Christmas list 2024; from dibbers to Dowding.
What do you give an allotmenteer who has most things she needs? Listen in as Vicky and Karin discuss dreamy gifts, some of which MIGHT be homemade in time for Christmas.
Dec 03, 2024•39 min
The Plot Thickens - No-Dig, Allotment Living
"The Plot Thickens" podcast: Join Karin and Vicky every Tuesday as they dive into their allotment adventures. With coffee in hand, they explore soil, compost, and growing. Not experts, just two passionate women nurturing soil and life. Tune in for their garden triumphs, mishaps, and life lessons. Discover soil enrichment secrets and the happiness found in tending plots. Whether you're a seasoned allotment gardener or a curious green thumb, this is your green oasis.
Join their cozy gardening circle and grow with them.
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Episodes
What's a Johnson-Su Bioreactor then?
Today we dive into the wonder that is the Johnson-Su Bioreactor exploring the why, how, what and wheres of building this microbe and mycelium making composting system. We talk through the benefits for soil health and find the step-by-step construction amazing. Unlike the name suggests, this isn't rocket science and actually an easily built little system that will sit quietly on the plot for a year, busily making the most beautiful compost inoculant. There's little else discuss other than the wea...
Nov 26, 2024•36 min
All things leafmould.
A short but sweet episode about leaf mould; from the basics of how to create your own to practical application for this natural treasure. A sustainable and low cost way to enrich your garden or allotment..what's not to love?
Nov 19, 2024•19 min
Building a Hugelkultur...again
"HOO-gel-kul-tur" Replicating a forest floor with a Hugelkultur on our allotment plots has brought both amazing soil conditions, lush growth and the odd field mouse or two. Karin's planning to build her's to a higher peak this year as she piles on logs, prunings, christmas trees, leaves and grass cuttings to make the most amazing mound for next spring's seeds.
Nov 12, 2024•27 min
Mulch and more
The Plot Thickens can't think of anything better than an early Sunday morning on the plot having a long conversation about mulch; when to do it, why we do it and with what. That it happens to be No Dig day is icing on the cake.
Nov 05, 2024•35 min
Planning A New Plot
As always, we love diving into the detail of observing and planning a new plot and with Soil Squad's potential new land to be planned, we're all over it! Take a listen for how we work things through, prioritising all the important details such where will the coffee station go.
Oct 29, 2024•30 min
Dreaming of Green Johanna
Vicky has been busy with all things Soil Squad, finally securing a piece of land to be turned into a community composting centre. A whole host of composting systems will be used on the demonstration site, and the pair could not be more excited. Karin is scouring Ebay for her lastest compost obsession; a Swedish Green Johanna hotbin.
Oct 22, 2024•32 min
Beckham: Both Feet on the Ground
Have you seen David Beckham's new love for gardening? Karin's sold, Vicky's clearly not so sure... Vicky's also being a bit of a Halloween grump, while Karin's making plans to collect her street's leftover pumpkins to compost rather than see them disappear. With all this rain and cold, Vicky's tucking her worms in for winter, Karin’s hashing plans for her own homemade wormery and both are regretting not having treated their sheds this summer....
Oct 15, 2024•26 min
Paul falls for Charles.
Love is in the air as Karin's Paul has sat through a whole hour of Charles Dowding and is a converted man. Vicky hasn't had much time on the plot this week and has missed it terribly. The one time she makes it down there she discovers the dreaded blight has arrived, wiping out a half a bed of potatoes. Karin is continuing with her never ending onion planting, and grapples with two new hugelcultures.
Oct 08, 2024•27 min
Pockets Full of Pumpkin Seeds
Did you know it's actually illegal to have a seed swap?! Just one of many interesting facts about seeds, seed saving, seed swapping and seed history that we found out about on our Biodynamic Seed Saving Day at Waltham Place. After a glorious day with our teacher, Andre Tranquillini, we hot foot it back home to record the pod in the car whilst it's all still fresh in our minds.
Oct 01, 2024•25 min
Unwelcome visitors on the new plot.
