AND……..

For those of you who would rather just get rid of it.
Horse or Mares Tail, Equisetum Arvense is public enemy number one. It looks like it belongs in Jurassic Park and, unchecked, spreads like wildfire.

In spring, brown green shoots appear with small cones at the tips that produce spores. It grows away from creeping thin brown roots that you can hardly see as they are soil coloured. Digging out these roots is not feasible – they go down into the soil for up to 1.5 metres – yes, 5 feet.

Later the ‘leaves’ or tails appear. These will die off as autumn turns to winter and the roots sit there waiting for spring. The leaves have a waxy coat, which makes the plant highly resistant to weedkillers.

Crushing the leaves to break up the coating helps weedkiller to penetrate and become absorbed but in large areas it is not so easy to crush all the leaves . However, glyphosate weed killer will have an effect and eventually kill the plant. You will probably need 5 or more applications. Knock it back, it re-grows and you repeat.

I don’t think you can clear this in less than one season.

Ammonium Sulphamate seems to be a far more effective weed killer. It can kill it in one application but may well need two. It used to be available as Amicide but now you need to look for a brushwood killer that incorporates it like Rootout or Deep Root. Just check the packet for ammonium sulphamate.

I’d recommend NOT digging where there is horsetail until it is dead for sure. Otherwise it just starts springing up from the root cuttings. Drying or drowning the roots prior to composting is a must.

Apparently Horestail is the correct name for the weed growing on land whereas Marestail is correctly applied to the weed growing in water.

Here is an organic control method, which may be effective.

Without resorting to chemicals you can control/irradicate horse tail by digging/forking through the soil when it is in the right condition: ie not too wet and sticky!

Once you have removed as much as possible, any that shoots is easily dealt with. Before it reaches 3 ins/7cm high, hoe off an inch below the surface.

Eventually the food supply in the root is exhausted. Let it get bigger than stated and food begins to be stored in the roots again, and round and round you go ad infinitum.

Never touch Horsetail with a mechanical cultivator. If you do you will understand why it has been around for 60 million years.

AND FINALLY…….

Kibosh kills Mare’s Tail it costs £27.20 per litre and is available from www.progreen.co.uk

John kindly showed me around the site, telling me all about the history of the site, about its up-keep and the challenges of keeping an allotment site in good condition and everyone adhering to the site rules. As we walked down the path we saw a fox having a look around the plots, and despite the fact that no-one else was actually on the site when I was there, I could still tell that there is a strong sense of community and goodwill amongst the Craigentinny plot holders.

When we arrived back at John’s plot, he told me all about crop rotations and his most successful and favourite crops. Then it was time for me to get my fingers somewhat dirty, as I sowed Broad Bean seeds into small pots, about 15 in total. After we transferred these into a cleverly built area where they would be protected from the elements, it was time to mix up some compost and seaweed from Portobello beach, to help along the Asparagus plants. John explained to me the wonders of compost and how to make it good, healthy and nutritious for the plants. Whilst John and I blended the seaweed with the compost we could smell the salt from the sea, we then shovelled it onto the raised Asparagus bed and spread it out to cover the whole area.

I asked John about how many hours he puts in to his allotment and he said it needed at least seven hours a week in summer. The dedication he and his wife really shows through when the plot is looking at its best, something which has been recognised by the Edinburgh In Bloom competition after they won first prize in the Allotment Plot category in 2009.

I am sure that all their hard work is worth it when they can pick delicious fresh raspberries and eat them straight away or turn them into scrumptious jam. I wanted to know about the health benefits of having an allotment, other than eating fresh fruit and vegetables which are 100% organic. It soon dawned on me that the effort and work which is put into keeping an allotment in a state where it can produce crops all year, must also keep the plot holder fit. Those seven hours a week of digging, shovelling, wheeling, carrying and planting is more exercise than the Government recommends the average person has, and I for one think that that this can only be a good thing.

John and I had a nibble of some Pak Choi which I had never tasted before; I was pleasantly surprised by its earthy, fresh and oriental taste. John was kind enough to pack a bag full of vegetables for me to take home – a few Potatoes, some Pak Choi, and a little Chard were all used to make myself some healthy and delicious suppers.

Thanks to John for showing me around the site and letting me help him with some of the jobs on his plot, it was really useful for my article and also very enjoyable.

