Book Review : The Allotment Planner by Matthew Appleby

I'm not generally a fan of allotment planners. Seems a waste to spend anywhere between £10 and £20 for something that will generally only last a year. Why not dispense with the pretty images, worthy quotations and general advice and just use a cheap notebook? The money saved will allow you to buy a quality allotment manual that will last for years.

So why is it I found myself warming to Matthew Appleby's The Allotment Planner? Not for the space allowed to jot down notes... less than four A5 pages per month to scribble planting times, varieties tried and end results. And with lines of varying lengths to allow for the author's planting tips, illustrations and, yes, inevitable quotations, the space allowed isn't very conducive to an ordered record. You might not buy this book to keep a serious history of your planting efforts.

What does makes the book that little bit different is the way it makes you think laterally about enjoying your plot. I didn't realise the Dutch often live in their sheds throughout the summer on their allotments. Why not try the occasional overnight camp? How about cooking Sunday dinner on a sunny day in a hangi? Or hold a 'Come dine with me' competition with allotment neighbours? How about turning part of your plot into a wildflower (and wildlife) garden, blog about your plot or turn it into an artists paradise, with pictures, mosaics and murals? There are money making ideas such as gathering and selling seeds, herbs, flowers, jam or chutney.

The book is more a generator of ideas and enthusiasm than a planner. Packed into its 190 pages are 52 weekly topics where the subject matter is dealt with in some depth, 156 ideas on how to take each topic further (i.e. three per topic) and 9 step by step pictorial guides for more major projects. Add to that monthly bullet points for what to sow, plant and harvest and you can't help but come away with novel intentions for your patch. Some at first sound a bit 'unusual' (build a bmx track for the kids? grow truffles?) but with a bit more thought the brain cells move from 'you're kidding' to 'why not?'.

At £12.00 (using the discount offer below, normal RRP £14.99) the book is well priced for the good quality of its contents and binding. Buy it for yourself as a decent guide on what to sow, plant and harvest each month, for guidance on standard things such as composting and raised bed building as well as the many idea generating themes. Even better, get it on your Christmas list.

And the paucity of note space? Why not record using post it notes, stick them in the appropriate month and retain the most useful ones at the end of the year? That way the book will give you many years of useful and thought provoking service.

To order The Allotment Planner at the discounted price of £12.00 including p&p* (RRP: £14.99), telephone 01903 828503 or email mailorders@lbsltd.co.uk and quote the offer code APG34. 

Alternatively, send a cheque made payable to Littlehampton Book Services to...

Littlehampton Book Services Mail Order Department,

PO Box 4264, 

Worthing, West Sussex 

BN13 3RB. 

Quote the offer code APG34 and include your name and address details.

The publishers are Frances Lincoln.

* UK ONLY - Add £2.50 if ordering from overseas.

Allotment Heaven wildlife - Field Vole

Removing the last of some plant vegetation unsuitable for composting, disturbed a family of what I at first thought were mice. When they stopped hurtling around and I got a chance to see them properly, realised they were field voles.

Here's a snap of the one I managed to tempt back with the discarded beetroot they'd been feeding on. You can also see a short video by clicking here.

Made a fresh home of bricks and dried grass in the hope of tempting them all back. Beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea, having read they have up to ten litters a year, each with up to ten in a litter. Since each baby vole reaches sexual maturity within a month, that means in a single season a pair of voles and their offspring can produce a population of over one billion. Allowing for less than maximum production and some losses along the way, a million still sounds a bit off-putting. I know he's cute, but come on!

Vole populations can vary on a four year cycle, with numbers increasing tenfold between highs and lows. Although common, their presence is vital for providing food to other wildlife. The number of young raised by kestrels and owls increases when vole populations are high.

Living for less than one year, voles don't hibernate but moult and produce a thicker coat for winter. They are a long term native of Great Britain, with remains dated back to before the last period of glaciation 11,000 years ago.

Composting weeds

I know it's not much to show for four hours graft, but I'm happy with the outcome. Got half the huge pile of plant material not fit for composting burned in the incinerator. Was touch and go at times, since everything was slightly damp and periodic puffing was called for to keep the fire alight. Not a wise thing to do... feeling slightly dizzy I'd then return to sawing and drilling. For once managed to come away with all my fingers intact.

The carpentry work was to construct more beehive bin segments. Tried composting weeds some months ago and the result, provided all light was excluded, was lovely friable soil. The difficulty comes in easily extracting all the dirt from whatever container it's been stored in. My beehive compost bins have been such a resounding success over the last few years for creating loads of standard compost, thought that must be the easiest solution. Click the link above for photos and plans.

To compost weeds you need to leave them for at least six months with all light excluded. I'll build some more segments as the pile grows. After a while the height reduces as the weeds rot, which means I can take the top segments off to start a fresh pile at the side of the existing one. When ready to use I just remove each segment to easily access the compost.

New horizons

May seem somewhat strange to use this straight border line as an example of things to come... there's hardly a straight line on the whole plot, including shed and greenhouse. But this example of the art of exactness, constructed over three visits to the plot, is a statement of intent for the future.

After eight years of struggling in various phases, at last I think  there's a chance Allotment Heaven might become something special. Always intended, never quite made it. Initially the old problem of trying to maintain one allotment whilst holding down a full time job. Then I took on the adjoining plot as well. There were times when all I could do was control the weeds.

What's changed? Well, I'm now down to a single plot again... the original one. Also fully retired. Given up the chickens, so no more spending the first half hour of each visit tending to their needs. My wife also puts in her share of graft, so there's two of us working on it. Everything redesigned for practicality.

It's taking time. Apart from moving compost bins, polytunnel and greenhouse from the other plot there's lots of paving slabs to lay and border paths to widen so I can more easily use the mower.

And with all that to do, why am I wasting time creating a perfect edge to the main path? As I said, it's a statement of intent. Everything is forward moving from now on. Once a border is perfectly edged, it'll be kept that way before anything new is done.

Lots of fruit trees to relocate. Flower beds to create. Can we win gold at next year's allotment competition? Watch this space for more progress updates. Some images of current status below.

Greenhouse & small polytunnel moved

Back fence reinstated

Front of plot is ablaze with flowers