Out & About Autumn 2021

Gardening

DAVID COLE has had an allotment at One

Tree Park in Newbury for more than 30 years. He’s learned what works best and how to get the tastiest vegetables through ‘trial and error’. As we head into autumn he offers some advice on preparing your beds for the next season and some tips on how to grow parsnips

S o, we are nearing the end of the growing season for most vegetables. Although days may be warm, nights start getting colder, dropping the soil temperature, thus inhibiting growth. Don’t be too keen to pull out those vegetables that have gone to seed if you don’t need the space. While standing they are reducing the amount of growth made by the weeds. Start clearing the ground around mid-October, clear any weeds left and try and get the ground roughly dug over, ready for manure. Richard at Mousefield Farm sells (and delivers) farmyard manure by the ton in bags. My advice is always use farmyard manure if you can get it and use proprietary fertilizer as a top-up. It is good policy not to put manure on the area you intend using for growing root vegetables next season – mainly carrots and parsnips – the ‘old wives tale’ is that root vegetables planted in freshly- manured ground fork in two

or three directions. I don’t think it’s strictly true, but quite a lot of the old sayings do have some relevance. Farmyard manure invariably will have weed seed which will shoot in the spring, so it does need more weed management, but it’s worth the effort for the results. goes on. We recently had a barbecue evening with some 40 people attending, there was a bouncy castle for the kids – and grown ups, who thought they were still kids. We’re looking forward to another ‘get together’ in On the One Tree Park front we have been asked by Newbury Town Council to represent them as an allotment site for Britain in Bloom in 2022, we did this in 2019 for the first time with quite a successful outcome. NTC make a massive effort for this award so we are very pleased to be part of their bid. The community spirit

If a ton is too much, put any surplus into you compost heap – or share with a neighbour. Manure can be spread at around 5cm thick and left through the winter so the goodness washes into the ground. It can be dug in immediately if you wish, I multitude of birds, animals and insects that can be seen throughout the season. Small areas of the site are autumn and no doubt again around Christmas. The whole site continues to thrive. We have a number of bird boxes where families hatched this year and a

personally always leave it on top. Remove any posts/poles/ canes you have used for plant support and store (if possible) in a dry place. Canes etc left in the ground will rot on the ends and disintegrate. When cultivating your plot always try and leave a ‘trench’ substation. Bug hotels and hedgehog boxes are now coming to maturity, who knows, we may even end up with a zoo. being left to ‘go wild’ and a wild flower area is being developed on the extension to the site by the SSE

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O&A AUTUM 2021