Rainy days and Mondays

From the hard work and impressive progress on the polytunnel and new vegetable garden, it looks like we'll have more raised beds in production this year. So as the weather was so good for filling up water butts today, I stayed in and did a stock take...

The programme manager in Mal couldn't cope with my handwritten notes, so I had to draw him a picture:

Have to say it's been quite nice today to not really do anything. Usually I'm rushing around trying to do everything at once....

No stink at all

Well I finally did it. Something I'd not been looking forward to but knew needed doing (I had Monty in my head telling me off). I dug over the compost bed! Mal built two fantastic compost bins from pallets last year - one he put more rotten stuff in, and the other the really fresh stuff. We've been filling the fresh one with all the kitchen waste (but not grass clippings). As the lawn area is so huge, the grass clippings would fill up the compost bins in one go, so they all go in a separate pile at the top of the garden.



So I took all the top fresh material out of the bin and into a pile, then the more rotten material out and into another pile. We'd just cleared last years Brussels Sprouts out of their bed so the waste from them went into the bottom of the bin, then I tried to layer in fresh and rotten material with some wet cardboard (Monty say's that's a good idea). I was really impressed with how much everything had already rotten down, even though we'd done nothing with the compost bin - and there was no smell! Hopefully turning it over will improve things even more.

Last year's new blueberry plants (3 - all Top Hat variety) were starting to outgrow the trough that I had them in, so they've been separated into individual pots - containing a mixture of the soil from the trough and fresh ericaceous compost. Hopefully there'll be lots of blueberry pancakes (with maple syrup!) and blueberry muffins this year....

Next job was tidying up the front yard. We'd bought some box cones last year but failed to pot them up and water them properly so one has died.  Trying not to make the same mistake again, Mal potted up the new box balls, and while he was there I tidied up a few other pots - getting rid of weeds and leaves, and top dressing (adding more compost) to a few that looked a bit low.  All the pots had been grouped together for warmth over the winter, so we spread them out for the summer.

As well as all that, we dug over two of the veg beds behind the shed as they'd been given more soil (dug out from the polytunnel excavation).  One of the other beds there already had red onions planted, so we put white onions into the other half of the bed and covered with fleece and netting.  Hopefully there will be no little creatures digging them up this year.

Have to say it was really nice to have help doing all the little jobs today.  Usually Mal is so busy with digging something (a ditch, or more recently a polytunnel platform).... I've realised how much I've learnt over the last 18 months, as he's been asking questions about planting and stuff!

Moss and sneezing

Mal had a bit of help from Alice (my cousin-in-law) last weekend and has made a real push this weekend, so the digging out for the poly-tunnel is pretty much complete! I think he's not happy with the down-slope edge as he took a bit too much soil out, so is planning on putting a bit back in and stamping it down. He also wants to put a small drainage channel around the down-slope and new fence sides, so it can drain to the bottom corner and into a new drainage ditch!

My contribution to all this effort was to suggest that he starts building the new vegetable beds for this area, so that he has somewhere to put all the excavated soil.

I like to do a tour of the garden when I haven't been out there for a while (week), just to see how everything's growing, what need care, what's taking over etc. This time I found an interesting hole in the grass pile. This is last year's pile of grass behind the conifers.

The hole is about 10 inches across and is at the back of the pile, facing out to the field. I think it's either a fox or a badger, but probably a fox.

I thought it was time I got cracking with the vegetable planting for this year (I have been a bit slack, everything is a bit late). So the tomato seeds I planted a few weeks back have germinated so have been potted on to 3'' pots. They do look a bit lost now.

The leek and chili seeds have germinated and are doing well, but I'd like them to be a bit more established before I do anything with them.

I've also planted seeds for more chili's (different variety), sweet peppers, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts.

I spent most of the afternoon walking slowly backwards and forwards across the lawn with next-doors borrowed scarifier. Very tedious! Got loads of moss and rubbish out of the lawn though, enough to fill the tractor up six times.... Hopefully, I'll get a chance tomorrow to do the rest of the lawn area then we can think about putting some seed down.

Oh, yeah. Sneezing. I suspect scarifying is not good for those of us that are allergic to pollen.

A busy weekend

Lots happening this weekend and I'm knackered now! First off I cleared all the weeds from the soft fruit bed and then spread a little mulch over it. I think I should probably add some more. I really wanted to crack on and get this done at the weekend as the rhubarb was starting to look impressive but one of the crowns was competing with a teazel weed.... The raspberries have perked up from last year,  but the blackberries are still looking very sorry for themselves. So I've put some plastic bottles over them - I'm not sure if they've been munched or not, so if they have then this will help.

The other really big thing was to clear and build up the two veg beds that have been gathering weeds for the last 18 months. I cleared out all of the weeds and grass that rooted and even tried to get rid of the roots as well.  Then we added another layer of boards to the side of the existing bed and built the new bed with new posts and boards.  Both of these were filled with the soil that Mal is taking from the polytunnel area (more on that below), and the closest one now has red onions planted.

 

Not only all that, but Mal's also finished clearing all the turf off the area for the polytunnel and started levelling from the bottom corner.....

 

Germination!

Geranium - leave at room temperature, if no germination after 4-6 weeks place in fridge for 3-6 weeks.

Rudbeckia - leave at room temperature until germination which takes 1-2 weeks.

Astrantia - keep at room temperature for a week then place in fridge. Remove when germinate or after 6 weeks.

Primula - keep at room temperature for 2-3 weeks then place in fridge. Remove after 3- 6 weeks.

