Thompson & Morgan have added Goji Berry 'No.1 Lifeberry' to their catalogue this year and have very kindly sent me a 9cm Plant to trial.
Monday 15 April 2024
T&M - Goji Berry 'No.1 Lifeberry'
Friday 12 April 2024
Clean Up & Coffee Grounds
This afternoon, it was nice and sunny and thanks to my sister popping in I managed to get to the allotment and hit the potting shed and the plot 1 shed and had a good tidy up.
Sorted out the compost into buckets in the potting shed. Starbucks free coffee grounds chopped up and placed in aluminium trays. My little sister picks it up for me when she gets her coffee in the mornings a couple of times a week.
Trays placed in the Plot 1A Greenhouse it was over 30C in there this afternoon when I opened the door. I love the smell of drying coffee grounds
Bindweed in the climbing frame greenhouse sprayed with weed killer, I don't normally like using it but at the moment I can't get down on the ground to just weed it.
Bindweed on the Cantilever Runner Beam sprayed, but I'm going to have to get down and weed around the young tree and the grape vine manually, or find someone who can weed it for me.
Dry Coffee grounds spread on Bed 5 as the snails and slugs hate coffee grounds and it also act as a fertiliser.
Thursday 11 April 2024
3rd Bed Of Red Baron Onions
Wednesday 10 April 2024
Daleks on Bed 5
The Daleks had been continuously topped up with alternating layers of Greens and Browns including Comfrey and coffee grounds. The last layer was shredded paper to act as insulation as we went into winter, and that's what remains un-composted, the rest of it looked adequately composted to feed the soil and full up the bed a little because the beds are not really raised more framed to separate and delineate the beds from the paths. With my current mobility issues I will be looking at making the beds higher in the future.
The Kent & Stowe long handled fork and trowel and plastic shovel worked well getting the spoil that fell on the weed membrane as I lifted the Daleks up and off the Compost. With my current mobility issues I can't get down on my knees at the moment and these long handled tools are proving very useful.
I skimmed the un-composed layers off the top of the two piles and put that material into the Hotbin.
I cut some more of the brassicas up from last years bed that I had not cleared to give my worms in my Hotbin some spring food, and then added another layer of un composed material from these Daleks. I have two square flower buckets with the un-composted material nearby to add when I gat another green layer of kitchen vegetable offcuts.
Tuesday 9 April 2024
Potting On Germinated Parsnip Seeds
Monday 8 April 2024
National Frog Month
April is National Frog Month? Frogs are amazing amphibians, and they should be celebrated! Also, keep your eye out for frogspawn - there are loads about at the moment - you're bound to spot some if you or a family member have a pond or if you go for a nature walk near any body of water.
To celebrate Frogs, here are some Fantastic Frog Facts for National Frog Month;
- Not all frogs have webbed feet
- A group of frogs is called an ‘army’ or a ‘knot’
- Frogs can live up to 10 years in the wild
- Frogs have sticky tongues
- Frogs sleep with their eyes open
- Frogs don’t have to drink – they can absorb water through their skin
- A frog’s call can be heard up to a mile away
- Female frogs are mainly silent – it’s the male that mainly croaks
- Frogs can breathe through their skin and live up to several months underwater
- Tadpoles have teeth
- One clump of frogspawn can contain up to 4000 eggs
- Some frogs eat their babies.
Sunday 7 April 2024
First Early Potatoes In Buckets
The face of my daughter in this photo, looks just like my late wife when I was in trouble. She sent her sister this photo with a message that I had arrived safe and sound.
Four large buckets of 50% New compost and 50% old compost ready to go into square flower buckets for the second earlies to be planted at a future visit.
Saturday 6 April 2024
Getting The Onion Sets In
Emma and I got the first two beds of Onions in before the rain started this afternoon, Strawberries Covered with debris netting, this morning Blueberry plant potted up, and rubbish taken to the skip.
Beds 4 5 & 6 had been ear marked for the onion sets, however two Daleks were placed on bed 5 last year and both were filled to the very top as the vegetation of the allotment was stripped back.
With the change in plan Beds 14 & 13 both now have 105 Red Baron Sets in each bed and I need to clear bed 12 ready to get another beds with in, plus I need to make two more 105 hole Planting Membrane sheets.
The beds in the greenhouse climbing frame need weeding and the return bed needs completing before the need to plant in there is with us so that's a job on my to do list. The mesh panel was put in place as Mr Fox had been in there and dug in the bed.
