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Wellington Field Allotments Hixon

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Hartley.

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Another Fundraiser.

This Spring’s Plant Sale was quite a bit later than normal in part due to the May VE Day celebrations and Bank Holiday Weekend. Added to that we had several Committee Members away at the start of May, so the results of all that was that we didn’t hold the Sale until May the 25th. As usual I had tried to time the Plant growth of the various items so that they would be at their optimum stage of development. Delaying the date a couple of times had made things difficult for me, but I remembered the talk on TV Gardening Programmes saying how Grower’s delay Plants for Chelsea Flower Show to keep them at their best. So, I took a leaf out of their books and subjected some of the Plants to lower temperatures to slow down their growth. I didn’t have a cold storage unit, but simply moving the Plants in and out of the warmth of the Greenhouse during the Daytime meant that they were held back a bit. It was crucial that I put them back inside at night though because there was no way that Tomatoes and other tender stuff like them would have survived some of the chilly nights that we kept on getting!

Anyway, come the day of the Sale, when I got up, it was absolutely chucking it down with heavy rain. It was too late to cancel and re-arrange it yet again so I thought that we would have to have it inside the Village Hall which was always a contingency plan, but as the Clock ticked on the Sun came out and everything went ahead without any real problems. We did get a shower around Noon though, when the Sale was practically over, so that was OK.

Officially we didn’t start until 10am, but people were piling in by 9-30 and it was dying off with it nearly all over by 10-30am and just a trickle kept coming! Normally we take back about half of the Plants that we take but not this time as there certainly wasn’t much left! The Vegetable Plants didn’t seem to sell as well as usual but we more than made up for it with the Garden Plants and Trees. We don’t normally take many Trees to the Spring Sale because they are not Leafed up properly, but, having it a bit later meant that they were, and we could offer them for sale. I had made some pre-sale sales as usual and with all the Cash added in to the Pot, we made just over £1,000 in total which was a fantastic sum to go to the local Community First Responders Project.

I think that having the Sale so late, it meant that most People had already planted their Vegetable Plants which resulted in us not selling so many. However, as usual we took what was left of the Veg and put it down the side of the main Driveway on the Allotments for Plot Holders to help themselves to. We did put out a little “Honesty Box,” in the hopes that some might make a small donation for the Plants that they took but I haven’t been told if anybody did. Anyway, I see it as a bit of a perk for the Plot Holders for supporting the Sale proper each time.
After we took the Veg back to the Allotments some of it did get taken and I think that may have been due to the fact that we kept on getting the odd cold night all throughout May and once, or twice I even had to scrape Ice off the Windscreen of my Car first thing in the Morning. Several times I suggested to Plot Holders that they might like to Fleece up the Plants on their Plots, or put an upturned Bucket over them at night for protection. Some did, but I know that the cold nights caught a lot of people who had planted out Runner Beans, Sweet Corn and even some Potato tops were caught. The dry weather was nearly as much of a problem for people as it never seemed to end with the driest Spring on record for many areas of the Country. We did have a brief downpour at the start of May and the very odd shower, but it wasn’t until June that we really started to get some rain and even then, I continued watering the Plants in Pots that I was growing on for the next sale in the Autumn.

