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.
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Allotment Blog
Alexei Charkham is a Jewish Allotment holder from North London and has been updating and writing his growing blog here since January 2010. Alexei sells his surplus veg and fruit and he can be contacted onacharkham@hotmail.com for more information. He likes to hear from other veg growers, so feel free to email him. Click here to subscribe to Alexei's blog - just tick the 'allotment blog' box.
October 2010
Digging root veg out of the ground involves mixed emotions: will there be enough? Will they be good enough? Is all my work (and expenditure - £27 worth of seed potatoes) to be rewarded? Harvesting potatoes in mid-September was fairly successful, reaping approaching two wheelbarrows – or four to five sacks - of spuds. Unfortunately, many of them had succumbed to scab, a blotchiness on their skin – due to insufficient watering…see last month’s blog about that. Scab is easily peeled or scrubbed off, but means that the affected potato can’t be stored over the whole winter and must be eaten within a month or two. Perfect potatoes, though, can be stored in a paper sack in a cool, ideally frost free shed until the weather warms up in spring.
The glut of non-storable scabby potatoes has meant a subsequent glut of potato-based dinners. Given that our youngest Bea loathes them, Gaby has taken to the challenge admirably and in the past fortnight has prepared around 10 spuddy meals. She’s keeping a list of them for posterity.
Other root veg should probably be harvested and stored soon (beetrootand carrots in boxes of compost or sand), but I find that they can stay in the ground without too much damage even in the coldest weather.
Greenhouse tomatoes are still producing, although they’ve slowed down in the past few weeks. The picture below right was taken just a couple of weeks ago, but in just two weeks the plants have noticeably less fruit on them.
The various greenhouses desperately need an injection of manure this winter, which I’ll liberally apply soon. I plan to store the manure in the various greenhouses over the winter, to reduce leaching of nutrients by the most probably prolific rain, and so that the manure’s goodness can itself leach into the greenhouse soil. I’ve been speaking to some stables and to London Waste in an attempt to get a free delivery of compost or manure. Pray for me, please.
Also on the subject of preparing for winter, last week I sowed green manures on all empty beds. I bought fodder radish and vetch, which should both be winter hardy. I have some spare at cost price (about £3 per kg) if anyone wants some…you’re just about in time to sow it now.
If your beds are empty and exposed and you have time – but no green manures - on your hands, it’s worthwhile ‘putting them to bed’ for the winter by covering them with any organic matter you can get hold of, then covering that with weighed down cardboard. This is a hassle I know, but if heavy rains do come again, will reduce the amount of nutrients your soil loses over the winter. It’ll also protect worms from heavy frosts…but will do the same for slugs.
Winter hardy onions sets and broad beans can go in now, which will give you an earlier crop and for the broad beans miss out on the blackflies which will damage your spring-sown crop. Both will suffer from a hard winter, so it’s an idea to sow extra beans at the end of each row to transplant into any gaps. For any north Londoners, Finchley Nurseries sell onion sets quite cheaply.
If you have any brassicas you’re hoping to eat over the winter (cabbages, Brussels sprouts, kale) or next spring (purple sprouting broccoli), now is the time to net them against hungry wood pigeons, which will shred any uncovered plants. There are apparently 20 million of them in the UK, many of them living near my plot judging from previous years. I still hope to farm some (pigeons) one day, but Gaby for some reason gently resists this idea.
Winter sown peas can go into the greenhouse now, as can carrots, broad beans, onions and general salad leaves. If I have time I’ll do a mini-experiment with these and will keep you updated. However, the next building job – a porch – beckons, so I might not bother.
Happy sowing and manuring,
Alexei
Click on link below to view previous months
October 2010
Digging root veg out of the ground involves mixed emotions: will there be enough? Will they be good enough? Is all my work (and expenditure - £27 worth of seed potatoes) to be rewarded? Harvesting potatoes in mid-September was fairly successful, reaping approaching two wheelbarrows – or four to five sacks - of spuds. Unfortunately, many of them had succumbed to scab, a blotchiness on their skin – due to insufficient watering…see last month’s blog about that. Scab is easily peeled or scrubbed off, but means that the affected potato can’t be stored over the whole winter and must be eaten within a month or two. Perfect potatoes, though, can be stored in a paper sack in a cool, ideally frost free shed until the weather warms up in spring.
The glut of non-storable scabby potatoes has meant a subsequent glut of potato-based dinners. Given that our youngest Bea loathes them, Gaby has taken to the challenge admirably and in the past fortnight has prepared around 10 spuddy meals. She’s keeping a list of them for posterity.
