The Allotment Book

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A hot compost bin, that traps heat inside it to accelerate the composting process, can be a great time saver by making ready to use compost in as little as 4-6 weeks, compared to over a year in a traditional bin.

At the edges of the raised bed area, I created raised stops using a length of wood screwed to batons, and then pushed into the ground. This is to keep the wood chips from spilling out of the path. Using Weed Control Fabric Low maintenance paths around no-dig beds save a lot of time. An alternative is grass paths, but this will give you a grass cutting job, and will likely lead to grass growing underneath your wood frame and growing inside your no-dig beds. The easy way for a gardener to organise their growing and discover gardening ideas. Find Out More Growing Rotation also allows beds time to recover, and provides a gardener with the opportunity to add nutrients to the soil. Early spring often led to a plot looking overgrown, and throughout the year I found I was spending a lot of time cutting grass rather than growing.My advice is to buy cheap and replace when needed. The picture of the garden glove shown here is a perfect example. The mud dried around the shape of my hand whilst wearing it, and I was able to take this picture, hands free, by simply placing the glove on the handle of my wheelbarrow. Bought this book with great intention but haven’t managed anything more than a thorough browse as yet. Will hopefully get more use out of it in the forthcoming year.

Plants are grown in columns north to south (ie vertical). This is to allow maximum light for each row of plants. I have tried subdividing my plot into squares divided by paths. I found this helpful in making it easier to plan where to grow crops, but what I found frustrating, and time consuming, is the extra grass cutting involved. If your ground is already flat, you can create the frame and leave the digging until everything is in place. This does save work, but as before, it is worth taking your time to remove any weed roots buried in the ground. What I love about this book is that it gives you something that many others have missed and that is what you need to do BEFORE you get your allotment. Had I gotten the plot I wanted, for instance, it would have been completely wrong and a nightmare to tend.Spring is a very busy time for a gardener, and no-dig beds are a great time saver, especially if they have been protected with ground cover fabric. The soil is ready for planting. The plot is cleared, and a mulch is applied directly on top. No digging is required. The bed has not been walked upon at any point during the growing season, so all that is required is the removal of any left over crops and weeding.

My plot also suffers from couch grass. This sends out its roots horizontally under the ground. Again, try and remove as much of the roots as possible. The extra time spent clearing the bed thoroughly will save work in the years ahead. A nursery can be simply a space set aside in your vegetable garden for growing seedlings, a cold frame, plastic or glass greenhouse, or even a conservatory or utility room. Book:- Veg in One Bed: How to Grow an Abundance of Food in One Raised Bed, Month by Month About the Book:- Are you an allotment dummie? Well, this book Allotment Gardening For Dummies is the book for you. From the popular book range, they now have a book for new gardeners out there or people who would like to learn more about allotments and gardening, as there is always something new to learn. In this book, you will learn about how to get your allotment, decide what to grow on your allotment, and advise on how to store and cook the produce that you have grown. You certainly will not be an allotment dummie after reading this book. It's really motivating to know when content has been helpful, and I try to reply to as many comments as I can.

Video Transcript

That is where the next book comes in. I wish I had had that right at the start. But even when I didn’t get it it was really worth it. The Allotment Handbook Watering plants at an allotment is one of the most frequent tasks for a plot holder. If there are a choice of allotments available, choosing an allotment near a water supply can save a considerable amount of effort.

When growing vegetables at home, finding space for a couple of compost bins, or a wormery, is a good way of recycling garden and kitchen waste to produce nutritious compost, that can be used around a garden to feed plants, or as growing media in plant pots. The bins should be positioned in a sheltered spot in your garden. When clear of weeds the soil can be broken up and ideally add organic matter by digging or rotovating, or while building raised beds I like to use weed control fabric to save even more work, and because weeding is one of the jobs I least enjoy doing. The fabric I like to use is biodegradeable, and provides protection for a few months of the growing season. Essentially, it gives my seedlings a head start over all the weeds, and by the time the fabric has degraded, the crop is mature and the weeds have missed their moment.As you go, remove any roots or perennial weeds. Look out for weeds like dandelion, and try to remove the whole plant to prevent weed growth. I reach for my rake at seed planting time. The first step is to dig over the bed to loosen the soil, and the second step is to rake the soil to create a fine level surface. This will make it easier for seedlings to burst through after germination. Rakes are also useful for collecting weeds and other debris that may fall onto a plot. I painted extra wood preservative on the freshly cut pieces to help prevent water penetrating into the wood. The following books are ones I have used and recommend because I think they give a good overall knowledge. When my sister saw then she wanted to get them immediately. She got one but has to wait for the other one. The Half Hour Allotment