Thanks for visiting out "Grow Your Own" section, if you want to see some pictures click on the gallery link on the left of the screen. I'm not an expert fruit and vegetable grower and the idea of this page is to give an example of what can be achieved by anyone with a keen interest in growing their own fruit and veg.

We are lucky that there was no waiting list for our allotment and thats its a full plot rather than a lot of the half plots that are becoming more common due to huge interest in allotments. Our plot is about 100ft x 25ft and around about 65% is used for growing, with other space taken up by our wildlife pool, compost heaps, paths, the shed and general stuff.

We have chosen to create beds using various reclaimed materials such as bricks, old timber and plastic boards. Our paths are fairly wide so we loose some growing space, but on the other hand we are able to grow crops closer together as we don't need to walk between rows to tend to crops.

 Have a look at our picture gallery, just click on the link on the left...

Organic growing tips and downloads

Crop Rotation

I'm probably preaching to the converted here, but  if you don't rotate where you grow your crops you will encourage pests and disease, deplete the soil nutrients and cause an inbalance in the fertility of the soil. 

I do know people who grow very large and tasty crops without any rotaion, but they do have to work very hard at adding lots of non organic plant feed, huge amounts of fertilisers, persticides and so on to make it work.

Crop rotaion: Click here to download this file

Comfrey

Comfrey is an excellent plant that is especially high in Potash and has a good make up of other nutrients. Its great for breaking up heavy soil and its deep roots can bring nutrients up to the surface making them available to your crops. Theres plenty of reasons why Comfrey is an excellent plant to have around but beware of its ability to spread like a weed! (See reference below relating to Bocking 14)

Heres an extract from Wikipedia;

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale L.) is a perennial herb of the family Boraginaceae with a black, turnip-like root and large, hairy broad leaves that bears small bell-shaped white, cream, purple or pink flowers. It is native to Europe, growing in damp, grassy places, and is widespread throughout the British Isles on river banks and ditches. Comfrey has long been recognised by both organic gardeners and herbalists for its great usefulness and versatility; of particular interest is the "Bocking 14" cultivar of Russian Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum). This strain was developed during the 1950s by Lawrence D Hills, the founder of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (the organic gardening organisation itself named after the Quaker pioneer who first introduced Russian Comfrey into Britain in the 1910s) following trials at Bocking, near Braintree, the original home of the organisation.

Comfrey is a particularly valuable source of fertility to the organic gardener. It is very deep rooted and acts as a dynamic accumulator, mining a host of nutrients from the soil. These are then made available through its fast growing leaves (up to 4-5 pounds per plant per cut) which, lacking fibre, quickly break down to a thick black liquid. There is also no risk of nitrogen robbery when comfrey is dug into the soil as the C:N ratio of the leaves is lower than that of well-rotted compost. Comfrey is an excellent source of potassium, an essential plant nutrient needed for flower, seeds and fruit production. Its leaves contain 2-3 times more potassium than farmyard manure, mined from deep in the subsoil, tapping into reserves that would not normally be available to plants.

There are various ways in which comfrey can be utilised as a fertiliser, these include:

• Comfrey for potatoes - freshly cut comfrey should be wilted for a day or two, then laid along potato trenches about 2 inches deep. Avoid using flowering stems as these can root. The leaves will rapidly break down and supply potassium rich fertiliser for the developing potato plants.
• Comfrey as a compost activator- include 2-3 inch deep layers of comfrey in the compost heap to encourage bacterial activity and help to heat the heap. Comfrey should not be added in quantity as it will quickly break down into a dark sludgey liquid that needs to be balanced with more fibrous, carbon rich material.
• Comfrey liquid fertiliser- can be produced by either rotting leaves down in rainwater for 4-5 weeks to produce a ready to use 'comfrey tea', or by stacking dry leaves under a weight in a container with a hole in the base. When the leaves decompose a thick black comfrey concentrate is collected. This must be diluted at 15:1 before use.
• Comfrey as a mulch- a 2 inch layer of comfrey leaves placed around a crop will slowly break down and release plant nutrients. it is especially useful for crops that need extra potassium, such as tomatoes, and also fruit bushes like gooseberries and currants.
• Comfrey potting mixture- originally devised using peat, environmental awareness has led to a leaf mold-based alternative being adopted instead. Two year old, well decayed leaf mold should be used, this will absorb the nutrient-rich liquid released by the decaying comfrey.
• In a black plastic sack alternate 3-4 inch layers of leaf mould and chopped comfrey leaves. Add a little dolomitic limestone to slightly raise pH. Leave for between 2-5 months depending on the season, checking that it does not dry out or become too wet. The mixture is ready when the comfrey leaves have rotted and are no longer visible. Use as a general potting compost, although it is too strong for seedlings.

Have a browse online to see hundreds of references to Comfrey and its possible uses. You will find that different people give different information regarding how it should be diluted for feeding plants, just experiement and find out what works for you.

Make your own organic plant fertiliser using Comfrey: Click here to download this file