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Wellington Fields Allotments - Hixon.

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Wellington Field Allotments Hixon

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By Mrs FM
Hartley.

Unusual & Old
Fashioned Fruit
Trees.

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Alan J Hartley

The Cold Before Spring.

As Autumn started to turn towards Winter with one, or two colder nights at the end of September, I decided to check that my Electric Fan Heater was still working after being stored since last Spring. It was stored in a Shed and the problem with doing that is that Mice do like to gnaw on Electric Cables if they can get at them. Fortunately, mine was alright. Fan Heaters are relatively cheap to buy, but everybody thinks that they are expensive to run and heat a Greenhouse with, however, if you use them sensibly and keep the Thermostat turned down low, preferably on a Frost Setting, they only cost a pound, or so a night when it is Frosty. When you think about how many nights of actual Frost that we normally get in an average Winter, the costs are not so much compared to the cost of replacing things like Banana Plants, Palms and Citrus Trees. Then there are all the other things like Dahlias and Chrysanthemums that benefit from being stored in Frost Free conditions. Lining the Greenhouse with Bubble Polythene will also help to keep the cost down considerably. Again, though, the Bubble is an expense, but if you are careful and store the Polythene properly when you take it down in the Spring, you can use if year after year.

We didn’t really get much cold this year until after about Mid November when we had a bit with the odd night of Frost. Indeed, I did have to scrape the Windscreen on my car once, or twice. The Greenhouse coped with just the Bubble though and I didn’t actually turn on my Heater until late November when we had quite a cold spell for several days and nights. Again, we had some cold at the start of December, but then it was very Mild over Xmas. Going into the New Year it looks as though we have some real cold weather to come so the Heater will get a bit more use this winter.

Apart from keeping Plants in the Greenhouse for protection, you can wrap some of the more tender Shrubs, that are actually planted in your Garden, with Horticultural Fleece. Things like Myrtles are a case in point and are slightly tender although they are an evergreen perennial. Myrtles and Guavas belong to the Psidium group of plants which really are Tropical in their origins, but older plants become somewhat tougher and more able to stand the cold better. Most Myrtles have Berries that are unpalatable, unless processed, due to their strong flavour. However, Myrtle Ugni has Edible Berries, and I have a lovely variegated one in my front Garden. Another name given to it is the Chilean Guava. Although it has been planted for some years it is still quite small and has never produced any Berries. Another Guava that I have is the Pineapple Guava, or (Acca) Feijoa Sellowiana of which I grew several from seed quite a few years ago. I still have 3 specimens in various places, and they do produce quite showy Flowers, but none have ever fruited. None of the Plants get any frost protection and a few of their evergreen leaves get burnt by the Frosts annually, but all of the Plants are thriving.

Back on my Allotment I finally got round to putting some new Grease Bands on my Fruit Trees. It was a bit late to do them as I had been waiting for the leaves to drop, but if they are not done before the Winter they can still be done in early spring with some benefit.

On the subject of Trees my Brother recently cut down, or Coppiced, his Hazel Tree, producing many 8 foot Poles that will be very useful on the Allotments. One, or two Plot Holders already use Hazel Poles and have had to buy them as you might Bamboo Canes, so I am hoping that they will be able make use of them if I don’t. Hazels are best cut down after Xmas so his was done a bit early. The same is true for Willow with the traditional time for cutting to be in the New Year, just before the Buds start to swell to prevent Die Back. I will have to do the many Willow and Hazel Trees at Work as well when I go back in the New Year. These are used for Weaving with the Hazels possibly being used for making traditional “Hurdles,” or Bean Poles. Some are also used to make the framework of “Dead Hedges” which are a cross between hedges and fences. I guess they are not unlike some of the “Jumps,” in Horse Racing!
At work they have made them by hammering in uprights and then weaving in the brushwood between them. Other people make them by weaving thin branches between the uprights creating a long and narrow cavity that they then fill with Leaves and Twigs. As this mixture rots down, more is continually added. Either construction method makes a great habitat for everything from Birds, Hedgehogs and Toads to all manner of Creepy Crawlies. With all the pruning that I do both in my Garden and on my Plot, I am thinking of making a “Dead Hedge,” on my Allotment somewhere.
Everyone keeps saying “How can we encourage the Wildlife on our Site,” - so maybe this is another way. I already have a pile of old bits of Wood and rotten Branches in the narrow space between my Concrete and Brick Compost Bins and the Boundary Fence, and last Autumn we installed a giant, multi compartment, Bug House on the Site by the Communal Compost Storage Area.

