I have watched several videos by this bloke – his allotment has really shot up nio the last week with nettles growing like mad! Whilst it might be discouraging for some to see – it does make me think how fertile the soil is!
His polytunnel is steamy hot too! He’s tried Soil Solarization with clear plastic – I think black plastic would have heated the soil up well and excluded the light!

ARSONISTS went on a wrecking spree – torching 10 allotment plots on two different sites just minutes apart.

Ten sheds were set alight on two different sites in crimes branded by the victims as “sickening”.
Two crews from Stranton Fire Station were called to allotments at Haswell Avenue, where six sheds and a greenhouse were completely destroyed in a blaze, around 1am yesterday.

Just 40 minutes later, a report was received that three sheds and a caravan at the nearby Brierton Lane allotments was also well alight

£600,000 set aside for hundreds of new allotment plots in Cheltenham


There are hundreds of people on waiting lists who want the opportunity to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
And the £600,000 is the estimated cost of providing 290 new plots to meet demand.

Well done Cheltenham!

Once you grow plants you can start to save seeds so you can grow them again next year.

Here’s a great article about saving seeds from RealSeeds

Many of us will have had vegetable plants go to seed – For the person who wants to eat the plant it’s a disaster when a plant puts its energy into making seed but for the plant it’s how it’ll survive into the future.

There are things to bear in mind – if you grow lots of types of the same plant then you will get cross pollination which means the seed you save won’t be true. Always save dry, ripe seed.

There’s also this great book you can buy – Back Garden Seed Saving: Keeping Our Vegetable Heritage Alive

The book covers saving seeds from: beetroot, spinach, beet, chard, broad bean, carrot, celery, celeriac, cucumber, french bean, leafy brassicas, leek, melon, lettuce, onion, parsnip, pea, pepper, chilli, radish, runner bean, spinach, squash (marrows, pumpinks and courgettes), tomato, turnip and swede.

Each vegetable has a small section on how to grow them and then focuses on selection and saving and drying seeds.

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I’ve read about people spotting water butts on offer at shops for only £20 … That’s horrible expensive still – there are cheap alternatives out there if you spend some time looking.
If you ever go past anywhere that has IBC containers piled up then stop and ask them if they have any suitable for water for your garden.

These are on our allotment – we’ve had taps put on now – so we can fill a watering can easily. They cost £20 each. The fittings cost a little more and the base was free with salvaged materials. An IBC holds 1000L of water.

You can sometimes get IBC containers free – but check they’ve had nothing nasty in!

Potato Day at Hulme Garden Centre – we went and bought some potatoes

A few of us from our allotment went to Potato Day at the Hulme Garden centre.

There was an excellent display of spuds and a potato expert!

I bought Sarpo – a good all round potato which should be resistant to blight and slugs.
Paru –
and casablanca.

Probably the only roundup you want near your plot!

Gosport Borough Council has revealed that nearly 600 people are currently waiting to be allocated plots on allotment sites in Gosport.

As of January 2013, a total of 586 people were waiting for a patch on one of the area’s ten allotment sites, which host a total of 1,044 plots.

‘Someone knows what he is doing’ – chair of Alma Road allotments Bill Chapman reports spread in allotment arson
eight fires were started in plots in Green Street in Enfield Highway over Christmas

An allotment shed burnt down – believed to be because of a discarded barbeque. The fire was at Whitehawk Road

Looking at the map I wonder if they mean the one on whitehawk HIlls Road


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Ascend allotment in South Oxhey gets water supply

Water flowed for the first time in a South Oxhey allotments on Thursday (January 31) thanks to the efforts of volunteers.

The Dig Deep project – a partnership between Three Rivers District Council, Ascend and Farming for All – saw a new mains supply connected to allotments off Kilmarnock Road.