Hints and Tips

Crop Rotation:

The principle of crop rotation is to grow specific groups of vegetables on a different part of the vegetable plot each year. This helps to reduce a build-up of crop-specific pest and disease problems and it organises groups of crops according to their cultivation needs. Continue reading...

Companion Planting:

Companion planting is all about creating plant communities which have mutual benefits to each other. It can be an organic way to protect your crops from pests or it could help improve pollination of fruit and vegetable crops. Continue reading...

Composting:

The basic compost recipe couldn't be easier. All you need is a basic compost bin - or even simpler a pile in the corner of the garden that's out of site, and just keep adding the right material to it! Continue reading...

How to fill the Winter/Spring Gap:

So many allotmenteers work really hard over this period but ignore resources they have available. Most plots are just finishing off their last purple sprouting broccoli so, aside from rhubarb and a few hardy lettuce, there isn't much around at the moment. Here are a couple of ideas to help fill the gap: Continue reading...

Garlic Spray:

Try Rosie Yeomans' popular garlic recipe for keeping slugs at bay! Take one whole bulb of garlic, put it into 2 pints of cool water and boil it for 10 mins. Cool the pot outside ( it smells too strong to leave indoors). When cool decant into a bottle (this will become your garlic concentrate). Add 1tbsp on the garlic concentrate into one galloon of water. Water plants with this every fortnight and when it's not raining. This should help keep your slugs away.

Identifying Good and Bad Insects:

Not all bugs in your garden are bad. Find out which pests are beneficial to your plants and which are harmful. Continue reading...

Potato and Tomato Blight:

Potato and tomato blight, properly called late blight, is a disease of the foliage and fruit or tubers of tomatoes and potatoes, causing rotting. It is most common in wet weather. Continue reading...