Digging in at the end of the year
The two of us behind this project like to put our money where our mouths are. So, we don’t just pontificate about grassroots projects, we’re actively involved with one. It’s the Keynsham Community Veg Plot in the Park which is located in the Keynsham Memorial Park by the cafe. To give you a flavour of what we do, below is the write up we’ve just published on our Facebook page of the last official work session of 2024. We want to share this as an antidote to the somewhat testy post we published yesterday on this blog:)
This Wednesday was the last official Dig In at the Plot In The Park for 2024 so, this is the last write up for the year.
The main priority was harvesting the yacuns. They were planted in two separate areas of the plot. A few were in a bed that has been extensively worked over in the past. The main bulk of the yacuns were at the top end of the plot nearest the café where the box hedge used to be. This area hadn't been worked over anything like as much as the other bed so, the soil was somewhat compacted. We learned a lesson today. Namely that if you want a decent yield from your yacuns, don't plant them in soil that's still compacted! We did get a yield but, not quite as good as we had hoped. Growing vegetables (and fruit) is always a learning curve, always...
That's it for 2024. We'll admit that it's not been the easiest of years, not helped by losing the box hedge along the main path and having to partly replace it with shrubs. The rest of the replacement shrubs will hopefully be going in at some point in January. We've also not had the number of people coming along to help out that we would have liked. That's something we hope to address in 2025.
Despite all of this, we think we've done pretty well when it comes to what we've grown, harvested and the surplus that has been donated to passers by and the community fridge at the Savour cafe. We've had shallots, garlic, sugarsnap peas, broad beans, potatoes, carrots, courgettes, Aztec broccoli, squash, yacuns and leeks. There are still a few leeks to harvest. With the fruit, we had Japanese wineberries, blackberries, gooseberries and raspberries. Not vast amounts but, enough for a taster. As well as growing the standard varieties of vegetables, with the yacuns and Aztec broccoli, we're trying to experiment with less well known and exotic crops.
We may be coming up to the depths of winter but, there's still work to be done on the plot. The remainder of the hedging plants need to be planted. The compost bins need to be checked and any viable compost dug out and spread over the beds. The recently cleared beds need to be worked over so that the soil has a reasonably fine tilth. The slabs on the paths need to be checked to make sure they're secure. The earth paths that were created at the start of this year definitely need some work on them!
The next scheduled work dates at the plot are as follows:
Saturday 4th Jan. | 1pm
Wednesday 15th Jan. | 2pm
Saturday 1st Feb. | 2pm
Wednesday 19th Feb. | 2pm
It would be great if we could see you at some of these sessions...
Meanwhile, we wish you all the best for the Winter Solstice, Christmas and the New Year:)
Have you ever try growing "sunchokes" or "Jerusalem artichokes" as they are called? Reccomended crop, just make sure you grow them within boundries or they will take over the plot, people complain about not being able to digest Inulin, and that the sunchokes make em fart, but I have had no such complaints, I just re planted mine after growing some in a nasty plastic bed for two years so I could have some roots to give away, and several people have recieved allready!