And as little time in the supermarket as possible
Pigeons eat brassicas. I know this because I spend a fair proportion of my working life writing about pigeon damage to oilseed rape crops. Despite this, and the fact that my allotment neighbour complained to me just the other week about how the pigeons had eaten all of her brassicas, I decided to leave them… Continue reading Losing the broccoli to pigeons – mid Jan
On New Year’s day when I trudged up to the allotment in the cold, armed with my hori hori and a renewed sense of vigour towards weeding, I was greeted with a very happy sight; the first of the purple sprouting broccoli. But doesn’t purple sprouting broccoli normally start producing heads in March, I hear… Continue reading Growing purple sprouting broccoli – early Jan
I love building collections. When I first got the gardening bug my passion was fuchsias. I just loved the way their buds swelled to the perfect plumpness, and then burst open to reveal a frilly mass of petals that hung like cancan girls. The problem with these fuchsias is that they were not particularly frost-hardy, but… Continue reading Lifting and storing dahlias for the winter: end of November
Parsnips are one of the vegetables which I approached growing this year with particular vim and vigour. Last season they completely failed, mainly due to the seeds’ tendency to be utterly pathetic. If conditions are not absolutely perfect for the full three weeks needed to coax them into activity, then they just think sod it,… Continue reading The secret to growing an enormous parsnip – mid November
I love a warm autumn, but what it does mean is that summer plants linger on. I used to have a neighbour who would whip out flowers in full bloom in order to get his winter pansies in, and it always seemed criminal. But that isn’t me. I can’t bear to pull anything out before… Continue reading The first frost brings the first sprouts – early November
As exciting as planting all the seedlings is in the spring, so is yanking out all the dying plants at the end of the season. Little else is as satisfying. However, I say this as someone who did not do a great deal of yanking last year, instead the weeds and old plants were allowed… Continue reading The annual run on the manure pile has begun
The panacea of achieving self-sufficiency is figuring out how to get enough vegetables into the diet during the winter months. Critical to this is understanding when particular vegetables are ‘in season’. This is a particular bugbear of mine, and part of the drive towards becoming more self-sufficient. I am trying, whenever possible, to stick to… Continue reading Learning when the cauliflower is in season – end of September
This isn't my first blog. Back in 2014 I started a blog about gardening because I wanted to become a horticultural journalist. Bearing in mind I had neither a garden of my own, or any experience or qualification to write, this was some ambition. But for two years I ploughed away at it, grafting away… Continue reading A little bit of the past
A year on the plot 