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Angela Returns with Exciting Allotment Updates

today4 February 2024 248 5

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Angela Returns with Exciting Allotment Updates

Angela Returns with Exciting Allotment Updates

Listeners were thrilled to have Angela back on the airwaves with another update on her allotment adventures. With February underway, Angela shared her progress, plans, and valuable gardening tips with her eager audience.

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    Angela's Top Tips Ginger and Nuts

Amidst Challenging Weather and Personal Limitations, Angela Embarks on a Thrifty Gardening Adventure

Reflecting on her enthusiasm from January, Angela confessed that she might have gotten carried away. Her initial plan was to clear the rubbish, weed, and dig her allotment, while adding compost and manure. However, she soon realised that the dark and freezing January weather, accompanied by hard frosts, snow, rain, and storms, posed significant challenges. Angela also acknowledged her own limitations as a “mid-60s” individual who had undergone a back operation, making her slower than before.

During the inclement weather, Angela decided to cosy up with a warm brew and peruse seed catalogues to create her wish list. To embark on her gardening journey without a greenhouse, she began sowing seeds in trays located in the sunroom at the back of her house. Although the sunroom lacked heating, it provided ample sunlight. Angela emphasised that gardening doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby and shared clever tips to obtain affordable seeds, such as obtaining free seeds with gardening magazines, seed swapping with fellow gardeners, or exploring bargain ranges offered by supermarkets and pound stores. She even mentioned the presence of a community tin of free seeds at some allotments.

Angela divulged the various seeds she had planted in her trays, which included broad beans, sweet peas, sweet peppers, tomatoes, salad leaves, and marigolds. Additionally, she had ordered chitted early potatoes to diversify her allotment’s array of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Fortunately, Angela welcomed a few consecutive dry days, allowing her to begin weeding and digging. Without a car, she had previously faced the challenge of traversing a slippery, muddy alleyway leading to the allotments. To her delight, the weather had also become milder, enabling her to initiate her gardening tasks more effectively.s

Angela Returns with Exciting Allotment Updates

Tackling One Bed at a Time for Immediate Gratification!

With her allotment measuring around 50 feet by 20 feet, divided into small and large beds, Angela tackled one bed at a time for better manageability and immediate gratification. Angela started with a bed containing young fruit trees and bushes by clearing away leaf litter to eliminate potential overwintering pests. Thorough weeding followed suit, and she encountered numerous dandelions with stubborn tap roots. Dispensing valuable advice, Angela urged caution when extracting tap roots, ensuring the complete removal to prevent regrowth.

With the weeding complete, Angela diligently composted the beds, providing the necessary nutrients for the plants. To further enhance the soil’s condition, she layered several wheelbarrow loads of wood chip as a protective mulch. This ingenious technique helps retain moisture and suppress unwanted weeds, ensuring the optimal growth of her fruit trees and bushes.

A delightful surprise awaited Angela amidst her weeding efforts – the discovery of baby strawberry plants hidden among the weeds. Waste no time, Angela decided to transplant these precious finds into dedicated strawberry pots, eagerly anticipating the delectable free strawberries they would bear come summer.

Angela Returns with Exciting Allotment Updates

Angela’s Ingenious Methods to Keep Coddling Moths at Bay: Sticky Bands and Pheromone Traps!

Keeping the welfare of her young trees in mind, Angela took precautions to protect them from coddling moths. She adorned the trunks with sticky bands, preventing the female moths from climbing up and laying their eggs in the branches. These eggs would eventually hatch, leading to the intrusion of destructive worms in the fruit. Alternatively, one can also utilize wax or grease bands or apply grease to the base of the trunk for similar protection.

To combat the male moths, Angela cleverly hung a pheromone trap in one of her trees. The trap allures the male moth, mistaking it for a female mate. Once lured in, the moth lands on a sticky tray, getting snared in the process. These organic methods not only help Angela safeguard her fruit but also provide a chemical-free solution for pest control.

As February progresses, Angela remains committed to her allotment, diligently weeding away to eliminate potential problems. As her father once wisely said, “One year’s seeds, seven years weeds.” Angela takes these words to heart and tirelessly works to prevent a weed-infested future.

Now fully immersed in her weeding duties, Angela bids farewell to her listeners, eager to get back to the satisfying task at hand. With her steadfast determination and green thumbs, we have no doubt that Angela’s allotment will flourish into a haven of fresh produce and delightful harvests.

Written by: Kat Y (Ginge)

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