Comfrey.

Comfrey (rich in potash) or nettles (rich in nitrogen).
I use comfrey in three ways.
The first is simply to add it to the compost heap, where its nutrients will both enrich the whole heap and encourage decomposition. Comfrey has a high carbon to nitrogen ratio - ideal for most plants.
The second way is to spread the leaves as a mulch beneath, say, your tomatoes. This acts like any other mulch - slowing down evaporation of moisture and suppressing weeds - but because the leaves rot quickly, it also enriches the soil where the surface roots are.
Comfrey as a mulch - avoid using flowering stems as these can root.

5 Uncommon Herbs for Your Garden. Comfrey.

Simply soak a one part comfrey leaves to three parts water, let sit for a week and strain the rich tea. Use it as you would any liquid fertilizer for your tomatoes, cucumbers, squash or root crops. In fall, as the flowers die down, cut the plant completely back and chop it up. Add it to your compost where they’ll add a rich store of essential minerals.
5 Uncommon Herbs for Your Garden: "5 Uncommon Herbs for Your Garden"

Rotation plan

A good four-year rotation plan is Pots, Legs, Bras and Roots, or
Year 1 - potatoes;
Year 2 - peas and beans (legumes);
Year 3 - the cabbage family (brassicas) and
Year 4 - roots.

It recommends that you divide crops into four main groups as follows:

Legumes: French beans, peas, runner beans, broad beans
Root vegetables: radish, carrot, potato, onion, garlic, beetroot, swede, sweet potato, shallots
Leafy greens: spinach, chard, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach
Fruit-bearing: tomato, sweetcorn, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, courgette, aubergine

Sandy soils. Grow suitable crops.

Good vegetable crops for sandy soils will include all of
- the carrots,
- beetroot,
- radishes,
- parsnips,
- garlic and
- the early salad crops of lettuce and the like.

Potatoes early crops are ok, but maincrop potatoes will need added bulky manures to keep the soil moisture levels high for good production.

Brassicas generally, runner beans (Early French Beans are ok) Celery, and Rhubarb are best not grown on sandy vegetable plot soils. They all need too much regular moisture for suitable growth.

The best way to sow parsnip seeds.

The best way to sow parsnips:

One technique is to sow along a half-inch deep drill in the soil and then thin out to one plant every six inches.

The other is to sow three seeds at a time every six inches and later thin the seedlings to leave one parsnip at each station.

Dwarf beans. (French Bean).

- do not need staking.
- during the Autumn or Winter dig in old compost or well rotted manure
- in the spring add some organic fertilizer.
- seed should never be sown if the soil is wet and cold
- never pour water in the drill at sowing time, water under cloches when the plants are 15cm (6in) high.
– sow under cloches (Put cloches in place two weeks before sowing to warm up the ground.)
- in late March or early April for a harvest in June in a cold frame 5cm (2in) apart and 5cm deep
- transplant seedlings towards the end of May, 22.5cm (9in) between plants and rows 45.5cm (18in) apart
- time between sowing and harvesting - about 10-12 weeks
- sow the next crop in May without glass, so every three weeks from April to the middle of July.

Radishes

Radishes -
- a growing companion to other vegetables such as peas or beans
- 'Champion'. Very easy to grow, it produces medium-sized ruby-red radishes which are both crunchy and tangy. An excellent choice.
- a very well-dug soil to a depth of 15cm (6in) with no stones or fresh compost in it.
- For summer varieties, begin sowing in mid-April and continue at three week intervals to September.
- For winter varieties, begin sowing at the end of July at three week intervals to September.
- about 3cm apart is ideal and rake in or cover with a centimetre of soil.
- They can be ready in as little as 18 days from sowing, although 20-30 days is more usual.
- they are a brassica

Green manure | Plants | Gardening Blog | Talk | BBC Gardeners' World

Green manure | Plants | Gardening Blog | Talk | BBC Gardeners' World: "There are a few green manures to sow now, suitable for a range of soil types:

1. Grazing rye (Secale cereale) improves soil structure. Sow from August to November and dig in the following spring.

2. Winter field bean (Vicia faba) is good nitrogen fixer for heavy soils. Sow from September to November.

3. Mustard (Sinapis alba) is a brassica, so should not be followed by other brassicas in your crop rotation, as this can lead to the build up of diseases such as club root. Gardeners in the south can still sow it now, but those up north should wait until spring.

4. Red clover (Trifolium pratense) is good for loamy soils and fixes nitrogen. Its flowers are a great food source for bumblebees. Again, gardeners down south can probably get away with sowing it now, those up north should sow winter beans instead."

Mulch your garden

The types of mulch are varied and can be anything organic or inorganic.

• Straw/Hay/Lucerne – These are great to put around fruit trees and look great in cottage gardens. They’re inexpensive materials and will keep down weeds very effectively. The best way to apply this type of mulch is to first put down some blood and bone fertiliser around the base of the tree. Overlay this with some newspaper to cover the spread of the tree and then cover the paper with sheep or horse manure (slow-release fertiliser). Finally apply the straw densely over the manure and water in.

