25 August 2008 - We have a Plan

The passage of time on the plot is a continual shock. One minute you are sowing onions in the bedroom (don't ask), the next you are pulling them out of the ground and admiring their heavy beauty. Obviously with quicker crops such as radish and rocket one does not get that small frisson as the clock ticks much faster for them. With the slower crops it is a different matter. You inevitably reflect how things were this time last year - even with the aid of the blog it can be difficult to recall precisely what went where and why - and what they were like when you were sowing the seed back in the dark January days.

We are beginning to feel the slow yet urgent rhythms of the soil as it gathers up its energy for the grand finish of the so-called summer crops beans, courgettes and the extravagantly showy corn. However we still have around 10 butternut squash slowly ripening on the vine, raspberries, sprouting broccoli or some mystery cabbage, the January King winter cabbage and of course the leeks to keep going. Harvesting is a regular activity - as I write French bean and courgette pickles are being made.

It also means that the 3 small bare patches in Beds 1, 2 and 4 offer us more opportunity to think about Winter and Spring. But having done that, we then have to address the matter of eventual Spring/Summer growing next year because of the principles of crop rotation. It is a little like the popular party game of our youth, Twister. Of course we were still in the throes of establishing the plot architecture this time last year and really did not have the scope we have now, with good soil and well established beds.

After all that, here is The Plan.

1. Winter Bed 1 Leeks, chard, overwintering onion - the two latter from seed sown today
Spring/Sumer Bed 1 Roots - carrots, onion, chard, parsnip

2. Winter Bed 2 Spinach, overwintering spring onions, winter lettuce (sown today), overwintering onion from the seedbed after carrots gone
Spring/Summer Bed 2 Other - Garlic, spinach, onions, salad

3. Winter Bed 3 Green manure
Spring/Summer Bed 3 Brassicas - calabrese broccoli, raddicio, other brassicas

4. Winter Bed 4 Winter cabbage, spring cabbage
Spring/Summer Bed 4 Roots - maincrop potatoes (first earlies on the bank)

5. The extra potato patch at the top we have put green manure on and will use that for the pumpkin next year.

6. The main potato patch will be green manured after the potatoes are dug up and this will be the main bed for peas, beans, courgettes and corn. And maybe some more garlic.

7. The fruit cage will continue but we will introduce more strawberries.

The planning so far ahead and remembering to succession sow are two of the most difficult skills for the allotmenteer. We wonder about how we will improve our soil on the beds that will be in constant use between seasons. And there is the question - again - of timing. We assume that certain crops will be ready when they may not and some may linger on long after their bed time. What is undeniable is that there is a real thrill in sowing seeds now near the end of the main growing season for crops to eat in a few months time. We want to be able to grow all the year round and who knows - we may even beat the credit crunch with a vegetable crunch all of our own.