Another quick video update from my allotment. As you can see things are now been harvested and gaps are starting the appear. Won’t be long now until autumn.
Video: Allotment Update End of August 2013
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Author Archives: Steve
Making Nettle Fertiliser
Making nettle fertiliser is one of the most easiest and cheapest ways to make home made fertiliser. Its rich in nitrogen, iron, magnesium and sulfur, and will do wonders for your plants.
- To make nettle fertiliser, get a bucket and fill it with nettles. You can speed up the process by cutting the nettles into smaller chunks but this isn’t essential.
- Fill the bucket with water but leave enough so it doesn’t overflow.
- Every couple of days, give it a stir and after two-three weeks, it will be ready. Word of warning though, it will smell foul.
- Filter out the mixture into another bucket to clear out the debris.
- To use your nettle fertiliser, mix with water (1:10. 1 part nettle fertiliser, 10 part water), and water at the base of your plants.
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- Nettles ready for mixing
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- Nettle fertiliser after two weeks.
And Now for Something Completely Different
Instead of my usual blog update, I’ve decided to do a video. Enjoy!
Raised Beds
You may remember in my last post I mentioned I was planning on building some raised beds. I mentioned this to my dad the other week and not only did he get a load of wood to build them, he actually went down the plot one of the days last week and built them for me. Continue reading
It just keeps coming
The weather recently has been hot and I mean hot. Although I’ve been down the allotment, most of the jobs are on hold because of the heat. The only thing I can do is water and harvest as crops become available, and boy I’ve had some good harvests!
Harvest time
In my last post, I said my potatoes would be ready to harvest within a couple of weeks. Well the following weekend, I couldn’t help myself and emptied one of the tubs to see if there was anything in there and I was treated to some tasty taters. Along with the potatoes, I have some strawberries, beetroot, carrots and some onions, and had the lot for dinner that evening. My first proper harvest of the year. Continue reading
Finally, a few hours down the plot
Things have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks and I haven’t had chance to get down the plot. On Wednesday I managed to find a few hours in the afternoon and went down to check on things and to get on top of the jobs. Continue reading
A new addition to the plot
I’ve been on the lookout for a bird table for some time now and couldn’t find anything that took my fancy. Most bird tables in the shops were either too expensive or the build quality was poor and I couldn’t justify buying something when I could quite easily build something from leftover material.
How to Avoid Potato Blight
Potato blight is a fungal disease that can devastate a potato crop. The first sign of infection are black spots that appear on the leaves and then turn yellow. If left untreated, the plant will die back completely and can also affect the tubers. Continue reading
How to Grow Onions
Onions can be grown in two ways; from seed or onion sets. Onion sets are small onions that can be planted out in autumn (over wintering onions) or in spring. If possible, purchase onions sets that have been heat-treated as this will stop them running to seed. Continue reading