Tatton Park Flower Show 2012 - ideas for the plot.

A couple of weeks ago it was my 'local' flower show in the beautiful Tatton Park in Knutsford. I think I've been to nearly every one since it started and its been going a few years now. Its the northern show and I think it is slightly different from the other shows. For one its a high summer show with all the amazing floral displays of this season. It focuses a lot on the smaller gardens, with many back-to-back gardens which really give lots of ideas for urban gardens. It also has the cute flowerbed competition which continues to astound with the inventiveness each year.

I'm not going to go through all the gardens but just show some pics with ideas for the plot in this post. And for the garden in a separate post.

So first some ideas for the plot.

How about this for a cute little polytunnel and looks reasonably easy to put up at the allotment.

The above one looks even easier, there was a catalogue to buy this, this was on the Manchester allotment society stand and I got chatting to one of the blokes there and he suggested an even cheaper option from B&Q (or another DIY shop!), buy blue tubing, and the brackets which you can attach to a raised bed and cover with polythene. Not quite as sturdy as this but much cheaper. That may be something for me to plan for next year at the allotment.

Here's an idea for growing strawberries.

It would keep then out of the way of slugs, though they would dry out quickly in those small pots.

This was part of a whole bench for growing vegetables and salad.

Not sure that it fitted in with the style of the rest of the garden but an interesting idea.

If you run out of space on your plot try growing up the wall!

I'm very skeptical about how long it would stay looking like this and another challenge for watering.

Then after all your hard work on the plot how about this....

Good job you can't smell this

I've been creating my own plant feed on the plot this year, I was given a root of a comfrey plant from a gardening friend and its grown well this year. A few weeks ago I put some leaves into a bucket with some water and left them to rot down. I've started using it this week and phew what a whiff I had to apologise to my plot neighbours. But the black stuff is a great feed once diluted (roughly to a pale straw colour according to Bob Flowerdews Organic bible). Its high in potassium as well as nitrogen so good for tomatoes.

According to Bob you can also use the same technique using nettles which its claimed also makes plants resistant to pests and disease especially if sprayed on as a foliage feed. I've got lots of Borage on my plot at the moment (I love the blue flowers) this produces a feed that is higher in nitrogen which is good for hungriest plants like brassicas and squash. I might give this a try too. I'm not going to follow all of Bob's suggestions for liquid feeds though as he also suggests using diluted personal liquid waste, ummmm think I'll give that a miss.

I managed to persuade Martin to help me on the plot normally giving him the heavy jobs but this time he was chief potato digger. These are the first earlies 'Pentland Javelin' not a huge crop but they all look healthy.

He's far too cool for my allotment. Though what his mates will think of his pink gloves......

Allotment update

I've not done a post on my allotment for a while and my last post was a bit depressing with all the rain and slug damage at my plot so I need to do a more positive update. This is difficult with the rain still hammering down outside and no end in sight of this rainy summer. But I guess it is saving us having to water our plots plus I hear that the hosepipe bans have been removed (not that they affected us here in soggy West Yorkshire).

I'm still trying hard to keep on top of the weeds which has been difficult in the last few weeks as I've been down to London for a few days to watch Wimbledon (saw the amazing match where Nadal got knocked out!) and the weather has conspired to be awful on any of my free days. But its definitely better than last year when annual Euphorbia was taking over my plot. I'm trying to keep them cut down early this year to stop them flowering and seeding. Wimbledon time also means strawberries but I've been having a battle not only with those slug beasties but with the birds for my fruit this year. I assume that its the birds as there are random strawberries left on the strawberry patch, picked off but then only half eaten, how frustrating. Another area which will need netting next year!

Whilst I have been wise to the pigeons (and I think magpies are a problem too) destroying my brassicas this year, these have been netted right from the start and now seem to be growing and many have survived the inital slug attack.

But I've had to abandon my spring sown broad beans which never got going and I realised that they were being attacked by the birds, so they ended up on the compost heap. Soon everything is going to be netted on the plot! My autumn sown ones did ok though and I had a reasonable crop from them so I will sow some again this autumn.

