There is a hosepipe ban in my area, South London. I do not want to be
carrying lots of water in watering cans. Can I please get some advice
on which vegetables need the least amount of watering.

I have an allotment, half a plot. I have 3 apples trees, half a dozen
grape vines and a thornless blackberry. I have a raised bed where I am
growing the few vegetables that I need, and I also have a few flowers.
I was quite happy with this, and I left half of my plot grass. I keep
my plot tidy, and think of the grass as my meadow area, allowing
interesting wild plants to remain. Recently I got a letter saying that
I have to cultivate my plot or it will be taken away from me and given
to someone else. So I need to grow more veg.

This means that I will have to use much more water than I did before. I
have thought about trying to explain this to the people who run the
allotment site, but they don't seem to be very intelligent. They seem
to think a plot has to be all cabbages, onions, carrots etc.

I wouldn't mind, but the plots on all 3 sides of me are taken by people
who don't know what they are doing and when they realize how much work
is involved they give up and it gets covered with weeds. Either that or
people who just plant potatoes for 1 year and then go. I think they
should be glad to have someone like me instead of complaining.

I have been told that there have been complaints about my plot, which I
don't believe because everyone who talks to me about it admires it. I
have also been told that there is a waiting list and that people on the
waiting list have asked why can't they have my plot. Obviously, someone
will want a plot where they would have 3 apple trees and several grape
vines.

Andrew

"hazchem" wrote

I have an allotment, half a plot. I have a raised bed where I am
growing the few vegetables that I need ...and I left half of my plot
grass.
I have also been told that there is a waiting list and that people on the
waiting list have asked why can't they have my plot.

Hi, Andrew. I was on a waiting list for over 3 years and was desparate to
get a plot. Could you share your allotment with someone else, either a
friend or one of those on the waiting list? That way you could keep your
allotment, keep the council happy, have someone to help you out when you're
on holiday, share the cost of seeds and whatnot, and you wouldn't have any
additional work or water worries. I can't answer your water question - I
have the opposite problem - I need to know what veggies will grow in soggy,
boggy, waterlogged soil (it's finally stopped raining up here but my plot is
still a soggy mess)!

Hope it works out for you.

Hi there Andrew,

There is a hosepipe ban in my area, South London. I do not want to be
carrying lots of water in watering cans. Can I please get some advice
on which vegetables need the least amount of watering.

I'm only a beginner gardener (about 6-7 years), so don't know what rules
are on allotments. But the ones I've seen around Liverpool quite often
have flowers as well as veggies. If you have sufficient veggies for
your needs, why not grow some flowers?

Succulents don't need a great deal of water - some are used on rooftops
as insulation on "green" houses (as opposed to greenhouses!) so can put
up with dry and hot conditions.

Nasturtiums are great too - you can eat the leaves and flowers and seed.
Peppery flavour, along with the nasturium smell/taste. Makes an
interseting addition to a salad, especially the flowers! ;-) Very
pretty! :-) And you can pickle the seeds to make something similar to
capers.

The big ones (rather than the bush ones) will trail a long way, covering
a lot of ground - we grew a couple at the edge of the patio at the
caravan one year, they yomped across it in no time! ;-) I just used to
cut back when they began to use too much space. Would need a bit of
water to get them going, but once established seemed OK just on rainfall.

And there are the Mediterranean herbs - all need very little water.
Thyme, basil, sorry forget others but I'm sure you will get lots of
useful suggestions for others.

Lavender likes it dry too - attracts the bees and beneficial insects
too, so I'm sure your fellow allotment holders would like that. I would
hope so anyway!

I'm sure you'll get more useful suggestions from others, as I said, I'm
only a beginner.

Maggie
in sunny Liverpool (but haven't ventured out yet as it's still a bit
windy, will stick my nose out the back door in a bit!

hazchem wrote:
There is a hosepipe ban in my area, South London. I do not want to be
carrying lots of water in watering cans. Can I please get some advice
on which vegetables need the least amount of watering.