The area behind the greenhouse climbing frame needs to be cleared of weeds and a floor of woodchips needs to go in as that will be where the Blueberries will go so that I can net it to keep the birds off them.
Wednesday 3 April 2024
Atlantic Garden Organic Peat Free Seaweed Enriched Compost
There is much debate regarding the demise of peat compost and how poor results are being had by using the peat free range of composts now available to nonprofessional gardeners and allotment holders.
There are many discussions on gardening and allotment forums with complaints of composts being over woody and full of un-composted materials whilst we all look for something akin to what we used to be able to purchase.
I've found this new organic peat free seaweed enriched compost / soil improver and I will be adding it to the soil and compost I'm using on a number of my vegetables.
Below is a little about the man, the company he formed and the product he is selling and I'm going to trial this year.
The Atlantic has played a pretty significant role in Guy Grieve’s life. From living at sea aboard a boat with his family to working as a scallop diver for 12 years running the Ethical Shellfish company in the waters surrounding his former island home on Mull.
To assisting in the formation of a 3km sugar kelp farm on the Isle of Mull & working with the Scottish Coastal Clean-up charity. In 2023 Guy formed Atlantic Garden and started creating 20% Seaweed compost & soil improver ready to start this year.
“For twelve years, as a scallop diver, I swam through Kelp forests in the pure beautiful waters of the North Atlantic around my home off the coast of the West of Scotland. I used to gather seaweed on the beach beside my house to fertilise a little veggie patch on the Isle of Mull.
The results were always wonderful. It got me thinking…
Atlantic Garden’s compost ingredients are 100% UK sourced, including seaweed grown and gathered off the West and East coasts of Scotland.
They use seaweed from storm wash onto harbour facilities and infrastructure where it has to be removed, so are helping the community by keeping the harbours clean and clear.
The rest is up to Mother Nature, they just wait, like Master Whisky distillers, for the natural ingredients they bring together to gradually form into a very lush looking special soil improver. This seaweed enriched compost contains 80 minerals, essential trace elements, vitamins and natural plant hormones including Cytokinins, which all stimulate plant growth and so much more.
There’s nothing artificial in their compost it is organic as they add no inputs at all during the growing and collecting and processing of their compost. As the company is newly formed they aren’t certified yet… But they will be as soon as they can.
Atlantic Garden is working closely with partners on the West coast of Scotland to grow seaweed. They have already established a 3km sugar kelp farm on the Isle of Mull from which they hope to harvest 30 tonnes of gorgeous kelp this summer. They also bring in sustainably hand gathered seaweed and seaweed from other farmers in Scotland.
By buying a bag of beautiful seaweed enriched compost from Atlantic Garden you are helping them to play a small part in repaying our great debt to the sea.
Without the sea, Atlantic Garden is nothing. So they decided that every bag they sell will lead to a serious contribution to The Scottish Coastal Clean-Up which is an incredible charity which is profoundly dedicated to clearing marine plastic waste from beaches in Scotland.
Atlantic Garden Organic Peat Free Seaweed Enriched Compost (40 Litres) Cost £13.99 and that price includes the shipping costs. If you order two of more boxes then there is a 10% Discount applied to your order.
Your order for each 40 litres will be packed into two bags of 20 litres each, and placed in a single box. The bags, box, tape and label are all 100% home compostable. thus Zero waste. Atlantic Garden are not interested in flashy packaging or shiny plastic. It’s what is in the bag that counts.
In fact Atlantic Garden are one of the only compost suppliers who has taken the time to ensure that you can compost your bag. However you need to help them too. When your beautiful Atlantic Garden compost arrives you have one week to keep it in the bag… Any longer and it will actually start to compost!!If you don’t plan to use it straight away just pour the contents into a holding bag or container and cover it. Atlantic Compost packaging will home compost in 180 days. Please do tell them how it goes as they are somewhat obsessed by the subject!
The Atlantic Garden website has a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question Page) which you can get to by Clicking Here
The Small Print I have not been paid for this article, Guy has very kindly sent me some Atlantic Garden Compost to trial and I will be writing about it again on manvslug.uk and going into more depth on how it is made etc. I will be posting about it again, especially when I use it on my tomatoes, and I may even do a bit of a trial against other composts this year..
I love to see an ethical, newly formed UK based companies launch and thrive and as someone who formed his own company ten years before I retired, I’m always happy to assist in promoting new companies that have a great service or product, and I wish Guy and Atlantic Garden every success.