CAPEL ALLOTMENTS GUIDE TO GARDENING ~ MARCH

Half plots when available at £16 per annum plus membership.

So if you live in or around Capel and fancy a go at ‘Growing Your Own’ please contact Dennis at site.manager@capelallotments.co.uk.

Lady Chrystl 1^st early & Nadine 2^nd early seed potatoes available at £1.50 a kilo

Rooting Powder & Pet Friendly Slug Killer NOW IN STOCK

Broad Beans @ £1 a tray (minimum count of 10) while stocks last from 1st March

Rhubarb £1 a bundle at the Hut most weekends 

Plants in the garden are beginning to grow with renewed vigour. Our monthly column aims to help you enjoy your gardening while keeping costs down to a minimum & provide you with a reminder as to what is seasonally available. Complete all digging incorporating farm yard manure or compost. Clear plots and weeds from gardens by applying Weedol (£4.90 for 3 tube box) or Glyphosate (100ml £1). Kill weeds on paths and drives with Pathclear, Scatter slug killer pellets @ £2.50 & £4.

THE VEG PLOT:- If it is still too wet to dig or rotovate get out right now and spend just an hour cleaning up your plot, clear away bean poles, weeds and brassicas so that you can make a start as soon as the weather conditions are right. Continue winter digging incorporating Mushroom Compost at £30 a ‘Bucket’ load delivered to Allotments Site, 01473 310380 to order a load.(Deliveries may be disrupted due to the Gas pipe replacement works).Once cultivated rake 4oz sq. yd. Growmore (5kg £4.50), Blood, Fish & Bone (5kg £3.50), Rooster Pellets (20kg £11) or blended organic stable manure @ £4 a bag into soil prior to sowing or planting. Plant early seed potatoes, if you missed the seed scheme or need extra we have 1kg trays of 1^st & 2^nd earlys @ £1.50. Plant spring onion sets, asparagus & Jerusalem artichokes. Use fleece, 2m wide (from 30p) and 3.25m (from 50p) per meter cut to length, as frost protection or to warm the soil. Sow carrots, beetroot, Brussels sprouts, calabrese, parsnips, cauliflower, leek, salad onion, radish, peas and spinach. Sow the herb's fennel, dill, parsley, marjoram, rosemary, sage & thyme. We carry a limited range of vegetable seed @ £1 & £1.40 a packet to supplement our autumn seed scheme. Harvest broccoli, parsnips, radish & spinach.

FRUIT: - Plant grape vines, blackberries, black, red & white currents, gooseberries, raspberries & rhubarb. Feed established plants with potash (5kg £8) and mulch with peat, compost or manure. Winter wash fruit trees & bushes, 500ml £9.50. Spray fruit trees which are affected by mildew, apple scab, aphids or codling moth & feed with a general fertiliser. Pick rhubarb.

FLOWERS: - Remove dead flower heads of daffodils and apply 2oz of general feed to each clump. Lift and divide overgrown clumps of perennials. Plant rose bushes incorporating a large handful of bone-meal (5kg £3), prune and feed all established plants with rose food (2kg £2). Prune hardy fuchsias. Sow hardy annuals. Plant autumn-sown sweet peas to grow up a frame of 6' canes (30p each) or 1.5m high bean net (30p per meter). Plant heather's and mulch with peat (100ltr £9) or chipped bark (80ltr. £6). Take cuttings of winter flowering begonias, dahlia & heliotrope.

LAWNS: - Re-seed worn areas (grass seed £4.60 per Kg.) For ease and to fill in larger holes premix grass seed with John Innis seed or no.1 then spread. Aerate with a wire rake. On a fine, dry, day cut grass with the blades set high. Apply a lawn feed, 5kg treats 140sq mtrs (£6) and liquid feeds from £2.50, a selective weed killer (500ml £9) and lawn sand, 5kg treats 70sq mtrs (£2.50) to control moss or spray with an Iron Sulphate solution of 30g per litre of water per 5sqm of lawn (1kg £1.50) or use all in one Weed, Feed & Moss Killer at £25 to treat 400sq m. Contact Steve Blake for repairs & service on 07813814623. or TGC Garden Machinery Services Tattingstone for repairs & service & new equipment at very competitive prices on01473 327737.

