Veg Plotting

I've made a guest appearance this week on the Thompson & Morgan (T&M) blog with some of my top tips for allotment growing alongside regular Veg Plotting commenter Sue (yay!), plus a whole host of experienced allotmenteers. Those of you who read my National Gardening Week post last May may be a little surprised as I confessed then I no longer have an allotment. My response to T&M's questions apply to what I've been doing here at VP Gardens and show grow your own is feasible whether you have just a windowsill right through to a full-blown allotment. My update on progress since then is long overdue. In a nutshell I produced more in 2019 than many an allotment year despite the more restricted space. It's not been a perfect time owing to family circumstances, so I look forward to 2020's growing season confident even more progress can be made. Two of my key projects last year were to improve soil health and to increase my growing space with some ...

Great to have my mate Mark  contributing to this blog again, albeit via a new media - he usually emails them to me! We've had wellies previously* ( here and here ), so it was only a matter of time before flower-filled boots were found. They're quite apt seeing Mark spotted them in the Lake District. * = There may be more in the future as I've spotted some in Rowde outside a farm along with a flower-filled tractor tyre. I just need the courage to stop on a busy main road and snap them. Sadly the "face" I spotted a little further on is no more.

Yesterday's gardening section in The Telegraph was HUGE! I had a little slot in there thanks to my friend Naomi . Sadly the weather forecast is against most of the tasks mentioned, though today's weather looks generally OK for a spot of raised bed making or plot mulching*, and there's plenty of opportunity for sowing seeds indoors**. It was so relaxing (and less painful currently) to do this over the phone rather than bashing it out on the computer. Thanks to Naomi who did the latter as well as our call. There are lots more hints and tips here  -  not just from me - with some that are doable whatever the weather. Note that the full online version is only available to subscribers. As NAH says, now I've got to get on with it myself. What are your garden projects this weekend? * = unless you have a broken wrist ** = which I will be doing... gingerly!

Thanks to my mate Mark for spotting a most unusual front garden on the main road in Machynllech last year and sending me this photo. We're speculating the music style in this garden might be bluegrass. What do you think? North Wales is proving to be a rich seam for this series of posts. As well as last year's find for Halloween , I still have to go back to  Karen 's sometime and photograph a garden we found which was set out as a cricket match.

Last year, we learnt a little about Incredible Edible Todmorden and the crowdfunded book which Joanna Dobson and her partner are writing to help spread the word. I'm delighted that with your help, the fundraising target was met and work has commenced on the final stages of publishing. Joanna has kindly kept her promise to return to Veg Plotting as my guest to tell us more about the project and how it's grown ('scuse pun) into more than just one town... A few of the "vegetable tourists" who've made their way to Todmorden. Picture credit: Estelle Brown of Incredible Edible Todmorden When the founders of Incredible Edible Todmorden began sneaking vegetable plants into public spaces six years ago, they had no idea that they would attract attention from all over the world. But when word got out that a town in west Yorkshire was growing food for everyone to share, the interest began to snowball. The Incredible Edible pioneers wanted to crea...

I'm delighted Joanna Dobson from Incredible Edible Todmorden is writing a guest post for Veg Plotting . You may remember I've mentioned this amazing project before, especially when I've written about public planting. I've enthused so much about what's happening in Yorkshire, even NAH knows what I'm talking about! * So I'm thrilled Joanna has offered to write a blog post, which will appear here in the New Year; it'll be great to have an injection of inspiration in the post Yuletide slump ;) So why am I telling you this now? I noticed from the links Joanna sent me that she's written a book about the project (along with her partner Julian), called Incredible! Plant Veg, Grow a Revolution  and is seeking funds via Kickstarter in order to get it published. It needs £10,000 for them to do a 'proper job' of the publishing process and to finance the first print run. When I last looked (on December 5th), they'd raised £7,843. The f...

It's been a while since I've written something about Chippenham, so I'm delighted that the lovely NAH (I'm biased,  of course ) has written a guest post for me. Sadly it's about today's closure of Dentons, a major Chippenham landmark. It's the kind of place where both four candles AND fork handles  can be found ;) (NB NAH always likes his own headlines!) A Dent on Chippenham's Horizon Whenever a new shopping centre opens, I'm generally eager to see what it has to offer. Usually I find the anticipation better than the actual first visit. When a shopping centre closes, I'm much more concerned about what will not be on offer any more. Over the years, Chippenham has seen fit to allow some of its cultural icons to disappear, seemingly without any real thought about the meaning of the loss to the town. Remember these: Richard Branson's first night club, Golddiggers (formerly a Gaumont cinema); the 50 metre outdoor swimming pool below ...

