geoffk Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I can think of four massive allotments within two miles of me and we are already in a rural area...but my council are a good one.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DissipatedYouthIsValuable Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 My wife would murder me if I took the dynamo out of her Model T to embark on some hair-brained self-sufficiency power plant.p-o-p And you probably can't get the right socket set to open up a car made after 1990. Log fires and toasted squirrels it is then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntb Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I grew spuds last year (container) some with ash mixed in, some without. The ones with ash produced much heavier crops, despite the fact that spuds are supposed to like slightly acid conditions. It's possible that the pH of the compost-rich soil was still acidic, even with the wood-ash. Or the nutrients from the ash might have been what made the difference, or the ash might have deterred slugs, which were a massive problem last year. Or the ash might have improved the structure/drainage of the soil.This year I have a chance at an allotment a 5 min bike ride away (new ones being opened up on local NT land, as per the subject of this thread), fingers crossed there will be enough for everyone on the list! It will be the potasium from the wood ash that is helping. Spuds do best on a higher potash content than the traditional NPK 777 mix you get in growmore - just look at the ratios in potato feed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Barlow Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 It will be the potasium from the wood ash that is helping. Spuds do best on a higher potash content than the traditional NPK 777 mix you get in growmore - just look at the ratios in potato feed. I was thinking my wood stove would yield loads of ash but I am lucky to get half a bucket a week after 5-6 evening's of burnings. Thing is the stove only cosumes 1.5-2.5kg of wood per hour so at best it will produce 100-200g of ash. Not sure how much goes up the chimney rather than being left in the grate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonewer Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Taters and garlic in! And then it rained, couldnt have been more convinient if I'd ordered it.... More garlic in tomorrow after work. Will pop down to sainsburies in lunch to get some jerusalem 'chokes..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntb Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I don't think you need very much Kurt. Some may well go up the chimney but the input wood contains enough potassium for that amount of wood to have grown! It may be worth doing some trials if you can be arsed - it's definitely possible to overdo it since all nutrients become poisons in excessive quantities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntb Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Taters and garlic in! And then it rained, couldnt have been more convinient if I'd ordered it....More garlic in tomorrow after work. Will pop down to sainsburies in lunch to get some jerusalem 'chokes..... Careful where you plant those chokes... They breed like chavs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonewer Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Careful where you plant those chokes... They breed like chavs. I was going to plant them at the Feltham end of the plot anyway.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Careful where you plant those chokes... They breed like chavs. *coughs* waste land. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worzel Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Cox's is a good apple when in season but its not the only English apple.What about the Autumn and Summer Pearmains? the Bloody Ploughman? The Catshead? The Lady's Finger Of Offaly? The Hoary Morning? The Kentish Fillbasket? The Broad Eyed Pippin of Bultitude? and the ominously named Feltham Beauty? These among a thousand others... and I'll be damned if I can find any one of these for sale in this country today for love or money. Try http://www.kenmuir.co.uk/ Supposed to have the best range of apples (and other fruit trees) out there. I just searched for one of your Pearmains and they had some results come up. I just planted some fruit trees today, I went to garden bargains for their cheap and cheerful mini orchard (apple, pear and plum trees £30 for the lot) as I wont be in this place for that many years to get the benefit of more expensive specialist varieties. Potatoes are in those grow bag thingies but I may have been premature with the frosts we just had, still time to put some more tubers in if necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juvenal Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Wood ash in moderate quantities is an excellent source of potassium and phosphorus. Its also very alkaline so its useful to counter the acidifying effects of manure / compost. Absolutely right. The younger the prunings burnt, the higher the above content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Nice Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 That's Mad Max/Death-of-Grass territory; if property rights break down to the point where you can't harvest your crops, you don't bother planting crops. [edit: that goes for farmers, too, with obvious consequences).I'm not saying it won't happen, just that it's not the only possible scenario and it's worth planning for hard times that stop short of complete social breakdown. I really disagree. I don't think it would take anything like a mad max scenerio to convince the neighborhood youts to have a go at your patch. I am all for having a vegetable garden, but that is for taste, nutrition, and just personal hobby. but if we end up in a situation where there is high unemployment, and expensive/shortages of food, gardens are goig to become prime targets. I definitely wouldn't count on it making it through unscathed. in the same way that I wouldn't park an expensive car in the middle of a ghetto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piece