Growing Up....
Nature's Way...

Over the three years we have been running our allotment, we have had to learn a lot of stuff.

Previously to having our own plot, we helped JB (bottom of the plot) before which we didn’t know how to sow, pot on, plant out etc. Who knew that sprouts grew on sticks and that broccoli is called calabrese?
The first year we had the lottie was spent in getting it shipshape. We were lucky that we had inherited raspberries, strawberries, black and redcurrants from Fred, the previous allotmenteer however, apart from that, we had an awful lot of work to do. We had to dig over the rest of the plot, lay paths, remove a lot of rubbish, and, most importantly, put up the shed which didn’t leave a lot of time for planting. So, what we did, not knowing what to grow or how to grow it or what the various plants needed, was to sow the seeds of what we liked and see what happened. As it was, we were quite lucky as the weather wasn’t too bad and we did get some good results, especially from the raspberries which didn’t require us to do anything for them and the sweet corn and cos lettuces.
We bought all the gardening magazines which were very good at telling us to plant everything early so as to get a head start. However, in practice, this doesn’t work as it fails to take into account the varying temperatures of the different parts of the country assuming that we all live in Devon or Cornwall where it gets warmer much more quickly.
Last year, having learnt a little more, we became more ambitious. We constructed a cold frame for our seedlings which worked out well until a gust of wind took off the glass top and smashed it, together with a frame for the sweet peas, which didn’t work at all. We sowed a large number of cos lettuces which all came up together therefore we couldn’t use them all before they went to seed and we also lost all our tomatoes due to the unusually damp summer.
One thing for sure is, that growing your own veg is not a cheap way of providing food for the table. Sure, you can just have the basics, fork, spade, hoe, rake and watering can, however, need and want are two very different things and it is not long before you discover that you need a shed, and netting, canes, plant labels not to mention plenty of seeds to grow, compost, propagator, seed trays, the list is endless.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and this, our third year, we thought we had got it nailed. We drew up a plan of what we wanted to plant, and where. We have put up wigwams for the beans, peas and sweet peas, sowed the carrots in stone free compost, erected trellis to support our tomatoes and hold back the raspberries and constructed a series of poles for hanging baskets for basil and strawberries to keep the slugs off them.
So far, the beans haven’t come up, some birds must have stolen the peas, because we haven’t got them, and there is not a sign of a carrot in our box of compost. We have lost three lots of peas and have now sown our fourth, steamed the red cabbage and broccoli seedlings in a too hot greenhouse, covered our salad squares with fleece and found that the soil underneath had turned green, and had to re sow our mini pumpkins and our Hunter squash.
We have now given up reading about how to, and decided to follow Nature... and sow and plant much later, i.e. May onwards. In spite of all our trials and tribulations, we wouldn’t have it any other way as we have discovered that you will never learn anything without failing first and despite it all, when your crops do mature, it has all been worth it as nothing tastes quite as good as produce you have grown yourself.