On the allotments
An allotment today offers a stress-free chance for creative activity, enjoying the satisfying challenge of working in the fresh air, placing tiny seeds into the ground and nurturing them before bringing the results to the table. Allotment gardening presents the fantastic opportunity to grow the sort of foods you love to eat. Your allotment can also become a magical place for children, providing a space to get their hands in the soil and encouraging good eating habits from tasting the vegetables they have helped to grow. And you don’t need a big garden to cultivate your own crops. Edible crops can be squeezed into the tiniest of plots. Our guides are aimed at those who have not had an allotment before but hopefully can be enjoyed by everyone, from the more experienced amongst us to those armchair gardeners who are quite content to sit and dream.
Allotment Gardening ... July
July is a glorious month on the plot when harvests are gathered and long, hot, summer days mean you can be gardening well into the evening. Apart from gathering produce, watering and weeding will be priorities as well as keeping control of occasional pests...
The trick to keeping your plot productive for as long as possible through the growing season is to make sure that when one crop vacates the ground, another is ready to take its place. For example many of us will have grown second-early potatoes this year and once they are harvested they leave lots of empty ground, just begging to be filled. Brassicas are ideal for this and now is the time to plant winter cabbages, kale, winter cauliflowers and Brussels sprouts. Taking this a stage further, these slow-growing crops can then be interplanted with fast-growers such as lettuce, radish and salad leaves.
Once planted out, keep covered with fine netting at all times to prevent the birds and caterpillars from taking their toll and be sure to take precautions against slugs and snails which may cause damage during wet weather.
Sweetcorn is shallow rooted and needs plenty of moisture to ensure that it grows well and forms good cobs. Mulches can help to keep the roots cool and moist or a spreading crop such as squashes can be grown beneath the plants and will have a similar effect
As well as sowing a succession of veg, simply picking regularly ensures that plants give the heaviest yields possible. All crops have one main purpose in life and that is to procreate by producing seeds and once they have done that they will consider that their job is done and begin to slow down. Tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and beans are prime examples of plants which will stop producing if allowed to develop mature fruit or pods, but others too can have their useful lives extended by regular picking. Salad leaves, radish and some herbs such as parsley and coriander if not used as soon as possible will quickly run to seed and since they grow so quickly at this time of year can easily catch a busy gardener out.
Continue weeding, pulling any larger weeds and hoeing seedlings as they emerge with a sharp hoe.
Water container-grown fruit and veg such as blueberries, salad leaves and tomatoes. Hanging baskets
are particularly vulnerable so top them up before going to work or consider installing a simple drip
irrigation system. If this is not practical and you can’t find anyone to water while you are away,
fill a bucket with water and sit the basket on top.
If the weather is hot it is best to delay any further sowings of salad leaves until temperatures drop a little. Most salads such as lettuce and rocket will bolt (run to seed) very quickly if temperatures remain in the mid twenties or above for too long.
Once blackcurrants have been harvested the plants can be pruned, removing up to a third of the oldest branches to encourage new growth from the base.
Join the Saltburn Allotments Association
We know that the wildlife garden is rather overgrown at the moment. We plan to clean up the paths and strim around the trees in early July. If you are passing and could take the time to pull out the odd weed etc. from a raised bed we'd be really grateful as we'd like it to look reasonable when Northumbria in Bloom judges visit on 13th July.
The fourth Saltburn Craft and Produce Show will be here on August 21st at Emmanuel Church Hall. If you fancy growing something for the show there is still time. Full information will be out in the show schedules.
On 12th September there's to be a Saltburn Town Meal planned in the Wildlife Garden. It will offer on opportunity for anyone interested to enjoy good food and, if anyone has any surpluses, bring them along to the meal to be prepared and cooked. This will be a trial run for a big event next year when Saltburn will be 150 years old.
You might have noticed piles of bark chippings and leaf shreddings at the car park near the Hazel Grove containers. If anyone wants any chippings for paths or as a mulch around fruit trees and bushes, please help yourselves; it's free.
Did you know... you don’t have to have an allotment to be a member of Saltburn Allotment Association? Anyone resident in Saltburn is welcome to join. For simply £1 you could enjoy the following benefits:
- 20% seed discount on a wide range of seeds
- discounted composts, fertilisers and weed killers
- a library full of good books about all aspects of gardening
- use of tools for those one off jobs you love to hate
- access to information and advice from experienced gardeners
- opportunities to share and swap seeds and plants
Don’t delay, come down to the allotment containers any Sunday between 10.00 and 11.00/11.30am and join us. The containers are located on Hazel Grove, past the caravan site on the right hand side.
A brief history of allotment gardening
Allotments date back to the early 18th century and the Enclosures Acts. These laws led to the enclosure of common land, used until then by everyone as grazing for animals. The poor, without land, lost a source of food and income, and many starved. With the advent of the industrial revolution, whole communities were uprooted from their traditional agrarian life and moved into towns and cities to work in the new factories. Food was scarce and expensive, as towns grew up faster than the transport needed to provision them.
And so we got allotments. In order for the people who worked in the factories to eat, it became necessary to allot a piece of land (hence the name) on which a family could grow their own vegetables. These allotments developed into a standard size of 10 poles (around 300 sq yards), deemed sufficient to feed a family of four throughout the year.
Allotments came into prominence during the two world wars. During WWII many parks were turned into allotments and administered by local gardening societies. Once again, it was the shortage of food that gave allotments their importance. But from the late fifties and the end of rationing, allotments went into decline.
The new affluence of the sixties and evolving farming techniques meant that food was both plentiful and inexpensive, and that people had the money to pursue new leisure interests. The package holiday industry took off, and so did shopping! Allotments weren't popular, and their lack of use must have been the perfect excuse to turn sites over to the developers. This happened on such a scale that in the last forty years more than half of all allotment sites in Britain have been lost.
This could be a tale of the end of a movement, but peoples' interest in allotments has been rekindled. Debates about organic growing, food scares such as BSE and salmonella, and the lack of variety and taste in shops has prompted people to get out and do it for themselves.
