The Plot Thickens - No-Dig, Allotment Living

Our final episode! After two years of weekly chats, Karin and Vicky have loved sharing The Plot Thickens with you. They’ve built up a whole library of episodes together, and now it feels like the right time to wrap things up. Thanks for listening — it’s been a joy.

Vicky has had her solo day on the allotment and made the most of it. Karin is planning how to reduce the work for the autumn, and is not sowing any more seeds this summer. This will be our penultimate episode; two years of podcasting completed! Thanks for all your support and engagement throughout the episodes x

Whislt there's still lots of roots in the soil and food to harvest, we are turning our attention to the early autumn months and the plans afoot for how we will prep our plots for those winter months. Whether its mulch with haybales, cover crops or a combination of the two, we're looking forward to seeing what works best for our little plots.

xxx

Vicky has had confirmation that the SoliSquad can expand laterally, doubling the potential for community composting.

Two tips from Karin this week; 1) It's not a good idea to put your comfrey leaves in your house water-butt, next to your back door. 2) Place a cane at the root of your courgette or pumpkin plant A short and sweet episode this week.

Vicky has had problems with her ‘talk of the allotment town’ onions.

Vicky took a trip to Groundswell again this year and indulged in 2 full days of soil talk. Join us for the high level debrief of the main take aways - mostly from guests in the Soil Medic Tent hosted by brilliant The Land Gardeners, Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy. You too can catch some of the recorded talks on You Tube sometime soon. It's Karin's birthday this week so Vicky brings her back some goodies from the various Groundswell tents, all wrapped up in a wonderful Bokashi Tote. A couple of mentions weren't complete in the episode so here's this direct links! Darina Allen - Ballymaloe - Cookery school "Soil" - Matthew Evans

We’re having a natter about this week's plot musings, Soil Squad’s first ever Open Morning. Vicky and Karin share their not-so-secret dreams of windrows, cow manure, and what life could look like when we’ve got heaps of the good stuff. Nothing too extreme – just good a chat, a bit of compost talk - what a surprise?

Apologies for the sniffles, the early morning pollen has effected Vicky's clarity of sound in this episode! Another beautiful early record at Karin's shed on Sunday morning after the Summer Solstice. Join us for the low down of last week on the plots and plans for next.

A sunny morning on the plot where Vicky and Karin talk through last weekend's VERY enjoyable Johnson Su workshop on the Soil Squad plot.

Karin and Vicky share the latest from their plots from harvest onions and garlic to thinning out fennel. We have the sweetest surprise that arrives in the post from a lovely listener too!

It has been a busy half term, and finally some rain. Vicky has robins nesting in her ivy, scuppering her neighbour's plan of a new fence. Karin is excited about her new Bokashi bin arriving.

Karin's Plot 2 is exposed to the elements on the allotment and her new seedlings have suffered from frost damage this week. She was thankfully the wilting plants were caused by the weather, not the new tonne bag of compost! Further up the allotment, it seems Vicky's plot avoided the chill and thankfully her potatoes remain in tact....for now. Another episode of chatting through the week's events on and off the plots!

The weekend has been busy with stalls at the local school fair and St Albans Spring Festival, having lots of meaningful conversations all about Bokashi and Soil Squad. Karin is particularly shattered after so much social interaction and is planning a little snooze is the hammock. As always, thanks to Alex Kizenkov for intro music.

Why do we grow our lawns to cultivate a home for wildlife throughout the month of May, welcome a rich tapestry of creatures into the long grass, only to mow them all down on the 1st of June? We're not sure it makes all that much sense. (Plus we love a bag of grass cuttings to heat up the compost heap) We're all for permanent wild grass aread with purposeful mowed paths. Keeps both creatures and composters happy.

Vicky has possibly composted her worms in her wormery, making it very slow indeed. Karin's new plot is taking shape with a delivery of compost.

We hosted a Bokashi composting workshop last weekend and we loved the challenge of how you bokashi on a balcony and use all of your food waste! Karin has never sowed as many seeds in her life and has come up with a genius solution for supporting her tomato plants...

The Easter weekend has been a busy one with birthdays, family lunches and some time spent on the allotment. Vicky's rhubarb has bolted and Karin has found a way of using those odd pieces of cutlery in the drawer.

The sowing continues - Karin's running out of window sills and Vicky's finally got her seed compost out and is on a mission to play catch up!