of paper Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 And you probably can't get the right socket set to open up a car made after 1990.Log fires and toasted squirrels it is then. Is that some sort of new-fangled replacement for a box spanner and tommy bar? p-o-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DissipatedYouthIsValuable Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Is that some sort of new-fangled replacement for a box spanner and tommy bar?p-o-p Never mind, grandad, have a pickled walnut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I really disagree.I don't think it would take anything like a mad max scenerio to convince the neighborhood youts to have a go at your patch. I am all for having a vegetable garden, but that is for taste, nutrition, and just personal hobby. but if we end up in a situation where there is high unemployment, and expensive/shortages of food, gardens are goig to become prime targets. I definitely wouldn't count on it making it through unscathed. in the same way that I wouldn't park an expensive car in the middle of a ghetto. Best not to have an expensive car...stay at home and keep a loyal dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huw Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I really disagree.I don't think it would take anything like a mad max scenerio to convince the neighborhood youts to have a go at your patch. I am all for having a vegetable garden, but that is for taste, nutrition, and just personal hobby. but if we end up in a situation where there is high unemployment, and expensive/shortages of food, gardens are goig to become prime targets. I definitely wouldn't count on it making it through unscathed. in the same way that I wouldn't park an expensive car in the middle of a ghetto. Well, it depends where you live, and whether things break down to the point where urban populations get desperate enough to migrate (which I class as Mad Max territory). If we get to the position where hungry looters have caused gardens and allotments to become generally unworkable, the same fate will befall farms -- and cultivation will cease, or be restricted to land that can be kept under armed guard. Mad Max is too strong an image for that outcome; it will probably be less of a bang, more of a malnourished whimper (as it generally is in places where property rights break down to the point that enterprise/production ceases). Alternatively, we could choose a different path where property rights are vigorously enforced, meaning that every scrap of land ends up cultivated and we grow as much food as we possibly can. Depends how namby-pamby we want to be, I guess, and how much we value national survival Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightiesgirly Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Cox's is a good apple when in season but its not the only English apple.What about the Autumn and Summer Pearmains? the Bloody Ploughman? The Catshead? The Lady's Finger Of Offaly? The Hoary Morning? The Kentish Fillbasket? The Broad Eyed Pippin of Bultitude? and the ominously named Feltham Beauty? These among a thousand others... and I'll be damned if I can find any one of these for sale in this country today for love or money. Have only heard of the Pearmains. I can honestly say I have never even heard of the others, never mind seeing them for sale. I'll keep a lookout on our local fruit and veg market ans see if I can spot other English apples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piece of paper Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Never mind, grandad, have a pickled walnut. Could I upgrade to Lynx 2 for the same cost? p-o-p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
council dweller Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Taters and garlic in! And then it rained, couldnt have been more convinient if I'd ordered it....More garlic in tomorrow after work. Will pop down to sainsburies in lunch to get some jerusalem 'chokes..... I'm a bit ahead of you with the garlic, planted mine last September, garlic is as tough as old nails and is better if grown over winter. Jerusalem artichokes planted already, also not bothered by frost. Some videos on youtube for an explaination and recipes. Should go well with the garlic. Broccoli coming out now, the multi head stuff. Will spout like boggery for a good few weeks. Potatoes will go in in 2 weeks time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonewer Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 (edited) I'm a bit ahead of you with the garlic, planted mine last September, garlic is as tough as old nails and is better if grown over winter. Jerusalem artichokes planted already, also not bothered by frost. Some videos on youtube for an explainationand recipes. Should go well with the garlic. Broccoli coming out now, the multi head stuff. Will spout like boggery for a good few weeks. Potatoes will go in in 2 weeks time. Only got my plot in Jan... have some caching up to do. I only have about a 9' by 4' section completely cleared. Still much digging of bramble roots, burning and digging-over still to be done. Have now saved some pips from my coquina squash wot I'm having for din-dins. See how that grows. Guess I'll just plonk as much as I can in the ground and pray to the miracle growing season that is the english spring! Edited March 8, 2009 by jonewer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youthoftoday Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Maize likes acid soils and I suspect so do tomatoes as they will grow quite well in fresh horse poo.Most veg prefers a fairly neutral soil - 6.5-7.5. Acid soils are more likely to be a problem than alkaline hence the routine liming. I'm in Cambridge and will start planting Early April. In Cornwall I would risk it from mid March. It's unlikely that frost this time of year will penetrate deep enough to damage a tuber buried 9 inches under soil. Back in The Great Frost of January 1709 the soil in Somerset froze to a depth of 4 feet. Bit tricky digging up parsnips I expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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