Alexei Charkham
My name is Alexei Charkham. I am 36 years’ old and live in north-west London with my wife Gaby and our two daughters Vita and Bea. Gaby and I both work part time as teachers; I try to spend as much of my spare time as possible on my allotment, round the corner from our house.
I have had an allotment since 2006 and now have three half plots, totalling about a third of an acre. I grow lots of fruit and veg, have several greenhouses (some freecycled ‘proper’ ones, and others which I’ve thrown together using old window frames and salvaged timber) and am constantly undertaking somewhat unnecessary, exhausting and relationship-straining projects either on the allotment or in our garden.
Allotment Blog
Big Green Jewish would like to introduce Alexei Charkham, a Jewish Allotment holder from North London. Alexei will be updating and writing his growing blog here. Alexei sells his surplus veg and fruit and he can be contacted on acharkham@hotmail.com for more information. He also likes to hear from other veg growers, so feel free to email him.
March 2010
In the words of the African song that is probably the music to a Peugeot ad: Rain rain rain rain, beautiful rain. Rain has been the flavour of the month in Feb, and things look set to stay that way – the 5-day forecast predicts heavy rain every other day. Oh well.
The allotment is struggling under all the water, which I measured – from a few buckets I’d left lying around - at about 4 inches over the last week (mid-Feb). Over a typical allotment of 400 square metres, and using the easy-to-convert metric system (4 inches = 10cm, and there being 10,000 square cm per square metre), that’s something like 40,000 litres falling in a week over a single half plot. No wonder the ground looks like it’s ready to give in.
I’m very much regretting not having sowed green manures (plants whose sole purpose is to keep the goodness in the soil) last autumn, as it seems that a lot of goodness has been washed out of the soil over the winter with all this rain. I’m going to get an order of various types of green manures to keep handy to sow into any bare patches on the plot. These guys seem pretty good, and give a good explanation of each seed type: click here.
If you have any fleece or clear plastic sheeting, and you are willing to take a small gamble, you can start sowing carrots in the first week of March. Choose early varieties like Nantes or anything with ‘forcing’ in its name, and sow very thinly indeed, then cover with the plastic. The plastic will keep the extra rain off and hopefully trap in any tiny amounts of warmth given by the sun. I’ve done this in a greenhouse and hope for an earlyish crop in 2 months’ time.
You can also sow parsnips now, but I plan to wait at least a fortnight, as they anyway take ages to germinate and will probably take months in the current damp and cold conditions. As with carrots, I’ll cover tightly with clear plastic sheeting to keep essential moisture in, and increase temperatures. At the other end of the scale – harvest – I’m still digging up my last few parsnips, and came across this whopper, which weighed in at just under 2lb (1 kilo).
Broad beans can go out now – I’ll probably sow mine over the weekend. Sow in a double row, quite a bit closer together than the packet recommends. The ones sown in October to beat the spring rush are coming along nicely, despite the hard winter (see pic).
If you have a greenhouse or a protected spot like a warm balcony, you can start sowing tomatoes, peppers and (if you want to waste seed, space and effort for a few dull, bitter rewards), aubergines. Sow on a warm windowsill or into a heated propagator. Don’t keep them too warm or they’ll get extra long (leggy) in the search for light, which will set them back considerably. Once they’re up and running and have two sets of seeds, pot them out gently into small pots, and keep them warm and protected until the weather warms up.
There’s quite a lot to be doing in March, so I’ve made a table below of what can go in.
Two points of note in terms of fauna: firstly, I had the rare sighting in our neighbour’s garden of what I think was a sparrowhawk over the weekend. The picture is grainy and I know looks rather like a pigeon, but I have binoculars and am certain it was a bird of prey, about half as large again as a large wood pigeon, with a sharp beak and smooth head. It sat on a tree for a good while and then swooped down a couple of times into an overgrown part of the garden – after the second swooping I didn’t see it again.
Secondly, a (very slightly) fond farewell to our four chickens, who have gone to live with a chatty lady called Cathy. They didn’t have enough space on the alloyment, so we gave them away so that they can enjoy some fresh grass every day. Shalom, chaverim.
|
When? |
What to sow? |
Information |
|
All
month
|
Broad
beans
|
Double
rows. Stake all around the bed to stop plants falling over later on – only if
you can be bothered though. You will almost certainly have to spray against
pernicious blackfly – water and washing up liquid works reasonably well as a
fairly environmental pesticide.
|
|
Asap
|
|
Buy
from the supermarket or greengrocer, or use previous crop, and plant
anywhere, about 5 inches deep. They will fight all weeds and are great for
clearing new, weedy ground.
|
|
Mid
March
|
Radish
|
Easy
and fun for kids – they also mark out rows for slower germinating seeds like
carrots and parsnips. If picked promptly they really taste very much better
than shop bought ones.
|
|
Mid
March onwards
|
Beetroot
(early varieties)
|
Large
‘seeds’ (actually dried mini fruits) are easy to sow. Sow 3 seeds every 4
inches and once they germinate, carefully behead all plants except the
strongest, using scissors and not pulling. The thinning is the hardest part
of growing them – other than that they’re very easy.
|
|
All
month
|
Carrots
– early on, under a cloche/sheeting, and later on, unprotected
|
Just
sow very, very, very thinly indeed. Essential to keep moist during longish
germination – can be done with clear plastic sheets, well weighed down to
stop evaporating winds.
|
|
Mid
March onwards
|
Brussels
sprouts and leeks
|
Different
plant families, but sow both in the seedbed for planting out later in the
year. Both are excellent winter standbys, but I much prefer leeks.
|
|
Late
March
|
Lettuce
and spinach
|
Harder
to grow than one might think – I struggle with all leafy veg. The only
lettuce I have any success with is Salad Bowl, where a few leaves are picked
off at a time. And the easiest spinach seems to be Perpetual Spinach (which
is actually part of the beet family).
|
|
Early
or late March
|
Tomatoes
for either the greenhouse (sow early March), or for outdoor use (sow late
March)
|
Sow in
a warm place then tease out into smallish pots once they’re up and growing.
Keep them well protected until late April (greenhouse ones) or late May
(outdoor ones).
|
|
Mid
March
|
Early
potatoes
|
Worth
taking the risk and getting them in nice and early, for a delicious and early
harvest in June – one of the first crops of the year.
|
|
Late
March to mid April
|
Onion
sets (mini bulbs)
|
Extremely
easy and fun to grow. Just pop the tiny bulbs into the ground about 6 inches
apart and weed every so often. Finchley Nurseries are the cheapest and sell
by weight – you get lots for a couple of quid.
|
Photos above of Rhubarb and Shallots starting to grow...
Click on link below to view previous months