| Plot 17 – The Earthly Comforts Garden Season Two – Planning Plot 17 January – April 2023 |
| The Allotment Plotters Directory |
| Because everything takes Time. |
| “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin |
| Last Sunday, Suze and l sat down and discussed the first part of the 2023 sowing and growing calendar for the allotment. It is a phase that is split into two distinct discussions. The first is what we will grow for the next twelve months on plot 17. Whilst the second part is where our choices will be sown. There are several areas on the allotment plot where the growth of the required herbs, fruits, vegetables, flowers and wildflowers can be sited and planted. They needed to be correctly identified. The first stage must be performed relatively quickly once things are agreed upon so that all the other steps can be implemented promptly. Our areas for planting are: The fifteen main raised beds. The seven mini-beds. The singular strips The orchard grounds. The Polytunnel mini-beds The Bath I ordered and paid for the polytunnel last Sunday. It is to be an all-clear eight by ten feet oblong. This will be delivered today some time, and we will store it here in the house until the grounds have been prepared and the protective fencing is in place. All the equipment needed for the sowings and raisings of seedlings has been washed out and is now stored and waiting for use. We need to get to the local plant nursery to buy some planting composts, as all of our stocks were added to the raised beds in December. But all the seeds to be sown will be planted out this weekend. We decided not to plant all the seeds in the smaller planters but to sow many directly into smaller pots to eliminate the initial and, often, fiddly stage. From this point on, it will get a lot busier down at the allotment. We aren’t not active now, we are, but it will get even more difficult time-wise from the Time we start to sow the seeds. We have to ensure that the seeds are staggered, and part of this week, for me especially, is to research everything you will see listed below and to plan that with meticulous care into our growing tables so that we are not growing some things too soon or too fast or too many at one Time. It’s too easy for some gardeners to drop seeds into trays at this Time of the year; however, this can lead to massive problems anywhere from the Time of sowing to two, four or six weeks further down the line. Too many seedlings, seedlings going leggy or bolting, the wrong seedlings at the wrong time, trying to get the watering balance right and finding all the Time to get everything sorted.. So this week will be hectic, l feel, so when planning a planting calendar, you have to try and forecast many eventualities and the biggest one is Time because everything takes Time. Seasons One and Two of The Allotment Plotters were/are concerning taking the plot on board last year, making it ready, and all the preparations leading to the growing season and the harvested crop. The quote that rings true for me is from Benjamin Franklin, and l tend to live by it – “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” It should be every gardener’s or composter’s credo. Preparation is critical to success in whatever you find yourself involved with. Season Three will detail the growth and all the results of our first year’s crops, which will prove to be both an interesting and exciting time. I am certainly looking forward to living it and writing about it. I am also very much looking forward to seeing how the plot seems visually after our first year. We took over plot 17 last September on the 9th. Our first year list will seem enormous to many readers because it is our first growing season on an allotment. But Suze and l are familiar with gardening and even vegetable growing. We have both been involved with working the lands for many years. Still, the list below is extensive but bear in mind it is for a full twelve month period and only contains what we need for the table or what l would wish to add to the wormeries and the compost heap but also it is for a significantly larger planting area and many flowers and so on are very specifically designed for pollinators. Over the coming weeks, l will explore the details more thoroughly, but for the time being, here is Plot 17’s growing list. |
| Arriving today! |
| Plot 17’s Twelve Month Growing Calendar 2023 – 2024 [Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, Flowers, Wildflowers] |
| Spinach | Melon | Basil[s] | Sweet Pea |
| Tomato[s] | Cucamelon | Sweet Bell Pepper | Potato |
| Aubergine | Cucumber | Sweet Potato | Pea |
| Courgette | Pumpkin | Green Bean | Parsnip |
| Carrots | Leeks | Shallots | Butternut Squash |
| Chard | Garlic | Mushroom | Ginger |
| Marrow | Broccoli | Cauliflower | Kohl Rabi |
| Calabrese | Radish | Kale | Hamburg Parsley |
| Purple-sprouting Broccoli | Comfrey | Borage | Beetroot |
| Strawberry | Blueberry | Pak Choi | Celeriac |
| Apple Tree[s] | Cherry Tree[s] | Plum Tree[s] | Pear Tree[s] |