Last week I asked if anyone fancied a Guest Post spot on Veg Plotting , to cover some of the 52 Week Salad Challenge topics I'd identified for this year's posts. Cally over at Country Gate   Gardens has kindly and quickly penned the first, on the subject of holiday watering... Grouping pots together in bowls of water is one option to keep your plants happy whilst you're away on holiday When Cliff Richard boarded that red London bus and started singing, it was all too apparent that here was no gardener. Anyone who has more than a pot of tomatoes to worry about at this time of year would not have been able to head off to Greece with such abandon. I remember only one extended holiday when I was growing up. Every sunny day on the beach or sightseeing was punctuated with mutterings from my mother about whether Aunty Betty had remembered to water the greenhouse. In contrast I am relatively relaxed about the holiday watering regime. With a bit of planning and organisa...

Some of you will have seen this post before, because I linked to Marigold 's post (originally dated June 4th) in June's Salad Days. Marigold is closing her blog and has kindly let me reproduce her post here, so we can keep her discovery going for the 52 Week Salad Challenge :) I’ve been growing mizuna as a leaf crop for some years now. In the past I just sighed and sowed another batch when the plants started to bolt, which happens quite quickly in hot weather. But last week some impulse made me decide to nip out the flower shoots to see if I could keep the leaves going a bit longer. And a further impulse made me pop one of the shoots into my mouth just to see what it tasted like… Then I had to kick myself for all the years I’d just written the plants off as soon as they flowered, because the flower buds are LUSH! And, even better, having nipped out the leading flower shoot, the plants are now producing lots of delicious side shoots, so they’ll be productive for a lot l...

I was recently sent the pictured Brother garden labeller to review and my inner geek has thoroughly enjoyed making all kinds of labels for both my garden and office supplies. Using the labeller It's very portable and easy to use. Labels can be produced quickly without really needing to read the enclosed instruction leaflet as it's very much like using a calculator. However, if you want to make full use of the functionality available, then the leaflet is most useful. For example, gardeners may want to use italics and quote marks so their labels follow plant naming conventions. Text entered and any setting adjustments are saved when the machine is switched off, so it's worth getting into the habit of resetting everything at the start of the next session. This is very easy to do, as is using the function keys to select fresh settings or using the special characters available. The back of the unit has a handy quick function key and shortcut reference label, so it...

Last Saturday found me at Cheltenham Literature Festival for the afternoon. The town was abuzz and I walked past several familiar faces who were lost in the crowds before I could remember who they were. I'm sure they were some of the famous authors due to talk that day. The last time I attended the festival was when Anna Pavord talked about her book Bulb at The Everyman Theatre a couple of years ago. And very good it was too. This time I decided to sample something from the workshop programme and Writing for the Web tutored by the RSC's digital producer, Suzanne Worthington caught my eye. My experience of writing courses is slight* and I don't quite know what I'd been expecting, but a workbook to go through was quite a surprise. However, it turned out to be just what was needed to structure the afternoon well. Suzanne took us through a number of short exercises designed to make us think a lot and to sharpen up our prose ready for publication on the web. Y...

I'm guest posting today on Emma Cooper's blog as part of this month's Write Club re some news about the horse chestnut leaf miner. Regular readers may recall I've posted about this pesky pest before in the shape of Chippenham's Double Whammy Chestnuts in 2009 and 2008's An End to Chippenham's Conkers ? Head on over to Emma to find out the latest about what's being done to discover the extent of the leaf miner's presence and how you can help to gather the information needed by the researchers at Bristol and Hull Universities. And if you fancy a spot on Emma's blog, you still have a few days left to submit your guest post. Full details of what you need to do, plus some writing prompts if you're stuck for ideas can be found here . NB She has a fantastic prize on offer for the best guest post and even if you're not inspired to write one yourself, simply adding a comment over there puts you in line for her prize draw for a book fr...

When Issy Eyre from Fennel and Fern asked me recently if I'd like a guest post sharing her top tips for taking luscious plant photographs like she has on her blog, I was delighted to say yes... Plants sit so well for their portraits: I love photographing them. Crouching on slightly damp grass to photograph a shy bulb, or contorting into an odd position to snap the arching stems of a witch hazel has become a bit of an addiction ever since I started blogging in 2008. It's not just about taking a photo of the plant: it is capturing its character and its setting that grips me so. I taught myself photography with the help of a point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix, and more recently, a Canon EOS 350d. Most of my favourite shots have come about through a mixture of messing about with the camera and leafing through the work of my favourite garden photographers, including Rachel Warne , Marianne Majerus and blogger Susy Morris . Far from technical knowledge, I've found the most im...

