Feeding your plants

You’ll need to feed your plants for good crops. It can seem confusing — NPK ratios, trace elements, organic versus chemical — but for allotment growing, a few simple rules see you through. Your soil is probably in reasonable condition, and if it wasn’t cropped last year it may give decent crops with little extra feeding.

• Compost or well-rotted manure always helps soil structure — dig it in over winter, or just before planting hungry crops like potatoes or beans.
• Fertiliser is concentrated food, as a solid (Growmore, blood, fish & bone) or liquid (tomato food). Packets and bottles carry the instructions.
• The traditional home-made liquid feed (‘jollop’) is a bag of well-rotted compost in a dustbin, topped up with water.
• Feed needs to reach the roots — put fertiliser in the planting hole or water it into the root zone.
• Don’t overdo it — the plant needs a boost, not a flood. Through photosynthesis it makes much of its own food.
• Brassicas need lime to grow well (added to the area or into the planting hole) and are heavy feeders.