GREENHOUSE: - Minimise heating costs by lining with bubble plastic (1.5m wide per meter £2.50) Sow French beans, peppers, tomatoes, sweet peas and half-hardy annuals (Multi-purpose compost £5 for 75ltr, 25 kg Potting Grit £5.50, 6ltr Vermiculite £2, 25kg. John Innes Seed compost £4). Full size rigid trays @ £1.70 & half size flexi's @ 10p are available. Prick out into 15 or 40 plug tray inners (30p), 12 plug liners 20p or pots (from 5p) when large enough to handle. Protect seedlings from damping off & foot rot by treating with a Copper Fungicide. Feed geraniums, fuchsias and pot plants every ten days with liquid feed (£2.50 per ltr) or Phostrogen (160 can size HALF PRICE £4.60 while stocks last) or Miracle Grow (1kg £4.30). Support plants with 2' canes (70p per 15). Control insects with a rtu insect gun (£3.50). Sow peas in a length of old guttering filled with compost and slide into shallow trench when plants are 1 ½” high. Sow broad beans in plugs and stand outside when 1 ½” high for a week or so and then plant out. Peas & Broad Beans just £1-40 a packet. Sow a few seeds in 10 plug strips of Spring Onions and Beetroot or in a 3 or 4 ltr pot including carrots, do not thin out. Sow a few seeds in 10 plug strips of Lettuce, thin to one plant. Repeat fortnightly for the rest of the season. Plant outside when large enough. Sow Dwarf French beans or Climbing French Bean Hunter direct into a grow bag – punch 20 holes in the top of the bag using a cane, drop in the seed and water. Pick beans a whole month ahead of outside plants.

All horticultural items are available to our MEMBERS ONLY from a range of quality products provided to meet basic gardening needs.

ALLOTMENT NEWS

"THE HUT"is open 10-12 noon Saturdays.

SEED POTATOES & BROAD BEAN PLANTS - Available at “The Hut” most days while stocks last from 1^st March.

FEED THE BIRDS - In addition to garden sundries we also supply a choice of feeds to encourage wild birds into your garden. We have 3 kilo bags of Wild Bird Seed at £1.50, Black Sunflower Seeds £3 and 2kg bags Pea Nuts at £3.50 also bulk buy bags at £5, £11 & £19.00.

VEHICLES ON SITE - Plot holders please remember that at times during the winter months it is advisable not to take your vehicle on to the allotment site. Considerable damage can be caused to the tractor paths and grassed areas after long bouts of rain. The committee reserve the right to close the site to all vehicles in extreme conditions.

CULTIVATOR HIRE. - A NEW cultivator is available for hire for onsite use only at £10 for the first two hours. To hire this equipment please book in advance with Dennis and for any matters relating to the site please also contact Dennis

SPRING WORK IN - The first work-in of the year is on Sunday 19th April from 8.30am to mid-day (Autumn work-in 11^th October). If you cannot make either of the Sunday work-ins, but can spare some time to help to keep the site tidy, then please contact Dennis.

PLOT HOLDER’S MEETING & AGM - Sunday April 19th at 12 noon at the Allotments Site. The meeting will be as informal as possible presided over by our President Steve Baker. Refreshments and a buffet will be provided. Plot holders and Garden members will be invited to discuss any matters they wish to bring up with the committee.

SITE VISITS - If any groups would like to visit the site and the wild life area please contact Philippa Brandon at info@capelallotments.co.uk to discuss what is available to you.

2020 PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS SUBJECTS

A Church Tower or Spire, Colourful, Through a Window, Texture & A Picture of Your Choice

All photographs to be colour, minimum size 150x100mm/6”x4” and maximum size 190x130mm/7.5”x5”.  Must be mounted and taken within the last 18 months.