Start a blog Meet local blogging friend who has a thing about quirky 'adverts' Blogger with a camera spots something contradictory about adverts in financial advisor office Et Voila ! This was in the financial brokers office [North Wilts Credit Union - Ed ] next to McColls (post office) and Lee's fish bar off Hardenhuish Lane. The contradiction made me giggle. This is a guest post from Mark at Views From the Bike Shed with a little light editing from me (hope you don't mind!). Thanks Mark, your email was most timely seeing I've had quite a few family matters to sort out this week.

Hurrah - Lucy and I are doing another post together today - click here to see our previous one about an aptly named sponsor for a roundabout in Weymouth, which by a strange coincidence is covered in snow again this morning. Lucy's been sending me all sorts of useful stuff concerning public planting in Dorset and we agreed another joint (ad)venture was just the thing for this quarter's Out on the Streets . This time she's posting a photograph over at Pictures Just Pictures which shows just how steep the land on other side of the fence is and also the extent of the tree planting down the slope. She's kindly sent me a further two photos for posting here together with the results of her research on what this is all about: Poundbury is an area of new housing and places to work on the outskirts of Dorchester. Emotionally and geographically, it looms on the county town's horizon. Not everyone likes it. Its mixture of styles is seen as a mish-mash rather than eclectic, ...

From having a guest post from The Garden Monkey on Saturday to today's joint one with Lucy - isn't blogging just great when friends hop along to join in? Over the weekend Lucy over at Pictures Just Pictures has been out and about in Weymouth. Unusually for a seaside town it also had some snowy scenes last week like the rest of Britain, though I suspect things are back to normal now. Lucy sent me this picture as a contribution to my Public Planting series as she knows I have a particular interest in roundabouts. But before I wade in and say something, here's her thoughts about it: Foord Roundabout Weymouth – 7/2/2009 The council and the undertakers who sponsor this roundabout (Rose Funeral Service) must be very proud of this roundabout. Not only is there a bench on the bank ahead, there's one behind where I was standing to take the photo so, if you wish, you can sit and look at it in comfort. Indeed they pay a lot of attention to this area. Low growing eve...

I'm so delighted The Garden Monkey (GM) has not only agreed to do a guest post for me today, but it's also part of my Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? meme. GM needs no introduction from me, so without further ado... I tend to think that inviting guest to a dinner party is like putting together a cocktail. Get the mix wrong and it’s terrible. Get them right and it will be both refreshing and intoxicating. So who would I invite to a dinner party? Firstly, I would invite Geoff Hamilton and Christopher Lloyd , partly because I revere them both, but also to see how well they got on. Christo makes some fairly chippy comments about St. Geoff in the book, “Dear Friend and Gardener“, calling him, egocentric, nervous of competition and lacking in humour. I'd also invite William Robinson because he didn't seem to get on with anyone - I do like a party to have a bit of fizz. Aware that this guest list is so far entirely made up of deceased males, I'd balance that up ...

My articles published so far on The Guardian 's Gardening Blog: Kingdom of Plants 3D - 25th May 2012 My Malvern Show - 13th May 2011 Best Autumn Gardens - 15th October 2010 Spuds you'll like (about potato days) - 20th January 2010 All is not well in the gardens of our dreams - 25th August 2009 Got a glut? Try mangetout and mint soup – 14th July 2009 How to spot the arrival of summer – 1st June 2009 Hot composting: trying out the green Johanna compost bin – 5th May 2009

I don't reserve all of my best content for Veg Plotting , some of it's found in my guest posts elsewhere. It's great to have the challenge to write something suitable that's different to my usual style. I've written guest posts for... Publishers, companies and organisations Battlesbridge Mills Garden Centre BBC Gardening Blog Gabriel Ash Garden ER (TV programme) Garlic and Sapphire (Sarah Raven's company blog) Heritage Open Days Blog Reader's Digest The Garden Furniture Centre The Guardian Gardening Blog Other Blogs Emma Cooper's Gardening Blog Encounters With Remarkable Biscuits Fennel and Fern The Garden Monkey's Book Flange The Sea of Immeasurable Gravy thinkinGardens UK Veg Gardeners We Love This Book Work From Home Wisdom  (answers to interview questions) A full list of links to my guest posts are listed below. If you’d like me to write one for you or to commission an article, drop me an email at vegplot...