The Allotment Book. Andi Clevely

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СКАЧАТЬ to walk any distance with a full can of mains water, making the most of what is available can be imperative.

      

      COLLECTING & STORING Rain is the obvious source of water, apart from the site tap, and you need to arrange ways to collect it for use during dry periods. Fit guttering and downpipes to all roofs and collect the water in a butt. If possible, attach an overflow to a second container, or direct surplus water to a nearby wildlife pond. To supplement the supply, run sloping lengths of guttering along fences and walls, and leave out buckets in rainy weather. Bring from home containers of ‘grey’ water (domestic waste from washing and bathing) and keep in a separate tank for watering permanent crops. Feed a pond with water from gullies, drains and overflows from water butts, and make sure it is deep enough for submerging a watering can. If the ground lies wet or waterlogged, lay drains leading to a pond or buried tank.

      Water butts are often available from local authorities or discounted from the allotment site office. Substitutes include plastic dustbins, fruit barrels, old baths, discarded water tanks and cisterns and oil drums. Make sure you cover them with lids in dry weather to reduce evaporation.

      SEE ALSO ▸ Making your own compost pages 116–17 Managing water pages 148–9 Fertilizers & feeding pages 150–1

      COMPOST BINS

      The tidiest and most efficient way to make compost (see pages 116–17) is to assemble all the ingredients in a bin. (Having two bins is preferable, though: after you have filled one bin, leave the contents to decompose while you fill the second.) There are various kinds, from simple folding corrugated plastic squares to sophisticated models with liquid reservoirs, insulating jackets and integral top blankets. Many local authorities offer discounted bins.

      Building your own compost bin is an easy and inexpensive alternative, using a simple style and waste materials. Possibilities include:

      ▸ wire mesh arranged round four corner stakes to make a square container, lined with cardboard for insulation.

      ▸ a large sturdy cardboard box with holes cut in the base and sides; this rots down with the contents.

      ▸ complete builder’s pallets set on edge and tied or wired together; pack the cavities with newspapers or straw.

      ▸ a clean oil drum or plastic barrel, perforated with 2.5cm (1in) holes in the base and about halfway up the sides of the drum.

      ▸ a plastic dustbin raised on concrete blocks: drill holes in the base and catch the liquid in a tin.

      MAKING A HOT BED

      Fresh manure or green waste heats up as it decays. A hot bed can use this warmth to help raise early crops and provide extra growing space later in the season. If you can get a load of fresh farmyard manure or make a new compost heap in late winter, pack the material inside a timber container (old pallet boards are ideal). Adding moist tree leaves to the manure helps to moderate the initial surge of heat and the subsequent cooling. Cover and leave to warm up for two weeks.

      Spread a 10–15cm (4–6in) layer of sieved soil over the heap, and top with a portable cold frame. Sow this with early radishes and carrots or turnips in rows, interplanted with young lettuces started in early winter. Pull the radishes 3–4 weeks later, leaving the lettuces to finish bulking up. When these are cleared, replace with summer cauliflower plants, and finally thin the carrots or turnips. All should be harvested in time to plant courgettes, marrows or cucumbers for summer. In the autumn, clear the plants and empty the entire contents of the hot bed for digging in.

      Tools Good tools help to make light work of the allotment routine. Buy the best, use them sensitively and maintain them well, and they could give a lifetime’s service; regular use will condition them until they are comfortable and familiar, like an old gardening jacket or pair of boots.

      

      CHOOSING TOOLS Buying cheap tools is a false economy, as they rarely perform well or last long, and the experience could disillusion you. Go for top quality, and be prepared to spend money; handle the tool before buying (never buy unseen), and ask advice if you are in doubt. Test it for size, weight and balance: you need to be confident about possibly using it for long periods without tiring. Consider the materials the tool is made from. An expensive stainless steel spade is easier to use and to clean when digging clay, for example, but might be unjustifiably costly if your soil is light and sandy; a round-tined rake is more durable in stony soil than one with flat pressed tines; a trowel with a brightly painted handle is easier to find in undergrowth.

      TOOL CARE

      ▸ Clean your tools regularly and particularly thoroughly before storing them for any length of time.

      ▸ Pay special attention to soil on the blades and handles, where it can set hard and cause discomfort, and sap or resin deposits on pruning tools, which can be hard to clean once dry.

      ▸ Collect up all tools and equipment at the end of each day: rain does them no good, and overlooked tools are easily lost or stolen.

      ▸ Lock them safely in your shed, in their usual places to save time searching.

      ▸ Give them a thorough service at the end of the season: clean, sharpen and oil parts as appropriate (see page 210).

      BASIC NECESSITIES

      Although allotment tools often seem to multiply over the years, you need only a simple selection of essential tools for most cultivation jobs.

      ▸ SPADE This is the main digging tool, with a full size or smaller (border) steel blade attached to a shaft of varying length, topped with a plastic or wooden T- or D-shaped handle. Metal shafts are stronger, but less sympathetic in use and they cannot be replaced if they break. For comfort, make sure the blade has a tread on both shoulders, and its neck should be made from a single forged piece of metal.

      ▸FORK Structurally similar in other respects to a spade, this has tines instead of a blade, and is used for loosening and breaking down soil after digging, and for lifting plants. The tines should be forged from a single piece of steel for maximum strength. Some forks and spades have cranked handles or very long, straight handles for extra leverage.

      ▸HOE There are two important types of hoe, the main weeding tool. A Dutch, or push, hoe has a flat rectangular blade that is scuffled through the soil as you walk backwards, whereas the draw, or swan-necked, hoe, with its blade at right angles to the handle, is used with a chopping action as you move forwards. Gardeners generally disagree about which kind is the more useful. Other variations are available.

      ▸ RAKE This is a valuable tool for levelling and refining the soil. The width of the heads and length of the shafts can vary, but the most important quality is the strength of the head and tines, which should be made from forged steel. Check carefully for weight and balance, as it is difficult to manoeuvre a too-heavy rake head.

      ▸ TROWEL & HAND FORK These key hand tools are used for planting and a host of other operations. The trowel blade and fork tines are of varying shapes and sizes, and are joined to their handles by a straight or cranked neck – test which is easier to wield, check that the handle fits your palm comfortably, and make sure the blade/tines are СКАЧАТЬ