#609 Garlic, Hot Composting & Allotment Battles
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Hello and welcome to this week's episode of The Veg Grower Podcast! I'm Richard, and my passion is to encourage and inspire you to grow more of your own food, sharing insights from over 30 years of experience in my own allotment and vegetable garden.
This week, we've had a significant garlic harvest, a full update from the kitchen garden, and a fantastic email question from a listener. Let's dive in!
Allotment Adventures: Harvests, Battles, and Learnings
My time at the allotment this week has been incredibly productive, despite not being able to visit as much in the evenings. The recent rain was incredibly welcome and certainly saved me some watering time!
The big job for the weekend was harvesting our garlic. I planted it back in September, and usually, I'd harvest around early July. However, based on new information suggesting it's better to harvest about two weeks earlier when the leaves start to turn brown, I decided to pull it up. This year, we've had less rust on our garlic, which is a bonus, but some plants did seem to die off without a clear reason.
During the harvest, I noticed a white fungi on some of the bulbs. This could be beneficial mycorrhizal fungi, or, less fortunately, onion white rot. Some bulbs with the fungi also had stem rot, which points more towards white rot. If it is white rot, it can persist in the soil for years, but luckily, I won't be using that bed for onions or garlic for that long, so it's not a major concern for future planting in that specific spot.
I'm happy with the amount we harvested – well over 40 bulbs! After a good wash, they're now drying in the shed. The largest bulb of each variety will be saved for replanting in September. For the rest, instead of just storing them as bulbs, we're making "easy garlic" – blending the cloves with oil, heating it to prevent botulism, and storing it in the fridge or freezer. This method should help our large garlic harvest last considerably longer.
Next, I tackled the top of my allotment, which borders a plot that's become a rambling mess after the previous tenants were kicked off. This area, where I have fruit bushes and rhubarb, is difficult to keep tidy, even with cardboard and mulch helping. The high weeds and brambles from next door are coming over, making it difficult to harvest my fruits, like the red currants, and care for my plants.
I got my strimmer out and cut about a foot into the neighbour's plot, but of course, I ran out of string again! I then resorted to a bill hook, which did a surprisingly good job of hacking through brambles and nettles. Unfortunately, I couldn't clear the entire area due to dumped plastic bags and weeds. It's annoying, but I'll keep at it, coming down during the week to strim it back further.
Despite the challenges, harvests are looking great! I've picked broad beans and peas, and the first early potatoes, grown under straw mulch, are looking fantastic – good size, healthy, clean, and easy to get out of the ground. I'm really starting to appreciate straw as a mulch, finding it more effective against weeds than grass clippings, especially if the ground is clear before application. We've also harvested some rhubarb and a couple of cherries.
With the garlic bed now empty, I've filled it with mini bell tomato plants, ensuring no empty spaces and maximizing productivity. It means more tomatoes and easier maintenance. Overall, I'm happy with the allotment's progress; what felt overwhelming before is now coming together.
Kitchen Garden Highlights: Autopots, Shed Plans & Hot Compost
Back at the kitchen garden, we're consistently on top of weeding and watering to give the plants the best care. The greenhouse area is looking much tidier, and my autopots are truly performing! We've harvested our first cucumbers, and the autopots are producing some of the best cucumbers, tomatoes, chilies, peppers, and aubergines I've ever grown at this early stage.
We still have many young plants needing homes, and as beds empty (like the garlic bed at the allotment), we're quickly filling them with kale and cabbage seedlings.
A big project on the horizon is replacing my 8x6ft shed. I'm currently emptying it out to take it down and put a new one in its place. The exciting plan for the new shed is to make it a dedicated seed-sowing and plant-growing station, complete with autopots.
At home, my garlic isn't quite ready to harvest yet, and I don't expect it to be as good as the allotment garlic due to closer spacing. However, an interesting experiment with a supermarket-bought bulb among them seems to have grown quite well! We've also had our first peas – not enough for a meal yet, but happy with the start, and hopefully, more harvesting will encourage more production!
I've continued shredding branches from the elder and ash trees, creating valuable woodchip. This woodchip is going into a dedicated compost bin to rot down for next year's mixes, and crucially, into my Hot Bin versus Dalek compost trial. I'm comparing how quickly and effectively the Hot Bin and a Dalek composter break down the same materials. I've noticed a definite increase in heat when adding woodchips, and the Hot Bin is producing compost much faster – it's quite eye-opening how well it's doing, especially when I add more material.
Community & Listener Corner: Learning from Failures & Water Wisdom
I received a wonderful voicemail from Stuart Jackson this week, who appreciated my willingness to share gardening failures. As I often say, we learn the most from our mistakes. Stuart was referring to my previous mention of seeds failing to germinate due to dry soil. Interestingly, after the recent rain, I've noticed some of those root crops like turnips, beetroot, and spinach have now germinated, proving it was indeed the dry soil.
I also received a fantastic email from Andy from Hotbin, who we previously had on the podcast discussing hot bin composting. Andy shared his tips on getting kids involved in gardening:
- Make it fun and gamify it: He started a sunflower growing competition with his kids, using their hot bin compost, which has them religiously watering and checking growth!
- Composting Rituals: His kids scrape plates into the kitchen caddy, mix scraps with paper/card, and love feeding the hot bin and checking its thermometer.
- Simple Wins: Bug hunts, mini bug hotels, planting in unusual containers like old wellies, pulling weeds with kids-sized tools (they actually enjoy this!), and tearing cardboard for the hot bin.
- Building Awareness: It's a great way to spend time together and teach them about turning waste into something useful, even if it sometimes involves a bit of bribery like stickers or cold, hard cash!
- Hotbin Voucher: Andy also mentioned the voucher code VGP10HB gives 10% off if you're looking to buy a hot bin.
Andy also had a very topical question: How full are my water butts after the recent rainfall? I have 16 water butts in my garden – a precious resource that we should all strive to collect. They were incredibly low recently; most were nearly empty, except for one about three-quarters full powering my veggie pod, and four emergency butts behind the shed.
However, the significant rain we had, particularly last Saturday, filled up all the water butts connected to downpipes on the house! I've been busy pumping this rainwater into my other butts to ensure I can continue collecting more if we get additional rain this week. Currently, five of my 16 water butts are completely full. It just goes to show how worthwhile having water butts in your garden truly is!
Wrap-Up & Connect With Me!
This podcast is nearing its end for the week. If you've enjoyed it, please consider rating and reviewing the podcast – it genuinely goes a long way to help us reach more people! You can also become a supporting member to help keep the podcast running.
While you're there, you can leave a comment on a blog post, or even leave us a voicemail like Stuart did, which adds another voice to the show! You can also email me at Richard@TheVegGrowerPodcast.co.uk – your emails help shape the podcast! And of course, find us on social media – please give us a like and follow.
We'll be back next time, and I'll be sharing all about my trip to Gardener's World Live! Until then, please take care.