AN INTRODUCTION

My name is Lizzie B. and I have been running practical gardening courses and demonstrations at Seaton Allotments for 4 years. I’ve been gardening for 30 + years and trained at Kingston Maurward. I’m particularly keen on growing fruit and veg. and almost evangelistic about getting other people to do the same. Presumably you want to give it a go or why else would you be reading this?

If you have any questions for Lizzy, please send them via the contact page.

MULCHING
Mulching is covering the surface of the soil with something in order to achieve one or more of the following. 1) suppress existing weeds where there are no crops 2) prevent weeds from colonising already cleared ground 3) prevent weeds from competing for space, water and nutrients between plants you are growing for crops or ornamental purposes.4) warming the soil prior to planting
5) prevent the soil from drying out during a drought 6) increasing the fertility of the soil.
SO WHAT DOES WHAT?
Hessian backed wool carpet 1 + 4
Cardboard 1 + 4 + 6
Newspaper with fresh grass trimming on top 3 + 5 + 6
Well rotted compost all above
Well rotted farmyard manure all above
Well rotted horse manure all above
Green manure 2 + 5 + 6
*Fresh compost, farm or horse manure 1 +2 +5 + 6

* must then be covered by carpet, cardboard or fabric and left till rotted. This will take 4 – 6 months for compost and 2 –3 years for the animal manures.
COMPOSTING

Why compost?
To increase soil fertility by introducing food, micro-organisms, useful soil bacterium and insects to the kitchen garden.

These also help by fighting diseases in the soil and will encourage soil based predators to kill soil and ground based pests which may otherwise not only harm your plants but introduce diseases.

By putting bulky organic matter into the soil you can help improve the texture of the soil allowing the naturally high fertility present in clay to be released thereby having even bigger, stronger and healthier plants.

It also helps by acting as a reservoir of moisture during draughts reducing the need to water. By applying compost as a mulch you can also suppress weeds and the worms will do your digging. Composting also helps to massively reduce the amount of landfill that your home would otherwise generate.

What is compost?
Organic material that has decomposed or rotted down to its base elements. These are the origins of life and, in one form or another, all life needs them to survive. Throwing them on the tip, in the bin or burning them is a huge and unsustainable waste.

While, in fact, anything that has lived, or made from anything that has lived, is ultimately compost, for the purposes of the niceties of social living, and our health, we’re going to exclude some things. Though you may be surprised by some things I urge you to include.

How do you make good compost?
Good compost is made by the heap initially heating up very quickly. This kills some of the seeds and disease present in the materials included. The hotter the heap the cleaner the eventual product. The heat also starts the decomposition of the materials.

Heat is achieved by adding in layers, roughly 6" deep, of wet and then dry material. E.g grass cuttings are wet, leaves are generally dry. Some materials create a lot of heat and the best heaps contain a large amount of these. Grass cuttings, horse manure and urine are included here. Too thick a layer of either will cool the heap down and slow the process.

Some things take a long time to break down but can be helped by shredding or tearing or bashing! The large outer leaves of cabbages can be torn or shredded and the stems can be bashed to break the fibres.

After just 3/5 weeks, depending on the time of year, the heap can be turned. At this point I adjust the moisture of the heap by adding wet or dry material as required. It is then left for a further 4/8 weeks, again depending upon the season.

The heap should then be ready to use or store.

What to make compost in.
Pro’s con’s
open stacks no outlay.can be any size you like. Takes some skill to make.Can be difficult to get hot.Not very quick.
3 sided heaps very quick and cheap to build. Easy to keep tidy. Can be easily covered, turned to get temperature up you need a minimum of 2. So can be difficult if space is tight.
Closed square bins heats up very quickly and so makes compost fast. Takes a large amount of materials which need to be collected and made all at once must be turned at least once, preferably twice but can then be bagged to finish, freeing the bin for the next lot.
Plastic lift-off bins very quick to make if material added evenly. Can be ‘orrible, stinking, slimy mess if not made properly
compost bins with openings in the bottom as above but dearer the bottom opening is allegedly for removing the compost as it is made. This does not work and the door will break anyway.
Old dustbins, containers, sacks, etc Free. good levels of moisture and air flow will need to be ensured.