• How to mulch

  • Before mulching make sure the site is clear of weeds and the soil is moist. Water if necessary as it's difficult to wet dry soil through a layer of mulch.
  • Fill up a wheelbarrow with your chosen mulch and spread a 5cm (2in) layer around plants or across the soil with a spade, leaving a little gap around the stems of plants.
  • Rake to a level finish.

5 Best British Allotment Blogs | Growing Vegetables

5 Best British Allotment Blogs | Growing Vegetables

We are sowing seeds...

...I cannot put into words how much I am enjoying spending time in the garden.
We are sowing:

What to grow in your allotment.

What to grow in your allotment - Times Online:

carrots
cabbage
calabrese
potatoes
quick-growing salads

cold frame: Try beans
peas,
radishes,
onions,
salad leaves
beetroot.

- need lots of watering:
Courgettes,
tomatoes,
squashes and
pumpkins

Techniques - Grow your own salad.

Sow seeds in short rows about 30cm (12in) apart.


When the seedlings are about 2cm (1in) tall, thin them out to give them space to grow. 
The distance will depend on variety, but is usually between 15cm (6in) and 30cm (12in).
BBC - Gardening - Gardening Guides - Techniques - Grow your own salad

All about Allotments.

The allotment aristocrats | Mail Online
1,000 stately home plots made available to fruit and veg growers - the allotment aristocrats.

Monty Don explains 'my plot to save Britain' | Mail Online
As the credit crunch brings an allotment boom, Monty Don explains 'my plot to save Britain'.

Allotment Rents and Inflation.

http://www.allotment.org.uk/garden-diary/page/10/

Get Free Seeds From VegetableSeeds.net: "Two Ways To Get Free Seeds!"

The Best and Most Expensive / Profitable Vegetables to Grow

Vegetables a Complete Guide at Gourmet Food Source

Grow your own! Monty Don says there's never been a better thyme to plant herbs | Mail Online

From aromatic rocket to tangy mizuna: 10 salads anyone can grow | Mail Online: "RADICCHIO"

A year in the garden: tasks for every season - Times Online

Allotment holders wage war on 'greedy' National Trust after rent is hiked 400% | Mail Online

Eat the seasons: rhubarb!

Rhubarb season typically runs between April and May, with cooler climates extended their seasons as long as into July, depending upon the weather.
Field grown rhubarb typically has a bright red color. The brighter the red color, the more pronounced and sweeter the flavor.

Sliced rhubarb can be frozen up to nine months.
Fibers from the stalk should be removed, via a peeler.

Cooking rhubarb in orange juice will reduce the rhubarbs acidity.

1 lb of rhubarb = 3 cups chopped = 2 cups cooked

The broad bean.

The broad bean falls into 3 main categories; longpod beans, shortpod beans and dwarf beans. The longpod beans have about 8 beans in each pod, the shortpod beans have 3-5 beans, and the dwarf varieties have 2-3 beans.
- the Aquadulce Claudia
- Longpod or Leviathan
Broad bean seeds should be placed 7 cm below the surface, in double rows at a spacing of about 15 cm. 
 The rows should be spaced 25 - 35 cm apart and should be set out well to allow for maximum drainage.
Another way of planting broad beans is to plant 2 seeds in each hole. That way, when the plants grow, they can support each other in windy conditions, and you will also double your chances of germination.

French Beans: Using a trowel, dig out drills 5cm (2in) deep and 30cm (1ft) apart - where more than two rows are being planted, allow sufficient space between every second row to allow you cultivate and harvest them - 1m (3ft) should be enough. 

French Beans have a germination rate of approximately 75% and for this reason should be sown thinly, one seed every 15cm (6in), to be thinned out to a final spacing of one seedling every 30cm (1ft) about 3 weeks after sowing. To be doubly sure, sow several seeds at the end of the row for filling in any spaces where the seed has failed to come up in the row. After sowing, water the bed well if conditions are at all dry.

WEATHER DATES PAGE

HOME TOWN: Poole

YOUR FIRST AUTUMN FROST WILL BE IN mid NovemberYOUR LAST SPRING FROST WILL BE IN late March

Every man should have an allotment...

Every man should have an allotment, hen pen and a shed to hide away from the daily troubles and strife.
In parts of the north it is still a very male preserve, but certainly in the south and London the numbers of women are increasing rapidly. When allotments began, the men did what was considered to be the hard work, like the digging and ploughing. The women stayed at home and did the cooking and the cleaning. All that has changed now. Women see these people and realise there is no reason why they can't carry heavy bags of sand, lift huge stones or get covered in mud. 

Monty's favourite fruit.

Raspberry 'Malling Jewel'

An early-fruiting raspberry that crops from the beginning of July, this variety bears firm, luscious, dark-red berries in small clusters. It also has good tolerance to virus infections.

Five to try

• 'Glen Moy' - spine free canes, heavy crops in early summer
• 'Glen Prosen' - firm fruit in mid-summer
• 'Allgold' - yellow fruit in autumn
• 'Malling Admiral' - conical, dark red fruit in late mid-summer
• 'Autumn Bliss' - large red fruit in autumn

Strawberry 'Mara des Bois'

A cross between modern and wild strawberries, it has the advantage of fruiting from July to October, rather than just June and July. Berries are small, but tasty.

All About Composting

All About Composting