Five allotment tasks to tackle ahead of growing season.

Gardeners and growers unite, Spring is upon us and that can only mean one thing; It’s time to get started on the garden chores. Before we head into the main growing season, here are some tasks for you to tackle to get those perfectly planned allotments.

If you haven’t done so already, now is a great time to start cleaning those garden tools.

Taking some time out before next season to clean your tools and the pots and trays from last season will make your allotment preparations and planting that little bit easier. Gardening tools are not exactly the cheapest to replace and to keep things at a low cost, you want to get as much use out of them before throwing them out.

When cleaning out your equipment, hot, soapy water usually does the trick. Pests and unwanted diseases can overwinter in spent compost and can cause damage to any new seedlings. So, giving your pots and trays a good scrub should prevent the spread of diseases amongst your plants.

Making your own compost is a lot easier than you may think. The perfect time for you to start your compost bin is when the weather starts to warm up, just before spring time (although it is hard to tell when that is in the UK).

Spent compost, old weeds and organic matter, such as well-rotted manure will increase the nutrients in your home-made compost. When adding old weeds, make sure it is properly managed. A compost pile should rot quickly and easily reach 60°C and this will kill any live weed seeds.

Remember - once you use the compost on your allotment beds, make sure to cover it so the nutrients don’t wash away!

It can be difficult to undertake any garden chores in the Winter, especially because of our unpredictable weather! The sooner you get on top of the weeds they tend to be easier to maintain for the rest of the season.

So, if you didn’t get chance to dig out any of those pesky perennial weeds before, now is the perfect time. Careful not to snap any roots – they’ll grow into more weeds during the spring!

If you tend to be quite organised with your gardening, you will be familiar with the art of planning. Once you’ve chosen your seeds, drawing out your allotment can help you decide what to plant in each area.

Spending time on deciding what to grow can help each of your plants grow to their full potential. And if you’re looking into environmentally watering systems, we can help you plot out the best set-up for your Irrigatia unit – just get in touch!

With Irrigatia you can get the very best from your plants. Our weather responsive SMART irrigation controllers uniquely use solar power to detect the weather and alter watering according to the weather conditions.

Eco-friendly, drip irrigation can also help you save a lot of energy and all our kits use up to 90% less water than a traditional hosepipe as they use recycled rainwater.

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