The vegetable garden begins

Right, I know we've done a bit in the garden already this year, but I think it's time to take the "State of the Garden" picture for the start of 2012, so here it is:

Biggest differences from the one last year are the lack of snow (!), lack of flooding/pond, the addition of the big path and extended patio in front of the shed, and the fact that the shed is now blue! Oh, and the Brussels sprouts... there's still a few left.  The major achievements for the last 12 months have really revolved around drainage ditches, and vegetables - Mal spent a lot of the year digging out the main ditch and filling with a drainage pipe and gravel, and I've grown lots of vegetables for the first time.  The big successes being the potatoes, garlic and onions.  Other notables were the beans, peas, sprouts, carrots and tomatoes.  The tomatoes didn't do that well - I think they needed more warmth and daylight. So hopefully if we've got the polytunnel in place they should do better this year.  Talking of polytunnels......

This weekend we've made a significant start on the new Vegetable Garden.  The windproof netting has gone up and half of the hedging has been planted. Only half, as the lower end of the hedge line is completely water logged and we didn't want to drown the poor little things.

The hedging is a collection of six different evergreen varieties picked to give interest throughout the year, and provided by Buckingham Nurseries.  The collection includes Berberis darwinii, Cotoneaster franchetii, Pyracantha Orange Glow, Photinia fraseri Red Robin, Escallonia Donard Seedling, and Viburnum tinus.

As well as the hedge planting this weekend, we've also started on clearing the area for the polytunnel.  After much discussion and pacing, we've decided on a 3m by 8m tunnel, and need to clear .5m all the way around.  The area has been marked out, and the turf removed from half of the tunnel footprint so far.  The ground is so waterlogged that we didn't start on the second half, and didn't start on the leveling of the ground that will be required.  Instead we've started to put in a new drainage ditch that will run from the entrance to the Vegetable Garden into the copse.  Hopefully with that left open for now, it will help drain the ground where the tunnel is going.

For a weekend's work, the change to the garden looks impressive.  It's really starting to break up what was just a huge expanse of grass.... I can't wait to get the tunnel in!

Sodden sunshine

Some good progress was made today, I can tell by the fact that my muscles are stiffening up!  After collecting six bags of very good manure during the week, we dug four of them into the trench for the hedgerow that's going around the new vegetable garden.

Then I continued with the long task of clearing the flower beds that surround the patio. Happily I made it all the way to the corner of the wall.  There were lots of stones to take out, both small and large, an old raised bed structure with rotten wood and an almost collapsed willow hurdle.  I salvaged the uprights from that but the rest was rotted and went into the garden waste.  By the time I'd removed all that I was down to the layers of sodden soil and puddles were forming, so I abandoned it for the day.  The remaining manure was dug into the other flower bed which is pretty much ready for planting, unless I can persuade the OH to build up the stones a bit more so I can have a deeper bed!

Noticing that the tips of the tulips are just peaking through in the patio pots I decided it was time to move them around to the front of the house.  This involved many trips with the wheelbarrow, and a Rosie dog escaping out of the garden! Tidied up the leaves around the front, and moved some of the pots that need a bit of TLC...

Winter Gardening plan

Here's the current known plan (it will be edited).....

February

• Sow LEEK seeds
• Chit POTATOES - give them 6 weeks before planting out
• Plant hedging
• Prune grapevine
• Cut back clematis
• Cut back existing hedges

March

• Plant ONIONS, GARLIC (to April)
• Start successive sowing of PEAS and CARROTS
• Sow BRUSSELS seeds  (to April) - plant out after 5/6 weeks
• Sow BROCCOLI seeds  (to June)  - plant out after 5/6 weeks
• Sow TOMATOES, LETTUCE
• Cut back dogwood

April

• Start successive sowing of BEANS in pots
• Sow PUMPKIN, SQUASH, ROCKET, CHARD

Highland dress!

Take one jacket, one kilt and one kilt extension piece:

Then join the extension to the back of the kilt with glue or Sellotape with about an inch overlap (need the extension as the kilt made from an A4 sheet of card isn't quite long enough to go around the 2ltr bottle):

Attach the kilt to the bottom of the jacket (glue or tape) with about a half inch overlap, making sure that the jacket is centered over the main patterned part of the kilt:

Join the jacket top around the bottle using the cut slits:

Fasten the back of the kilt closed tightly around the bottle, and there you go:

Hedging prep....

Now we're into the New Year, I'm finding that I'm more inspired to get out in the garden. Last weekend I started my planning for what is going where in the vegetable beds - it's pretty much sorted now, and luckily I've got enough seeds from last year (open and unopened packets) that I don't actually need to buy much. Back in the summer, T&M had a 20% off sale so I ordered my potatoes (Foremost - 1st, Maris Piper - main), red and white onions, and garlic. I'm just waiting for those to arrive now....

So the plan is, for the four beds nearest the house:

1. Potatoes Foremost
2. Legumes - peas, dwarf beans, mangetout
3. Tender - squash/pumpkin, Swiss chard
4. Brassicas - sprouts, broccoli

For the four beds behind the shed, two of which need prepping/rebuilding:

1. Potatoes - Maris Piper
2. Onion - Alpha (white), Red Emperor
3. Soft fruit - raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb - all already planted
4. Carrots and leeks

Today, we've removed the turf and loosened the soil for the trench where the new hedge will go.  This is to create a new vegetable garden area behind the copse and on the bottom half of the slope.  The hedging will be mixed evergreen and shaped to no more than 5' (in quite a few years time!), and create an enclosed area which will house the poly-tunnel and the new veg beds.  Once this is all in we'll probably get rid of some of the beds in other areas of the garden.

I've also finally finished clearing/weeding the left flower bed by the steps and spread the extra soil around. I'm still not convinced that it's deep enough because of the concrete slab base for the wall - there's only 9 rows of bricks on the wall and on the far end of the bed, the soil is only 2 rows deep.