The lazy allotment holder

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The lazy allotment holder

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Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91ï¿½ N

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 8:54 am Post subject: The lazy allotment holder
If you had an allotment and not much time what would you use it for that maximises the yield to work ratio. So far garlic and potatoes spring to mind as good options but that's not a very balanced diet

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 8:58 am Post subject: Re: The lazy allotment holder
Jerusalem artichokes. No work at all. Dwarf French and runner beans; plant in pots, plant out with plenty of mulch about them, no other work. Raspberries, blackberries, tayberries; plant and ignore, mostly. Rhubarb; dump **** on them once a year, weed once in a blue moon. Courgettes and squashes, they grow like mad and shade out most of their competitors.

woodsprite

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 2943
Location: North Herefordshire

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 9:22 am Post subject:
Fruit bushes, overwintering onions, sprouts.

SarahB

Joined: 09 Sep 2007
Posts: 869
Location: South Wales

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 9:42 am Post subject: Re: The lazy allotment holder

JB wrote:

If you had an allotment and not much time what would you use it for that maximises the yield to work ratio.

So far garlic and potatoes spring to mind as good options but that's not a very balanced diet

Skorthalia....
And of course you'd be safe from vampires FOREVER!

Quote:

Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes for boiling
* 6-12 cloves of garlic, minced or grated (to taste)
* 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
* 1/3 cup of good quality red or white wine vinegar
* 1 tablespoon of salt
* 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Peel the potatoes and boil in salted water (add the 1 tablespoon of salt to the water) until well done (easily pierced with a fork). Sprinkle with pepper and mash.

In the blender bowl of the food processor (or with a hand mixer), purée the potatoes and garlic until well mixed, about 30-45 seconds. Still puréeing, slowly add the olive oil and vinegar, alternating between them, tasting as you go, until the mixture is smooth. Skorthalia should be creamy and thick. If it gets too thick, add a little cold water (not more than 1/4 cup).

Yield: About 2-3 cups

Sounds perfectly balanced to me....

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91ï¿½ N

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 9:44 am Post subject:
Fruit is something we have in the back garden (Mrs JB was delighted when I planted strawberries, blackcurrants and raspberries), veg will live at the allotment (assuming I get one this autumn). So there's less problem with needing time for the fruit and less need for it at the plot, it's low effort veg that I'm looking for.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 10:40 am Post subject:
I was going to say fruit. If you started off some sort of no dig and well mulched system then most things would be fairly lacking in work load

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91ï¿½ N

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 11:05 am Post subject:

Mrs Fiddlesticks wrote:

If you started off some sort of no dig and well mulched system then most things would be fairly lacking in work load

Don't a lot of the no dig systems require raised beds?

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 11:08 am Post subject:
No necessarily raised beds for no-dig- just turn over the grass or soil, then build mulch beds on top; if you have ordinary grass udnerneath, cover with carbboard,e tc, then pile on compost, amnure, etc - instant mulch bed, ready to plant into in a few days. If you keep the soil covered around what's growing, eg mulching, then there should be less weeding and watering to do.

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 11:09 am Post subject:
Forgot the veg suggestions Chard, spinach beet, sea beet, sorrel, rhubarb, globe artichokes, leeks, all require little attention.

happytechie

Joined: 24 Jan 2006
Posts: 408
Location: Surrey (at the mo.)

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 5:50 pm Post subject:

filling it with potatoes is an easy way as well. We tried alot of these on our allotment (fruit, onions and spuds) but we were left a plot ridden with couch grass so even after two double digs picking out all the roots we could find it was still a nightmare. The best way we found was to dig, remove all the roots and then mulch with carpet or black plastic and plant in the holes.

It keeps all the weeds down nicely.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 08 6:34 pm Post subject:
I did a thread on erratic gardening somewhere - a lot of that would be good stuff. I reckon asparagus if you mulched it well, and you would have a good reason to get up there and start it early.

ariana

Joined: 22 Jul 2008
Posts: 111

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 08 6:30 am Post subject:

Thinking about it, there's not a lot of fruit and veg that is in itself time consuming, once it is planted out. It's the sowing, growing on and planting out that takes the time. After that it's what you don't want that takes the time - weeds. So my advice is to make absolute certain sure that you get rid of ALL the invasive weeds (couch grass/ground elder/bind weed etc.) and then mulch, mulch mulch!

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6363
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 08 10:17 pm Post subject:

Yield to work ratio is pretty much what dictates my gardening (other than the seed lines I like to preserve/breed) though I suppose I have the advantage of being able to snag leftover seedlings from the farm...

I do a lot of dry beans because they smother weeds and it's just one big harvest. Ditto with winter squash. My three sisters guild is popcorn, beans, and winter squash. I've only wed it twice and it seems like I may need to do it once more before harvest, but that won't take long at all. Because it's not sweet corn I don't have to worry about getting to it before it's past it's premium.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18399

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 08 10:33 pm Post subject:
Broad beans Quick growing brassica greens like Green Wave mustard greens, cima di rapa, and rapa senza testa

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