Maggie has given you lots and lots of superbe ideas. If you feel that
the plot you leave to grass is perhaps the reason why you got a nasty
letter (and I can only think that this is the reason), why don't you
green manure it with a mix or if you need to do it now use alfafa seeds
with long roots and this one tolerates dry conditions. Once grown and
green, dig it in and it will be ready for next year.

Hoping the lotty brigade will leave you alone then ;o)

Gardening_Convert wrote:
hazchem wrote:
There is a hosepipe ban in my area, South London. I do not want to be
carrying lots of water in watering cans. Can I please get some advice
on which vegetables need the least amount of watering.

I have an allotment, half a plot. I have 3 apples trees, half a dozen
grape vines and a thornless blackberry. I have a raised bed where I am
growing the few vegetables that I need, and I also have a few flowers.
I was quite happy with this, and I left half of my plot grass. I keep
my plot tidy, and think of the grass as my meadow area, allowing
interesting wild plants to remain. Recently I got a letter saying that
I have to cultivate my plot or it will be taken away from me and given
to someone else. So I need to grow more veg.
[...]

I read somewhere that pumkins don't need much water and would cover the
ground quite well for you
[...]

Anything in the pumpkin-marrow-cucumber tribe wants a lot of water.

OK, if there's nobody you care to share the plot with, we want a
low-cost trouble-free way of keeping "the Man" out of your hair. We
also want to preserve the amenity value from your point of view --
those wild flowers.

First thing is they can't reasonably expect you to get anything into a
grass plot this season. So you can start preparing, to show willing,
but take your time. Turn the turf in in strips, leaving paths of your
flowery grass in between.

I think you need perennials which, once established, will root deep
enough not to be too bothered by any future dry spell (forget about
this year), and won't need much care. I suggest rhubarb, gooseberries,
and red, white, and black currants. Or you can have plenty of dead-easy
cuttings from your present grape vines, and a bunch of tip layers from
your thornless bramble: these won't cost you anything. The blackberries
won't fruit brilliantly in a long drought because they're
shallow-rooting, but that doesn't matter: they won't die, and that's
the main thing. You can have some primroses and nice bulbs under grape
vines or trained brambles.

Top-fruit trees, such as your apples, would of course allow you to keep
your grass almost intact. Surely you like plums and gages? Two plums,
one gage, and one damson should be enough to fill the space. Pears? (Or
have they got some crazy rule against too many fruit trees?)

Do not despair!

--
Mike.

In article ,
(MaggieW) wrote:

And there are the Mediterranean herbs - all need very little water.

Also, (back to vegetables) consider:

- Kohl Rabi
- Sea Kale (Crambe Maritima) This is a beautiful perennial with
honey-scented flowers and you can force it like rhubarb in spring to get
a luxury vegetable.

Another advantage of both the above is that you may get a reputation as
unconventional, eccentric but knowledgable rather than lazy :-)

Also consider onions.

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

MaggieW wrote:
Hi there Andrew,

There is a hosepipe ban in my area, South London. I do not want to be
carrying lots of water in watering cans. Can I please get some advice
on which vegetables need the least amount of watering.

I'm only a beginner gardener (about 6-7 years), so don't know what rules
are on allotments. But the ones I've seen around Liverpool quite often
have flowers as well as veggies. If you have sufficient veggies for
your needs, why not grow some flowers?

Good idea, but there is a rule that no more than 20 per cent of the
area can be used for flowers.

My sister lives in Liverpool and she told me that she knows a woman who
has an allotment but has a lot of problems from the other plotholders
who are all men.

Andrew

Ade wrote:
"hazchem" wrote

I have an allotment, half a plot. I have a raised bed where I am
growing the few vegetables that I need ...and I left half of my plot
grass.
I have also been told that there is a waiting list and that people on the
waiting list have asked why can't they have my plot.