By Frances Allan

Of all the crops I grow on my plot, by far, the ones that give me the best return in terms of cost, time and harvest are the soft fruits. So if you don’t grow them just now or are taking over a new plot and wondering what to plant, here are my Fab 4 which will provide you with delicious fresh fruit throughout the growing season. They share some common traits; they provide an abundant harvest; are not particularly prone to pests or diseases, and they require a minimum of maintenance and pruning – I estimate 7 hours a year. Each requires similar ground preparation i.e. fork the ground over thoroughly, remove all traces of perennial weeds, apply a couple of handfuls of bone meal  per square meter and add some well rotted manure. Be generous, the plants will be there for years and years. After the preparation I promise you, your hardest work will be picking the fruit!

Rhubarb: April – June.

 Although technically a vegetable, as we eat the stalk and not the fruit, I include it as most regard it as fruit and mainly we eat it as a dessert. 

Leave the plant for the first year to allow the root to develop. In the second year you can crop stalks from early April until the end of June. Thereafter, leave so the plant will build up its strength for the next year. When the leaves die down mulch them with your own compost or manure. I grow an early and late variety, to extend the season, but I don’t know what they are called as I inherited them from the previous plot holder 15 years ago! Timperly Early and Victoria are two well known varieties. Well before the rhubarb is finished you will be cropping gooseberries, the second of my Fab 4.

Gooseberries: June – July.

The bush will not produce much in the first year. In the following February  apply a mulch of your own compost and a good couple of handfuls of Sulphate of Potash. By June you will have a good crop of berries. To thin out the crop take some of the unripe berries for pies and jams. This allows the remaining fruit to fully develop and ripen, green varieties will develop a slightly yellow colour and be yielding to the touch.

Gooseberries are the only one of my Fab 4 which requires a bit of pruning but don’t let that put you off as the plant is tough and won’t pass away if you make a mistake. From planting allow a leg – a central stem of about 6 to 9 inches – to develop. From that aim for a cupped hand shape with 4/5 up stretched fingers. After fruiting, reduce the side shoots to 5 leaves- this is where next year’s fruit will form. Keep the fingers to a reasonable length by snipping the tips. That’s all you need to do-as easy as that! I grow Careless, a traditional variety and Pax , a red one which is nearly thornless for easy picking. By late June you will be picking your first strawberries.

Strawberries:Late June – July.

These fruits are the easiest to grow and arguably the best. Nothing like sinking your teeth into a luscious ripe strawberry freshly picked on a warm June morning!  They crop June into July and even in the first year you will get a reasonable crop. Use mats or a mulch of straw to keep the berries off the ground. In an established bed you need to pick them every 2/3 days even if there is no sun. If there is sun get ready for an avalanche of fruit. After fruiting cut the leaves back to within an inch of the crown and give them a sprinkling of Sulphate of Potash. I grow Marchmello from Marshalls. Don’t over order as the young plants send out so many runners they will double in the first year. Next are the autumn fruiting raspberries.

Raspberries: Mid August- Mid October.

Although there is a slight gap between the strawberries and raspberries you can take advantage of the rock bottom prices in the shops due to summer glut. Autumn fruiting raspberries are called Primocane as they fruit on the canes that have grown that year. There is no need to tie in, provide supports or netting. The birds seem to have enough food elsewhere and leave my berries alone. To be frank the raspberries crop so abundantly the birds are welcome to a taste! In the winter you cut the canes right down to the ground and in February mulch them with compost or manure and some Sulphate of Potash- then watch them shoot away. Too much growth will result in too many small berries. I restrict the new shoots to 4/5 when the young canes are about a foot long. I grow Autumn Bliss, a traditional variety with a truly gorgeous flavor and Joan J a more modern variety, very good flavor with some of the biggest berries I have every seen. The raspberries send out roots everywhere so you will be very popular with other plot holders as you can supply them with near endless root cuttings!

So there you go, the Fab 4 will give you a stream of delicious healthy fresh fruit from April to October. Adding a late cropping apple tree will take you into November. Freezing your summer surplus will take you into the New Year. Just as the early rhubarb bulbs appear, heralding next year’s abundance of Fruit! Glorious Fruit!

Note: As summer ends and clear spots develop on your plot now is the perfect time to do the preparation for any of the Fab 4. If you can lay your hands on the plants they all benefit from autumn planting. If you can’t source the plants, do the work, sow green manure and just dig it in prior to spring planting.

John and Monica McKinlay, Craigentinny Allotments.

John c.1974

Plotholders John & Val Maule share their memories of Craigentinny Allotments in what we hope will be the first of several ‘Allotment Tales’.

I first acquired an allotment at Craigentinny in 1972, whilst renting a flat in Leith. There was not a waiting list then, and there were several vacant plots when I toured the site to select mine. I was asked how many plots I would like since most of the gardeners had more than one! I chose a plot by the golf course fence on the area currently occupied by part of the communal garden.