Other root veg should probably be harvested and stored soon (beetrootand carrots in boxes of compost or sand), but I find that they can stay in the ground without too much damage even in the coldest weather.
Greenhouse tomatoes are still producing, although they’ve slowed down in the past few weeks. The picture below right was taken just a couple of weeks ago, but in just two weeks the plants have noticeably less fruit on them.
The various greenhouses desperately need an injection of manure this winter, which I’ll liberally apply soon. I plan to store the manure in the various greenhouses over the winter, to reduce leaching of nutrients by the most probably prolific rain, and so that the manure’s goodness can itself leach into the greenhouse soil. I’ve been speaking to some stables and to London Waste in an attempt to get a free delivery of compost or manure. Pray for me, please.
Also on the subject of preparing for winter, last week I sowed green manures on all empty beds. I bought fodder radish and vetch, which should both be winter hardy. I have some spare at cost price (about £3 per kg) if anyone wants some…you’re just about in time to sow it now.
If your beds are empty and exposed and you have time – but no green manures - on your hands, it’s worthwhile ‘putting them to bed’ for the winter by covering them with any organic matter you can get hold of, then covering that with weighed down cardboard. This is a hassle I know, but if heavy rains do come again, will reduce the amount of nutrients your soil loses over the winter. It’ll also protect worms from heavy frosts…but will do the same for slugs.
Winter hardy onions sets and broad beans can go in now, which will give you an earlier crop and for the broad beans miss out on the blackflies which will damage your spring-sown crop. Both will suffer from a hard winter, so it’s an idea to sow extra beans at the end of each row to transplant into any gaps. For any north Londoners, Finchley Nurseries sell onion sets quite cheaply.
If you have any brassicas you’re hoping to eat over the winter (cabbages, Brussels sprouts, kale) or next spring (purple sprouting broccoli), now is the time to net them against hungry wood pigeons, which will shred any uncovered plants. There are apparently 20 million of them in the UK, many of them living near my plot judging from previous years. I still hope to farm some (pigeons) one day, but Gaby for some reason gently resists this idea.
Winter sown peas can go into the greenhouse now, as can carrots, broad beans, onions and general salad leaves. If I have time I’ll do a mini-experiment with these and will keep you updated. However, the next building job – a porch – beckons, so I might not bother.
Happy sowing and manuring,
Alexei
Click on link below to view previous months
Digging root veg out of the ground involves mixed emotions: will there be enough? Will they be good enough? Is all my work (and expenditure - £27 worth of seed potatoes) to be rewarded? Harvesting potatoes in mid-September was fairly successful, reaping approaching two wheelbarrows – or four to five sacks - of spuds. Unfortunately, many of them had succumbed to scab, a blotchiness on their skin – due to insufficient watering…see last month’s blog about that. Scab is easily peeled or scrubbed off, but means that the affected potato can’t be stored over the whole winter and must be eaten within a month or two. Perfect potatoes, though, can be stored in a paper sack in a cool, ideally frost free shed until the weather warms up in spring.
The glut of non-storable scabby potatoes has meant a subsequent glut of potato-based dinners. Given that our youngest Bea loathes them, Gaby has taken to the challenge admirably and in the past fortnight has prepared around 10 spuddy meals. She’s keeping a list of them for posterity.
Other root veg should probably be harvested and stored soon (beetrootand carrots in boxes of compost or sand), but I find that they can stay in the ground without too much damage even in the coldest weather.
Greenhouse tomatoes are still producing, although they’ve slowed down in the past few weeks. The picture below right was taken just a couple of weeks ago, but in just two weeks the plants have noticeably less fruit on them.
The various greenhouses desperately need an injection of manure this winter, which I’ll liberally apply soon. I plan to store the manure in the various greenhouses over the winter, to reduce leaching of nutrients by the most probably prolific rain, and so that the manure’s goodness can itself leach into the greenhouse soil. I’ve been speaking to some stables and to London Waste in an attempt to get a free delivery of compost or manure. Pray for me, please.
Also on the subject of preparing for winter, last week I sowed green manures on all empty beds. I bought fodder radish and vetch, which should both be winter hardy. I have some spare at cost price (about £3 per kg) if anyone wants some…you’re just about in time to sow it now.