The Committee keep talking about putting a designated area over to Flowers to encourage Pollinators onto the Site. For my own part I am intending to grow a lot more Cut Flowers that will do the same job to some extent. I already grow a lot of Chrysanthemums, Alstroemerias, Asters, Scabious, Kaffir Lilies, Helianthemums, Irises and I don’t know what else!

With Winter starting to settle in and poorer weather, there are fewer days when I can get up there to do Jobs and a lot of the time it is just too wet everywhere anyway when you do get on Site. However, one Job that I quite like doing at such times is turning my Compost Heaps. So, during the Christmas break, I emptied out the mature side and roughly dug it into one of my Beds and then turned the fresh pile into the then empty bin. Hopefully, by the time Spring comes round this will be getting quite mature and may, with a little bit of luck, be ready to dig into one of my empty beds as well, or I may use it as a Mulch around some of my Fruit Bushes like my Gooseberry. A few Plot Holders are trying out the “No Dig,” method on some of their Beds and I suppose my Mulching to suppress the weeds is a similar idea. It is especially good around Gooseberries as they are quite shallow rooted and don’t like you disturbing them by digging weeds out around them.
I have also Mulched around my Asparagus as they don’t like you to weed around them either, but this time I used Leaf Mould as I also did around my Strawberries, Sea Kale and Medlar Tree. On the subject of the Medlar, I was hoping for a better harvest from my Tree this year, but after having so many Storms, practically all the fruit was blown off before they were properly ripe leaving me with none to eat.
Although we had a lot of wind, surprisingly, most of the Leaves seemed to stay on the Trees for a long time and it was quite late in the Season before I could clear up the last of them. I used some of them as a mulch around some of my Trees and mixed some in my Compost Heap. However, they do take a long time to Compost, (about 12 Months) unless they have been Mown or Shredded first. At the Charity where I work, they have been spreading them on the floor of one of the Barns and putting a Mower over them, but we also have a new Chipper/Shredder that they have been putting the Leafy Holly Hedge Prunings through. I have had a number of bags of this Leafy material to use as another type of Mulch around various things on my plot to suppress the Weeds.
The Bowling Green, where my Brother plays, recently cut a very overgrown Hedge down and hired a commercial Chipper to break it up and reduce its bulk. Consequently, he has been bringing me some Bags of better grade Chippings that I have been able to use on a lot of my muddy Paths, both at home and on my Plot, to refresh them. On some of the Paths I have been putting a layer of Newspaper down first with the Chippings being spread over the top. It used to be said that Newspapers and Magazines shouldn’t be used like this because the Inks used in them were Toxic to the Environment, but of course in these days of “Health And Safety,” no toxic inks are used in their production. A lot of people do still favour cardboard though as an alternative, but I am always wary of the plastic tape used to hold Boxes together. Here again I know they are gradually introducing a new type of Adhesive tape that is environmentally friendly, but its use isn’t widespread at the moment.

As we go through the rest of Winter, I personally will continue with maintenance jobs such as putting in new Pegs to secure the Edging Boards and levelling out uneven Slabs where I have used them. There will be some continued harvesting of things like Jerusalem Artichokes, Leeks, Brussels Sprouts and Parsnips where people have grown them, but there won’t be much planting done for a few weeks until the Broad Beans go in. Soon after that it will all start and there will be lots of seed sowing and planting to do again. Then, now that Christmas is over and we have had the shortest day, Spring will be upon us quicker than we anticipate.