Expanding horizons

This is the view of the patch of land outside the allotment that has been a bit of a flytipping and dog toilet over the past few years. The O2 funding we've received is to turn this spot into a wildlife corridor and extra planting area (I'm hoping to get the mother and toddler group to take on a few little square foot gardening beds on here as well). We need to get moving though, as the work really needs to be completed within a month.

Alan, Peter and I planned out the line of the native hedging along the perimeter of the track using some of the soil conditioner, as the soil is more gravel than anything else at the edges and needs all the help it can get.

We also sowed a few seeds in the polytunnel (aubergine, peppers), which has taken a bit of a bashing lately with the strong winds and is looking a little worse for wear.

There's now four patches on the plastic, a snapped pole, and one side has lifted a little alarmingly. This is despite anchor plates securing it a fair way down, but the weakness has always been the close proximity to the fence, which meant we couldn't bury the plastic as well as the other side. Hindsight is a wonderful thing; my advice to anyone planning a polytunnel is to make sure your site has plenty of access on either side to avoid this problem!

Rain doesn't stop play

A wet Sunday afternoon and following a rubbish map round in circles wasn't the most auspicious start to our visit to Hulme Community Garden in Manchester, but once we finally found it, I was glad we made the effort.

It was lovely to see members of the local community waiting outside in the rain for the gates to open so they could get the first pick of the potatoes (it was a Potato Day, where you can come along and get your seed potatoes for the season).


I was glad to see that there's not much growing in their polytunnel yet at this time of year either, although it was probably because most of the plants were out on sale.


It's much more a garden centre and wildlife area than an allotment, which is obviously a different emphasis from the Hop Garden, but it was great to get some different ideas and to be encouraged by the fact that it was so popular with visitors.We even timed our visit perfectly to see dozens of spawning frogs in the wildlife pond, an annual event which only lasts a week.


Lovely mellow woodland area.


I'm planning to have a (smelly) comfrey liquid barrel like this above, and also a nettle tea one. Now, where can I get hold of a toilet or two?!


Selling small herbs has always been a plan too, and we've already started bringing on some cuttings from last year's plants.

Hulme is a great garden, with very friendly people running it and a really nice welcoming atmosphere. Great idea to have some homemade soup and porridge on sale!

It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the area (but please don't try and follow their online map - just look up the address in an A-Z or similar otherwise you'll get lost too. I was with two 'locals' who knew the area and they were as flummoxed as me...) If you're not anywhere near, have a virtual look at "Hulme Garden Centre"

An apple a day

Another beautiful cold, crisp North East day today, which was perfect for planting the last of the fruit trees - a Stella cherry - in the new community orchard just outside the allotment.

So now the orchard is all planted, in a few years time we'll hopefully be looking at providing not only an apple a day, but plums, damsons, pears and cherries too.

This site is already looking much better, thanks to a good clear of all the plastic, general rubbish and bricks (which has been a joint effort between me and members of the Boy's Club) and a thorough mulch.

Hopefully, we'll soon get the go-ahead to run the willow fence making workshop, which will make the trees a little more secure, as they're a little exposed at the moment.

There are plenty of good books on how to plant bare-rooted trees, but the basic principle is to dig a large, but not too deep, hole to start with (normally a metre square is fine) and loosen the earth. This allows the roots to branch out without too much trouble.

Then dig a deeper hole within the centre of the larger hole, wide enough to take the roots of your tree and deep enough to allow the tree to be planted at the same level as it was in the nursery (you can tell by the change in colour on the trunk).

Before placing the tree in the hole, put in a few large handfuls of well-rotted compost or manure on the bottom, a sprinkling of blood, fish and bone. Hold the tree firmly upright as the earth is placed back in and gently shake it at intervals to ensure you don't get gaps between the roots (it helps to have another pair of hands at this point!)

After putting all the earth back in, gently firm down the soil around the trunk with your foot, water, and mulch.

I didn't mean to do much on the allotment today, but I still spent a few hours there. I tided up the strawberries on the edge of the asparagus bed, which had gone a bit mad with their runners everywhere, and managed to gather enough healthy small plants to fill the spaces in the strawberry barrel in the polytunnel. The Jerusalem artichoke bed also got a good mulch, as did the strawberries.

Springing into action

Today has been a good day. I wouldn't go so far to say that Spring has arrived, as anyone living 'up north' will know we're not due that for at least a few months yet, but things are beginning to grow - both in the garden and in terms of stronger ties being forged within the community.

I was overwhelmed by the help and support received today: it was a real morale booster. Peter returned after the winter break and got stuck into shifting the compost pile and sowing brassicas as if he'd never been away.

