Page 29 - ALG Issue 1 2020
P. 29

                                                                                                                                                 National Allotments Week 2020 - 90 Events to celebrate 90 Years!
Our theme for NAW 2020 will be Growing Food for Health and Wellbeing, a reflection of the many benefits of growing, cooking and eating your own fruit and vegetables from an allotment plot. Over the coming months we will be making plans for a special National Allotments Week promotion in this, our anniversary year, and we have a target of 90 regional events for our listings on the website.
So, if you are thinking of opening your gates this year, please consider doing so in the week 10th – 16th August and helping us to reach our target. We supply a leaflet to help you promote your events, a logo to use on your website and flyers, ideas for activities and some publicity guidelines. We also send out details of all the events on our lists to regional radio stations and press. Resources will be available from May 2020.
Email diane@nsalg.org.uk
Create a hotbed
...and you could be enjoying some early crops
Although the creation and use of hotbeds is not often practised anymore, they are a very useful addition to
the allotment at this time of year for obtaining early crops, especially if you do not have a greenhouse or polytunnel on your plot. They are reasonably cheap and easy to construct and can advance crops quite considerably. The most important ingredient in the hotbed is the material that will provide the heat – very fresh straw-heavy stable manure and/or collected leaves.
Make a decent-sized heap of materials and turn regularly for a few weeks to get a good and even level of fermentation.
In the meantime, find a sheltered spot on your plot for the hotbed; I like to use an area on the south-west border of the walled garden where I am employed. Lightly tread down the area and rake level. Ideally the soil should be not too wet or frozen. Then mark out and dig a pit 12-18 inches/30-45cm deep, carefully heaping the excavated soil around the hole, lightly patting the sides of the heaps with the back of the spade to consolidate, therefore making the pit almost double the excavated depth. Once the manure has been turned regularly for a couple of weeks, it can then be
put into the pit carefully and evenly, a layer at a time, and making sure that every so often the material is trodden down firmly. This keeps the whole heap stable and will give a steadier heat over a longer time than that of a loose pile.
It is generally better to have the heap constructed so that every layer is slightly narrower than the previous, so when the whole affair is constructed the sides slope inwards, making the construction
more stable. ‘Raised bed’ type frames could also be employed to allow the heap to be higher and more stable, without the need to excavate the soil deeper. A few inches of the soil removed can then be thrown on top and the whole thing covered immediately with cold frames, cloches etc. Cold rain, snow or frost can slow down the fermentation process
and lower the temperatures. The initial temperature can be alarmingly high but, within a week or two, the temperature will have stabilised and the hotbed can be used. Use a thermometer inside
the top frame, or even a stick pushed into the soil that can be removed and touched at regular intervals to monitor the temperature.
Ideal crops for hotbeds include radishes, early lettuce, rocket etc and some root crops. Beetroot, like the ever reliable ‘Boltardy’, is good for forcing young
baby beets, and carrots are very useful. Choose naturally short-rooted or round- rooted varieties such as ‘Paris Market’. If strawberry runners were potted the previous summer or autumn, then these are ideal for forcing. They should be left exposed to as much cold weather as possible before forcing, with the plants then being plunge-planted in their pots. Another good use of the hotbed is that of a ‘propagator’ for tender seeds, either sown direct into the soil, or sown in trays that are then placed within the frame to speed up germination.
There are several options as to what to choose to cover the hotbed with, each with its advantages and disadvantages. Simple tent cloches are easy to construct but don’t give a lot of ‘elbow
if you fancy trying something new this winter, give hot- beds a try
room’ for crops. Cold-frames tend to
be the go-to option, either using bought examples, or homemade. The size and shape of the hotbed really should be dictated by the frame on which is to cover it, so this should be in mind before the pit is dug. Although often just seen as a bygone practice with no place in the modern garden or allotment, I do feel that they should not be consigned to history and would love to see a resurgence in the use of hotbeds. So,
if you fancy trying something new this winter, give hotbeds a try – you won’t be disappointed!
Aaron Hickman
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