If your beds are empty and exposed and you have time – but no green manures - on your hands, it’s worthwhile ‘putting them to bed’ for the winter by covering them with any organic matter you can get hold of, then covering that with weighed down cardboard. This is a hassle I know, but if heavy rains do come again, will reduce the amount of nutrients your soil loses over the winter. It’ll also protect worms from heavy frosts…but will do the same for slugs.
Winter hardy onions sets and broad beans can go in now, which will give you an earlier crop and for the broad beans miss out on the blackflies which will damage your spring-sown crop. Both will suffer from a hard winter, so it’s an idea to sow extra beans at the end of each row to transplant into any gaps. For any north Londoners, Finchley Nurseries sell onion sets quite cheaply.
If you have any brassicas you’re hoping to eat over the winter (cabbages, Brussels sprouts, kale) or next spring (purple sprouting broccoli), now is the time to net them against hungry wood pigeons, which will shred any uncovered plants. There are apparently 20 million of them in the UK, many of them living near my plot judging from previous years. I still hope to farm some (pigeons) one day, but Gaby for some reason gently resists this idea.
Winter sown peas can go into the greenhouse now, as can carrots, broad beans, onions and general salad leaves. If I have time I’ll do a mini-experiment with these and will keep you updated. However, the next building job – a porch – beckons, so I might not bother.
Happy sowing and manuring,
Alexei
Click on link below to view previous months
Digging root veg out of the ground involves mixed emotions: will there be enough? Will they be good enough? Is all my work (and expenditure - £27 worth of seed potatoes) to be rewarded? Harvesting potatoes in mid-September was fairly successful, reaping approaching two wheelbarrows – or four to five sacks - of spuds. Unfortunately, many of them had succumbed to scab, a blotchiness on their skin – due to insufficient watering…see last month’s blog about that. Scab is easily peeled or scrubbed off, but means that the affected potato can’t be stored over the whole winter and must be eaten within a month or two. Perfect potatoes, though, can be stored in a paper sack in a cool, ideally frost free shed until the weather warms up in spring.
The glut of non-storable scabby potatoes has meant a subsequent glut of potato-based dinners. Given that our youngest Bea loathes them, Gaby has taken to the challenge admirably and in the past fortnight has prepared around 10 spuddy meals. She’s keeping a list of them for posterity.
Other root veg should probably be harvested and stored soon (beetrootand carrots in boxes of compost or sand), but I find that they can stay in the ground without too much damage even in the coldest weather.
Greenhouse tomatoes are still producing, although they’ve slowed down in the past few weeks. The picture below right was taken just a couple of weeks ago, but in just two weeks the plants have noticeably less fruit on them.
The various greenhouses desperately need an injection of manure this winter, which I’ll liberally apply soon. I plan to store the manure in the various greenhouses over the winter, to reduce leaching of nutrients by the most probably prolific rain, and so that the manure’s goodness can itself leach into the greenhouse soil. I’ve been speaking to some stables and to London Waste in an attempt to get a free delivery of compost or manure. Pray for me, please.
Also on the subject of preparing for winter, last week I sowed green manures on all empty beds. I bought fodder radish and vetch, which should both be winter hardy. I have some spare at cost price (about £3 per kg) if anyone wants some…you’re just about in time to sow it now.
If your beds are empty and exposed and you have time – but no green manures - on your hands, it’s worthwhile ‘putting them to bed’ for the winter by covering them with any organic matter you can get hold of, then covering that with weighed down cardboard. This is a hassle I know, but if heavy rains do come again, will reduce the amount of nutrients your soil loses over the winter. It’ll also protect worms from heavy frosts…but will do the same for slugs.
Winter hardy onions sets and broad beans can go in now, which will give you an earlier crop and for the broad beans miss out on the blackflies which will damage your spring-sown crop. Both will suffer from a hard winter, so it’s an idea to sow extra beans at the end of each row to transplant into any gaps. For any north Londoners, Finchley Nurseries sell onion sets quite cheaply.
If you have any brassicas you’re hoping to eat over the winter (cabbages, Brussels sprouts, kale) or next spring (purple sprouting broccoli), now is the time to net them against hungry wood pigeons, which will shred any uncovered plants. There are apparently 20 million of them in the UK, many of them living near my plot judging from previous years. I still hope to farm some (pigeons) one day, but Gaby for some reason gently resists this idea.
Winter sown peas can go into the greenhouse now, as can carrots, broad beans, onions and general salad leaves. If I have time I’ll do a mini-experiment with these and will keep you updated. However, the next building job – a porch – beckons, so I might not bother.
Happy sowing and manuring,
Alexei
Click on link below to view previous months