Allotment Gardening For Dummies E-Book

Sven Wombwell

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 780

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Allotment Gardening For Dummies is a lively, hands-on guide to getting the most out of your allotment. Whether you're interested in eating fresh, saving money, getting exercise or enjoying wholesome family fun, this is the guide for you. The step-by-step advice takes you through all the stages in the process, from securing an allotment and preparing your plot, to choosing what to grow and enjoying the benefits of abundant fresh food and a sociable and healthy hobby. With over 50 handy line drawings, plus information on how to grow organic and advice on storing and cooking the food you grow, this guide really does have it all!

Allotment Gardening For Dummies includes:

Part 1: Getting to Grips with Allotment Gardening
Chapter 1: What Are Allotments All About?
Chapter 2: Getting hold of an Allotment
Chapter 3: Getting Started

Part 2: Preparing for Allotment Success
Chapter 4: Deciding What to Grow, When
Chapter 5: Preparing Your Plot
Chapter 6: Keeping Your Soil Healthy
Chapter 7: Keeping Your Plants Healthy
Chapter 8: Growing Organic

Part 3: Growing a Few of Your Favourite Vegetables
Chapter 9: Going Underground
Chapter 10: The Staples
Chapter 11: Growing Leafy Greens
Chapter 12: Planting Peas, Beans and Other Pods
Chapter 13: Growing More Exotic Veg

Part 4: Extending Your Allotment Repetoire
Chapter 14: Growing Wholesome Herbs
Chapter 15: Growing Fruitful Fruit
Chapter 16: Nurturing Flowers on an Allotment

Part 5: Getting the Most Out of Your Allotment
Chapter 17: Involving Children Around the Allotment
Chapter 18: Hobnobbing with Allotment Society
Chapter 19: Growing Giant Veg

Part 6: The Part of Tens Chapter
Chapter 20: Ten Common Accidents and How to Prevent Them
Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Revive a Flagging Allotment

Leseprobe

Allotment Gardening For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organised

Part I: Getting to Grips with Allotment Gardening

Part II: Preparing for Allotment Success

Part III: Growing Your Favourite Vegetables

Part IV: Extending Your Allotment Repertoire

Part V: Getting the Most Out of Your Allotment

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting to Grips with Allotment Gardening

Chapter 1: Discovering What Allotments Are All About

How It All Began

Looking at today

Weighing up the Pros and Cons of Working an Allotment

Feasting on fresh food

Keeping fit

Getting connected

Being sustainable

Working hard (but not all the time!)

