organic gardening | Baldock Allotment Association

January 27, 2018

The No-Dig Diary Jan/Feb 2018

BALGA tenant, Annie, updates us on her progress with experimenting with going no-dig. This month….paths!

‘Of course, no-dig doesn’t mean no work! The digging is delegated. You may do this already of course – you may have a co-worker or partner who loves the exercise! However you can still gain benefits from no-dig and find these heroes other important jobs on your plot.

With no-dig, the digging is done by the worms. Hopefully you have plenty, but you will certainly get a big influx with the arrival of all that lovely compost. The worms will draw the organic material into the soil and aerate it at the same time. As the soil is not being continually hefted around, an environment is gradually created that allows beneficial insects, microbes and fungi to thrive and prosper. As this happens, it gives the perfect soil structure for your fruit and veg.

However, there is still work to be done….plenty of compost to produce and distribute, but we don’t want to compact the ground so some paths would be useful.

There are several options for paths.
1. Grass paths. These look nice if well maintained. A grass path is fairly permanent though so perhaps other more temporary solutions would be useful to give flexibility year by year.
2. Walk on top of the compost.

The mulch underneath should stop weeds and the compost layer should not get muddy for a long time – not until the mulch has been broken down by the worms. This should take much longer than on the beds since you are walking on it and compacting it more than the beds.
3. Woodchip path. If you have a source of woodchip this is great. It shouldn’t get muddy and when you want a change, the woodchip will just rot down and add organic matter to your soil.

4. Gravel. The weed-proof layer here is black plastic (old compost bags work well!). Clear the ground, lay the plastic with a few drainage holes to prevent pools of water developing, cover with a layer of gravel. Cost of gravel may be an issue but it is re-usable when you want to take the path up and re-lay it elsewhere.

You will notice that the emphasis throughout is to try to stop the weeds growing thus saving time on weeding. We shall see!’

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.’

July 18, 2017August 6, 2017

What’s in Season – Courgettes

Ah….courgettes! One of the vegetables most allotment folk grow and look forward to harvesting……until the glut kicks in!

As a veg grower, it is always best to sow at least a few seeds when growing a crop but courgette seeds are usually good germinators. Sow them individually in small pots for best results. However, whilst you may have sown half a dozen seeds which become seedlings and then healthy plants, once you’ve planted them out the realisation hits you that you may just have grown a few too many plants. Once they start cropping, the courgettes keep coming! And whoa betide the allotment tenant who misses a few and finds they have now grown a couple of marrows!

Joking aside though, courgettes are actually quite a versatile crop. Google ‘courgettes recipes’ and you are inundated with a wide variety of suggestions from cakes, gratins and currently en vogue, spiralizing them!

And talking of versatility, don’t forget courgette flowers are also edible and quite a delicacy; deep fried in batter being a popular recipe. Pick them just as they are opening.

Once established, the plants throw up both male and female flowers with the female flowers being easily recognisable because they have a small fruit behind them. The plants can take up a lot of space and need a lot of watering in hot weather but regular watering will ensure better quality fruit. Pick the fruit when they are young and thin, perhaps around 5″ long and always cut them from the plant with a knife; twisting and pulling them off will damage the plant.

One of the best things about growing courgettes, is the varieties available including yellow ones. There are quite a few heritage varieties out there too.

My only courgette regret this year……not growing any. I actually feel a bit left out that I’m not suffering from a courgette glut!

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