Nettle feed

The rain and sunshine is working wonders at the allotment, everything is springing to life. The potatoes, broadbeans and onions are showing renewed growth and the new seedlings such as the courgettes, chicory and beetroot are taking hold. 

It is important to give vegetables extra nutrients and making your own organic fertiliser could not be easier. This is especially the case when the same patch of soil is in constant use, such as an allotment, and vegetable growing in particular uses up a lot of nutrients from the soil. So as with farming, intensive successive growing will require you to replenish what is taken out in order to maximise the crop from your patch. 

There are a plethora of ways to nourish, condition and improve your soil. Regularly adding compost definitely helps, as the soil benefits from the nutrition and structure to aid water drainage. However compost on it's own may not be enough - a regular 'top up' with an organic fertiliser is vital if you want your vegetables to flourish.

You can make your own organic fertiliser easily at home. The ingredients can be sourced directly from the garden or allotment. Jenny Young of Castlefarm explains that one of the simplest yet effective organic fertilisers you can make is from nettles. A liquid nettle feed are a great source of nitrogen, perfect for plants growing above ground. Nettle feed has also been attributed as a fantastic feed for tomatoes. 

To make your liquid nettle fertiliser, you'll need lots of nettles, water and a large storage butt or bucket. Firstly, you'll need to collect up your nettles - as many as you can find! If possible, opt for younger, more tender stems. Once you have collected your nettles, you can either chop them up with secateurs, crush them (wearing thick garden gloves, of course!), or shred them through a lawnmower or garden shredder. 

The crushed or shredded nettles can then be put in the container. You can weigh the pile of nettles down with a stone or brick, before adding water. You should add enough water to just about cover the pile of nettles.

You'll then need to leave the 'brew' for around 20-30 days. During this time, the mixture starts to smell somewhat, so you might want to site it in a secluded corner of your garden or allotment! The brew will also become like a rich feed concentrate, so once it's ready to use, you'll need to dilute it with water to a ration of around 1:10 before feeding it to your plants.

If you have any leftover feed, this can always be added to your compost heap or bin over winter when the nettle-growing season finishes.

Happy feeding!

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Breed like rabbits

What an exciting week for the Carrott family and the allotment. We welcomed our new addition, baby Will last Sunday and we had our first harvest, a spinach salad.  But we weren't the first to eat the spinach. A big and hairy rabbit had taken up residence in our polytunnel and devoured a patch. On a vegetable growth inspection, we came across the rabbit and even got a picture of it. We have plans of turning it into a 'Most Wanted' poster now!

green grows the rushes

Carrott Jnr gets watering but loses a sock!

Slug pub

Now I haven't come across any slugs yet, but this unstoppable pest needs to be kept at bay; prevention is better than cure. I remember the trauma as a child squashing a slug with a glass jar. It was truly gross and it makes me shudder to think about it. I do not want to repeat this torture, but if it comes to slugs vs lettuce, I'll acquire a hammer. But first I'm going to make a slug pub, a dish of organic cider (Mr Carrott's home brew) to lure the slugs to their death. 

For the birds

Hungry birds are becoming the bane of my allotment life. This week I'm going to stretch an old net curtain over the onions, shallots, peas and broadbeans now that some of these enterprising creatures have taken to their taste. Almost overnight they've pecked at the seedlings and helped themselves. My neighbours too have an array of impressive bird-control scaring devices; a cute pink scarecrow, tinker bells, toy windmills and a row of Tricolour flags. 

Birds, especially the Narraghmore crows, are smart creatures. Let's not underestimate them. I'm guessing they'll soon learn that scaring devices represent not real danger, so I'm going to improvise using a variety of devices and replacing or moving them around from time to time. Clearly this is one of the first signs of allotment madness!

Weed killer

The recent sun and rain have been fantastic for the allotment; everything seems to have leapt to life - including weeds. My last couple of sessions on the plot have involved a never-ending cycle of weeding and sowing seeds. Sadly the fine weather is having a positive effect on the weeds as it is on me. I always hand weed the shoots out as soon as I see them but they keep coming back. I dug out as any of the deep white roots as I could, but it's a bit like digging for Australia - you'll never get there. As an organic gardener, I can't apply chemicals to the plot. But I'm sure my regular attacks with fork and spade will one day eliminate these knotty problems.