Making time

Saving precious pennies

Chapter 2: Getting Hold of an Allotment

Getting the Low-Down on Leasing or Owning an Allotment

The Allotments Act

Addressing your right to an allotment

Applying for an allotment

Knowing Which Patch to Pick

Getting the size right

Choosing your plot

Part II: Preparing for Allotment Success

Chapter 3: Getting Started

Getting to Grips with the Rules and Regulations

Adhering to general rules

Considering health and safety

Disposing of your waste

Living with livestock and bees

Taking care with pesticides and chemicals

Putting in ponds

Kitting Yourself Up with Tools and Equipment

Investing in the basics

Going for optional extras

Looking after your tools

Choosing protection for your plants

Chapter 4: Deciding What to Grow and When

Choosing What to Grow

Realising that timing and location are everything

Deciding on growing from seed or buying plants

Sowing from Seed

Sowing in containers, trays and modules

Thinning out

Transplanting

Sowing directly into the soil

Buying Plants

Knowing what to look for

Buying fruit trees

Catch crops

Heritage varieties

Selective breeding and hybridisation

Creating an Allotment Calendar

Chapter 5: Preparing Your Plot

Maintaining a Tidy Allotment

Removing debris and rubbish

Sorting out the undergrowth

Meeting the Enemy: Common Weeds

Preventing perennial problems

Doing away with the annuals

Killing Off Weeds

Initial weeding strategy

Organic control

Chemical spraying

Designing Your Space

Considering your location

Putting pen to paper

Using the bed system

Terracing your plot

Creating support for climbers

Getting the right division of space

Chapter 6: Keeping Your Soil Healthy

Assessing Your Soil Type

Discovering what soil is made of

Understanding different soil types

Checking your soil’s pH level

Adjusting Your Soil’s pH

Making your soil more alkaline

Making your soil more acidic

Assessing Organic Matter

Maintaining Soil Structure

Getting the Low-Down on Nutrients

Nitrogen for leaves, stems and shoots

Phosphorus for seed germination and roots

Potassium for fruit and flowers

Creeping Around with Helpful Beasts

Bacteria

Fungi

Winning with worms

Admiring creepy-crawlies

Improving Your Soil

Adding organic matter

Double digging and single digging

Using the no-dig method

Nurturing Home-Made Compost

Choosing a composter

Chapter 7: Keeping Your Plants Healthy

Using Fertilisers

Fulfilling your plants’ needs

Dealing with Watering

Getting your priorities right

Watching for the signs of dehydration

Saving water

Collecting rainwater

Rotating Your Crops

Putting Down Pests

Aphids

Cutworms

Rabbits

Rats and mice

Birds

Slugs and snails

Flea beetles

Wireworms

Dealing with Diseases

Problems with Specific Plants

Brassicas

Carrots

Courgettes, squashes and marrows

Cucumbers

Peas and beans

Potatoes

Tomatoes

Fruit Pests and Diseases

Chapter 8: Growing Organic

Deciding Whether Organic Is Right for You

Weighing up the pros and cons

Understanding organic methods

Embracing nature and the environment

Getting Practical

Preparing for disappointment and accepting imperfections

Selecting your plants carefully

Using organic pest control

Utilising organic fertilisers and feeds

Considering companion planting

Planting to deter pests

Planting to attract beneficial insects

Encouraging Wildlife onto Your Plot

Part III: Growing Your Favourite Vegetables

Chapter 9: Going Underground with Root Vegetables

Growing Potatoes

Getting started with potatoes

Undertaking routine care

Using the no-dig method

Considering varieties of potatoes

Harvesting and storage

Cultivating Carrots

Getting started with carrots

Considering varieties of carrots

Harvesting and storage

Producing Parsnips

Getting started with parsnips

Considering varieties of parsnips

Harvesting and storage

Bringing Forth Beetroot

Getting started with beetroot

Considering varieties of beetroot

Harvesting and storage

Chapter 10: Exploring More Root Vegetables

Turning Your Hand to Turnips

Getting started with turnips

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Getting Sweet on Swedes

Getting started with swedes

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Rearing Radishes

Getting started with radishes

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Savouring Scorzonera and Salsify

Getting started with scorzonera and salsify

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Growing Celeriac

Getting started with celeriac

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Growing Florence Fennel

Getting started with Florence fennel

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Chapter 11: Bringing Home the Brassicas

Brassica Basics

Getting started with brassicas

Keeping your brassicas at their best

Don’t Call Me Broccoli: Growing Calabrese

Getting started with calabrese

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Raising Broccoli

Getting started with sprouting broccoli

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Cultivating Cabbage

Getting started with cabbages

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Bringing Forth Brussels Sprouts

Getting started

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Getting a Head with Cauliflowers

Getting started with cauliflowers

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Keeping Healthy with Kale

Getting started with kale

Considering varieties

Harvesting your Kale

Alien Invasion: Growing Kohlrabi

Getting started with kohlrabi

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Chapter 12: Growing Wholesome Herbs

Knowing Where to Start

Choosing Which Herbs To Grow

Growing herbs from seed

Growing from cuttings

Getting More for Your Money

Dividing herbs

Using mound layering

Growing herbs in a sunny spot

Selecting herbs for semi-shade

Homing in on healing herbs

Experimenting with unusual herbs

Getting the Most from Your Herbs

Drying

Freezing

Bottling

Chapter 13: Cultivating Everyday Essentials

Getting to Know the Onion Family

Growing Bulb Onions

Getting started with onions

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Growing Shallots

Getting started with shallots

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Spring onions

Getting started with spring onions

Considering varieties

Harvesting

Growing Leeks

Getting started with leeks

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Growing Garlic

Getting started with garlic

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Getting to Know Pumpkins and Squashes

