Organics

Longbarrow Allotments has no policy in relation to organic gardening. It is left to individual allotment holders to decide if they choose to want to garden organically. The information provided is therefore given as a guide to help allotment holders.

Try to use organically grown seeds as far as possible.

Make your Allotment garden 'wildlife friendly', encouraging natural creatures to control pests.
Make soil care a priority. Make your own compost and leaf mould to feed the soil, avoid chemicals in your compost. By creating your own compost you will know it is organic, manure from off site might not be from an organic system. As a guide products such as those listed below are deemed to be organic fertilisers.

Bone meal Promotes root growth due to its high phosphate content. Use it as a base dressing prior to planting.

Fish Bone and Blood. A good general fertiliser that is normally applied in the spring to promote root and shoot growth.

Hoof and Horn. This product gives a slow release of nitrogen where strong growth is needed and is applied in the spring or early summer.

Calcified Seaweed. This raises the pH of the soil and adds calcium, like limestone, but also contains magnesium.

Ground Limestone. Again this raises the pH value of the soil and supplies calcium where there is a deficiency. It is applied as a powder when it is needed.

Most of these items are available in our shop.

Recycle, to cut down the use of finite resources.

Control weeds without herbicides, get down and dig them out.

To be Organic, or Not to be Organic – that is the Question.

The question that most gardeners/allotment holders face these days is whether to garden organically.

As with most arguments there are fors and against. I think that the majority of people in this day and age are aware of the dangers of pesticides, not only to ourselves but to the plants and animals around us and try to garden with nature in mind.

In saying that, it is a constant battle to keep bugs, birds, moles etc away from your crops.

There are ways and means of gardening organically without the use of pesticides but you must be aware that you will inevitably loose a proportion of your crops.

Companion planting is a very old method of organic gardening. This is where you use other plants for the properties they bring to keep certain pests away from your edible plants. Plants such as french marigolds, garlic, and nasturtiums are used to mask the smell of brassicas from white fly. Planting a row of onions around the carrot bed keeps carrot fly away, at least until the onion leaves go over.

So the choice it up to you but whatever you do on your plot, enjoy it!

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