by Nicki Slater, Imagination Workshop

I must begin with an apology for taking such a long break from bringing you vegetable based news from Avocado Sweet. It has been a really busy summer, in my work and personal life as well as on the allotment but I am absolutely delighted to bring good tidings after a shaky start back in May.

We ended up having a brilliant harvest with broad beans, runner beans, fine beans, courgettes, potatoes, celery (picked up as tiny plants from the veg swap box at the allotment notice board), marrows, peas, purple leaved cabbages, tomatoes (mainly green but now ripening on the window sill), onions, garlic, beetroot, lettuce, rocket, spinach, strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb and – carrots! They were free of the dreaded carrot fly and grew long, straight and true. I’m not sure if we just had beginner’s luck or whether my crop of marigolds scared off the flies, but I’ll definitely be planting the two together again next year. The flowers look so jolly as well as attracting bees and other pollinating insects.

We also had success with the herbs. We have coriander, oregano, sage and sorrel which is easy to grow and makes a really lemony and salty addition to salads. We have lots of varieties of mint, including a “chocolate mint” which really does smell like an After Eight.  Needless to say that we also achieved a fantastic crop of weeds! All the herbs except the coriander will stay in over the winter and we have leeks which are looking promising plus a few pumpkins, which we will use to make mini Jack o’ Lanterns for Halloween.

So what brought the turnaround in our fortunes? I really believe that the organic liquid feed made all the difference. You have to dilute it in the watering can and then water the whole place. It was hard work lugging full watering cans from the tap but I soon learned to use two at once so I was balanced.  I also kept up with the poultry manure, digging in a few scoopfuls every now and then.  The weather was fairly mixed but we did end up having some very warm spells which must have helped too.

We started collecting organic food waste from the kitchen and have been adding that to the compost heap. I did pick up some tips to make the material break down more quickly, such as ripping open tea bags and chopping up the bulkier things like orange peels and banana skins.

I also managed to tackle the dreaded slugs. I made friends with a local restaurant owner and collected all their egg shells for a few weeks. I washed them out and every time I had the oven on put them on the bottom shelf till they were dried out. Once they were cool I put them in a bag and crushed them. So I now have boxes full of crushed egg shells which the slugs hate. I’ll use them once spring comes and we have some new growth. You can also mix them with coffee grounds, which can also be picked up free from local cafes.

I planted some pussy willows to make a living windbreak but, for some reason, most of them died once they were in the soil and the three that did survive came a cropper when I got a bit over enthusiastic with the strimmer last week! So I am back to planning an effective barrier for the worst of the wind.

Next month we hope to have the whole place weed free and a layer of manure spread over all the free beds. I am going to plant autumn onions which can stay in the ground over winter and should be ready for harvest late May or early June and we are getting our first seed potatoes pre-ordered.  Autumn evenings are spent drooling over seed catalogues and making plans for what goes where next year. I am still using the Pink Poo from Knowes Farm Shop and have also found a source of great horse manure: the initial 20 smelly bags I took delivery of are not nearly enough so more is needed. I find I have become obsessed with animal poop! But at least it does remind me how we can use so much of what we consider waste to enhance our lives.  

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The lino cut above is by David Sim and is available from the Crail Gallery for £180.