At this time of year I’m excited each morning to get out of bed and check seed trays for germination and emerging perennials in the garden. Gardening is such a positive addition to my life - even if it’s a single pot of tomato seeds on a windowsill, it is fun. Everyday something to look forward to.
I’m also going easy on myself this year. I’ve found that because I write about growing food, I’ll admit I feel so much pressure to grow everything imaginable. If I’m honest, that can take the fun out of what should be an enjoyable pastime. This year I’m trying to reclaim the fun even if it means I’m not growing ten million different cultivars to share in magazines and on social media.
Right now however I am concentrating on jumpstarting the allotment.
Dear deers, please vacate the allotment
First on our project list is keeping animals to their allotted areas. I love the wild roe deer and they have free reign of the meadow but growing food is challenging enough without them helping themselves before us.
I’ll admit I lost my veg buzz last year because the deer and pheasants kept setting things back significantly. Up until then, the deer weren’t much of a problem on the plot. Now deer chomp most plants and pheasants dig up potatoes. So last week our friend Graham and I began deer fencing the allotment to deter the fluffy-eared-ones.
Our two chickens are adorably cute but they are also allotment hooligans. They cause havoc in freshly sown seed beds, these higher fences will stop them too.
As for pheasants, answers on a postcard. I ended up netting lots of crops last year, which isn’t ideal because it adds an extra job and a barrier to picking crops.
Polytunnel shenanigans
Down in the polytunnel I need to talk about wrens. My first batch of lettuces were growing nicely until a clever wren figured out how to hop in above the door. Nipping the top off every seedling! I’m starting again with ‘Red Salad Bowl’, green ‘Till’ and speckled 'Flashy Butter Oak Bicolour Oakleaf’. Old compost bags have been duly stuffed into the gap - barriers are the best way of separating wildlife from crops.
Germinating in the ground of the polytunnel are pea ‘Meteor’, radish ‘French Breakfast’, turnips ‘Goldana’ and ‘Tokyo Cross’, and beetroot. My plan is to grow these fast crops undercover while we sort the deer fencing. We should have eaten these vegetables by the time the tomatoes get planted in the poly in May.
Alongside veg seedlings I’m propagating lots of tomatoes from runners and some wild primrose plugs to a larger size before they go out (shown above).
I’m also readying a veritable army of perennial flowers for our main garden to inject loads of colour into it. Last year I grew three different coloured hardier penstemon from seed and divided more geum ‘Totally Tangerine’. In recent weeks I’ve been dividing Helenium, Astrantia, Geranium and others for more free plants.
The challenge I’m finding with a bigger garden (I know, first world problems) is that there are so many plants I’m not sure where I can fit all of these yet! I’m waiting for the garden to grow a little to make sure I avoid planting on top of existing plants.
I don’t want to wait too long though, I need them in the ground while it’s still wet and raining to form deep roots for summer. I won’t need to water them in if it’s still wet.
Outdoor propagation station
Directly outside the polytunnel is the table I move seedlings to when they’re a little larger, or start here if fully hardy. The wren doesn’t care about this lot!
Lots of the above plants are cuttings, seedlings and divisions from last year left outdoors in peat free compost all winter. I know people talk a lot about nutrition of peat free compost but as you can see from all of the plants I’m sharing, everything is growing just fine. And I haven’t fed them at all yet!
The benefit of a raised table like this is it keeps vulnerable veg seedlings away from slugs and snails until the plants are larger to tolerate nibbles.
Carefree tomatoes
Tomatoes are part of my chill out plan. I only just sowed ours yesterday - on the heat mat in the background of the above photo - and this year I’m growing just three cultivars. One cherry ‘Artisan Bumblebee Mix’ (in red and yellow), one salad ‘Gardeners Delight’ and one beefsteak‘Brandy Boy’.
I plan to give tomato vines twice as much space as normal to receive more light. I suspect it will increase yield per plant - more tomatoes for even less effort.
Other annual veg I’m sowing this week are mangetout and dill. I’ll also plant out the potatoes at some point.
Perennial payoff
Another reason I’m feeling relaxed this spring is because in recent years I’ve gone crazy planting perennial crops in a number of different edible plant communities. These are coming through strongly without me having to do very much at all. Which is brilliant news.
I have a range of beds including the above low-ish growing leaf bed, a larger bulky crop bed by the shed, tonnes of fruit bush communities and a number of woodland edible areas under fruit and nut trees. I find it a fun way of growing food because of their reliability, planning them as I would any ornamental bed. More on this through the year!
Annual crops
One of my favourite beds on the allotment is the one I use for salads each year. It’s only a few metres in size and always easy to maintain - though the deer decimated it last year.
I’ve hoe-d the salad bed once and will give it a second pass next time it’s dry. Then I will sow carrots, radish, beets, Florence fennel and plant out the lettuce. I won’t sow spring onions because we have lots of perennial onions that taste similar.
I do grow annuals in the perennial beds too, a polyculture, but crop rows exist for a reason. In the annual bed I plant in rows for speed and reduced effort when it comes to weeding and harvesting. Hoeing between rows is a doddle and it’s easy to nip up a row picking leaves.
Further reading
Aggregate gardens: don’t give up on soil yet (Financial Times) - in the paper on Saturday or access this pay walled article by going through Google News search
Why is low maintenance a dirty term? (Gardens Illustrated) - my new column in April’s mag, out next week
10 best fruit and veg for less hassle and higher yields (The Guardian) - my column with tips for making your plot more efficient
Have a wonderful time in the garden this weekend!
