organic | Baldock Allotment Association

October 22, 2019

Organic Growing

I started to garden organically when I had my first plot in 1972. I was inspired by buying a copy of the book ‘Grow your Own Fruit and Vegetables’ by Laurence D Hills. Laurence was the founder of The Henry Doubleday Research Institute, which is now known as Garden Organic.

The great advantage of organic growing to me is that I know there are no herbicide or pesticide residues in the food I grow. I do, of course get bug and fungus attacks, but by and large nature sorts these out with a little help. I grow comfrey and use this to make a liquid feed. This is the only fertiliser I use for tomatoes etc. I do use chicken manure pellets, as well as horse manure and homemade compost. If I have serious bug infestation, I use garlic spray, click here to find out more.

Generally, I do not use fungicide. I used to use Bordeaux Mixture, but that is no longer accepted as organic, except by French wine growers! My only exception is when potting up and planting out courgette and squash plants, as they are susceptible to damping off, a fungus issue. However, my solution is just to water well with fresh tap water, which has just enough chlorine in it to kill the fungus.

There is plenty more information as well as tips and advice on organic gardening on the Garden Organic website.

I also belong to the Heritage Seed Library, part of Garden Organic, and have been saving seeds for many years. Some seeds, like peas and tomatoes are easy to save because they do not cross. Others, like squashes cross readily, so you are never sure what will grow from saved seed. I always have surplus tomato seeds, so if any BALGA member wants to try a heritage variety, click here to send me an email.

Phil Charsley (General Secretary)

January 1, 2018

The ‘No Dig’ Diary – January 2018

Members may or may not have heard of this method of growing veg which has been espoused by Charles Dowding.
Clothall Road tenant, Annie, tells us more about it as we follow her on her ‘no dig’ journey.

‘I joined the library just before Christmas – I wanted learn more about pruning. What I found, was a book on compost. I like making compost. It’s very satisfying on so many levels. Perhaps that’s another diary thread for another time……but the compost book contained a chapter about no-dig gardening. How could that fail to catch the eye? That would be the best gardening revolution ever!
Several hours with Mr. Google followed, plus the chance arrival of an assortment of cardboard, and a few hours of free time over the Crimbo Limbo period. Fate decreed this was definitely worth a try.

Rather than try and convert the sceptics with technical persuasion (that can appear in later episodes), I shall just explain what I’ve done so far. Suffice it to say, ‘no-dig’ seems to mimic natural processes and therefore cannot be ‘wrong’.

One benefit of no-dig is to reduce weeding and the first step towards this is ‘sheet mulching’. I raked over a patch of ground (you can take out deep-rooted weeds if you like but this isn’t essential). Then I spread cardboard over the area. You can wet the cardboard but the ground right now is probably wet enough! Newspaper can be used instead of cardboard.

Then I covered the cardboard with a thick layer of compost (about 3 inches). I guess you could leave it at that, but in my garden the birds fling compost all over the place, so I covered the compost with whatever I could find – some bits of fleece, and old pea netting.

You could use black plastic but that would also keep the rain off. Aims of this mulching are twofold, firstly the mulch prevents light getting to weeds thus eventually killing them and secondly mulch gradually decomposes and is drawn down into the soil by worm activity.

Next time I shall explain ‘the path dilemma’ and hopefully tell what my solution will be.’

March 8, 2017February 24, 2020

Why be an Organic Gardener?

One of the main reasons people take on allotments is to grow their own veg organically so they know where their food has come from and more importantly, what has gone on it. Phil Charsley tells us why he grows organic veg on his plot.

‘I have grown organically on my plot for many years. My main reason for doing so is because I don’t like the idea of spray residues on or in my food!
The most important principle of organic growing is being friends with nature. This means attracting certain predators onto your plot to help you in the battle against the bits of nature you don’t want on your plot. Ladybirds and hoverflies are typical examples of these friends and the more you can attract, the merrier!
Hoverflies breed in stagnant water but you don’t need much to attract them. A 2 litre plastic bottle propped up somewhere and filled with water and rotting vegetation or woodchips will do the job. It’s best put in a corner of your plot and forgotten about as the larvae aren’t very pretty!
Ladybirds will look after themselves and lay eggs which hatch into grubs with an enormous appetite for aphids. Don’t forget, if you find them over-wintering somewhere, leave them alone as they will continue their work next year.

I belong to Garden Organic and am also a member of their Heritage Seed Library. For a small fee I get to choose six packets of heritage seeds each year. If I like the varieties, I save seed so I can continue growing them. Heritage seeds remain true to type unlike F1 varieties. The other advantage of heritage seeds is that they were bred at a time when there were no pest or disease sprays, so they can survive pests and diseases. They have also survived because they taste good. Indeed they are enjoying a renaissance at the moment.

If you have any questions about organic growing or seed saving, take a look at the Garden Organic website, or send me an email and I will try to answer it.’
Phil