Allotment plots in Baldock
Did you know you can register with a website called Blightwatch and it will send you alerts when weather conditions increase the chance of blight on your crops? You can choose up to ten postcode areas to cover the surrounding areas and registration is free.
BALGA received an email alert this morning advising that a Hutton Period Alert was affecting a nearby postcode. Visit the Blightwatch website for more information.
After a successful start to the trading year, we only have a limited amount of seed potatoes left in stock now with many varieties having already sold out. In order to clear the remaining stock we have halved the price of the seed potatoes in the members’ shop down to 50p per Kg.
There’s still time (just) to get your seed potatoes, onions and shallots planted out so why not come to the members’ shop this Sunday (10am-12pm) to take advantage of the half price seed potatoes?
We’ve also reduced the price of the remaining onion sets by 50%, down to 20p per 200g.
If you’ve just taken on an allotment, now is a good time to prepare an area and plant some seed potatoes. It’s a good way to break up the soil AND enjoy a harvest this summer.
The members’ shop is open every Sunday 10am-12pm. Click here [Link removed] to see a full list of potatoes as well as more information about each variety.
Recipe for a quick and easy potato salad
Ingredients
Salad potatoes such as Charlotte
1 tub of cheese and chive dip
Method
1. Cut potatoes in half or quarters so they are all similar sized pieces.
2. Boil potatoes as you would do usually and drain once cooked.
3. Place cooked potatoes into a bowl and add several spoonfuls of dip.
4. Stir to ensure all the potatoes are covered.
5. Serve immediately or allow to cool before eating if preferred.
The second working party this autumn was held at the Clare Crescent site in Baldock where we had planted seed potatoes on the last cultivated plot at this site in the spring. This site is still managed by North Herts District Council.
A very loose experiment was run to see which half of it would produce the more tubers with half the plot being ridged up in the traditional way and the second half just dropping the seed potatoes in holes.
Although hardly scientific, the ridged half of the plot produced the best yield by a long way with very little being harvested from the non-ridged part. In fact it was more like trying to find where the rows of potatoes were on this half! Underground tree roots may have had something to do with it too though…
Surplus potatoes from the plot are being donated to Baldock’s Community Centre to help feed those in need this Christmas.
We’d love to have more volunteers help on working parties. They are a great way of building camaraderie and giving something back to the allotment association. The more we can do by members volunteering, the more money we can save from having to call experts in to do work which we could have done ourselves. ‘Banked’ volunteer hours are also used when applying for grants for future improvement work to our sites.
So keep an eye out for the next working parties and come and join in!
In this series of articles we follow Yvonne and Steve during their first year as allotmenteers showing you what can be achieved with a bit of effort and hard graft.
New tenants, Yvonne and Steve took on their plot in mid April 2017. They had no previous allotment experience other than going to their father’s allotment with him when little. They chose a half plot on the Clothall Road site. The plot hadn’t been worked for many years, although a recent tenant had dug out outlines of beds.
The plot had been strimmed in readiness for letting by site rep, Martin Luker, but some weeds still remained.
Keen to get started, they made good progress very quickly and had dug over several beds within a couple of weeks.
A quick visit to the members’ shop and they were able to plant seed potatoes and onion sets and start some seeds off at home.
A week or so later and more beds were dug and a base laid for the shed, both of which were picked up for free after searching online.
Within a month, amazingly they had dug over the whole plot.
And were excited to see the first signs of growth as their seed potatoes made an appearance.
Yvonne and Steve have worked really hard over the month to get the initial digging completed. They have also followed sage advice and planted a little too so they can see signs of growth; a reward for all their hard work.
In the next instalment we’ll see what plans Steve has for the shed!
Traditionally, seed potatoes are always chitted before being planted out but more recently, growers have queried whether this is necessary.
Chitting encourages the eyes on seed potatoes to start sprouting, thus giving them a head start for when they are planted out. Placing the tubers in a frost free place with plenty of light such as a window sill will cause the eyes to start sprouting. Each tuber has a more rounded, blunt end where most of the eyes are to be found. Place your tubers upright in a seed tray, or even an egg box, and wait for nature to work its magic. Within a matter of weeks, you can see the eyes sprouting. Once the tuber has two or three good-sized chits about ½” long, it can be planted out providing the ground is frost-free. Rub off any extra chits so that the growth is concentrated on those chits. If there is a danger of frost, ensure any growth is earthed up and covered to protect it.
First early potatoes particularly benefit from being chitted so they can be lifted within 10 to 12 weeks of being planted out, usually in June or July. There is some argument as to whether main crop seed potatoes benefit as they have a longer growing season. Potatoes will sprout and grow whether they are chitted or not. There is a theory though that chitting seed potatoes will increase the yield from each tuber by directing the plant’s energy into two or three shoots. Equally important, however, is preparation of the ground by adding plenty of well rotted manure, blood fish and bone or even chicken pellets.
For most vegetable gardeners, it’s that eagerness to get the growing season started, that means they will chit their seed potatoes.