gardening
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Harvesting and Storing Pumpkins and Squash: From Vine to Winter Pantry
Pumpkins and squash. The absolute showstoppers of the autumn harvest. There’s nothing quite like going up to the allotment in October and seeing these gorgeous orange, green, and golden fruits sitting there like little treasures among the dying foliage. They look incredible, they taste amazing, and — best of all — they store for months.…
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Preparing Beds for Winter: Tuck Your Garden In for the Cold Months
Tucking the garden in for winter. That’s what this is really about. Think of it like putting the allotment to bed — making sure everything is snug, protected, and set up to wake up healthy in spring. It’s not the most glamorous job in gardening, but it’s one of the most important. What you do…
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Constructing a Greenhouse Heater: Keep Your Plants Cosy Through Winter
Right, greenhouse heating. Now this is a topic that divides gardeners like almost nothing else. Some people say “never heat a greenhouse, it’s a waste of money and energy.” Other people have heated greenhouses full of tropical plants in January. I’m somewhere in the middle — I don’t heat mine to tropical levels, but I…
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Planting Garlic and Onions for Overwintering: Get Ahead for Next Year
Planting garlic and onions in autumn for overwintering. This is one of my favourite jobs of the year, and I’ll tell you why — it’s the closest thing to time travel in gardening. You stick cloves and sets in the ground now, in October or November, and then basically forget about them for months. They…
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Building a Polytunnel: Affordable Covered Growing for Every Garden
A polytunnel. The allotment dream. If a greenhouse is a luxury, a polytunnel is the affordable alternative that gives you nearly as much growing space for a fraction of the price. I’ve wanted one for years. Kept looking at them, pricing them up, measuring my plot, and then deciding I couldn’t justify it. Then one…
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Managing Autumn Pests and Diseases: Stay Vigilant as the Season Turns
You’d think that as the weather turns colder, pests and diseases would pack up and leave you alone. And while it’s true that a lot of the summer nuisances do slow down or disappear in autumn, there’s a whole different crew that takes over. Slugs go absolutely mental in the damp autumn weather. Fungal diseases…
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Planting Spring Bulbs: Set Up a Beautiful Display for Next Year
Spring bulbs. Now before you say “Tony, this is a veg growing blog, why are you talking about daffodils?” — hear me out. First, bulbs aren’t just about looking pretty (though they do look gorgeous). They’re food for early pollinators when hardly anything else is flowering. And second, some spring bulbs ARE food. Alliums —…
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Installing Row Covers: Simple Protection That Makes a Big Difference
Row covers. Now this is one of those things that sounds boring but is actually incredibly useful. A row cover is basically just a layer of protective material — fleece, mesh, or plastic — placed over your crops to protect them from frost, pests, wind, or all three at once. Think of it like tucking…
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Preparing for Autumn Harvests: Make the Most of the Late Season
Autumn harvests. This is the big reward, people. The grand finale. Everything you’ve planted, tended, watered, worried about, and sworn at over the spring and summer — it all comes together in autumn. This is peak harvest season. The allotment is absolutely groaning with food and you can barely keep up with it. Tomatoes ripening…
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Building a Compost Bin: A Simple Weekend Project
Every allotment needs a compost bin. Every garden needs one too, for that matter. It’s basically a recycling centre for your garden waste, turning what would otherwise go in the green bin into beautiful, rich, dark compost that your plants absolutely love. It’s free fertiliser. FREE. And if there’s one thing I love more than…