Hints and tips for a windy allotment or garden
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2020
- If you have questions, we have a FAQ document and video, which you can find here: steves.seasidelife.com/2020/0...
If you are new to my allotment videos you might find a bit of context useful. We live in the north west of England, in Lytham St Annes, which I believe is the equivalent of USA Zone 8. Fairly mild, but very windy.
For more details on the databases that I use to manage my allotment, check out these two blog posts steves.seasidelife.com/catego...
We have three allotments in my family, mine (Steve), my wife's (Debbie) and my middle daughter's (Jennie). We also have a small kitchen garden at home. They are all managed in an integrated fashion, so don't expect to see the usual mix of veg on each plot. I do most of the planning and seed starting. We each have our own plots, but we all help each other out.
Jennie's plot has been designed as a traditional allotment, but we put a lot of focus on minimising the work we do there. It's basically a plant and forget it plot, full of garlic, leeks, onions, beetroot, brassicas, squash, beans and fruit trees. It's heavily mulched to reduce weeds and to reduce the need water.
Debbie's plot is mostly full of perennials, it's an ornemental plot. Again we did a lot of work to keep the weeds down and Debbie's approach is inspired by the TV programme The Ornamental Kitchen garden.
My plot is all about experimental growing, maximum productivity and year round abundance. As with all of the other plots I did a lot of work to control the weeds, but it's a high maintenance plot. I'm always planting, harvesting, experimenting and generally having a great time.
Collectively the plots deliver an amazing abundance of fruit and veg all year round. Debbie, Jennie, Jon and I are effectively self sufficient in veg all year round and in fruit for much of the year. During winter we sometimes have enough surplus to feed our local family. During the rest of the year when the surplus from our house garden comes on stream we have surpluses in some crops for quite a few friends as well.
This video provides an overview:
• The big picture of our...
I do an update of the allotments, roughly twice a month, you can find the tours here:
• Full allotment tour as...
Our approach to allotment life is to: grow as much as we possibly can, to be self-sufficient in veg all year round and in fruit in season, to give away our surplus to friends and family, and to have as much fun as possible. For more on self sufficiency check out these videos:
• Super quick update on ...
We are not slaves to gardening though, I spend about 14 hours a week on the plots (on average) Debbie and Jennie a lot less. We keep nudging that down as we eliminate non-productive work: like grass cutting, weeding and watering as much as practical. We are both newbie gardeners, only starting the allotments in 2016.
I'm a bit obsessive about the nutrient density of the veg that we grow and making the plots easy to work because it's through this allotment lifestyle and food that I've overcome a debilitating auto-immune disease.
I'm always aware though that it might not last so I make sure that I don't work too hard, eat as much organic fruit and veg I can and design the plots so that I can still work them when I flare up.
very useful. thank you for this educational video.
watching this froma link in the August newsletter. I have a feeling that my new allotment plot is going to be very windy, as it os on a south facing slope. We tend to get a lot of winds from the south west here. Information in this video has been invaluable and will be putting your methods of providing shelter in my plot. Thanks Steve :-)
Thanks for the feedback : All the best - Steve
Many thanks for these tips - we moved onto a really exposed inland site last year and my first veg season went pretty well, but the wind can be crazy here at times so I definitely plan to deploy some of these tips this year!
Extremely helpful video!
Thanks men for vídeo nice 😊
Good and practical ideas, Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback Jacob : All the best - Steve
Awesome!!!Big Like
Slow progress here, but the wind - just put up a windbreak to the west and it hits from the east! Grrrr! But very, very exposed. Probably get a little relief from the bank behind and the hedgerow and trees when they leaf up, but it blows a hooley pretty often. Definitely need to start setting up cold frames as the soil is so shallow that the hoops don't go in very far . . . and blow over! Thank you for the tips - all very impressive there.
Thanks Kerry, as you say wind-breaks and hedges are useful, but they can't compare with cold-frames and low tunnels and the like. Although tomorrow is the worst of days for wind, really sunny and really windy, what to do!! I'm probably going to drape shade cloth over the low tunnels : All the best - Steve
Oh noooo! Lalala can't hear you! At least with frames it would be easier to sink the hoops in, or attach them to the sides. Hope you are all battened down in time! Take care! xx
Hi Steve, our site isn't as exposed as yours but I like to inter-plant crops like brassicas with onions, the young brassicas get protection from the semi-mature onions and also like the residues left by the onion roots. I also protect young squashes and beans planted in the sweetcorn bed. All the best, Rich.
That's so interesting. On our site if I didn't protect the onions they'd proably be flattened by the wind and I plant my sweetcorn at the same time as the squash so that wouldn't work. Jennie's plot - which I didn't film because it was too windy! - is protected by hedges and the benefit is greater than the detriment of the shading. The back garden - like most - is surrounded by walls and buildings and the benefit is tremendous : All the best - Steve
I’ve been told, but haven’t tried it yet, that you can put a wind shield made from plastic sheeting on the windy side and it will keep tomatoes from getting battered. I’m planting more than I ever have before since I’m not working right now. We just had a storm here the last two days, winds up to 45 mph and lots of rain. All my seedlings are standing in water in their trays.
probably the same storm heading our way, very sunny and very windy, the worst combination! : All the best - Steve
We have a similar climate, I live right above a Port we have typhoon type winds here mostly in the winter fortunately. My small backyard is protected by a fence with grape vines on it which helps mitigate the damage.