Hi, Andrew. I was on a waiting list for over 3 years and was desparate to
get a plot. Could you share your allotment with someone else, either a
friend or one of those on the waiting list? That way you could keep your
allotment, keep the council happy, have someone to help you out when you're
on holiday, share the cost of seeds and whatnot, and you wouldn't have any
additional work or water worries.

Good idea. I don't know what kind of reaction I would get if I
suggested this to the organisers of the site.

Andrew

Mike Lyle wrote:
Gardening_Convert wrote:
hazchem wrote:
There is a hosepipe ban in my area, South London. I do not want to be
carrying lots of water in watering cans. Can I please get some advice
on which vegetables need the least amount of watering.


First thing is they can't reasonably expect you to get anything into a
grass plot this season. So you can start preparing, to show willing,
but take your time. Turn the turf in in strips, leaving paths of your
flowery grass in between.

I think you need perennials which, once established, will root deep
enough not to be too bothered by any future dry spell (forget about
this year), and won't need much care. I suggest rhubarb, gooseberries,
and red, white, and black currants. Or you can have plenty of dead-easy
cuttings from your present grape vines, and a bunch of tip layers from
your thornless bramble: these won't cost you anything.

Mike.

I have started to turn the turf in strips. I think what I will do is to
put a lot of potatoes in next year and maybe onions. Then I will put
grapevines in. I have propagated from vine cuttings so it will be
cheap. I could have more fruit trees, I have seen one plot on the site
that seems to be all apple trees and they don't seem to mind that. The
ground is moist enough now but soon it will be too hard to work, so I
will try to do as much as possible now.

Andrew

hazchem writes


I have started to turn the turf in strips. I think what I will do is to
put a lot of potatoes in next year and maybe onions. Then I will put
grapevines in. I have propagated from vine cuttings so it will be
cheap. I could have more fruit trees, I have seen one plot on the site
that seems to be all apple trees and they don't seem to mind that. The
ground is moist enough now but soon it will be too hard to work, so I
will try to do as much as possible now.

Use your turf, stacked upside down, to start a compost heap. This will
do two things a) you could easily have, say, 3 heaps (perhaps with walls
constructed from discarded pallets), covering 3 sq m of your unused plot
b) in future years spread the compost 6 inches deep on the soil surface
- worms will slowly mix it in, and you'll find the humus-rich surface
layer will be much less likely to get too hard to work. The important
thing is to spread it thickly - covering 1/4 of your plot in a thick
layer is far more effective than a thin layer over the whole plot.
--
Kay

hazchem writes

MaggieW wrote:
Hi there Andrew,

There is a hosepipe ban in my area, South London. I do not want to be
carrying lots of water in watering cans. Can I please get some advice
on which vegetables need the least amount of watering.

I'm only a beginner gardener (about 6-7 years), so don't know what rules
are on allotments. But the ones I've seen around Liverpool quite often
have flowers as well as veggies. If you have sufficient veggies for
your needs, why not grow some flowers?

Good idea, but there is a rule that no more than 20 per cent of the
area can be used for flowers.

But what is a flower? Let's assume they mean 'plant grown for ornamental
purposes' since they I doubt whether they're really saying that 80 per
cent of your plot should be root and leaf crops and you can't have more
than 20 per cent beans, peas, courgettes and other crops which have to
flower before you get anything to eat

Rose hip syrup?
Elderflower cordial, elderberry jam?
Comfrey for use as fertiliser - good invasive stuff, shouldn't be much
trouble once you've got it going.

General advice is that perennials will have less need of watering than
annuals, since they have time to get their roots well down (encourage
this by watering well when you plant them, and a few more times to
establish f they need it, but avoid frequent gentle watering that only
wets the top inch or so and encourages roots to the surface. Dig a hole
with a stick after you've watered and see how far down you got - it can
be revealing! 'Planting' a short bit of pipe next to the plant gives a
good way of directing water down below)

Most veg are annuals. Water the seed drill well before sowing, then
water only when it looks necessary. Again, water heavily and
infrequently not little and often. Concentrate on when the plant needs
it, eg to swell pods.

--
Kay