Allotment Gardening: An Organic Guide for Beginners [Paperback]

Allotment Gardening is a practical guide to growing your own fruit and vegetables organically. Aimed at those who have not had an allotment before, or are new to growing their own, it is packed with adviceETH"N-from choosing and planning your allotment through to harvesting and storing your produce. In Part One, Susan Berger discusses the basics, from tools, planning and clearing the site, to soil, crop rotation, planting and protecting plants. She also looks at design, growing techniquesETH"N-from feeding and mulching to saving seed and supporting plantsETH"N-and how to prevent and cope with common problems. A gardenerETH" s calendar, with detailed activities for each month, completes the section. Part Two gives detailed instructions on the cultivation of individual fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs, along with recommendations for particular varieties, chosen for their flavour. Ideas for companion planting, and tips on storage and use of herbs are also included. Each fruit and vegetable entry features an easy recipe to help you make the most of your fresh produce: simple soups from pea to pumpkin, unusual ways of serving vegetables, from Frizzled Brussel Sprouts to Roasted Beetroot with Thyme; more exotic dishes, from SautETH"aC--ed Kohl Rabi to an earthy Ribollita; and easy recipes for puddings and jams. Illustrated with line drawings and over 30 full colour photographs, Allotment Gardening also includes a directory of organic seed suppliers and useful organizations.

Aimed at those who have not had an allotment before, Allotment Gardening is packed with advice: from choosing and planning your allotment through to harvesting and storing your produce. Part One covers: tools; planning and clearing the site; soil, crop rotation; planting and protecting plants; design; growing techniques; common problems; gardener’s calendar. Part Two includes and A-Z of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers; companion planting; storage tips; directory of organic seed suppliers; useful organizations. Each fruit and vegetable entry features easy recipes, such as Pumpkin Soup, Frizzled Brussel Sprouts, Roasted Beetroot with Thyme, Sauteed Kohlrabi, Ribollita, Blackcurrant Sorbet and Rhubarb Jam.

Susan Berger trained at the English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden. She runs a successful garden design company, and her garden has been featured in The Sunday Times, Gardens Illustrated and Marie Claire Maison.

IMPROVING THE SOIL
Early autumn and early spring are good times to start improving the ground. If your allotment has been recently cultivated, then wait until spring, when the earth is beginning to warm up and the texture of the soil is easier to work. If your allotment has not been worked recently, an autumn start is best to spread the workload. Avoid digging in the depths of winter, as the soil will stick to your boots and spade, taking out valuable nutrients.
You’ve identified your soil type, and now you may need to improve its structure. All soils are made up of humus and organic matter, and the level of both needs to be maintained for plants to grow properly. Nature’s way of improving the soil is simple. Leaves (organic matter) fall on the ground; worms pull them through the surface, where micro-organisms aid their decomposition, turning them into rich humus. It is from this humus that the essential plant nutrients—phosphate, potash and nitrogen—are released. Phosphates are needed for healthy root formation, and potash affects the size and quality of fruit and flowers. Nitrogen is the most important nutrient of all and is responsible for improving leaves and stems. In effect you need to recreate nature’s pattern by putting back into the ground large quantities of organic matter. This means you will need to dig in garden compost, farmyard manure, mushroom compost, leaf mould, seaweed or green manures. Generally there is no need to dig deeper than one spade depth—a ‘spit deep’, as it is called. However, enriching really poor soil and improving the drainage on heavy soils will require double digging two spits deep.

GARDEN COMPOST
Composting organic matter helps reduce the amount of rubbish in your dustbin, reduces methane on landfill sites and is a totally free soil improver. Once you start, you can become addicted to making compost and obsessed with saving every last scrap of organic matter imaginable for the compost bin. Keep an ice-cream container or the like under the sink for daily waste and when full, tip this into a bucket near the back door. When the bucket is full, take it to the compost bin.
You don’t have to purchase a ready-made compost bin; you can simply pile the waste in a corner, and cover it with an old tarpaulin until it has decomposed. This is known as anaerobic composting, but it has some drawbacks. It will take longer to produce good compost because of a lack of oxygen, and since it doesn’t get very hot, perennial weed seeds and bacteria will not be destroyed.

COMPOST BINS
Plastic conical bins with a lid are the easiest to use. You’ll find them for sale in DIY stores or garden centres, but call your local authority first, as some councils supply them at reduced cost. Other models are available, but check they allow easy access to the rotted compost. Some have a tiny opening at the base that is too narrow to fit a spade in.
Slatted wood designs are simple to assemble, and the removable front makes it easy to dig out the compost. If you have time to make your own bins, aim for a pair side by side; this makes it easier to remove the top layer of uncomposted material into the adjacent bin so that you can get at the compost underneath. Each bin must be at least 90–120 cm high and the same width. Cover with a piece of tarpaulin, carpet, or heavy-duty plastic cut to size. It’s important to place the containers on bare earth. Fork this over to encourage worms to get in and speed up the decomposing process. Keep the bins covered to keep the temperature up and to prevent rain from flooding valuable nutrients out.
It’s difficult to predict how long it will take to form good compost, but with the right conditions you can achieve it within a few weeks; otherwise it can take between six to twelve months. Materials, weather, moisture content and warmth will all affect the speed of decomposition so be patient—eventually you will get results.