Page 60 - ALG Issue 2 2018 html

A measurement of success
April was potato time. We had about six varieties to put in, salad and main crop, old varieties and new. They took up half the original plot, the other half being dedicated to peas and beans. I also have a couple
of small plots at work, and collected some broad bean seed from an overgrown plot. I put them in in November 4 inches apart just in case some didn’t germinate. Well, they all did! Every other one was taken out and put in the legume half of our plot. Allan also gave us a pot of pea plants
Fruit slowly filled the new plot. We ended up with white, red and black currents, blueberry, Logan berries, the gooseberries, rhubarb and then the plums! It was really nice eating some of the crop there and then.
A barbeque was also held and this was
a great success. We asked people to bring their own grills and there were some weird and wonderful designs, from the disposable to the grill sergeant, and also a gas-powered one. Allan seemed to end up doing the
were the best of the group.
Autumn brought the harvest of the
Bramleys, which were really good, and
then later the Medlers. If anyone can tell us though how to set Medlar jelly, it would be a great help as a few of us can’t get it to work.
Since then, the onions and garlic are back in but most if it has been put to bed. I’m saving the pruning for early next year so we have something to keep going down for, rather than not be able to do anything.
Now I’ve called this ‘A measurement of success’ and said how bad it has been. Weeds, club root, bad compost... The thing is, Kristy has been pleased with what we achieved. The carrots were the best after last year’s disaster, and I also had some brilliant success with carrots on my work plots. I did round ones due to poor soil and they worked a treat! Success should be measured on a personal level; what you think is achievable. Don’t look at others and be jealous, ask them for advice. The growing isn’t the be
all and end all though, as the socials have been a success too. Even when the going is really tough, there are always some personal successes to be found.
Jon Staple
so these finished off the row. We were on our way with the summer veg.
Kristy took a closer look and it was bad news, we had club root!
cooking as one of the plotholders brought a huge bag of food to share. From here, we set up a Facebook page to keep in contact and this has been a real success; it seems a good medium for people to ask advice and share information.
May was when we finally
had the 7 days/7 nights at
about 7 degrees, so we
decided to start with the
direct sowings. Parsnips,
carrots and chard all went in. We had a double row of leeks to be puddled in as
well. These did much better being sown
in pots rather than trays. The roots seem
to do much better; they have come on as stronger plants and we have had a really long cropping season from them. Over the next few weeks though, weeds went to seed and the wind peppered our soil with them. We hung on as long as we could but we lost the parsnips and chard as we couldn’t see where they were growing so we had to hoe the whole lot out.
Towards the end of summer, we decided we needed some more brassicas but had only sown black kale, so we went down the bare root path. At 10p a plant, it was
a brilliant success and they are doing well. Our pet rabbits will be well fed too. Blight, though, became rife again on our blight- resistant potatoes, Vales Sovereign and Cara. We cut them back as we did the year before and they came out ok; the Rooster
Not long after this, our brassica plants were behaving oddly with the kale being squat and spread - looking like nettles more than anything. Kristy took a closer look and it was bad news, we had club root! A lot of our crops soon went over after that. We did have some wonderful broccoli, but that soon blew. The Brussels sprouts seem to be the only thing that tolerated it.
Summer brought new hope. Kristy was keen to get some squashes going, and the runner and French beans went in. This filled our old plot and slowly we dug the salad potatoes, which were the best-tasting (either International Kidney or Sarpo Kifki). After the disaster last year with the carrots though, some very basic Autumn Kings did really well and they were tasty too.
60