Steve’s Handy Hints Page
November 2007

The Indian summer lasted nearly a month, making it easy to prepare the garden for the winter. It has been a pleasure to be out in the warm sunshine completing the last bit of digging and clearing up in general. Now is a good time to test your soil for pH levels, apply lime if necessary the optimum level for most plants is 5.5-7.5 .You can test the level with a simple cheap kit from the garden centre, a pH of 7 is neutral above 7 is acid.

Add lime to soils that are acid, do not add manure at the same time as it will react against it. Add manure and garden compost to alkaline soils to improve the pH levels. The general rule is to apply lime in the autumn and manure in the spring Choosing plants that suit your particular type of soil is one way ensuring good results for example potatoes prefer acid soil while legumes prefer alkaline soil.

During December and January when we can expect the worst weather keep checking around the garden for wind damage, check tree stakes, supports and ties, move any plants that are in the wrong place (not forgetting to take as much soil as you can with the root ball), cover tender plants with fleece or straw if frost is forecast. In the greenhouse make a box out of polystyrene to raise seeds, also put sheets of polystyrene under plants in trays or pots for insulation. Make sure the birds have a source of food and water.

THE HISTORY OF ALLOTMENTS Cntd

By the mid 1700s a debate on the advantages of allotments was put forward stating the following as the main reasons for allotments. It would reduce the amount of poor relief, reduce crime and immorality, and stem the flow of people to industrial areas. It was considered that a family would require 2 acres.

Around 1770, 25 acres were given over for the use of the poor near Cheltenham. The poor rate was reduced 4d in the pound in surrounding areas where rates were as high as 5s. Several Lords followed this lead and provided allotments, rules set out at the time included regular church attendance, you lost your plot if you were convicted of a crime, and you had to act in a decent and orderly manner.

There was great opposition by farmers and landowners against all attempts to form a legal structure for the formation of allotments. In 1782 an act did allow for the enclosure of 10 acres of land near the poor house for the paupers of the Parish. This was only a voluntary arrangement and legislation followed this voluntary format until the early 1900s. Several attempts were made in the 1790s to provide allotments by Enclosure Acts. Opposition to allotments from the gentry and others, “making people grow their own poor rate” was how one person described it. Other arguments were that it would reduce mobility of labour and that since not all those who wanted allotments could have them nobody should have one! It was thought that provision of allotments should be by charity not acts of parliament.

To be continued...

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