Stockfree September

Haven't posted for nearly two months, the plot is looking pretty different these days. We have entered into PHASE 4 as Baz likes to put it, which means we have started work on changing the plot to how we want it rather than maintaining how it was when we took it over.


Here is the plan:

Here is what the plot looked like on Day 1:

and how it's looking today on Day 147:

We had a good yield of crops over the summer, we're still digging up potatoes as and when we need them (as I write I am frying some for my breakfast...) and picking from a seemingly everlasting supply of summer squash:

This is really gross, but the woodlice like to burrow in through the base of the squashes, so if you don't pick them early enough, there are several tiny woodlice crawling around inside the bottom. Ewwww.


What else have we harvested recently? Well partly thanks to my friend's little girl, Oiana, who did an ace job of picking fruit and veg for us on Saturday, this week we have had:
-potatoes
-summer squash
-chard
-spinach
-raspberries
-carrots
-mizuna
-onions
-kohl rabi


Which is pretty good seeing as we put in fairly minimal effort over the summer. The carrots did pretty badly, I don't know whether it was because they all came from seed packs given to us and they were a bit old, or whether it's because the soil wasn't very fertile. It could also be due to my sowing skills, I tend to mess up sometimes with putting the seeds in too deep. It's probably a combination of these things, and probably other reasons that I don't know about due to my lack of veg growing experience.


So, how has it worked so far, starting up a vegan organic plot? Well, due to the fact that me and Baz have been living under the poverty line this year because I was too ill to work and not eligible for any ESA or the like, we haven't been able to buy anything really other than the odd bit of netting and a couple of hosepipe parts to replace the ones which mysteriously went missing, apparently it could have been me leaving them on the tap, but that's doubtful, even given the fact that Baz saw me walk away from the tap yesterday and go back 30 seconds later because I had...ahem...left the bit on the tap. (Damn, he caught me). Anyway, so had we been able to purchase things for the allotment since we took it on in April, we would have, I'm sure, been able to buy some things related to having an organic, stockfree* plot. But here's what we've done so far:


-not used horse manure on our soil like most other people on the site (reason: all the nutrients that have gone into a horse when they are grazing and then through their body and out the other end, well these are better acquired first-hand, directly from things like compost and green manure).


-put all our veggie waste from home into a compost heap along with all suitable stuff when clearing on the plot like certain weeds. And then mixed in some 'browns' like cardboard. And added things like seaweed from Hove beach, and watered it to keep it moist.


-not killed any bugs (knowingly), and moving slugs to the corner of the plot until we figure out where else to put them


-not using any slug killer or any other pest control other than removing with our hands and relocating


-not using any chemicals or weed killer or anything that would be harmful to us or the soil and crops


-sown lots of green manure seed in the last week- we bought two types of mustard seed. When the time is right this can be fed into the soil to create lovely fertile soil for our veg growing.


-put a whole load of nettles in a large container, filled it with water, waited until it stank and then used it to feed the soil/veg


There might be some other things, but that's all I can think of at the moment. It feels lonely sometimes doing it this way because although most of the people on our site probably do some organic stuff with their plot, I don't think there are many people doing it the vegan organic way. This website is really useful which I've posted a link to before: http://www.veganorganic.net/index.php There is also this article which I just found on the Vegan Society's website: http://www.vegansociety.com/resources/food-security/international-development.aspx 


Ok well, I'll leave you with a selection of pictures from the last 6 weeks..........

Above: a meal Baz made a few weeks back- almost everything in this is from our allotment, apart from the lentils and sunflower seeds.

Above: the nettle stuff.

Above: the first of the new beds under some netting.

Above: two more new beds marked out by slabs and whatever that black stuff is called.

Above: kohl rabi- really lovely grated and eaten raw.

Hope you've enjoyed reading this. I've enjoyed writing this a lot. It has been roughly a year since my anxiety flared up again and led me to being depressed. It has taken a lot of courage and determination to get through it, I came off an anti-depressant back in March, which was pure hell, but I am lucky to have several people in my life who have supported me so much and now I hope that the worst is behind me and I can look forward to enjoying life again, getting really stuck in at the allotment, and enjoying my time there and at home planning all the cool things me and Baz are going to do there.........like having a bug hotel.
-x-


*stockfree = any system of cultivation that avoids artificial chemicals and sprays, livestock manures and animal remains from slaughterhouses (http://www.veganorganic.net/information-sheets/4-vegan-organic-growing-the-basics)