Gardening Blog
Allotment Diary
January 13, 2009: do your bit
There's no exuse not to grow some of your own food this year, says Terry Walton
The cold snap is at an end! After nearly a month of very cold Artic air the temperature is on the rise. It has worked wonders in the garden and has given our ground a real freezing. This frost has penetrated several inches and the surface has bubbled up giving the soil a fine tilth. The plants have not suffered, they are hardier than we give them credit for, and this period of rest is just what they need. The previous winters have confused them and many permanent plants and bushes have rarely taken a rest from the growing cycle. This has changed this year and I am sure they will reward us generously when the spring warmth brings forth the new flush of growth.
No rain for weeks - What a treat! Does anyone remember, before today, the last wet day?
The other piece of evidence that things are on the change is that we are slowly, but surely, turning our lights on a little later each evening. But now the sun has been lost behind the clouds I am unable to see at what hour it appears over our hillside to greet another day.
The cold weather has delayed my start to the early sowings in the greenhouse. With the very low night-time temperatures - and the day time not getting much warmer - there was no point in turning the heat on in the greenhouse. Glass is not the best insulator and I am doing my bit to prevent global warming.
However some seed need to be sown to give them the long growing season they need. My onion seed have been put in my airing cupboard to give them a start and my landing windowsill houses trays of early lettuce and cabbage. My wife is as always alarmed at my takeover of parts of the house as a giant propagator but, with temperatures on the rise, I will now move them back to the warmth of my greenhouse. But she knows some will be back soon in the airing cupboard when it is time to sow my tomatoes and cucumbers. Oh, the patience of a gardener's wife.
We may not know what Mother Nature has in store for us this spring and summer but one thing that looks likely for this year is that food prices are going to be high. This is the time for all gardeners - and those who are not - to do something about it.
Everyone who has an allotment can capitalise on these rising prices and help supplement the budget. This is the time to use the ground very productively and cram those crops in. In between slow-maturing crops, fill those spaces with a sowing of catch crops. Between those Brussel sprouts plant some quick-maturing salad crops. These will be in and out of the soil before the sprouts realise it. If you are growing sweetcorn let a few climbing French beans use them as canes. Two feeds for the price of one. Go on, surprise yourself with your ingenuity.
For those of you who normally only have pristine flower borders, make them useful by planting some vegetables among these flowers. A few carrots, a few beetroot and those pretty leaves of cut-and-come-again lettuces will not detract from the beauty of your borders and you will benefit from a few tasty morsels on the plate.
Those of you who have large green areas of pristine lawn, now is the time to sacrifice a few metres of it and made a raised bed. Clear a small area and using simple interlocking, plastic boards you have the making of a small vegetable patch.
Now down to those who say they have no garden at all. Well any space will do, and don’t be shy of filling a few pots with compost and growing a few of your favourite vegetables.
There is no excuse for anyone not to have a few home-grown crops to savour this summer and join the gardening revolution. Who knows, you may get the bug and expand your growing enterprise and before too long be on the road to self sufficiency.
More from Terry Walton
My Life On A Hillside Allotment
Terry Walton is a regular contributor to The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 and has written a book called, My Life on a Hillside Allotment, published by Bantam Press. The book is available from Amazon
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Reader comments
having gone from smallholding to garden,not much room for veg ect.. old wheelbarrow with holes in,great for lettice three kinds,plastic crates filled with composet for beetroots,carrots, onionssaw me through winter 2008-09. i still have a few onions. i have now built a raised bed, but will it be big enough??? best wishes and ggod luck from B.xx
Posted by: b.horsley | 09/02/2009 13:27:31