I have had some success though, been harvesting my peas.

My autumn planted onions have been great, some are huge. They were 'Electric Red' and I'll be buying more of those sets when I go to the Southport Flower Show later in the year.

The garlic looks nearly ready for harvesting and the onions and shallots are coming on well.

The sweetcorn is coming on, just need some warmth and some sun, in short supply so far but I live in hope.

My second planting of courgettes and squashes are finally getting going and I'm hoping for some crops soon.

I'm also hoping my potatoes are surviving all this wet weather, plan to dig some of those up soon.

The paths that I have put in have really made a difference and I think I may put some more in next year to divide it up a bit more.

The crops that I've really failed with this year are the root crops, I've tried sowing radish (supposedly one of the easiest of all crops), carrots, beetroot, parsnips and all have either not germinated or eaten by slugs. I've also tried direct sowing of spring onions and salad leaves and again no success. I think I'm just going to have to leave these to growing at home in the garden where I can be more vigilant about watering and slugs.

But to end on a positive note I've harvested by first gooseberries and redcurrants this year which is very exciting.

I was very chuffed to hear a few weeks ago that my plot had been chosen along with 4 others from our site to go into the "Best Plot" competition as part of the Huddersfield Allotment and Gardens federation, judging was on Wednesday 4th July. Apparently 4 judges from the federation went round all nominated plots, across all allotment sites in Huddersfield on that day but I'm not sure what the criteria for marking is. There are some amazing plots just on my site so I was pleased to be even nominated as this is only my second year and there is still so much to do. But it was just nice that people recognised that I've worked hard on my plot this year. The winner was a chap on our site which was brilliant, he has any amazing plot. Our site was given an award for the most improved site across Huddersfield, which is great. We have established a committee this year and we have been working to try and improve facilities and communication between plot holders so we were chuffed with that.

Garden of Edible and Useful Plants

I had some time to kill before I went to the Chelsea Flower show and I'd read that there was a new garden within the Chelsea Physic Garden so I went to have a look. The new garden, the Garden of Edible and Useful Plants, covers half an acre, and was newly opened the day of my visit.

If you've never been to the Chelsea Physic garden before then I definitely recommend a visit when you are next in London, it is an oasis within the city. Take the tube to Sloane Square and follow the signs for the garden. I visited last year, and wrote a post, which you can read for more information on the history of the garden.
The new garden is designed in a potager type style.

There is a lovely stone raised bed area at one end of the garden into which is planted multiple herbs which probably like the good drainage that this design would provide. You can sit on the bottom step and enjoy the scents from this area. This is called the perfumery amphitheatre!

There are plants used in perfume, in hygiene and cosmetics, treatments, fibres, dyes, clearing the land, even plants used in our religions and faiths. All plants used in our day to day lives, its fascinating to see them all together and read about this wide range of plants.
The edible garden has plants used to extract oil, ones grown for different vitamins, plants which flavour or spice up our foods, plants grown to make beverages and alcohol. There are some unusual and heritage varieties and some grown in a forest garden style.
Though it looks a bit sparse at the moment being newly planted it promises to develop into a lovely garden section and prove how much we rely on plants in our everyday lives often without even thinking about it.
Now I realise how big my lemon verbena could get, though I guess this garden is a lot more sheltered than mine.

 Other attractions in the garden at this time of year are the Echiums.

The poppies.

This weather is good for some, the slugs....

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself when I went to the allotment after lunch today. I'm full of a cold, I managed to get through the whole winter and spring without catching a single cold and then in the middle of June I'm croaky and snuffling away! I got to my plot after a few days of not being able to get there, we have had some heavy rain and strong winds the last few days, though I think we have got off lightly compared to the south and parts of Wales. But I arrived to a scene of slug destruction! Every single one of the courgette and cucumber plants that I planted last week have been eaten. I have two squash plants which have survived.

This is what is left of my celeriac, which was not touched by slugs at all last year.