What can I compost?
All raw vegetable trimmings, the stones of large fruit, avocados take too long to rot. Excessive amounts of onion skins will increase acidity.
Egg shells crush them first or save separately for deterring slugs!
vacuum cleaner contents Honestly, really, and very valuable!
Cardboard, including egg boxes and trays tear up all your cardboard and store it to use in the bin. One of the best accelerators there is and immensely valuable for bringing in micro-organisms into the heap and your garden. Massive reduction in landfill use.
Pet bedding/ manure from hamsters, rabbits and guinea pigs but not mice or rats.
Grass cuttings bag up and spread through heap.
Weeds not couch, bindweed or ground elder.
Weeds with seed heads if the heap is hot enough it should kill most seeds. Sandwich them between grass cutting to be sure and then wee on them!
Shredded paper, tax demands, bills etc. paper bags best place for them is the heap. Good for balancing a wet heap and identity theft is markedly reduced too!
Old bedding plants, spent vegetables. Intersperse with grass. Not potato or tomato haulms and at Seaton allotments not brassica roots even if apparently healthy.
Rotting veg, eg potatoes, marrows, leeks etc. if rotten because spoilt by weather or neglect, chop and mix in with other drier materials. If disease has caused rot, do not compost.
Spent compost form pots etc can cool heap down so save instead and use mixed with compost next season
soil only ever use in an open heap and then sparingly. Cools a heap down.
Bits of carpet or underlay never include underlay anywhere in the garden. Contain toxic chemicals which remain in soil for years. Wool based, hessian backed carpet very useful topping for a 3 sided heap.
Meat, fish, poultry never include any part of these as they will encourage rats, flies and disease. And the environmental health department!
Dog/ cat waste as above
cotton, wool, etc these will rot down in time. Wool would better be used in containers or trenches as a moisture reservoir. Any man made material is not suitable.
Leftover food not suitable as may attract vermin.
Prunings will need to be shredded. Diseased prunings should be burnt
leaves Evergreen leaves, eg, laurel or yew, take too long and can be toxic, and should not be composted. All other leaves can be included in the heap but would be better used to make leaf mould (later!)
String all those faffy bits can go in. Not nylon string
seaweed a good free accelerator.
Horse manure on straw make sure its hot enough and mix it with grass and cardboard when first turning to ensure you kill the many weeds seeds present
horse manure on shavings/ paper. Make a single large heap and turn twice. May take 2/3 years
pigeon / birdcage droppings very dangerous. Do not use.
Farmyard manure make a single large heap and turn twice. May take 2/3 years
spent mushroom compost best used as a mulch. Check soil acidity first.
nettles, comfrey fab. accelerators, add lots of great minerals

DISPOSING OF NON-COMPOSTABLES

Bindweed, couch, ground elder and brambles will all thrive in your compost bin and reinfest your garden when said compost is then returned to the garden.
Get a large bin, half fill with water and put the first three offenders in there with a brick to weigh them down and cover with a lid. A combination of light exclusion and drowning will see them off but they still need 4-5 months in there to make sure. They can then be drained off and added to the compost bin safely. Brambles are best torn from the ground and any remaining roots dug up and the whole lot burned. Also requiring burning are diseased wood, infected brassica stumps, particularly from Seaton allotments where club root disease is endemic, potato and tomato haulms, especially if blighted. It might seem impossible to burn these soggy remains but the best thing to do is to carefully remove them from the plant and lay them on newspaper. Wrap them up and stuff the parcel into a suitable cardboard box. I use cereal packets and keep the parcels fairly small. They can then be stored safely till such time as you next have a bonfire without danger of you letting the spores run riot on your, or your neighbour’s plot. Remember also that the resulting bonfire ash is high in potash, spread it where your root crops are to go or around fruit trees and nothing is wasted. If you’re going to have a bonfire that’ll be burning for a couple of hours, chuck a jacket potato in at the base. A perfect reward for your hard work!


GROWING IN CONTAINERS.
CROPS.
Depending on the space you have, select your favourites marked with * from the crop list. The bigger the plant the bigger the container but even the biggest plants on the list can be grown in a sawn off dustbin ( a whole one for potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes) Holes need to be made either in the bottom of smaller containers or two inches from the bottom in the bigger ones. ( this allows for a small reservoir of water for trees, bushes etc.) Anything that can hold soil can be used to grow a plant. I once had a dozen old kettles each growing a different herb, an old loo growing courgettes and a tin bath full of potatoes. I’ve even grown carrots in an old welly! But you must make drainage holes or the plants will drown.
SITING AND WATER
The containers need to be in a well lit area and though grouping them together provides a nice micro- climate, be sure to leave space for them to mature and grow without you needing to keep moving them and room for you to get at them for watering and harvesting the crops. Have access to water nearby. A water butt or two collecting rainwater would be ideal though on a roof garden may prove too heavy. However some easy means of watering must be planned right from the start. Carting watering cans any distance may well lead to inadequate watering and crop failure. Rainwater is better than tap water for everything except seedlings.
FOOD AND SOIL
If you only want to grow salad crops and carrots you just need ordinary compost. Do get peat free and do mix some water saving crystals with it. Both are available at garden centres. Either pop in some ready grown baby plants, water and wait. 4 – 6 weeks and you’re cropping! Or sow seeds and wait another 2 weeks. But if you want to grow any of the other stuff, well, you can’t beat good ol’ FYM! Put it on your wish list for Christmas. I’m sure somebody from Seaton allotments will let you have a sack, a bucket or a barrow full, for a small consideration and if you don’t know anyone at Seaton allotments, let me introduce myself…( what have I let myself in for?) Put this in the container and then use peat free compost and garden loam mixed with water saving crystals.

Raise the containers off the ground if possible, a couple of batons supported by bricks will hold a number of small containers and prevents them sitting in pools of water, attracting slugs. However, and conversely, getting saucers to sit the containers in to hold a small reservoir of water is also a good idea. Put big containers on bricks. Your main problems will be proper watering, controlling slugs (more of which later) and stopping people nicking that tomato you’ve been nurturing before a)you’ve had time to show it off to everyone(and I do mean everyone!) and b) eating it yourself.


CONTAINER GARDENING.
Get your containers ready. Go to recycling centres and pick up stuff from there or ask if you can have suitable containers you see in skips. Sure, people will think you strange, but wear a purple beret with an orange feather in it and they won’t question you any further. Truly. Works a treat!

Happy gardening

Lizzie B.