Sunday 5 February 2023

My Version Of The Terraced House Allotment.

 Yes another veg plot post.   

I often says on here that you do not need to own a smallholding or rent an allotment.  You can grow vegetables even if you live in a terraced house with a paved backyard.  

I once lived in an upstairs flat and grew potatoes in a plant pot in the window.  Well I suppose it's better than growing 'whacky bacca' in the window?

That's my Azada hoe that River asked me about.  They are the best thing since sliced bread for clearing an overgrown allotment.  They are very easy on the back.  Chillington Tools make them.  They're brilliant.  Apparently Azada is Spanish for Hoe.  You can see videos of them in action on good old You Tube.
A stronger sieve.  The side off a car trailer.
   
My version of a terraced house backyard/allotment.  Old baths filled with top soil (sieved) and half filled with branches, (HugelKultur) sticks, stones (drainage) and to fill up half the bulk.  The weeds will act like a green manure and feed the vegetables.   You can also see old fish boxes full of sieved soil and there's even a drum out of an old washing machine filled with soil.  You can also use fym if it's  well rotted.  Mine is too fresh at present.  It just shows that you don't  need to have an allotment or garden to grow vegetables.  All you need is some effort and some containers.
I planted a plastic module with 'Snowball' onions yesterday.  They will have lovely white root socks when I plant them out in a few weeks.  They are living in  my polytunnel at the moment.  It's much better than just pushing them in the wet and cold earth.
Old back tyre from my Ford 3000 tractor.  It makes a great planter.  I dropped some fym on the tyre the other day and forgot  to brush it off.
My Bergenias in flower.  I have lots of perennial for sale or barter if you want any for your garden/allotment?  I plan to try to sell them at a  carboot  sale very soon.  I also plan on planting them on my vegetable plot around the edges to make it look pleasing to the eye and attract the bees.


9 comments:

  1. You're an inventive gardener. I'm sure you'll have bumper crops whatever you grow. We use old olive oil tins and plastic containers. They are very good for onions, parsley, thyme and rocket. I'm lucky and have been given some big clay pots. I'll plant the basil there. When it gets warmer

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Linda. I did my veg growing apprenticeship at allotments in England. I met a lot of very resourceful gardeners and it's using whatever medium you can use to be functional and grow your vegetables. I saw some amazing massive urns and clay plant pots when I visited the Algarve last October.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You put me to shame - not touched the garden since the autumn, but then each to their own as they say. Maybe this year I will be better organised, though somehow I doubt it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Mark. I often find if you concentrate on one thing you neglect something else. I have been spending too much on plant propagation and I'm finally getting back to my old passion of vegetables cultivation. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I meant to say I have been spending too much time on my perennials and shrubs propagation. My kind of gardening costs me very little. Well apart from always buying potting compost.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You've got quite a production going there!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes it's doing me good physically and psychologically Debby. It's great to see something productive after such a wet Autumn and Winter.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I admire both your resourcefulness and you continuing passion for gardening. That can be so hard to sustain through the passing years.

    P.S. What do you think Lord Peregrine has done to our good blogging friend Lady Judith (aka JayCee)? She seems to have disappeared. I hope that it is just because she pressed the wrong button. If you are reading this Judith, please come back!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks YP. You have got to have hobbies like gardening and writing when you live in the countryside next to the sea.

    I keep trying to read the latest IOM bulletin from our good friend JayCee (Judith Chalmers) whom I like to read. Please come back JayCee.

    ReplyDelete

Onion Set Planting.

I still managed to plant up two of the new planters/raised beds with onion sets in the rain yesterday. Notice the white root sock in the com...