More devastation of the Brassica bed. Last year I struggled with these and planted them a couple of times, the culprits last year were the pigeons, but they are well netted this year but unfortunately you can't keep slugs away with net.

I always grow on more plants than I need though and I had some more at home to replace some of these plants with. These are Calabrese 'Belstar' and Romanesco. My kale plant have also partially eaten.

Swede, which I have grown for the first time this year, looked a sorry state too.

OK I'll stop now, I'm sure you get the point. 

I was really fed up with my first walk round the plot. Its so demoralising, I may have to go and get some plants from the garden centre to replace if these ones don't get going. I need to sow some more cucumbers and courgettes. Other things are so behind too.

Apparently I'm not alone and there has been a bit of a slug and snail explosion, not surprising with the milder winter and cool wet spring. Click here to read an interesting article about it in the Telegraph. Here is another link to a novel DIY slug killer. It is a way to make your own nematode brew. I may have to give this a go, someone on my allotment site sent me this link, he is trying it out so I await news on whether it was successful. I did put some organic slug pellets down but with all the rain that we have had the first lot will have just dissolved. I think I might try the beer traps again. Its a perennial problem for the gardener I guess but one that we haven't got any good answer to, especially for the organic gardener. In the past I've found copper tape useful but that is more for single plants really. I've just been up there at dusk and my calabrese plants were covered in slugs again, not the newly planted ones but the others, so they were humanely removed and I've put a few more slug pellets down, but I don't really like doing that. On the positive side it was lovely being up there at dusk, there is a red sky tonight so hopefully that means a reasonable couple of days.

Some things are growing well, my potatoes are looking good.

My first sowing of sweetcorn is coming on, but it will need some sun.

The onion sets that I planted in autumn are ready for picking now, I'm very happy with them, the spring planted 'Red Baron' sets and the shallots 'Golden Gourmet' are all doing well.

The peas and broad beans are doing ok. My strawberries are just starting to ripen and they look like a good crop. Lots of herbs and flowers in the garden and they are all doing well. Overall the plot looks nice but I need to have some hope that this second planting of these crops is successful. 

I've harvested some of the globe artichokes today and had my first taste of these vegetables. Fiddly but delicious!

Anyway overall I'm still happy with my plot. I'm coming to learn that I've just got to accept that growing vegetables is so weather-dependent, some things will do well and others not.

Gardening on the edge

We've just spent a few days on the North Yorkshire coast, staying in a lovely village called Runswick Bay, which is just north of Whitby. Its a higgledy piggledy group of houses, with a pub and a cafe on the edge of a lovely beach. When we got there the tide was in so we walked round the village admiring the gardens.

Its obviously reasonably mild as they grow some less hardy plants like this fig.

A gorgeous Verbascum.

Mind-your-own-business has taken over in the crevices of this garden.

Some lovely cottage gardens.

Then we discovered this vegetable plot, talk about gardening on the edge.

The spuds are looking healthy.

I can see carrots, onions and beetroot, all thriving.

Fantastic, I saw the owner pop out of little cottage, pick some salad for his lunch. I'm just not sure I'd like to stand on the edge to weed!

From colourful gardens to ancient gardens made of stone.
While in Whitby we visited the gothic abbey.

Next to the abbey ruins is the mansion house of the Chomley's a prominent family in Whitby, the mansion was built using stones from the abbey after its destruction in the time of Henry VIII. In front of the mansion is the recently restored 17th century 'hard garden'.

Sir Hugh Cholmley II built the house and courtyard in 1672 and installed a Bronze copy of the Borghese Gladiator in the centre, the original marble statue is now housed in the Louvre, Paris. This statue was often copied in the 17th century.

Not sure I'd like that sort of garden!
The beach at Whitby is a great beach with all the features of a British beach, colourful beach huts, ice cream vans and donkeys.

Further along the beach was a mass of a garden escapee, snow-in-summer looking fabulous.

I'd definitely recommend a trip to this coast some lovely beaches and coastal villages, Staithes, Runswick Bay, Sandsend and Robin Hood's Bay.