My garden is also very well protected from the worst of the wind, the allotment, not so much! That's lucky though because the house is only 3 minutes walk from the beach : All the best - Steve
Good info
Awesome... thanks for the video sir. Now I gotta figure out how to use a few of those in my own garden. I am actually really surprised at how resilient plants are and adapt to windy environments. Larger stems, thicker trunks, deeper roots etc are some things that come to mind quickly. Obviously some things just don't do well while others seem to handle the wind better than others. Like I said before I have my garden next to a farm field and I have no protection from the west to north winds for a couple miles. Which at times can be amazingly windy at my house but in town amongst all the trees and houses, not barely a breeze. Thanks again for the great video.
Yes, plants definitely do adapt, but all that energy that goes into adapting doesn't go into fruit and leaves and other things we eat, so just like plants can live quite happily without regular watering, if you want to maximise harvests you water. This is especially noticeable in winter, I can harvest a lettuce in the polytunnel a dozen times but harvest one outside only once. : All the best - Steve
I'm pretty lucky my garden is quiet sheltered. I normally use bamboo canea and string to hold things up.
Our's too Mark, I think gardens generally are much better than allotments from the perspective of wind, but of course they also get a lot more shade : All the best - Steve
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Really loved this video, thank you for sharing and stay connected :) from a fellow gardener
Thanks for the feedback "fellow gardener" : All the best - Steve
@@SteveRichards Anytime, you have great videos, hope you get a chance to check out my garden or adventures :)
Great advice, I’m in Cornwall but 750ft above sea level close to the moors so wind will be a massive issue. As I only have the garden I’ll be growing squashes vertically to reduce lost space, they’ll be trained up the garden fence for support
Vertical squash needs more nerve than I have! I hope it goes well for you : All the best - Steve
😂🤣 probably beginners stupidity, I’ll let you know the results 🥴
Against a fence will probably be ok : All the best - Steve
I see you grow cucamelons and I’ve seen that they are actually perennial so kept indoors over winter they’ll crop earlier future springs which I’m desperate to do. I’ve grown them successfully until transferring but every time I get them in the grown they yellow and die. Initially I put it down to the heat/watering in the poly tunnel issues I mentioned to you but still no success. Any tips?
Sorry, I did try to over-winter them last year, but mine rotted. A friend of mine got his son a cucamelon growing kit and he sent me a photo last month and the plants were 12" tall, so I will try starting mine earlier next year, in the roof hanging baskets along with the strawberries : All the best - Steve
Great video Steve, we have lots of wind in our garden, all sheep feilds around us on all sides. We plan to plant more evergreen and deciduous bushes, there are a few trees. I bought some polycarbonate sheets and want to make some simple panels to use around some beds as needed. I just havent found the plain pine skinny lumber I need yet. What kind of mesh was it you showed and said you liked? Is that scaffolding net? I never saw it in white. I have some veggie mesh from Gardening Naturally.
It was probably Envirotect. All the details can be found in the chapter of my ebook on growing under cover steverichards.notion.site/Growing-under-cover-a48de72c83064d07a945eeb111cf7027?pvs=4
@@SteveRichards Thanks Steve, I'm finally taking the time to read your ebook, been wanting to for awhile! I'll check that chapter out soon.
Btw, you did a video about Burpees Golden beetroot and how giving it shelter helped. I commented on how nice this was growing for me and it was slightly sheltered. I was WRONG, it was Albina Veraduna (not sure of spelling) which is a white beetroot. The leaves of this have grown big and luscious! I have some in a sheltered spot and some in an open bed, both are doing really well. I hope you check it out.
Cheers!
oh thanks for that Mary, I've bought some. I'm growing quite a few beetroot and chard over winter for baby leaves, so I will add them to the selection! : All the best - Steve
Hi, really useful video thanks. We’re in Orkney - famous for the wind! - and we want to start a small food growing area in the garden from bare grass. Any advice as to where to start? It doesn’t get below freezing very often - temps average 5-15 degrees C.
Not going to be able to do a lot of digging, so looking for easier growing solutions, preferably at a higher level. Want to start off with the things we’ll eat like greens, courgettes, beans, onions of some sort, radish. Don’t know if we’d be able to grow carrots! Anything that’s easy, hardy and relatively quick. Also going to grow some things indoors like herbs, and maybe some peppers indoors too in a sunny window.
Do you think a cold frame or two is the place to start? Can big pots be protected from the wind? We’re not going to be able to put a poly tunnel up here.
Any advice really appreciated! 👍
Maybe watch my kitchen garden videos ua-cam.com/play/PLFhKoRR-NiCLuhIMiHfBRN91W6TPiRABG.html starting with the upgrade project onwards and read my ebook www.notion.so/Gardening-Book-6f57489ae10a4721b48b421826203814 : All the best - Steve
Can you give more information on the netting you use? Where do you source them from? I live on Island that can have some really strong windstorms but I also want to protect my brassicas from white cabbage moths. So the size of the netting holes matters. Thanks for your videos. Very inforamative and inspiring.
Thanks for the lovely feedback Lynn, see the link to the FAQ document in the video description, that has links to the products I use : All the best - Steve
Steve what is the green thing at the top of your runner bean pole called. I assume it’s to keep from poking a hole in your poly tunnel and maybe your eye also. Thanks
It's called an 'eye saver' Maude : All the best - Steve
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Just had a look at your FAQ document page some interesting information there thanks you.
Thanks I'm always updating it, quicker than constantly answering the same questions here : All the best - Steve