Paranoia has set in on Karin's new plot; the majority of the strings dividing her beds and paths have been cut. Opinion is divided if this is deliberately done by hostile allotment neighbours or rodents with sharp teeth. Karin is keen to have a natural explanation, Vicky is more inclined to believe the scissor theory. This situation is not made any easier with the find of a teeth mould in the wood chip on one of the new paths, complete with name on the back. The back of Vicky's plot has had a co...
Sep 24, 2024•27 min
Onion sets and other seasonal obsessions
For those ready to geek out over the finer details of onion sets, garlic bulb sowing plans, and budgeting for the season ahead—you’re in the perfect place. But, if that’s not your thing, feel free to jump ahead by a full 13 minutes! We're loving the turn of the season, entering that glorious time of year where we're layering cardboard and compost, sowing green manures, and mulching our garden beds. It's the stuff of our daydreams! Karin’s been hard at work, carefully collecting Marigold, Nasturt...
Sep 17, 2024•42 min
Autumn jobs and pod-iversary
Charles Dowding's new book Compost has arrived and Vicky is swooning. Karin has made a start of planting for autumn, with spring onions and broadbeans in trays at home. We got a sweet anniversary surprise from Karin's eldest; two pretty The Plot Thickens signs for our respective sheds.
Sep 10, 2024•21 min
Look at my lovely pears
We're talking slugs, again. The allotment's slugs seem to have now all commuted to Karin's plot for a holiday, after finding a deluge of slugs on her plot this morning. Having been despondent about the fox digging up the lettuce seedlings in the bed of Bokashi compost, it's finally come up trumps, providing so many nutrients for Vicky's random pumpkin plant which is absolutely booming. We've both been really disappointed with our corn on the cobs and feels like our sweetcorn may have suffered fr...
Sep 03, 2024•29 min
Back from holiday!
Finally back to our plots after our holidays! While going away is lovely, coming back to your little green paradise is SO exciting. The familiar paths, the occasional weed to pull and gorgeous smells of ripe fruit and veg! Vicky did a successful watering swap with an allotment neighbour while Paul, scarred by last year's dry disaster, redeemed himself with a fortnight full time watering schedule. All in all a good reunion :-)...
Aug 27, 2024•28 min
Compost Pets
Have you ever thought about why we adore our compost so much? We've come to realise that perhaps because it's a living entity. Feeding, nurturing, turning, measuring and watching it mature into something you are proud of is much like having a pet or a child! This episode was recorded 2 weeks ago, it's short and sweet whilst we are away on our holidays! We'll be back with you with with a packed full episode next week! P.S. You might notice Vicky has a bit of a cold, so apologies for the sniffles ...
Aug 20, 2024•19 min
Foxes and fantastic facebook finds
Early morning on the plot chatting about all things allotment, foxes, watering (and a lack of) and great useable items from the St Albans Reuse site.
Aug 13, 2024•28 min
You've made your own bed...
When you've been making your own compost for over 20 years, its hard to then just order it in! Karin's struggling with the wish to make all of the Plot 2 beds with her own inputs and yet, wants the job done like, now! To buy or not to buy, that's the question.
Aug 06, 2024•28 min
Introducing Soil Squad
Karin has just finished the last of the ratatouille she made QUITE a few days ago, as expected no one in the family were keen to try it. Vicky has renovated her compost heaps, and is in full swing rearranging the beds on her plot to maximise growing space. Saving the best 'til last, Vicky has big news, introducing her new project Soil Squad! Have a listen!! All very very exciting :-)
Jul 30, 2024•37 min
New half plot!
