My allotment in winter

A sad looking Halloween pumpkin slowly rots on the compost heap

You might think that at this time of year there’s not a lot happening on the allotment, but nothing could be further from the truth.  There are all sorts of jobs to be done before the spring.  In April everything starts growing at the same time: the weeds start growing and need pulling up, the grass starts growing and needs cutting, the seedlings start growing and need planting.   I’ve learned the hard way that if you don’t get the winter jobs done by the end of March, you never get on top of it until the next winter. 

Also, at the end of each year, I like to reflect on what went well and what went badly, try to work out the reasons, and adjust my plans for the next year.  So here are some photos of my allotment in winter and a description of some of the jobs I’m tackling.

Four flowerpots full of sand

These are my Belladonna (Deadly Nightshade) roots in hibernation.  Belladonna is one of the best known “witches’ herbs” and has been a key ingredient in plant based anaesthetics for hundreds of years.  Farmers were encouraged to grow it during World War 2 when the British Isles were blockaded by German U-boats and our usual supplies were cut off.

I grew some Belladonna plants last year, but not this year because all the roots rotted during the winter and the unusually cold and wet spring which followed.  Belladonna’s natural habitat is the warm and dry chalk downs in the south of England, and it needs a lot more TLC to thrive in the heavy clay soils and industrial strength wind and rain of the Isle of Man.

I found that a traditional method of storing root vegetables like carrots over the winter was to pack them in moist sand.  This keeps them sufficiently moist so they don’t shrivel up, but sufficiently dry so that they don’t rot.  I don’t know if this will work with Belladonna roots but it’s worth a try.  I’ll let you know in six months whether it worked.

The sad looking remains of a totally failed popcorn crop

Again, the cold wet spring made it difficult for plants to get started and resulted in too short a growing season.  I'm hoping for better weather next year.

Heavily pruned fruit trees

This year the fruit trees were an amazing sight in spring, covered in blossom, but few of the flowers turned into fruit, and the few fruits which were produced got blown off by the wind.  So this winter I’m pruning them heavily so none of the trees is more than six feet tall.  I suspect the reason they didn’t set fruit was because the wet and windy spring weather made it difficult for pollinating insects to fly.  So in spring I’m going to hand pollinate them, but in order to do that, all the flowers need to be at a height I can reach.  Also, if the trees are shorter, maybe they will be a bit more protected from the wind and the fruit won’t get blown off.

Baby rhubarb plants

I had a large, tired old rhubarb plant which was well past its prime and producing few rhubarb stalks, so I had to dig it up.  It would have been easiest to put the whole thing on the compost heap, because I already have two other rhubarb plants and I don’t need any more.  Instead, I cut up the root into about 20 pieces, making sure that each piece had at least one bud on it, and planted them in pots to overwinter.  In the spring, I’m going to give them to any friends or co-workers who want them.  An important part of gardening, especially edible gardening for hard times, is sharing what you don’t need with others who do.

Baby raspberry plants

These started life as “suckers” or new growths from raspberry roots, but in the wrong place.  I need my raspberry plants to stay in orderly lines so I am growing these in pots until they have developed a healthy root system, then I will use them to fill gaps in the rows of raspberry canes.  Unfortunately I can’t give these away like the baby rhubarb plants.  Raspberries are very prone to virus diseases so you should only introduce virus-free plants from a reputable nursery into your garden. 

Raspberry canes underwater

Because of the heavy rain in winter and the heavy clay soil of the Isle of Man, at this time of year my raspberry beds are usually underwater like the picture above.  Do you see a slight similarity to this picture of the Washington Monument?

Washington Monument

Strawberry beds in winter

…looking very tired.  There’s a lot of weeding to be done in here before the spring.

Manx palm

Everywhere in the Isle of Man you see these Manx palms  (Cordyline australis) which look exotic and tropical but are actually native to New Zealand, and were originally planted here in the early 1900s to attract the tourists.  This one is on my allotment.  They are evergreen and add a bit of cheer in winter to an otherwise bleak looking garden.  There are signs on the local authority waste disposal sites here which say “DO NOT PUT PALM LEAVES, TREES OR STUMPS IN THE GREEN WASTE.  PUT THEM IN THE BURNABLE HOUSEHOLD WASTE INSTEAD.”  This is because it can take up to 50 years for them to break down due to the natural waxes and hard fibres they contain.  In other words, if I put them in my compost heap, my grandchildren could still be turning over the same compost heap in 50 years time waiting for them to decompose.  Not many people know that.

Have a merry Yule!

Slaynt vie, bea veayn, beeal fliugh as baase ayns Mannin