Newbie from Swansea South Wales

[Lettisha Marie Howells]

Hey yall,
I class myself as a newbie as I haven't long been allocated a full plot. For last 18 months I've been on a raised bed on the allotment site.
I'm really chuffed as we've gone through all of our 30+lb of onions and 60+ garlic already and I'm missing the freshness of the food I was growing and had forgotten just how poor quality the veg I get from the likes of Tesco is, when I have to waste what I class as too much veg that has gone off, or is rotten by the time I use it. Also the taste is much better too.
I'm going to be creating probably 4 Hugelkultur beds using a 3 sisters planting style with additional companion plants mingled amongst the 3 sisters like marigolds, amaranth , Tomatillos, and sunflowers. Please feel free to comment with any helpful advice, as it can often make the planting and maintenance easier for me over time.
Thanks in advance

[Lettisha Marie Howells]

[caroline7758]

Welcome to A4A, Letisha. You'll find the site fairly quiet at the moment, but once Christmas is over we'll all be planning for next season. If you have specific questions, ask away and you'll get plenty of help!

[Paulines7]

Hello Lettisha.  Welcome to the Allotments 4All site. 

Hugelkultur beds have been talked about on the thread below.  You may find it interesting.

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,77054.msg806196/topicseen.html#new

[galina]

Welcome Lettisha.  Looking forward to reading about your progress with this.  I have no experience at all with Hugelkultur.  Wish you lots of success   

[squeezyjohn]

Hello and welcome!

I, like you, started with a whole buzz of excitement about growing in a new and progressive way with all kinds of unusual plants, companion planting, no dig etc. (I'd never heard of hugelkultur) ... and I think I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot of merits in the old crops and methods too.  I haven't gone so far as digging every year and planting in straight rows, but I have consistently found that the old crops like leeks, onions, potatoes, brassicas, runner beans etc. massively out-perform the trendy new stuff.

So my advice would be to continue as you are, but don't be closed-minded to some of the more traditional allotment techniques as well, we all find our own best ways by trial and error.  Oh, and also ... if in doubt ... net it!  For almost everything you choose to grow, there's some kind of wildlife who likes it as much as you do!

[jennym]

I never heard of Hugelkultur, I be honest, I don't go for latest fads, buzz words and so on but good luck to you if you're trying to grow something, anything at all yourself.
What I do know is if you put, dig, stir (whatever you're able) all the veg waste, muck etc you can get, the soil will get better. For those of us that remember "the answer lies in the soil". If the soil gets better, your plants will grow well  - Also the weeds......
Dig your weeds in. If you have long or strong rooted weeds, like dandelions, nettles, well anything that it's an effort to get up, KILL them before digging in. I do this by leaving them out on a path or any place where they won't re-root. Bucket of water, pile with a black tarpaulin or cardboard on top, or a fire, just don't make work for yourself by allowing them to re-grow. Lightly rooted weeds can be left in a heap or dug straight in. just make sure there's about 6 inches 15cm of soil on top.
Horse muck is good, but nowadays I only get about 3 good sacks of fresh stuff and it's left 100 metres away from the house because of getting bites from horseflies - nasty for me.
You have to leave fresh horsemuck out to rot well, so there's no avoiding the associated problems if you have a small garden, same goes for all fresh muck.
Amaranth - wouldn't bother unless you have a large area, say 100 sq ft - you won't get much out of them unless you can do it in bulk, dry it and store it somewhere
Tomatillos - well, they grow well, and I grew them for about 10 years, commercially making pickles and selling plants on the side. I wouldn't bother doing many of them if I was you. To my mind, the taste is not that exciting, they don't taste as good as tomatoes, they tend to have more pips. They grow like wildfire, so they're easy. I grew the purple and the green, no real difference. Physallis edulis is a better bet, sweet orange berries in a papery husk - everyone likes them - I haven't done them for 5 years or so, this has reminded me to sow them indoors in late Jan/early Feb.
I never grow sunflowers except for the flowers, but I think there are some that are better for seeds, maybe people here will know. Courgettes are good, I like to grow yellow as well as green ones, and have them really tiny, raw with salads, as well as cooked.
Grow what you DO eat. Especially grow the things that are dear in the shops - raspberries, asparagus, baby potatoes, strawberries, herbs, baby leaf salads - only you will know what you spend too much on in the supermarket.
Best of luck, Jenny