June Flyover tour: what is growing?
Planting a giant cabbage
Back in Jan we set about starting our giant cabbage seeds. Today we planted a giant cabbage n a 6x3ft raised bed. Well fertilised with well rotted chicken manure fingers crossed it does well and grows big!
Planting beans for eating fresh and drying in a UK climate
On our 500 square metres allotment space in Manchester UK today we plant out our beans – a range of varieties including heritage types. We grow for eating fresh, but also for drying to provide a winter store. Grown by a ‘No Dig’ method. We discuss our planting technique and the varieties we have chosen for this season.
Comfry feed (free fertiliser)
At Don’t Crop Me Now we tend to stick to a combination of homemade compost or composted animal manure (chicken/horse) as a way of feeding our crops through a ‘No Dig’ process. If you can feed the soil to maintain a healthy soil ecosystem, you rarely need to worry about fertilising plants! However, when plants are grown in pots, particularly those for a short season, the growing medium hasn’t really had time to establish a biological balance. Therefore, we do add a balanced organic fertiliser such as blood, fish and bone to boost our container grown potatoes and use a high potash feed on flowering plants such as chillies, tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. A simple high potash liquid feed can be made from the plant comfry.
Updated tour of our full growing space
Over the last 12-18 months there has been much change to our growing space including erecting a polytunnel and fruitcage, a complete overhaul of one half plot and clearing of a new half plot.
Take a look at our full growing space – 500 square metres over 3 separate allotment plots.Planting plans for 2021
Always start with a plan! Click the image for our full planting plan for 2021 covering the three plots. Nothing ever stands still for an allotmenteer. Every year brings reflection, change, new ideas and challenges to overcome. Over the last 12 months there has been pretty big changes in our growing areas. We have dropped the tenancy for one of the half plots (1b), cleared and cultivated the new half plot (5b) and made a complete overhaul of the layout and structure of plot 2b including putting up a fruit cage and polytunnel.
What are the plans for this year? What are we doing differently and what do we hope to achieve?Giant Cabbage Attempt
Giant cabbage seedlings pricked out into individual pots Mid Jan I started to think about starting the ‘giant cabbage’ seeds I had eagerly bought last year. I read the guide on ‘GiantVeg.com‘ and it seems I was a little late! Most growers start their seed in the autumn, however never dishearted I asked an expert for advice and was advised sowing in Jan would be fine! I am not expecting a World Recold holder here – the heaviest cabbage set in 2012 was over 68kg (138lb). This is just a bit of fun to see how big it grows with my modest effort of treating them well!
Batata Vada – Indian Potato fritters
Batata Vada are an Indian street food. I was tempted to try these after a friend posted a yummy looking picture on Facebook. This is my take on the spicy snack – n.b. spices used may not be fully traditional as I have adapted with what I had available.
Collecting Rain Water
On our site we do have mains tap water, but self sufficiency with water (or as close as we can be) is one of our ultimate aims. Over the years we have built up our capacity for water storage. We are now set up to collect up to about 6000L of water. Here we discuss the different ways we collect water on the plot.
Summerhouse 
Shed 
Polytunnel
We now have 3 IBC containers that each hold 1000L. The polytunnel is yet to be connected to the 3rd tank. Growing figs from hardwood cuttings.
Fig cuttings set to root. If you grow the right variety of fig they are much hardier than you would think! Figs do grow well in a Northern climate.
