NEW Harpers Lane Website

2006-08-04T01:45:00.000Z

Harpers Lane new website is now live.

Please visit Harpers Lane Allotments Bolton.

Organic Greenhouse Super Compost

2006-02-16T22:48:00.000Z

Decided to make my own organic compost for the greehouse this year. After a little research I've come up with an experimental compost mix that I hope will improve the flavor and yield of my tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

The compost mix is as follows:

4 massive bags of Natures Own Soil Association tomato compost ordered from HDRA
One bag of Organic coir from HDRA
24 Litres of Worm Casts from Wriggly Wrigglers
A few cups of Calcified Seaweed I picked up from Gordon Rigg up in Walsden
1 Litre of high Phosphorus Bat Guano a friend brought back from Peru
Bag of perlite

I'm still to take delivery of the Natures Own Compost and Coir. Natures Own is a mined-peat free growing media taken form some lake bottom in Yorkshire. The Coir is a coconut based fibre with added seaweed extract, again soil Association approved. The Coir should give some body to my mix. Both these products have been under development for 11 years and meant to be the business for tomatoes.

I ordered the worm casts a couple of days ago and they arrived yesterday. Looks nice and rich, sort of like a dark fine compost. As my family is vegetarian I decided to look for an alternative to fertilisers made with animal derived ingredients such as blood, bone meal or just ground up dead animals. Worm casts are a great way to bring organic fertillity to the soil and contain a huge range of minerals and elements.

The Bat Guano is a little extra to supercharge my compost. Read up about it and found it contains loads of Phosphorus. Its reputed to be one of the best fertilisers in the world. We'll see... The tub I got has a high-phosphorus formulation (3% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus, 1% potassium) to stimulate flowering and fruiting. Should be good for my tomotoes.

The calcified seaweed I add to knock the ph of the compost up a little as I know the peat from the Natures Own is a little acidic. Sort of does the same job as lime but is is rich in minerals and encourages beneficial bacteria to promote root growth. Calcified seaweed also has a good whack of Magnesium in it. Last season my tomotoes suffered from Magnesium difficency a little. The lower leaves started to yellow. Hopefully this stuff will put it right.

The perlite, an inert siliceous rock particle is added to provide aeration and optimum moisture retention for vigerous plant growth.

Just waiting for my compost and coir to arrive and mixing will commence. I 've got a kids swimming pool ready on the allotment to mix it all up in.

Hope its all worth the effort. I'm sure it wil be better than the B&Q compost I used last year. I'll keep you posted.

Red Jewel F1. Hybrid Cabbage

2006-02-07T18:20:00.000Z

Here's a couple of Red Jewel Cabbage I just harvested. They where sowed on the 11th February 2005 and the seedlings planted out on the 19th April 2005. The heads are very tightly packed and they have stood the winter frosts very well.

I use them for pickling only. I shred them up and add lots of rock salt over them, place on top a weighted bowl and leave overnight. After the salt draws out some water I place the shredded cabbage in white pickling vinegar and store a few months before use.

2006-02-07T15:44:00.000Z

Hi

Welcome to my allotment diary for Plot No.46 at Harpers Lane Allotment Society in Smithills, Bolton.

I've had this plot for 6 years now but still got a lot to learn.

I garden organically which the vegetables love and the slugs even more....

Please stick around and view my diary. I hope to be writing frequently and keeping notes of all my crops.

Harpers Lane Allotment - Organic Gardening

NEW Harpers Lane Website

Organic Greenhouse Super Compost

Red Jewel F1. Hybrid Cabbage