Growing Pumpkins and Winter Squashes

Getting started with pumpkins and squashes

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Growing Courgettes and Summer Squash

Getting started with courgettes and summer squashes

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Growing Tomatoes

Getting started with tomatoes

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Ripening your tomatoes

Chapter 14: Growing Leafy Greens

Savouring Salad Leaves

Growing Lettuces

Loose-leaf

Cos

Butterhead

Iceberg

Harvesting and storage

Winter lettuces

Growing Other Salad Leaves

Endive

Chicory

Rocket

Other leaves to try

Growing Green Leaf Vegetables

Spinach

Swiss chard and spinach beet

Good King Henry

Growing Oriental Leaf Vegetables

Mizuna

Mustard greens

Pak-choi and tatsoi

Komatsuna greens

Chapter 15: Planting Beans, Peas and Other Odds and Pods

Growing Beautiful Beans

French beans

Raising runner beans

Broad beans

Playing with Pods

Peas

Sweetcorn

Chapter 16: Growing More Unusual Veg

Growing Artichokes

Globe artichokes

Jerusalem artichokes

Chinese artichokes

Growing Simple Yet Impressive Veg

Bell peppers

Chilli peppers

Aubergines

Cucumbers

Growing Fine Produce

Asparagus

Celery

Trench celery

Okra

Part IV: Extending Your Allotment Repertoire

Chapter 17: Growing Fruitful Fruit

Planting Fruit Trees

Training trees

Buying fruit trees

Growing Apples

Getting started with apples

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Growing Pears

Getting started with pears

Considering varieties

Harvesting and storage

Growing Berries

Blackberries

Gooseberries

Blueberries and bilberries

Strawberries

Raspberries

Growing Currants

Blackcurrants

Redcurrants and whitecurrants

Growing Greenhouse Exotics

Kiwi fruits

Melons

Chapter 18: Nurturing Flowers on an Allotment

Growing Beautiful Flowers for Cutting

Sweet peas

Dahlias

Sweet Williams

Zinnias

Cleome

Growing Edible Flowers

Nasturtiums

Lavender

Alliums

Growing Flowers for Drying and Seed Heads

Poppies

Physalis

Sedums

Hops

Sea hollies

Part V: Getting the Most Out of Your Allotment

Chapter 19: Involving Children on the Allotment

Reaping the Benefits of Gardening

Keeping fit and healthy

Recognising where food comes from

Growing Easy Vegetables and Flowers

Quick and easy leaves

Super-fast radishes

Perfect pumpkins

Towering sunflowers

Cheerful cherry tomatoes

Organising Projects for Wee Ones

Building sweet pea pyramids

Planting trees, shrubs and seedlings

Creating a wildlife patch

Preparing fresh food

Chapter 20: Hobnobbing with Allotment Society

Finding an Allotment Mentor

Following Allotment Etiquette

Learning From Others’ Hits and Misses

Getting Involved in Clubs and Societies

Socialising on Your Allotment

Looking out for each other

Offering holiday cover

Chapter 21: Entering the World of Giants

Creating Perfect Growing Conditions

Preparing ideal soil

Watering your way to success

Choosing the right seeds

Growing Giant Vegetables

Colossal cabbages

Monster carrots

Long leeks

Mammoth marrows

Prime pumpkins

Mentioning Some Other Monsters

Honing Your Techniques

Letting you in on my top-secret tricks

Breeding Selectively

Collecting seeds

Harvesting seeds

Entering Competitions

Joining the elite

Finding out where to exhibit

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 22: Ten Common Mistakes to Avoid

