Royal gardener reveals key tips to starting your own allotment
Jack Stooks, senior gardener to King Charles, shares his best advice for making the most out of your plot.
Allotments offer the chance to grow your own produce and spend more time outdoors in nature. Plus, tending to your own plot is a great way to flex your green fingers if you don’t have access to outdoor space, with research revealing it can even work wonders for our mental health.
But if the prospect of running your own allotment feels daunting or you simply don’t know where to start, King Charles’ senior gardener Jack Stooks - who has worked as part of the Royal household for over 20 years at Highgrove - is on hand to offer guidance on how to get the best use out of your own allotment plot.
From how often you should be visiting your allotment to recycling old cardboard to best prep vegetable patches, Jack shares the top tips he swears by when it comes to crafting the perfect patch. Speaking to LitterBins.co.uk in celebration of National Allotment Week (12-18th August), Jack explains: “Allotments are a fantastic way to grow your own produce if you are living in a home with little to no outdoor space. You can apply for an allotment online or pay a visit to your local allotments and ask the gardeners how to get your own patch.
“Allotments are taken on by people from quite literally all walks of life and once you are part of the allotment community you will be warmly welcomed and be able to learn so much from all the other fellow growers.”
How often do you need to visit your allotment?
“Allotments can be tended to daily or weekly depending on your time constraints and what you grow. Vegetables like potatoes only need to be checked on weekly, whilst sweet peas will be more intensive and require daily cutting to keep them flowering. Most allotment growers are willing to swap and share produce so make sure to get to know your neighbours as they may be able to help with the watering if you cannot make it every day.”
How can you keep pests under control?
“Slugs and snails can be kept under control with the use of beer traps and slug pellets. I recommend the organic pellets over any other as they are safer for other animals. Foxes can be chased away with an ultrasonic fox repellent or with fox repellent sprays.”
Is organic produce better than shop bought?
“In my opinion, growing your own produce is always better than supermarket produce. With your own crops, you have cared and tended to them and know what you have put into the soil and onto the plants. It’s hard to say what pesticides could have been poured over the produce in the stores. Homemade produce also makes a fantastic gift, so that’s another good incentive to grow your own!”
What’s the best type of soil to work with?
“Allotments have different ownership and you never know what the last person has done on the soil. I would always recommend digging the whole plot over and adding a well rotted manure before starting your new garden.”
What’s the easiest vegetable to grow for beginners?
“Vegetables are all very easy to grow and trialling a variety on your new plot is a great way to discover what is best for the soil you have in your particular area. I recommend potatoes, courgettes and beans as these are all great croppers and can feed the family and the neighbours too.”
How can you best prep a garden bed or vegetable patch?
“Recycling your old cardboard and using within gardens or allotments is quite common as it can work like mulch to keep the ground moist. Think of it like an alternative to wood chip. It can also block out the light, which helps to kill weeds as they can no longer photosynthesise. It naturally decomposes in the soil and feeds it, acting like a compost too.
"The downside of cardboard is that it can reduce the oxygen in the soil so it's not ideal if you are placing it in areas with lots of plants. Try and place it down, suppress the weeds and then take it all up and add a feed to the area. If you have a pathway that is always very weedy, you can put cardboard down and put gravel on top of it. It will reduce the amount of water that gets into the soil, therefore reducing the rate at which the weeds can grow.”
Do you need to give your allotment more attention during a heatwave?
“All vegetables need water and in hotter periods, the plants will need more attention. Try to have water nearby and always have water in your shed for emergencies.”