Sunflower Allotment Podcast

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! 'People think this was a dragons nest or that I'm a witch!' - Rosemary delights us with an allotment ramble around her beautiful natural allotment. Rosemary has created a space with the aim of being at-one with nature, the oppositie to a productive vegetable rich plot; much to the annoyance of the council and some of her neighbours! With 100 year old trees, a semi-circular bank inspired by old traditions and a Finish style hut for relaxing and contemplating the world around her, it is a fasctinating plot. Peter and Tim then discuss the contemporary need for wildlife spaces on the allotments and question if the rules should change to accomodate a more envionrmentally conscious plot. We would love to know your thoughts! Please let us know if you have any questions or ideas for future episodes. Email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @sunflowerpod1 Twitter: @sunflowerpod1

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! In this episode, Peter and Tim catch up on a warm and windy April morning to discuss seed swapping and allotment events. Peter also shares his productive allotment plot which has a staggering 300 garlic bulbs planted! We then hear from a recording back in February when Tim popped down to the inaugral Bungay seed swap and chatted to the organiser Lydia.

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! In this first episode of 2024 we have a special podcast to warm the senses! Recorded before Chrismtas from Peter's visit to New Zealand, this episode includes a beuatiful interview with his sister Vicky and partner Shaun from their bach in the south island of New Zealand. They roam the off-grid embankment plot disucssing garden design, drainage, the comparitive climate and their wide variety of plants. You'll recognise some familiar vegetables and plants along with some more intriguing ones such as the feijoa plant and kanuka tree. We hope you enjoy! In the next few weeks we hope to record a bit more regularly. If you have any requests for topics or any stories from your allotment and gardening endeavours, please do let us know! Sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com @Sunflowerpod1 (insta and Twitter) Peter and Tim

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! This week Pete is calling from his travels in New Zealand and we discuss gardening and allotments in NZ, along with our love for Autumn in the UK and jobs for November. Thanks for all your wonderful contributions - they help spark inspiration and debate and we love hearing from allotmenteers. We'd love to hear your answers to the question, 'why do you love allotments in the Autumn?' Instagram and Twitter: @sunflowerpod1

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! We are delighted to welcome author, allotment activist and illustrator David Crouch onto the podcast this week. Daivd co-wrote with Colin Ward the acclaimed allotment book 'The Allotment' which is out this year in a third edition, having first been published in 1988. The book will captivate any allotment and gardening enthusiast with the way it plots the social history of allotments and illustrates the importance of allotments to our lives way beyond gardening, from the small aspects of digging to larger ideas of conservation and community. With themes of politics, identity, class history, agricultural social movements and conservation it is a analytical book with a warm heart. A huge thanks for David for coming onto the podcast! You can purchase his book here: https://www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/little-toller/new-books/the-allotment-by-colin-ward-and-david-crouch/

After a bit of a break...Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! Peter and Tim meet up for a long-overdue recording reflecting on our summer on the plot, our highs and lows and the moments to remember. We revel in our squashes that are close to harvest and look forward to an Autumn, discussing jobs and upcoming harvests. Next week we welcome David Crouch to discuss his book The Allotment: its landscape and culture which is now in it's third edition! Please do let us know how your allotmenting is going by emailing or tweeting or instagram message: email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com twitter and instagram: @sunflowerpod1

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! This week Rachel and Tim catch up to discuss the importance of community allotment events and explore possible ideas for people looking to host community events on their site. The episode includes a conversation Tim had with Helen Banks, organiser of the recent NSPCC fundraising event at our Norwich Allotment. Helen discusses the importance of the event, along with the process of organising an event on the allotment site. Are you thinking of hosting an allotment event? Or have you recenetly held one? We'd love to hear about it. Please let us know by getting in touch: @sunflowerpod1 - Twitter / Instagram Sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! With the sun setting on our allotment in Norwich, Peter and Rachel meet to discuss the wet summer so far, Rachel's chickens and upcoming jobs for late July and August. If you would like to get in touch or contribute any episode ideas, then please let us know! Email: Sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Social media: @Sunflowerpod1 Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! It's harvest time! Peter and Tim visit each others plots to pick the fruits (and veg) of their labour. Onions, sorrel, courgettes, potatoes, shallots, broad beans and herbs amongst others are picked, discussed and eaten in this early summer harvest. Any questions, please get in touch: Email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Twitter / instagram: sunflowerpod1 Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! This week Pete interviews our fabulour allotment committe during one of their community plant swap events. During their conversation they disucss the rich history of our Norwich site and explore how preparations are going for the centenary celebrations next year! Peter and Tim also briefly do their own plant swap, desrcibe the joy of first getting a plot and delight in their instaible love of having an allotments and the variety it brings.

