Thursday, April 2, 2015

Making the Most of Your Allotment






 OOOPS. I seem to have screwed up and this didn't publish yesterday... smh... sorry.



This is a British gardening book.  Clearly, British "allotments" are significantly bigger than the plots on community gardens around here (seriously, around here - neither a greenhouse nor a shed are going to fit!)  That being said, I would recommend any home gardener to read this book. Soil/site prep,  amending the soil, cover crops, crop rotation (3 or 4 year plans) are covered in the first half of the book.  Then it goes into picking out what you're going to grow, what to plant when, what needs early starting inside or in a cold frame/green house (some of this may need to be edited if you don't live in Britain - but the timelines seem similar to what we would do in NJ).  There is also good suggestions on timeline efficiency - early crops to grow around late crops - the late crops don't get big and bushy before the early crops are harvested  as well as quick fall crops you can put in after your major summer crop is done (one huge advantage to this is less open soil = less weeds!)  The book also goes over ways to deal with pests, which bugs and animals are actually helping you out without resorting to industrial strength Raid.  Composting also gets a section - both kitchen and spent plant composting and brown/leaf composting. 

One last note - the photos are phenomenal!! 

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