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Wellington Fields Allotments - Hixon. |
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More Wellington Field Allotments Hixon
Gardening
Tips
Unusual
& Old
Unusual Environmental Issues And Going Green.
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The general activity on the Allotments has increased as we have gone
through March and into April and for myself I have been trying to stay
ahead of the jobs that needed doing before things got too frantic.
Towards the end of the Winter, I was replacing a few Tree Posts, which
always seems to be a never-ending job, and resurfacing some of my
Woodchip paths and the areas between my Fruit Bushes and Trees. I also
put some edging boards back into place where they had “Walked,” due to
the retaining “Pegs,” having rotted. This again seems to be a
never-ending job as the “Pegs,” just don’t seem to last. The edging
boards do seem to last a lot longer than the Pegs though and I reckon
that I get more than 5 years out of them, but they are quite expensive
to put in when you have a number of Raised Beds. Just lately, our
friendly farmer has been supplying us with 6 feet long pieces of tree
trunk from some young trees that he has cleared. At only £2 each they
represent great value because I have used a few similar logs for years -
both around my Plot and also a lot in my Garden at home, and they have
lasted well – easily comparable to the expensive boarding. Better than
importing Timber from overseas!
On the subject of Trees, I cut my Hazel Tree down at Home, (Coppiced it)
and my Brother did his, providing me with a number of “Poles,” that are
all the rage to use as environmentally friendly Bean Poles. One, or two
were a bit short, but I found a use for them as supports elsewhere on my
Plot. Longer pieces, around 8 feet, were ideal instead of imported
Bamboo Canes, although one Plot Holder showed me an assorted Bundle of
Bamboo Canes that he said he had cut at home! I have been toying with
the idea of producing my own Bamboo for some time, but my Plants aren’t
tall enough yet. The snag with Hazel instead of Bamboo though is that
being that much thicker you can’t easily push it into the ground and you
need to make a small hole with a spike to start it off. One big mistake
that I did make over using freshly cut Hazel, was that I didn’t dry it
off and consequently it still has life in it. It thinks it is
“Cuttings,” and is now starting to shoot and Leaf up! I doubt that it
will actually root though, but even if it does, I will be able to cut
the Poles down and Pot them up as free Trees! Different Trees need to be pruned at different times and Hazel and Willow should be cut after Christmas, but before Spring, whereas Medlar Trees are a member of the Pear family and therefore need to be cut later - when they are in leaf, or else they might get infected with one of a number of diseases. Consequently, I have only just Pruned my Medlar Tree which I did because people had started to comment on its size mentioning our 2 Metre Rule that we have for Trees. I did give it a very hard pruning and practically Pollarded it! As somebody pointed out, I won’t get any fruit now for a couple years until it develops proper branches again!
Elsewhere on my Plot my new “Hugo Bed,” had collapsed during the Winter,
so as I have been tidying up, I have put a lot more Weeds on top of it
to build it up again. I think if I am to keep the raised Bed, I will
need to top it up each year, or else it will rapidly just disappear
except for all of the Wood in the bottom of it that will take many years
to rot down properly. Because of this, if the Mound were to go, I would
have problems digging into it, so I will have to keep it going for some
years yet.
Spring this year, like last year, has been relatively mild with lots of
Blossom appearing on all of the different trees. After the bumper
harvest of Fruit last Season, it was said that we probably wouldn’t get
much this time because the trees would have a rest. However, my Apricot
is loaded with little embryo Fruit again and the Asian Pear, ordinary
Pear and Apples are all looking great. We did have several light Frosts
going through the middle of March and even occasionally throughout
April, however, they were not very hard and didn’t seem to take any of
the Blossom. Indeed, I didn’t even put the electric Heater on in my Greenhouse and everything seems to have gone through it alright. I did hold back a bit on putting out my Pots of Chrysanthemums though as I usually plant them out too early. They did go in the ground in about mid-April and we did have a cold night forecast after then, but the temperature didn’t actually drop down too low. I did cover those in the ground with large, upturned Plant Pots just to be safe, but other Plot Holders didn’t and theirs were OK. Again, I was a bit more cautious with my Potatoes than usual as I am normally the first to plant them out. They went in about the start of April, which was still a bit early, but I got impatient and others already had theirs in. I did “Earth Them Up,” as they started to shoot which gave the tender Shoots a bit more protection from the light Frosts that we had. Actually, “Earthing Up,” does several other things for the Potatoes as well. Firstly, it helps to stop any Potatoes that grow near to the surface of the soil from going Green and inedible. Secondly, it actually encourages the Plant to produce more Potatoes up its elongated Stem. Thirdly, continuous “Earthing Up,” helps to deal with any Weeds that may start growing around the Potato Plants.
I did get round to planting out my first batch of Broad Beans and even
got a second sowing up in my Greenhouse which were also planted out.
They are still growing slowly but the first batch have now started to
Flower and normally they seem to put on a spurt of growth after
flowering.
Elsewhere I have been getting on with a lot of Potting, of Shrubs and
small Trees grown from Seeds and Cuttings, for our Sales. Fortunately, I
was given a quantity of large Pots that were ideal for the job. People
are getting the idea that I am a good way to recycle their old Plant
Pots and Garden Tubs when they want to dispose of them. In fact, the
recent batch of large Pots came via the local Parish Council to whom I
am very grateful. Apparently, someone was clearing out an old Shed and
asked a Councillor if they could recycle them for her and he thought of
me!
Things are growing well on my Plot as well because I had a good harvest
from my Sea Kale but did get some Slugs on the Stalks because we had a
lot of wet earlier on! I counted over 120 Stalks and then stopped
counting so I must have picked nearly 200 in total. Then, as the Flower
Heads started to come up, I took off the buckets and let them green up a
bit before cutting them down hard. The Harvest for the Stalks is all
over in 3, or 4 weeks, so it is very short lived, but it is early in the
Season when there isn’t much else around and comes before Asparagus.
When I was cutting off the Flower Heads I did dig up and replant some of
the wayward shoots that spread as badly as Raspberries, but they go
deeper underground! These Cuttings or “Slips,” take a while to root
properly, but will make new plants given a bit of encouragement. |
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