The day that Karin has been waiting for has finally arrived; she has been offered another half plot in addition to her existing one, after a 2 1/2 year wait. At first glance it is an odd triangular shape, but this has advantages in terms of defining the compost set up of her dreams. Mimicking Vicky’s pallet compost masterpiece, this four bay baby will produce enough compost to cover the new plot in no time. With thanks to Alex Kizenkov for intro music
Jul 16, 2024•29 min
Short and sweet (like my cucumber)
Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms! How do you grow yours? Karin has some beautiful white oyster mushrooms ready to pick for a creamy pasta dinner. She's extended the mushroom theme throughout her plot like mycelium - she's now layering spores in her raised bed! Vicky's been moving her mushrooms like the Hokey Cokey around her plot with not very impressive results, unlike her 4 small perfectly formed cucumbers. So sorry people, the mic batteries started to fail so this episode is very short and swe...
Jul 09, 2024•14 min
Our favourite place
A busy week in Hertfordshire with inspiring visits to both the Kitchen Garden and Groundswell, the Regenerative Agriculture Festival. On the allotments the growing has finally started after the hot weather, making all the hard work worth it.
Jul 02, 2024•44 min
Is that a possum on the plot?
We had a lovely natter on a sunny plot - the sun is finally beating down on us! We’ve become Wildlife champions with Wilderhood Watch in St Albans but what does that actually mean? Karin’s little one spotted what she thought was a possum on the plot, but no, it was a Hedgehog ! So the whole family are now fully focused on operation hedgehog home building this week! Are you going to Groundswell? We’ll be there on Wednesday 26th June and are so looking forward to meeting so many wonderful people a...
Jun 25, 2024•37 min
Permaculture obv.
Did anyone say permaculture? Vicky deep dives into her online course and shares her new found fascination with contour mapping. Both have enjoyed a small first harvest from their plots, making all the work on the plots worth it. With thanks to Alex Kizenskov for intro music.
Jun 18, 2024•34 min
Compost content
With so much of the new plant growth being nibbled back on the plots, this week we focus on the growth of our compost and mulches instead! Vicky’s been creating hot compost and is thrilled with its rising temperatures and her neighbourly fox has been turning it for her. How kind? Karin has been using community cuttings and cartons to build up her numerous heaps and the cut grass has been making her temperatures soar too. We’ve also been experimenting with green mulch, making lasagne layers of gr...
Jun 11, 2024•32 min
But what about mushrooms?
Join Vicky and Karin as they share their newfound knowledge in mushroom growing, thanks to a fellow allotmenteer. Big plans follow for experimenting further in their raised beds, with Black Pearl and King Oyster already having made it into the online basket.
Jun 04, 2024•35 min
We may need to cut this out...
You can be witness to our pathetic attempt at a catchy trailer. Clearly we need to record another one but hey, this will do for this week! In slug news...in a night of anger when a red mist fell over the plot, Vicky counts over 100 slugs on her courgettes and sunflowers. But what does the world do with these little pests and how on earth do we deal with the consequences of radical action? We're talk GRASS this week. Karin makes a mess of No Mow May with a botched attempt of a wistful mowed path ...
May 28, 2024•28 min
How hot is your heap?
Vicky has started a permaculture course and Karin is about have her training as a Wildlife Champion, without really knowing what this entails. After having filled her newly constructed compost with several layers of greens and browns in one go, Vicky has invested in a compost thermometer. The results are pleasing while Karin’s heap is unexpectedly chilly.
May 21, 2024•29 min
Dreaming of hoes
We're obsessed. There's something so satisfying about the gentle swoosh of hoeing the grid lines in the finest layer of compost on the top of our beds. We're dreaming of the ultimate tool, the copper swing hoe. It's a thing of absolute beauty and completely beyond our budget. We'd love to hear about your dream tool, even if it only appears on a birthday wish list! Do email us at tptpod@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram @theplotthickenspod....
May 14, 2024•32 min
No Mow May
Vicky and Karin have had a visit from Martyn from Agriton on possibly the coldest day of the spring, necessitating a morning in the shed. No mow May is in full swing, reaping rewards for wildlife but leaving the compost piles lacking in green material. Link below to the lawn podcast that Karin is referring to. With thanks to Alex Kizenkov for intro music. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/growing-greener-greener-grass-with-david-hedges-gower/id1540573682?i=1000630256253...
May 07, 2024•34 min
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