The Plot Thickens - No-Dig, Allotment Living

Are you getting itchy fingers to get sowing? Or have you got cell trays balancing on every sill? As we spring in March, seed swaps are on the calendar and we're looking forward to the sowing season. Karin's full steam ahead, Vicky's in the planning phase still with Pigeons still munching on last year's broccoli.

It's been a mixed half term, full of exciting but also sad events. Karin had to say goodbye to her beautiful German Shepherd Tilly, leaving an empty feeling house. Vicky has spent her birthday present; a microscope course at the Soil Ecology Laboratory. She has come away full of new knowledge of all things soil, putting her microscope to good use looking at her own bokashi.

Karin has a very bold plan for her plot 2 - a market style garden full of spuds for the summer, a great way to aerate her potentially compacted soils and suppress old weed growth with the potato abundant leaves. Vicky shares an update of Soil Squad's news after a busy week of preparations for the plot, including building a re-used and repurposed version of Mr Dowding's compost bay shelter...

Vicky has finally decided on the lay out of her plot; making two long beds to the back, giving her lots of efficient growing space. Karin has had an unexpectedly large harvest of an often over-looked tuber; the Jerusalem artichoke, enabling her to make a big batch of the soup of her dreams. A short episode due to the chilly morning; Vicky is finding warmth and a short spell of dizziness from her s...

Did you know that mole hills offer the best seed compost nature has to offer? In this episode, Karin shares her plans and recipe for making her own seed compost using her leaf mould as a lovely fluffy base . As always, we share the latest updates on our bokashi compost and the winter b&b it provides. We've been clearing the Soil Squad plot and finding all sorts of random items on the plot,...

Vicky has been to Somerset House for the Soil exhibition and has come away suitably inspired. Karin has been under the weather and has spent almost no time on the plot. Her old trusty car has made it through another MOT though, making more potential compost collections possible.

If you like listening to someone else clean their tools, then this is certainly the episode for you. If not, then we can only apologise and use this episode as an excellent remedy for insomnia.

A quiet early morning on the plot, watching the sunrise and listening to the birds waking up. In all transparency, not much has been done this week on the plots due to the frosty layer covering the ground. The lighter days on the way though, spring will soon be here!

This episode was recorded on a dark, snowy morning on Sunday. Just beautiful to feel the cold snap at our fingertips. Karin and Vicky are living off their leftovers this week and stumble across an idea for composting food waste across holiday homes in Norfolk. NB post recording, Vicky found out that quite a few  Norfolk council's do in fact recycle food waste but hey ho, a composting service would...

A very Happy New Year from the plot!

It's Christmas Eve and we are sending you love and light from Karin's shed as we exchange pressies and celebrate with you, wherever you are. This episode is just long enough to listen to whilst you peel 10 potatoes, wrap a few pressies or walk the dog around the block. We'd like to thank the following artists for the Christmas themed jingles on this episode: MissyWhimsyArt - sleigh bells  VoiceBos...

As the shortest day of the year approaches, we look forward to the longer evenings and all of the possibilities that 2025 holds for the allotment, on all 4 of our half plots!  Looking back on the few allotment diary entries we both made in 2024, it was clear we started our sowing way too early last year and so we'll be holding back on any sowing until March next year....will we resist the temptati...

An upsetting look back on the year that was 2024. A year of a cold spring, a huge amount of slugs, an even colder summer and a harvest so small that you would struggle to sustain a person even for a few days. Vicky's lists her wins as mostly structural. A shed and a fresh compost set up. Roll on 2025!

What do you give an allotmenteer who has most things she needs? Listen in as Vicky and Karin discuss dreamy gifts, some of which MIGHT be homemade in time for Christmas.

Today we dive into the wonder that is the Johnson-Su Bioreactor exploring the why, how, what and wheres of building this microbe and mycelium making composting system. We talk through the benefits for soil health and find the step-by-step construction amazing. Unlike the name suggests, this isn't rocket science and actually an easily built little system that will sit quietly on the plot for a year...

A short but sweet episode about leaf mould; from the basics of how to create your own to practical application for this natural treasure. A sustainable and low cost way to enrich your garden or allotment..what's not to love?

"HOO-gel-kul-tur" Replicating a forest floor with a Hugelkultur on our allotment plots has brought both amazing soil conditions, lush growth and the odd field mouse or two. Karin's planning to build her's to a higher peak this year as she piles on logs, prunings, christmas trees, leaves and grass cuttings to make the most amazing mound for next spring's seeds.

The Plot Thickens can't think of anything better than an early Sunday morning on the plot having a long conversation about mulch; when to do it, why we do it and with what. That it happens to be No Dig day is icing on the cake.

As always, we love diving into the detail of observing and planning a new plot and with Soil Squad's potential new land to be planned, we're all over it! Take a listen for how we work things through, prioritising all the important details such where will the coffee station go.

Vicky has been busy with all things Soil Squad, finally securing a piece of land to be turned into a community composting centre. A whole host of composting systems will be used on the demonstration site, and the pair could not be more excited. Karin is scouring Ebay for her lastest compost obsession; a Swedish Green Johanna hotbin.

Have you seen David Beckham's new love for gardening? Karin's sold, Vicky's clearly not so sure... Vicky's also being a bit of a Halloween grump, while Karin's making plans to collect her street's leftover pumpkins to compost rather than see them disappear.  With all this rain and cold, Vicky's tucking her worms in for winter, Karin’s hashing plans for her own homemade wormery and both are regrett...

Love is in the air as Karin's Paul has sat through a whole hour of Charles Dowding and is a converted man. Vicky hasn't had much time on the plot this week and has missed it terribly. The one time she makes it down there she discovers the dreaded blight has arrived, wiping out a half a bed of potatoes. Karin is continuing with her never ending onion planting, and grapples with two new hugelculture...

Did you know it's actually illegal to have a seed swap?! Just one of many interesting facts about seeds, seed saving, seed swapping and seed history that we found out about on our Biodynamic Seed Saving Day at Waltham Place. After a glorious day with our teacher, Andre Tranquillini, we hot foot it back home to record the pod in the car whilst it's all still fresh in our minds.

Paranoia has set in on Karin's new plot; the majority of the strings dividing her beds and paths have been cut. Opinion is divided if this is deliberately done by hostile allotment neighbours or rodents with sharp teeth. Karin is keen to have a natural explanation, Vicky is more inclined to believe the scissor theory. This situation is not made any easier with the find of a teeth mould in the...

For those ready to geek out over the finer details of onion sets, garlic bulb sowing plans, and budgeting for the season ahead—you’re in the perfect place. But, if that’s not your thing, feel free to jump ahead by a full 13 minutes! We're loving the turn of the season, entering that glorious time of year where we're layering cardboard and compost, sowing green manures, and mulching our gar...