Buying Inferior Seeds and Plants

Ignoring Problems Until It’s Too Late

Planting Combinations that Don’t Work

Planting Root Crops in Manure-Rich Soil

Spreading Clubroot

Planting Out Too Early

Underestimating Climate Zones

Getting Watering Wrong

Allowing Your Plants to Bolt

Failing to Thin Out

Chapter 23: Ten Ways to Revive a Flagging Allotment

Doing Double Digging

Having a Jolly Good Tidy

Starting Again

Investing in New Plants

Re-establishing Paths, Edges and Beds

Planting Green Manure

Sowing Some Nitrogen Fixers

Checking the Soil’s pH Level

Considering Companion Planting

Rotating Your Plants

Allotment Gardening For Dummies®

by Sven Wombwell

Allotment Gardening For Dummies®

Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, LtdThe AtriumSouthern GateChichesterWest SussexPO19 8SQEngland

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Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex

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ISBN-13: 978-0-470-68641-6

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About the Author

Sven Wombwell had his own vegetable patch, as part of his grandfather’s garden, from the age of five. This early exposure to gardening left a lasting impression that proved vital in his career. Sven trained in garden design at Capel Manor College in North London, and then gained indispensable hands-on building experience working for a large company specialising in adventure playgrounds and public spaces in London. A surprise opportunity led to a break on television, where his design talents were immediately noticed. This proved to be the first of well over 150 television appearances over the next six years.

In 2004 Sven published his first book, Lifescapes: Garden designs for your lifestyle, and has contributed regularly to magazines and newspapers. He has lectured at the Chelsea Flower Show, the Gardeners World Exhibition, and the Urban Gardens exhibition.

Sven is currently one of the garden experts on ITV’s This Morning and runs his own garden design company, with projects spanning the UK, Portugal, Spain, Italy and the USA. He shares an allotment with his father and his three children and is currently number 86 on the waiting list to get his own, after moving to a new area.

Author’s Acknowledgements

I would personally like to thank Nicole Hermitage from Wiley for commissioning me to write this book on such a fascinating and topical subject. I would also like to thank the whole production team at Wiley, including Simon Bell (a plot holder himself) for his patience and guidance, and Sue Fisher, the technical editor, whose keen eye was invaluable. Also I would like to thank Kate O’Leary, Anne O’Rorke and Mary White for all their work on this project.

Special thanks go to my better half Kate, who was a For Dummies widow for 5 months: thank you for keeping the kids entertained while I spent days on end with my eyes glued to the screen, and thank you for putting up with me. Thanks also go to my dad, Rob, who as a plot holder himself helped me no end with the creation of this book, by checking and reading every word.

I’d especially like to thank my Grandfather George, who without even knowing it influenced me greatly at such a young age, leaving a lasting impression and great memories.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Kate, whom I am lucky enough to be able to call my best friend and the mother of our three beautiful children, Ashley, Freddie and Amalea. It is also dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, George, who started off my passion for gardening.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Commissioning, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Simon Bell

Commissioning Editor: Nicole Hermitage

Assistant Editor: Jennifer Prytherch

Copy Editor: Anne O’Rorke

Technical Editor: Sue Fisher

Publisher: David Palmer

Production Manager: Daniel Mersey

Cover Photos: © Mike Harrington/GettyImages

Cartoons: Ed McLachlan

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford

Layout and Graphics: Samantha K. Cherolis

Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer, Dwight Ramsey

Indexer: Claudia Bourbeau

Special Help

Brand Reviewer: Carrie Burchfield

Introduction

So, you want to be an allotmenteer. At least, I’m guessing so, since you’re reading this. You have decided to join the fabulous world of allotment gardening, growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Once you pick up your spade for the first time on your own plot of land, you’ll be hooked for life. And when you serve your first home-grown, freshly picked vegetables you’ll never want to buy supermarket imports again. You’ll be one of the lucky ones – able to eat seasonal fresh produce all year round, and to know exactly how your food has been produced. You, your family and friends are going to reap the rewards year upon year as you develop into an allotmenteer.