Interestingly, the layout of the site was then somewhat different to the present arrangement The area currently occupied by the first five plots, at the entrance to the site, was then used by Edinburgh Corporation Parks Department to raise bedding plants for Princes Street gardens. Wallflowers were the predominant crop and there were usually a few left over, which plotholders were encouraged to take. I was told that there used to be a communal hut, built from an old railway wagon, which was positioned near the gate, but the structure had been burnt down by vandals. The site extended further to the south, into the area which is now a willow and birch plantation beyond the fence. Plots at this end of the site frequently became flooded during wet weather and were the first to become frosted in the winter, so when the Corporation gave up the ground by the gate it was decided to create more plots here and abandon the area at the other end of the site.

The population of plotholders was then quite different compared with today. Allotments were strictly an old persons’ domain, dominated by men, who traditionally grew nothing but common vegetables, in straight rows from one side of the plot to the other. Growmore and pesticides were used extensively, often to excess, and there was keen competition to grow the largest possible vegetables regardless of the final taste. In those days, it was hardly economical to grow vegetables since for 50p (£2 in today’s money) one could buy enough fruit and vegetables to last a small family for a week, so the cultivation of allotments was very much a hobby rather than a means of producing food to eat. When we started cultivating our new plot (without using Growmore), we not only included some flowers but also experimented with unusual vegetables such as cardoons, salsify and scorzonera. This somewhat “unconventional” approach was met with a mixture of amusement and scepticism! Old timers laughed at our cultivation of flowers and said they had never heard of anyone growing dried flowers. Our next door neighbour had a drink problem, which was evident by the large number of beer cans he had thrown into our plot and which had become buried over the years. As I cleared the plot, my fork would frequently emerge from the soil with a can attached to each prong! His own plot was totally overgrown because his main interest was sitting in his hut drinking. His hut was also used to make wine and homebrew. He would buy vegetables from the shops on his way home and pretend to his wife that he had grown them! This went on for several years until his wife made an unexpected visit to the allotment and that was the end of his “gardening” career.

The Corporation’s approach to allotment holders was then more relaxed than today. Because there was not a waiting list for plots, there was not the pressure on tenants to keep their plots in good order. Several plots, particularly towards the bottom of the site were totally overgrown, with grass up to waist height. There was a German lady, who took advantage of this abandoned ground to sunbathe. One of the old timers had a nasty shock when, armed with a toilet roll, he had disappeared into the long grass only to find the lady completely naked apart from her black wellington boots. Far from being embarrassed, she was indignant at his shocked reaction, contending that it was her right to take full advantage of nature’s sunshine! In those days, plotholders referred to each other just by their surnames and I think the gentleman involved was simply called Baxter.

Sand pit & shed

Our plot did not come with a hut and so initially I had made a toolbox out of wood salvaged from a garden shed, being demolished by a friend in Findlay Gardens. Most of the plots did have sheds and it was traditional to have a photo of the Queen hanging inside, so that when I could afford to build a shed for myself, one of my first acquisitions was a photo of the Monarch. The range of sheds was then as varied as it is today. One plotholder in particular had a shed which occupied a good third of his plot. He used this shed to breed budgerigars before the Council banned the keeping of livestock on allotments. I can remember one plot which did not have a hut but which was totally given over to the cultivation of garlic. The plotholder harvested the whole crop in one go and the smell was overpowering! As soon as I was able, I replaced the toolbox with a shed, which occupied a position near where the present toilet stands. We planted a tree which still grows near the recycling area and one of the old gardeners gave us a cutting of honeysuckle to grow over the hut. It provided a host of wonderfully fragrant flowers.

Val on current plot

After many years of happy gardening we noticed that our plot was becoming waterlogged. Fine for growing rice but not much good for our vegetables and flowers! A friend in Portobello, who had a plot at Craigentinny during the war, could remember there being a stream which plotholders used to water their gardens. It now seemed as if there had been a localised change in the water table which affected our plot and the one next door. The Council agreed to provide us with a replacement and, once again, the absence of a waiting list gave us the choice of several vacant plots. This time, our chosen plot came with a shed, in the form of a well preserved World War 2 Anderson shelter.

John digs his plot

Our daughter, who is now grown up, raised some trees from seed and these have now matured and, in some cases, have been felled and used as logs for the fire. All our children had areas on the plot at some stage or other and now our grandchildren have taken over. Naturally, we took a cutting from our beloved honeysuckle, to grow over the shed. The old gardener, who originally gave it to us, has long since passed away but his honeysuckle grows on.

John & Val Maule
December 2009