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! Summer is certainly here and so is the fruit. We therefore decided to discuss what we do we our fruit and our favourite fruit dishes. The episode also includes an allotment ramble with committee member Jon on his stunning plot that contains a beautiful combination of veg and fruit. Thanks for listening! If you'd like to get in touch, please do via email or twitter and Instagram. Twitter / Instagram: Sunflowerpod1 Email: Sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! With the cold snaps behind us and the sunshine well and truly here, Peter and Tim sit down under Peter's apple tree to discuss one of their favourite root vegetables, Celeriac. We discuss it's rich history, it's fantastic taste and tips of how to grow this tricky vegetable. With the cold weather all but a distant memory, Peter and Tim also discuss their techniques for mitigating against the hot, dry weather, including mulching and soil prep. We also touch on our jobs for June and look forward to a summer of allotment life! If you have any questions, please do get in touch, we love to hear from you! email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Instagram / Twitter: @sunflowerpod1

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! After some torrential rain and warmer weather, Peter and Tim take a walk around the allotment and discuss the explosion of growth of vegetables, fruit and weeds! Tim also discusses his love for raspberries as well explaining some tips for planting and storage. As we walk around we answer the question, what are our favourite allotment sounds? This includes birdsong, thunder and drumming! After driving over Tim's rhubarb, Peter also takes the chance to pull some of his huge rhubarb and gift to Tim. What are you favourite allotment sounds? We would love to hear your answers. If you would like to get in contact, please do! Email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Twitter / Instagram- @sunflowerpod1 Thanks for listening!

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! In this mini episode we response to a fantastic listener question regarding growing tomatoes in a polytunnel. Peter addresses problems with blight, overheating, underwatering and suggests his favourite varieties of tomato. We also touch on other questions on potatoes and asparagus planting. We love hearing from you so if you have any questions, please do get in contact via Twitter, Instagram or email: Twitter / Instagram: @sunflowerpod1 Email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! It's April and the bees are out so it is a perfect time to be joined by beekeeper Ken Hayes for this special episode on bees! In this fascinating discussion we explore a range of topics from bees and the envrionment, pollinators, flowers to attract bees, the advantages and disadvantages of beekeeping, how bees swarm, the difference between workers and drone bees, honey harvesting and much, much more! As a guest we also take Ken to our Desert Island Allotment! To find out more on bees, visit the British Beekeeping Society here: https://www.bbka.org.uk/ Please do get in touch as we love to hear your feedback, opinions or anecdotes! We are planning an episode on listener questions so please so write in if you have any. Email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Instagram / Twitter: @sunflowerpod1 Have a buzzing week on the plot busy bees!

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast. 🌻 On today's episode Peter and Tim return to Rachel's plot to record an episode that celebrates the end of Winter and discusses the arrival of Spring and April jobs. Amongst a host of things we discuss emerging from long winter, what we are planting this month, green manure, no dig, long days on the plot and Tim's brush with the allotment law! As ever, please do get in touch as we love to hear your feedback, opinions or anecdotes! We are planning an episode on listener questions so please so write in if you have any. Have a great week on the plot everyone!

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! Inspired by a gardening book that Tim found in a charity shop earlier this year, we are joined by Claire Birkett (from episode 11 on Cost of Living) for a recording of the first of a two-part (second yet to be recorded) on gardening words and jargon! For a new gardener, or even a seasoned pro, the words and terms in gardening can be as long as a piece of cooch grass, therefore we have run through some terms we considered key to our allotment gardening. The list is below! We have definitely missed many words / terms / jargon! If you have any suggestions or terms you'd like us to interrogate, then please let us know and we will add them into our next jargon busing episode that will be recorded later this year. Please do get in touch as we love hearing your allotment stories, ideas and inspiration. Our contact for any questions or episode suggestions: Email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Twitter / Instagram: @sunflowerpod1 Terms covered in the episode:

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! We are delighted to bring you the second part of our Easter special with organic gardener and No Dig expert, Stephanie Hafferty. As the joint author (along with Charles Dowding) of the award winning book, No Dig Organic Home Garden, Stepahnie has a wealth of experience and enthusism on a topic that has changed the way allotment holders and vegetable gardeners have approach digging and soil managemnt in recent years. In this special episode we discuss with Stephanie exactly what No Dig is, the history of No Dig, the method behind a No Dig vegetable patch, the benefits to the soil and the environmental benefits. This is a both a perfect how-to guide for anyone considering No Dig, as well as an insightful examination of the advantages for our soil and the time-saving benefits of the process when tackling weeds. If you have any follow up questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at: Email - sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Instagram / Twitter- @sunflowerpod1 To read Stephanie's blog, access links to her books and courses on No Dig, please see the link below to her lovely website. https://nodighome.com/ To purcahse her book on No Dig, you can find it here! https://www.waterstones.com/book/no-dig-organic-home-and-garden/stephanie-hafferty/charles-dowding/9781856233019

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! This episode is the first of a two-part Easter special with the amazing Stephanie Hafferty. Stephanie is an organic gardner, award-winning author, blogger and a leading authority in No-Dig gardening. During this first part we ask Stephanie about her origins of gardening, her movement into gardening as a profession as well as her garden planning, inter-cropping and year-round production on her Wales Homestead. We also discuss the importance of plants on the plot for pollinators, insects and predators as well as their amazing colour! To read Stephanie's blog, access links to her books and courses on No Dig, please see the link below to her lovely website. https://nodighome.com/ If you would like to get in contact, please do not hesitate to with episode ideas, your experiences or questions. Our contact is: Email - sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com Twitter and Instagram - @sunflowerpod1

Welcome back to the Sunflower Allotment Podcast! In response to both a listener question and Tim's neighbour taking on an allotment, Peter and Tim discuss how to tackle the first 7 days on the plot. Tidying, planning, no dig, planting trees, speaking to fellow allotmenteers are all discussed along with much more. We would love to hear how you began your first few days on the plot. Please let us know via our email and twitter: Twitter and Instagram: @Sunflowerpod1 Email: sunflowerallotmentpodcast@gmail.com