Hitting the Ground Running

Hi Alex, thanks again for offering up an insight into your activities. You kindly participated last year with an original article about the start of your journey, and then along with our fellow 'Allotmenteers' a further piece in terms of what was at the time working well for you all.

Having now spent a full year, how would you sum up progress and the aspirations for this year and beyond

After a really up and down season I’m looking to hit the ground running this year, I’m trying loads of different things - from new growing techniques to a more varied selection of crops, I’m challenging myself to extend my growing season.

To aid me in extending my growing season I’ve overwintered onions, garlic and broad beans as well as some winter hardy lettuces - they’ve all been relatively successful so far which should hopefully mean an early harvest this year! My poly tunnel is fixed with a new cover which will also help with extending my summer both now and in October/November.



I’m starting nearly all my plants indoors in seed cell trays and I’m trying the multi-sow technique this year. This should maximise the amount of food I am able to grow in the space I have. Alongside this I’ll be doing a lot more companion and interplanting.
I am slowly converting my entire allotment to the no dig method - this will hopefully improve the quality of my soil and reduce the workload.

I’m trying some new tomato varieties this year as well as some more unusual vegetables such as chickpeas, oca and kalettes. Im hoping to have a bit more success with melons this year as I only managed one last year!

how is the you tube channel going. You seem to have been really busy and Mrs L has binge watched the series?

It's going really well - I have quite a following now across YouTube and Instagram. I am always working on new content to share with people online. I love that even though I’ve only been growing a couple of years, I have learnt so much and can help beginners all around the world!

Any developments planned for social media or other interesting projects?

I had some visits to other allotment sites around Essex panned before social distancing kicked in, I’ll be sharing my experiences on the allotment weekly as I have a little more time to film this year.

Hopefully Ray and Karen have agreed to guest start on a video about project 63.

You mentioned earlier about multi - sow technique? Could you expand a little?

For the newbies - multi-sow is a technique designed to maximise yield in a small space. You use a cell tray to sow more than 1 seed per cell, then plant them out as a clump of seedlings. You allow them to mature as a clump and complete for water and nutrients in the soil. This means they grow at different rates. At maturity you can harvest the larger ones and leave the others in to get a bit bigger. I’ll do a YouTube video on it soon if you want more detail. It saves on thinning out.



what would you consider your successes last year? apart from the melons any disappointments or things you learned most from?

I had a great year again for tomatoes they really are my favourite! Sungold have quickly become my favourite variety. They are super sweet.

I struggled with peppers last summer, I think with the wet, cooler summer most people struggled.


Finally, last season I managed to grow parsnips and sprouts to go with my christmas dinner - this year I want to go one step further and grow potatoes for it too.

Good luck in your growing season, here’s to a successful 2020!

A big thank you to Alex for sharing his thoughts with the website. Apart from the dubious requirement for Ray and Karen to appear on you tube, we'll catch up again during the year to see how everything has processed. Alternatively check into or subscribe to Alex you tube channel.