Allotments are hard work, but that’s all to the good: You keep fit and get the buzz of eating food you’ve really put something into. Your family benefits from healthy food and exercise too. I’m not going to gloss over the hours you have to put in, but those hours will reap rewards far greater than just raising your own crops (great though that is). You get to master a whole range of new skills (outlined in this book), you get closer to the land and back into harmony with the seasons, and you can honestly say you’ve made a personal impact in terms of living sustainably.

About This Book

Allotment GardeningFor Dummies provides you with the know-how you need to run a viable allotment. Each chapter is rammed with information on every aspect of cultivating your own plot, from analysing your soil to dealing with codling moth. I’ve written the book so that a complete novice can equip himself or herself with the basic skills to be a success, but also so that gardeners who know some of the basics already can learn a few new tricks. Throughout, I’ve focused on tried and tested methods: there simply isn’t room for all the weird and wonderful wrinkles perfected by allotmenteers down the decades, or for the avalanche of folklore associated with raising crops. I’ve stuck to what I know works.

Conventions Used in This Book

To help you get the most from this book, I follow a few conventions:

Italic emphasises and highlights new words or terms that I define.

Boldfaced text indicates the action part of numbered steps.

Monofont text displays web addresses.

I give all measurements in metric (so that’s centimetres and metres rather than inches and feet).

What You’re Not to Read

You don’t have to read everything in this book. From time to time you’ll see grey boxes – sidebars – which contain interesting bits of info which may amuse or inform, but which aren’t crucial to your understanding of the nitty-gritty. Read them or ignore them with impunity.

You’ll also see a couple of icons above text which you can take or leave: I hope you’ll pay attention to the ‘Organic Way’ icon, and your tastebuds will certainly benefit from my ‘Cooking Tips’ but I won’t be offended if you choose to skip them.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, I made a few assumptions about who you are:

You’re keen to grow your own produce, even though you may not be 100 per cent sure how to go about it.

You have rented, or are seeking to rent, an allotment plot, probably from your local council.

You’re interested in hearing about organic methods of producing crops.

You’re not afraid of a bit of hard graft.

Beyond those, I’ve not assumed too much, I hope. This book is for you whether you’re male or female, eighteen or eighty.

How This Book Is Organised

I’ve organised Allotment Gardening For Dummies into six parts. Each part covers a range of subjects to help get you growing on your own patch, and is further divided into chapters containing all the information you need.

Part I: Getting to Grips with Allotment Gardening

Before you can pick up a spade in anger, you need to know certain basic information. After all, I’m mindful that you may not even have an allotment plot yet. This part tells you, amongst other things, how to go about getting one, and what other options may be available if the waiting lists are chock-a-block. I then go on to discuss the rules and regulations you’re likely to come across, and the basic tools and equipment you need to get you started.

Part II: Preparing for Allotment Success

This part covers everything you need to do to prepare your allotment for a successful growing season. First, I address what to grow, what to grow it from, and when to get started. I then move on to the serious business of preparing your plot, from the initial tidy up, through developing beds and coming up with planting plans through to assessing the soil. This part also covers keeping that crucial soil in good nick, and how to look after the plants you’ll be growing in it, from sorting out rotations to dealing with common pests. I finish by offering some tips to the would-be organic gardener.

Part III: Growing Your Favourite Vegetables

This part is the meat and veg of the book. Well the veg, anyway. In these eight chapters I introduce all the main vegetables you’re likely to want to grow on your allotment, covering everything you need to need to do to establish and maintain all you vegetable crops, from roots to cucumbers. Along the way I talk about all the staples, as well as some of the more exotic crops you might not have considered turning your hand to.

Part IV: Extending Your Allotment Repertoire

This part covers everything you might want to know should you want to branch out (literally, in the case of growing fruit trees). The main business of allotment gardening is usually held to be producing vegetables, but there’s no good reason why you shouldn’t give over at least part of your allotment to growing tasty, sweet, nutritious fruit. I also cover a bit of food for the soul, by suggesting that you can use allotment land to grow things of beauty: there’s a chapter on growing flowers here, too.