As soon as the Spring Sale was over, I started potting up for our Autumn Sale. People don’t seem to realise that Plants don’t just magically grow the day before our Sales – they take weeks to grow and develop – even in the peak growing time of the Summer Months. It can be a bit of a problem finding suitable Pots and Compost to use all the time.
To be honest I usually get inundated with Pots whenever I put out a request, but they are not always the right sizes, however, decent compost to use is a different question. I do use a lot of Soil from our Communal Compost Bins, but that is what it really is and it is not a good idea to pot in just Soil as it packs down hard, very quickly, in Pots, without the Worms and Insects to aerate it. I usually try to mix it with a lighter, more fibrous material, to improve it. I was given 3 Bags of spent, bought, Compost that a friend had emptied out of her planted Tubs at home. There wouldn’t have been much goodness left in it, but it made a good Soil Improver for my potting. I was also Given 3 bags of Re-cycled Compost that was not really meant for potting, but, was intended to be used as a Soil Improver in peoples gardens. However, it looked lovely stuff, so, a week, or two before our sale, I tried potting some Tomatoes up in it, along with some Asparagus. The pots soon developed a crusty surface, but it was easy to wet and seemed to be free draining. At first, I was quite impressed with it because the leaves on the Tomatoes did not yellow at all and they are notoriously sensitive to a lack of nutrients. However, the various Bean Seeds that I planted in it did not do well and about 2/3rds of them rotted. I soon realised that the compost was sodden at the bottom of the Pots and dry on the surface. I should have used the old Gardeners trick to test the need for watering by lifting the Pots to see if they were heavy with water, or light and dry!
The Compost is made locally at a Farm where they mill green waste and also make Chippings out of the more woody material that they receive. Apparently, they take gardeners waste in for a Fee and then sort it before working it. Bags of their lovely, black Compost are sold to the trade, Councils and Allotments, or the Compost is available for bulk collection and delivery. They produce different grades of Compost and there was almost no visible plastic in the Ton Bag that a friend bought and collected for her Allotment. The price was very impressive, but I suppose that is in part due to the fact that they are getting paid twice for it! Once when they take in the waste plant material and once when they have produced the compost! I think that in the not-too-distant future I will be getting a Ton Bag for my own uses, both as a Mulch in my Garden at Home and also to use in my Potting.

This year in particular, I have used a lot of my own Compost in the potting that I have been doing for the Plant Sales. My Compost is normally quite fibrous because of all the Garden Sheddings and Prunings that I mix into it. This makes it very good to mix in with the Allotment Soil to lighten it. I like to use it in particular to put a thick layer into the bottom of some of the bigger Pots that I have to Plant up. This not only provides a little better drainage, but helps to lighten the overall weight of the Pots which can be very heavy to move about when they are filled with just Soil. In fact, this season, there hasn’t been much of it leftover to use as a Mulch on my Plots as I have been using so much of it in potting. Using mostly my own rough Compost to improve the soil for potting is also cheap as it is completely free!
As regards my own Compost, I recently turned the bin full that contained about 20 Bags of Pampas Grass mixed into it and as I did so, and got to the bottom layer, it looked good as it was starting to break down nicely. When I first put in the Pampas Grass everybody said that it was the wrong thing to do as it would never rot down being so woody. To be honest it did look like wood shavings at first and was very tough. However, I kept wetting it with cans of water and that helped, but the upper layers needed more, so, I added lots of smallish Bags of Manure and some thick, fleshy, green, fresh, Weeds to increase the moisture levels and kick start it a bit more into life. The flower heads from my Sea Kale were a welcome addition in this respect as it was time to cut them off anyway to stop the Plants from going to seed and let the Plants rest and re-energise themselves for next Springs Harvest. Giving them a rest like this instead of letting them flower, is the same idea that you employ by letting Asparagus green up after a short period of harvesting. You are also supposed to rest Rhubarb after a couple of Months of harvesting to let that build up its energy reserves again for the next Season.
Traditionally, the date to stop picking Asparagus and Rhubarb is the Mid-Summer Solstice, (Mid-Summers Day) on June the 21st when we have the most hours of daylight here in the UK. However, some newer varieties can be picked later with no detriment to the Plants. (The other thing about picking Rhubarb late in the Season is that it has a tendency to get very tough making it almost inedible.) Letting Vegetable Plants go to seed usually ruins the vegetables draining them of goodness and it often makes them go woody. This can best be seen with the Onion family, but it also applies to root vegetables such as Beetroot, Carrots, Parsnips and also to Brassicas like Broccoli and Cabbages. Vegetables that are going to Seed are often said to be “Bolting,” which can also be caused by being too dry. However, some things have a tendency to “Bolt,” more readily than others and it is worthwhile to look out for “Bolt,” resistant varieties. This is especially true of Beetroot as well as most of the other Root Crops. As I says regular watering in dry spells can help, but if we are going to have hotter and dryer Summers then it might be advisable to be more careful when selecting varieties to grow in our changing Climate. With this in mind some Farmers are trialling different Crops and I am certainly doing my bit to encourage Plot Holders to try more exotic things with my “Unusual Vegetables.” I took a quantity of Plants to the charity where I work this year and they caused a lot of interest! Most of them are certainly plants from warmer climates with the Yacon from the Incas along with the Cape Gooseberries, Oca and Mashua from Peru, Crosne from China, Liquorice from North Africa and Globe Artichokes from the Mediterranean. Perhaps we should all think about growing them in future!