too early to start thinking about winter, even if for most of August it did feel like autumn came early!
Hopefully by now, all the hard work put in during the year is yielding results.
It certainly is at Bridgend. We are starting to lift our main crop tatties (yes, we ate the earlies and second earlies rather quickly – they were very fine, thank you), and are getting stuck into carrots and beetroot. Onions and garlic are now drying on racks in the barn. Autumn-fruiting raspberries are plentiful. And in the pursuit of sweeter-smelling socks, we’ve been cutting lavender for drying!
One job we will be trying to get done over the next few weeks is the sowing of overwintering green manure. Any empty patches on the plot that we don’t want to leave bare - and therefore at the mercy of the winter rains - can be broadcast sown with Hungarian grazing rye. At this time of year, it should still germinate and establish before things get too chilly. Cover it over with fleece, mind, or hungry birds might hoover it up! When dug in in the early spring it‘ll provide lots of organic matter for the worms to deal with.
If you want to know more about green manure, or anything to do with growing your own food, please note we still have a few places left on our ‘Introduction to Organic Vegetable Gardening’ course, which takes place over two Saturdays – 24th September and 1st October. If you’d like to sign up, contact Chris via chrism.bgc@gmail.com
Don’t lose the plot!
OCTOBER
Autumn has definitely arrived! It's a time of change everywhere, and the allotment plot is no exception. This is typically the month where the first frost of the approaching winter occurs, so it's the end of the line for all those tender crops out there - courgettes, runner beans - unless they can be protected in some way. If you've still got tatties in the ground, now is the time to be lifting them for storage.
But not everything is coming to an end - tradition says that parsnips should never be harvested until a frost has developed their flavour. And for some crops, October marks the beginning. Garlic and overwintering onions and broad beans can all be sown and planted towards the end of the month. Just make sure you get the right varieties: Aquadulce Claudia is the best bet for broad beans; senshyu yellow is a fine onion to overwinter. Prepare the ground and plant just as you would for spring crops.
Otherwise, most of what we're occupied with at Bridgend is tidying up and preparing for winter - filling up the compost bins, mulching the soft fruit bushes, repairing paths and raised beds. All those jobs that help keep the place looking (reasonably) neat.
Don't lose the plot!
