And the winner is … (allotment competitions)

We had twelve entrants for the sunflower competition, although when we visited some of the plots, no sunflowers were to be seen! All the entrants had to be children, which ruled out some overly competitive types (Himself for a start!) who were ineligible through age!

Our tallest sunflower was grown by Hannah, and it was 9’ 9” tall – see how staunchly Imperial we still are? The sunflower with the biggest face was grown by Brendan, and it was a whopping 18” exactly across.

The onion competition had fewer entrants, which was a little disappointing, especially as the first prize was substantial (£50!) However, all the entries were very good in terms of weight, shape and condition, so we decided to give marks for three criteria: weight, size and appearance. Our winner was grown by an adult, who just pipped a twelve-year old onion-grower to the top spot by one point! We were encouraged that the second-place onion was not only grown by a younger horticulturalist, but was grown organically.

So that’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is that having spent a lot of Bank Holiday Monday on 201, I stopped and looked back just before we left and it was as if we hadn’t been there. The only change I could see was the raised bed that I cleared out of bolting pak choi and lettuce to sow some mooli (probably too late but fingers are crossed) and the weed heap being taller than when we arrived. We have a serious weed problem, believe me! But the parsnips are looking good …

Labels: allotment-competitions, allotment-onions, allotment-parsnips, allotment-sunflowers, organic-allotment

Allotment Open Days

Helen tells me that Brighton and Hove Organic Garden Group’s allotment open day was a tremendous success with over two hundred people turning up! They were very happy that many of those visitors were younger ones, who took part in a Bug Hunt with Dave Bangs and who were able to use the recently planted "wigloo" – see picture - as shelter from the sun. They raised around £270.00 from sales of plants, tea and cakes and bric a brac, which will be donated to Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project.

I asked her why they’d had an open day and she replied that the allotment project was set up about two years ago to provide the group with a space to meet, work together and demonstrate organic methods of cultivation. The open day allowed them to invite the wider community to see what they’ve been doing and for the allotment volunteers to put their feet up and enjoy the space with their friends and family. BHOGG was set up about six years ago to promote organic gardening and provide a support network for local growers. Monthly meetings and a quarterly newsletter provide spaces for people to share ideas and information. There’s also a gardening advice "hotline" for members and email for enquiries (details below). The group tries to offer a wide range of activities and to make them accessible to as many people as possible. This is important to try and demystify organic gardening which is really just gardening with nature in mind. An organic gardener strives to look after all the creatures that inhabit their gardens and allotments to deliver a harmonious balance. A major focus is the soil - because a healthy soil will produce healthy plants better equipped to fend off predators or disease - so no chemical fertilisers or weedkillers are allowed as these deplete the soil.

There is plenty of information available for would be organic gardeners today. The Garden Organic website is a good place to start www.gardenorganic.org.uk or go to the local library and find a good organic gardening book.


More about BHOGG: To join BHOGG please go to the website at www.bhogg.org where you can download a joining form. For the gardening advice or enquiries email bhoggroup@yahoo.co.uk

Labels: allotment-holder-interview, allotment-open-day, allotment-tips, organic-allotment

Allotment-holders up close

This is the Chair of my local Allotment Association – Andrew Faulkner. He says all he has to do as Chair is head up the AGM and sign the minutes, but I suspect his wry, convivial nature makes him an ideal figurehead for a bunch of highly individual and dedicated allotmenteers. He’s been an allotment holder since 1983, when he didn’t have a garden so thought he’d get an allotment … his mother became interested and helped him work that plot until she was eighty-four!

Since 2006 he’s been sharing a new allotment with Dick, whom I haven’t met yet, because he’s been on holiday, and who spent around 200 to 300 hours rebuilding the greenhouse on the new allotment. It’s a masterpiece of ingenuity – it has a rainwater irrigation system that funnels off the roof to fill both the water butt and the pond, which contains a newt and has been thronged with damselflies every day I’ve visited. Andrew has a surprise for me, and for his co-allotment holder, he’s installed a pretty little waterlily in the pond. He’s faintly apprehensive about it (Dick says waterlilies are invasive) which is why he waited until he was on holiday – and he’s bought a peace offering too, a new bird-feeder for the allotment, which he hopes will offset any waterlily-related problems!

Waterlilies apart, the two men get on brilliantly, although they are only on the allotment together for about an hour every day, and the allotment shows it – there are melons and globe artichokes, a tiny wildlife meadow, salad vegetables, fruit trees, onions, the famous tobacco which Andrew is growing for his pipe and maybe some cigars and a beautifully comfortable and well-insulated shed where we drank squash while I interviewed him.

It’s not all fun though; in the 1987 hurricane his allotment greenhouse blew away, and its replacement was taken by a storm in 1989 and last year, he had a terrible attack of sawfly on his gooseberries – because there’s no natural predator for them, he had to go and squash each one by hand! Andrew’s been a pioneer of organic gardening, switching from pesticides in 1987 because he became persuaded that there was a logical balance in nature that provided a predator for every pest (except the sawfly!)

What advice would he give somebody wanting to take on an allotment? “Don’t accept a corner plot, garden organically, provide plants used by small mammals and invertebrates so that you’re doing your bit for nature.”

Labels: allotment-holder-interview, allotment-personality, organic-allotment, sawfly