A PLEASANT MID JUNE DAY AT THE ALLOTMENT

The council kindly left a big pile of mulch by the entrance to the allotment so I thought now would be a good time to spread some over the paths that have been looking a little overgrown of late.

Every allotment should have a friendly robin to keep you company. Mine is very used to the activity at the allotment and always pops up after I´ve been doing a bit of digging or tidying up, and seems rather keen on the compost bin (see pic).

I also tidied up the roofing felt on the shed and sourced a new door lock as there were no keys for the old one.

Happy days, even if things are growing much more slowly than at the Belleville School veg garden (see previous post)!

SCHOOL VEG GARDEN OUTPACES ALLOTMENT

For the last six or seven years I´ve been running the Belleville School veg garden. When I took over my Garratt Parl allotment I bought some trays of veg seedlings from Homebase as I hadn´t had the time to grow seedlings myself. I planted them out at Belleville School and the allotment at the roughly same time, and a month or so later the differences between the two sites is incredible. Whereas the Belleville crops have grown enormously (I´ve just harvested twenty lettuces of various varieties) the crops at the allotment have really struggled to get going.
Compare the carrots and parsnips below:

Allotment

Belleville

Allotment

Belleville

The tomato plants are stuggling a little at both sites thanks to the unseasonally low temperatures, but once again, the Belleville plants are way ahead:

Allotment

Belleville

The allotment tomato is a Radiator Charlie grown from seed and the Belleville plant is a Gardener´s Delight shop bought by a parent. The Radiator Charlie was quite a lot larger than the Gadener´s Delight when planted out.

Perhaps the most dramatic example are the red cabbages:

Belleville

Allotment

So what´s behind these variations?
Temperature 
Well the first thing that springs to mind is the fact that the school veg plot is sited near buildings and was built in a sheltered corner of the playground on top of tarmac. These factors probably combine to create a bit of a suntrap.
The allotment is on quite an open windy site near the Wandle River and I imagine the there´s a bit of a difference between the average temperatures at the two sites.
Soil
At Belleville the raised beds are over a metre high and filled with a slightly clay like soil delivered from a site near Heathrow airport. To be honest it wasn´t of the highest quality, but since then we´ve added quite a few bags of compost to top it up and enrich the soil.
The allotment soil is quite a sandy loam that has been well worked over the years. It´s possible that many of the nutrients have been removed from the soil over time.
Noise
At Belleville the children make a racket in the playground.
The allotment is nice and quiet.
Maybe Prince Charles was right all along?

The Belleville Veg Garden

If anyone has any other thoughts or suggestions please leave a comment in the box below.
Thanks!

HAVE FUN WITH PATHS

One thing we've discovered recently is that the most fertile area of the whole plot is clearly the paths, so we thought it might be a good idea to put some weed suppressing matting down. We covered this (well Lucy did) with bark chip, and the whole plot now looks quite smart as a result.

Latest crop news
The runner beans shoots are starting to break through the soil, the lettuces are ready for harvesting (as is the Swiss chard if you like the smaller leaves) and the tomato plants are looking OK after a few days of sunshine and warmer temperatures. Oh, and the Jerusalem artichokes are looking healthy. In addition, I sowed a row of spring onions seeds about a week ago and they've sprouted already!

First produce! A lettuce picked and ready to eat. It's perfect, except for a few holes. And as I always say, "You can't eat the 'oles!"