It is nearly the end of my allotment year. I rarely
overwinter crops as my plot is generally inaccessible during the winter as the
bottom road floods and there is no point doing any digging as it is just slop. I
try to do lots of maintenance over autumn/winter – digging out drainage ditches
before it gets too wet (can’t do them in the summer as the ground is baked
solid!), planting fresh bulbs, sowing wildflower seeds, removing the bamboo
canes and pea netting, and pruning trees. I have been spending some time this
past week doing my bed prep for the end of the year.
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| Plot 31. |
My little plot is on a downward slope to a brook. Every winter,
it floods. Sitting on top of Birmingham Clay doesn’t help either! Every year I start
my bed prep early; turning them over, weeding, breaking up clods, adding more
compost / sand / gravel (sand & gravel are to help the drainage in a very
claggy clay heavy soil). I then cover the bed over with tarps, leaving them
until spring.
This helps me in lots of ways. It makes the plot look tidy
and looked after; it significantly reduces the amount of vegetation growth I need
to deal with in the spring to get a bed ready for planting; it offers somewhere
for frogs and toads to hibernate – and by encouraging them I hope they enjoy
what I have to offer them (an endless supply of slugs). It also allows me to
try new things with the beds. This year, one of them has been turned, weeded,
dug over, raked, and then has had a layer of corrugated cardboard put down, and
then the tarp put over that. Hopefully the cardboard will break down but it
will also suppress any vegetation growth. Three of the other beds have been
turned, dug over, and covered – I have purposely left the plant material to rot
down and fertilise the bed over winter.
Digging and turning the beds now also helps me to plan into
the new year. What can be left, what do I need to do next, which beds are the priority.
It helps to clear my mind and to work through my anxiety issues. Turning and
weeding is very methodical and peaceful, it is a good few hours work and the
difference is incredible. I feel very productive and like I know what I’m
doing, and the result is a tidy plot which keeps the site manager happy.
So far this year I have done six beds. I have another three
to do but I have run out of both tarps and bricks! One of the beds still has a
crop in (sprouts, yummy!), and the other has garlic so it won’t be covered. I also
don’t dig and turn my herb patch, though that will be getting an overhaul this
winter and will also be the subject of a future blog post.
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| This years fallow bed; overgrown couch grass chaos! |
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| Same bed, now dug over and covered for the winter. |
I have a lot of couch grass and creeping buttercup on my
plot; both can be a nightmare and my compost bins are full so I try to manage
how many beds I prep as I also need to dispose of the plant matter. Previously when
I have turfed the area to initially make the beds, I turned the turf over and
piled it under the plum tree. Three years later and I am now digging out some
lush compost made from the rotten grass clods, but this is now running low…
Next on my to-do list is turning the actual compost bins and seeing what is
usable, as I will need to use it in the new year to build up the ground level.
I have been trying over the years to build raised beds
purely so that my crops and the ground level are higher than the water table. It
is taking a lot of time / money / effort / compost so I am doing it one bed at
a time. I’m also incorporating different things into the soil (see above; sand
& gravel mainly) to help build up ground level.
So next on my allotment list are: do the herb patch, and
sort out the compost bins. Watch this space!
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| Froggo |
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| Shield Bug |
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| Momma Pat has taken on a new allotment plot on the same site, and this is painted on the shed door. I like it. I want to copy it. |