Part V: Getting the Most Out of Your Allotment

Working an allotment is about so much more than just turning over soil and digging in manure. This part covers the ways in which your allotment can work for you beyond simply generating a cornucopia of good food. Here you’ll find suggestions on how to become part of the allotment community, whether through learning or passing on skills, or sharing in the work of your Allotment Society. The allotment is a place for all the family, and I cover the ways in which you can involve and engage children with the idea of an growing their own plants and running their own projects. I finish up with weightier matters: what to do if you want to grow real, show-stopping champion veg.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Every For Dummies book has one. The Part of Tens offers two fun-sized chapters covering some dos and don’ts of allotment gardening, and some fresh ideas on how to revitalise a tired patch.

Icons Used in This Book

Sprinkled through the book you’ll see various icons to guide you on your way. Icons are a For Dummies way of drawing your attention to important stuff, interesting stuff, and stuff you really need to know not to do.

Handy tips and tidbits to help you get the best from your plot.

This is stuff you need to know: whatever else you carry away from this book, note these bits with care.

Take careful note of the advice under this icon, and you’ll avoid allotment calamities – ignore at your peril.

The whole point of growing most of what you grow is to eat it. These tips help you make the most of your allotment flavours and goodness.

If you’re interested in gardening organically, keep your eyes peeled for this icon, which introduces my pearls of organic wisdom.

Where to Go from Here

I’ve organised this book so that you can just dip in and out of it as you like. It isn’t specifically written to be read from start to finish, although you can do that if you want. In general, though, you’ll probably find that you look up what you want to read about in the Table of Contents – or the index – and dive straight in at that section. It’s entirely your choice. If you’re not sure where to start, Part I gives you the basics on getting started from scratch, and signposts places later in the book where you can go for more detailed information on topics in which you’re interested.

Best of luck, and happy growing!

Part I

Getting to Grips with Allotment Gardening

In this part . . .

Here I lead you through the business of getting yourself an allotment, letting you in on what you can do to beat the waiting lists as well as giving you some handy hints about what to look for in a plot.

I also tell you all you need to know to get set up to tackle your own plot, whether it’s in outlining which rules you have to abide by, or explaining how to tell one end of a fork from the other.

Chapter 1

Discovering What Allotments Are All About

In This Chapter

Dipping into the history of allotments

Considering the advantages and disadvantages of working an allotment

Preparing for some hard graft

Being connected to the land, nature and the seasons

I want to be perfectly clear right from the start – working an allotment takes dedication and involves a lot of hard graft. You’ll have your successes and experience plenty of disappointments, but few more wholesome pursuits allow you to reap so many rewards. You become part of an exclusive club, with access to a pool of knowledge passed from generation to generation. My grandfather was my gardening guru, and some of my fondest memories involve working the soil with him as a child. Once you start, be prepared for a life-changing experience.

To start you off on the road to perfect produce I want you to take a look at the roots of allotment gardening; why we feel the need to grow our own food and why sustainability has countless benefits for both individuals and the rest of society. Let’s get growing.

How It All Began

According to archaeologists, the first evidence of humans cultivating the soil to produce food comes from Syria, about 13,000 years ago, when drought forced people to grow wheat and rye as a means of survival. This small moment in history may have been the catalyst that began the demise of the hunter gatherer, and ushered in the era of people cultivating the land to produce food. These pioneers of grow-your-own are the initial source of the seeds and plants we use today. As a result of centuries of human development and plant selection, we now have a vast range of food crops available to grow on the allotment. Our reasons for growing our own food obviously differ, though; nowadays a parcel of land offers a means of saving money, eating healthily, being more environmentally aware, and exercising.

Looking at today

Nowadays, allotments are no longer necessary for survival but provide a valuable pastime for hundreds of thousands of people, offering a way to feel closer to the land and become more self-sufficient . Growing your own has seen a massive growth in popularity in recent years because: