Introducing 42a

42a - Our 1/2 allotment

It's been a lovely morning here in York so I decided to get up early and make a start on 42a (our allotment). We must have done a pretty good job of putting it to bed in November because there wasn't actually that much to do. With working full time its difficult to get any time at the allotment with the short days and poor winter weather so while it is possible to have a productive allotment 12 months of the year, we tend to leave it to nature over winter with only an occasional visit.

All the beds and the fruit cage needed weeding out, but the structure of the soil meant the generally the weeds are easy to pull out. Even the deep rooted perennials like dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) came out with relative ease and I only need to get the fork out a couple of times. This is the first year I haven't dug the allotment over prior to planting which makes getting it ready much easier.

There are loads of advantages to no dig gardening and if you want to find out more about this look up 'Charles Dowding'.

We still have lots to do before we get to planting with the main job for this spring being replacement to the fruit cage which has a lean similar to that of the Tower of Pisa. I also want to add some more organic matter in the form of well rotted horse manure to a couple of the beds that we didn't get round to doing last year.

Something you may spot in the photo above is the edging of the beds with wood. One of the beds has had the edging removed and a couple are missing bits. I don't see the point in the edging, and can't understand why people do it. If the beds were raised beds it would make sense, but on beds at ground level it's just another thing to maintain.

We have some beetroot (Beta vulgaris) and Artichoke (Cynara scolymus) that have over wintered so it'll be interesting to see how they turn out later in the year.

I'll be strimming the grass next visit and maybe giving the compost heap a turn too to encourage rapid decomposition and introduce air into the heap too.

Thats it from the allotment so far, but be sure to check back and see how it progresses over the coming year.

Cheers

Ed