Alan turned up for a chat and, after being fed with homemade blueberry and white chocolate muffins and a coffee, came out with the wonderful words "I've not got to be anywhere for an hour, what do you want doing?" I'll have to resort to bribing fellow allotment holders with treats more often ;)

He went on to make me look like a real wimp by digging holes for two trees in a fraction of the time it has been taking me (I said it was a meditative task, that's why it took me so long, but I don't think he fell for that one) and then shifted a load more compost and cleared out the sagging high raised bed, transferring all the soil onto one of the other beds. I think it was a more than a muffin and a coffee's worth.

Paul also dropped by to say hello, and three dog walkers stopped for a chat as we worked on the new community orchard. The people living in the nearby bungalows were really pleased to see this patch being cleared up and planted up and can't wait to get some damsons for jam.

So, two more fruit trees in (a plum and an apple) and just three more to go: one pear, a cherry and a hazel. The Boy's Club planted one apple tree yesterday after school, which took 45 minutes as their staying power with a spade is a lot less than Alan's. Also, cries of "worm" were followed by a grand charade of either rescuing them from out of harm's way, or feeding them to the chickens, depending on who spotted them first. This happened every few minutes, so it was little wonder progress was slow, but they were happy and are already looking forward to a few years time when they can come back and pick fruit from the apple tree they planted.

Rob, who lives locally and makes iron gates, came by later this afternoon to talk about a new gate for the garden. At the moment, every time the wind blows hard (as it's wont to do up here) the wooden ones seem to come off their hinges. It would also be nice for people to be able to see what's going on in the garden even when it's not open, so hopefully he can come up with a price that's not too frightening.

We also got some bulbs donated today and both Alan (from the top garden) and Jimmy dropped in as well - I think word had spread about the muffins....

Kite flying

Recently one of the red kites has been back over the garden, but today three were soaring over the allotments and the nearby field early this morning, which was a real treat. These magnificent birds have recently been re-introduced to the North East and one of their favourite hang-outs is nearby Barlow (this photograph is courtesy of the Northern Kites Project as I'm yet to get a decent shot!) To find out more about the kites, visit "Northern Kites Project"

Just me on the garden today and although it was dry, it was quite breezy, which made it feel pretty cold. I've weeded one of the high beds and taken out some of the soil, so we can try to repair the underneath as it's sagging again quite dramatically due to the sheer weight of the wet soil.

I've also tried to tidy up the garden a little, especially the side of the shed, as everything has been blown around due to the recent strong winds.

While slightly overwhelmed at the huge task ahead of me in terms of clearing and planting the land outside the allotment, I saw a lovely clump of snowdrops that had come up on part of the area we've already dug over. That tiny glimmer of hope for Spring gave me a bit of a much-needed boost.

Animal or artichoke?

At some point everyone has discovered a comical vegetable, but it took me a while to recognise there was a creature crying to get out of this Jerusalem artichoke. I've still not quite decided what it is - a few ideas are a pig (has the face for it but the tail's all wrong) or a big cat (with a pig's face). So maybe it's a new species altogether :)

I promise I won't post every odd shaped vegetable we get on this site, but I thought this one was worth sharing. Also, many people haven't actually seen a Jerusalem artichoke before, so there's two good reasons to put a photograph up on the blog.

Jerusalem artichokes are great plants and well worth growing if you haven't tried them before: they break up the soil even better than potatoes; grow into a fantastic wind-break with beautiful sunflowers on the top; and taste superb either simply roasted, mashed or in a soup with a bit of bacon. In fact, I think I might have some now for my (late) lunch!

Blown in on a blizzard

I didn't think I get that much done today to be honest, as the weather forecast was for high winds and snow which, as a rule, doesn't make for the most pleasant allotment conditions.

However, I managed to get one wheelbarrow-load of soil conditioner up to the site of the new mini-orchard, which the Boy's Club began preparing yesterday afternoon (despite the bitter winds) before it really started to snow properly.

I also sowed a few more sweet peas in the polytunnel, which is still standing despite swaying and lifting rather alarmingly, but has a gash in the side due to a support bar shifting free in the high winds and scraping down the side panel. Hopefully, a bit of UV-stable repair tape will do the trick and stop it from getting any worse.

Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one out in the wintry weather as Paul stopped by for a cup of tea and to tell me about his new job. I'm really pleased for him as he really deserves the break, but also really sorry to see him go as he's been a real asset to the garden over the past few months.

Alan also emerged from the blizzard to say hello and the photo above shows the view we had for the majority of our time in the allotment, chatting over a cup of tea in the relative comfort of the shed. I've got plans for making the shed a bit more welcoming - a seat in the corner and a lick of paint would make the world of difference.