The Plot Thickens !

We were offered, and have accepted, an additional 3 metres on the end of our existing plot. This has been rotovated, but we have no intentions of digging it over this season.

A row of Swede 'Virtue' has been sown, which will help suppress weeds and the crop can stand in the ground throughout the Winter.

Our Dahlias have been planted out in the 'extension' to provide us with cut flowers from late-Summer onwards. Alongside these we have sown a row of Sunflowers and a row of Helichrysum.

The remaining land was raked over and Red Clover seeds sown to provide a green manure which will be dug-in in Autumn prior to our preparing the fruit bush beds.

Some Savoy Cabbage 'Winter King' plants had been left out for anyone who wanted them and we decided to plant a row of these at the end of the plot where the Red Clover had been sown.

Red Cabbage

Some more of the plot has been dug over, couch grass removed and lime applied in readiness for planting. The soil has been firmed down, but may still prove a bit too 'loose' for the brassicase we intend to plant, but we will see what happens !

Two rows of 'Red Drumhead' have been planted and each plant has had a collar applied to, hopefully, prevent Cabbage Root Fly infestation. The collars were cut from plastic dpc into 4" squares and two collars were applied to each plant to ensure that no gaps were left for the little critters to crawl down.

The Patch at Compton

Welcome to The Patch !

This blog chronicles the establishment and development of our allotment plot at Compton, Surrey.

Heather & I took possession of the plot in April this year and have been gradually digging it over to remove couch grass and other nasties.

We have already managed to plant a good selection of vegetables and I will be posting updates to provide some detail of how they have fared.

The first to be planted was two rows of Onion sets : 'Stuttgart Giant' and 'Red Baron' and these have taken very nicely.

We then sowed a row of Peas, using some of the old seeds from previous years... half a row of 'Onward' and half a row of 'Early Onward'. These have not been sowed in succession as we intend to freeze them as soon as they are ready.

Next was half a double row of Broad Beans and we have tried the 'Masterpiece Imperial Longpod' variety this year. Beetroot 'Cylindra' was sown at the other end of this double row.

Spuds next ! There was a minor disaster with the seeds as they were blown over whilst chitting and became all mixed-up. I sorted them back into some semblance of order based upon their visual appearance, but it should prove an interesting crop ! There are two rows of the maincrop 'Sante', not quite two full rows of 'Cara' and almost a full row of the salad Potato 'Charlotte'. Ten tubers of the first-early 'Orla' have been planted at the end of the two short rows.

We debated whether or not it was too late to sow Parsnip, but I read somewhere that it should not be a problem sowing in May because it provides a better chance of germination... although the roots may not be exhibition size. Two rows of 'Cobham Improved Marrow' have been sown and we will make another decision should no germination occur.

Another half row of Beetroot was planned and we sowed half a row of the 'Bulls Blood' variety. However, we have only just realised that this is actually Leaf Beet and so an additional half row of 'Cylindra' was added.

By now our couch grass root removal technique had become refined and I was actually sieving the soil back into the dug beds. This light soil seems perfect for Carrots and we used up most of our old seed stock in three half rows : 'Autumn King', 'Maestro' and 'Royal Chantenay 2'. We then sowed half a row of the Fennel 'Monte Bianco'.

There was a significant gap between the Potatoes and the Broad Beans, so we decided to fill this space with the Borlotti Beans 'Lingua di Fuoca' plants that Heather had been raising. A frame was constructed using hazel poles and twine and the seedlings were planted out. Some of the seedlings looked a bit wilted in the hot sun and did not really recover after being watered in... so some more healthy plants were added alonside the wilted ones and these will be thinned out when we see which ones survive.

I now have to prepare the final beds for the brassicas. Our little plot will then be full.