This growing season I’m trying out the Super Composter – a new hot composting system from the folks at SoilFixer – and having set up the Super Composter very quickly and easily at the weekend, today I filled both it and the control bin with the first load of compostables.
Category: Trials and Observations
As I mentioned recently, I’m trialling the Super Composter – a new hot composting system from the folks at SoilFixer – and Saturday was setup day down on Plot #59.
I have to admit, I can be a bit of a magpie when it comes to new growing methods, plants and products. Over the past few years I’ve sown or planted and attempted to grow all sorts of new and intriguing food crops (oca, yacon, Chinese artichoke, cucamelons, tomatilloes, goji berries, wonderberries, to name but a few…)
After researching and constructing a couple of Hugelkultur growing beds for our ‘growing for the future’ project at work recently, I decided that I’d put one in on our allotment as well. Hugelkultur – it’s a German word meaning ‘mound (or hill) culture’ – is a technique developed by Permaculture practitioners that is said to […]
I’ve harvested the first batch of produce from the SoilFixer trial beds down on Plot #59. Quick Recap I’ve been carrying out a soil improvement product trial this year at the invitation of the folks at SoilFixer.co.uk, testing two of their compost and/or soil enhancement products, versus ordinary compost and untreated soil. It’s a very […]
Back in April and May I posted about three different mint cuttings that I’d taken from an old ‘Eau de Cologne’ mint plant that I wanted to propagate. Here are the original cuttings again, for reference: All three cuttings have grown strongly in the nearly three months since they were taken and potted. This cutting […]
Let’s take a look at how the SoilFixer trial beds are coming along. Quick Recap I’m participating in a trial for Soilfixer.co.uk, testing two of their compost / soil enhancement products against regular compost and plain soil. In mid-April I’ve set up four small raised beds, and planted broad beans and sowed two varieties each […]
About a month ago I posted details of – well, not really an experiment, more an observation – of three different mint cuttings that I’d taken and potted up. As a few people were interested enough to comment, I thought I’d post a quick follow-up. Here are the original cuttings – all taken at the […]
One thing Jo and I have been wondering, over the past three years of allotment growing, is: just how much fruit and veg are we harvesting from Plot #59? I’ve thought in the past of trying to track and measure the weight of the crops that we pick, lift and cut from the plot, but […]
Old pallets, as long as they’re in reasonably good nick, are a great boon to the allotmenteer. Especially if you need to knock together a few small raised beds. Such as these four, which I set up yesterday for the trial of four different soil mixes that I’m running this year for the folks at […]