Join Richard in this weeks veg grower podcast. This Week Richard has had a good weekend on the plot, some time spent gardening on the alltometn and the veg garden. its made him very happy to tackle a number of jobs with a lovely break in the weather.

Allotment update: Pruning Blackcurrant

We head to the allotment first of all where Richard tackled a number of tasks.

Firstly Richard tackled a bit of a tidy up. Strong winds have a habit of blowing unwanted litter onto Richards allotment all of which needs tidying up. However Richard does say we can be to tidy!! Nature loves messy areas so leaving some dead plant material for example can provide nature a home.

Richard also harvested some Brussel sprouts and mulched the asparagus bed with some seaweed collected from a local beach.

But the main task Richard tackled is the pruning of a blackcurrant bush that he inherited. Pruning can be a very daunting task but plants do benefit from a prune. When it comes to Blackcurrants pruning can be pretty easy. Richard always starts with any dead, diseased or damaged brunches all of which get pruned away, after that he looks at the overall shape of the bush, planning to try and end up with a goblet shaped bush at the end. This allows plenty of light and air around the plant. To achieve this Richard prunes away any brunches that are more the 5 years old.

Overall a good weekend work on the alltoment

Seed potato experiment; the harvest

Richard is always trying to find ways of saving money and seed potatoes is a way Richard is experimenting with this year.

2023 Richard planted some extra potatoes in concrete pipes in a separate area of the allotment, the idea being to grow these plants to produce some seed potatoes. This weekend Richard harvested these seed potatoes in preparation for growing these in 2024.

Will it be a success?

Chef Scott's Recipe Of The Week

Sticking with potatoes Chef Scott has shared a delicious potato tart recipe. Which sounds delicious and easy to make. Its certainly one I will be trying.

Garden update: A good weekend for bed making

At home the veg garden is coming together nicely. Beds are continuing to be mulched in preparation for growing and a new bed has been built.

Building this bed Richard uses thick untreated wood which is cut to size and screwed together. Sticking with no dog principles Richard then places cardboard on the ground and compost on top.

This also gave Richard the chance to test his new ryobi battery charger. This charger can charge 6 batteries at the same time and also doubles up as a handy carry case for all his battery's, making life simpler.

Added to that this week Richard has also sown a few seeds. Celery ahs been sown in the greenhouse, Mustard and Spring onions have been sown in the vegepod and indoors Richard has sown a second batch of chillies and aubergines.

As you can see there's been lots going its been a good weekend on the plot