| Raspberry | Tay/Logan Berry | Climbing French Bean | Dwarf French Bean |
| Runner Beans | Onions | Verbena | Giant Parsley |
| Tomatillo | Corn Salad | Rocket | Clary Sage |
| Nasturtium | Marigold | Sunflower | Summer Squash |
| Winter Squash | Sweet Marjoram | Morning Glory | Russian Tarragon |
| Thyme | Rosemary | Coriander | Chives |
| French Lavender | Lavender | Peony | Hyssop |
| Nigella | Chamomile | Mint | Sage |
| Feverfew | Lemon Balm | Lovage | Foxglove |
| Hemp Agrimony | Tithonia | Yarrow | Annual Honesty |
| Cornflower | Sweet Rocket | Marsh Mallow | Apricot Tree[s] |
| I will write about all of the above during both this season’s episodes and next. |
| I hope you have enjoyed this article, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time. Till then, have yourselves a terrific day! The Autistic Composter |
| Earthly Comfort Designs available on my Redbubble Store. Collections – Earthen Wurmin, Inspired By Nature and The Autistic Composter Please Pop Along and Check Them Out. |
Earthly Comforts 
Awesome planning Rory. You have everything in this list. All the veggies I love and fruits too. All the best. I hope you get a bumper crop.
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Hey Sadje, thank you – it’s going to be a busy and fruitful year for sure 🙂
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You’re welcome! 🙏🏼👍🏼
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Oooo – all the fruit trees! And apricot – I love apricots, haven’t had a decent one in decades – decades I’m telling ya! *sigh* Apricots….
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Suze loves apricots and l used to, but now fructose has become a seriously bad enemy, most of the trees will be Suze’s domain well in truth most of the other fruit too.
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Your organizational skills are awesome, Rory!
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Thanks Eugenia, l am certainly glad for a methodical mind at times like these 🙂
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Most welcome, Rory.
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How do you take into account that it is so much warmer than it was? I’m still trying to work it out.
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Global warming is my response and a collapsing conventional climate but then l know people who say l am being a conspiracist for saying those things. I answer back with “Really? Do you know that twenty years ago we couldn’t grow bloody melons on an allotment plot outside!!”
Before the warmth came from a good quality greenhouse, now it’s outside.
England used to have four distinct seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter and now we have spring, summer and then winter.
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We have summer, fall, a springlike winter, and more summer — really HOT summer.
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Yes, l have noticed changes in our Springs as well, our winters are milder, but our autumns are not as lovely as they used to be, they are now shorter, much shorter.
Winters are mostly wetter and in other parts of the country there are more floodings each year. Summers have been getting warmer than l remember as a teenager and there are now more extreme weather fronts during the summer months than there were twenty years ago. Since the arrival of the year 2000 – the UK has had 14 hotter summers with each new year getting warmer.
Yes changes are indeed afoot.
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I know I’m scared. I just wonder why so many other people aren’t scared.
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Perhaps it’s a wave of apathy on many people now. They have become accustomed to the news and the stories the reaction has gone.
it used to be – when we had less news and social outlets – that hard stories stayed in your mind for days – now we have wars and earthquakes and covid and other catastrophies with an increased frequency that people’s attention wears off quicker and they become simply not bothered.
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I suppose eventually you either become numb, or avoid listening because all it does is make you crazy.
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I think that is it spot on Marilyn. In today’s world there is no much information and disinformation around throgh news media and social media outlets it is simply too much. People switch off and focus on their little part of the world.
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I can’t do that all the time, but at least some of the time, I try to block out the chaos. I have to keep reminding myself: “I can’t fix it.” It doesn’t matter how much I want to fix it. I can’t do it.
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And that is what we have to do, or we would go mad with worry sadly.
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