The Veg Plot.

[garynortheast]

There were a few people here posting last year about their veg gardening efforts. It's about that time again, so let's see what progress folks make with their veg plots this year.

One of my daughters and I are getting busy with our veg gardening now. I got two of my three terraced beds back into production last year after an eight year layoff. We're busy getting the third bed back up and running again, and preparing a large fourth bed. Lot of work to do yet but progress is being made.

I've just placed our seed order with Garden Organic and on Saturday a group of us went to a potato day organised by Shropshire Organic Growers. We were expecting a fairly small, low key event. We were pretty astonished to find the carpark rammed and several hundred people in the hall. Excellent event, we bought our seed potatoes there. We're doing tyre towers this year as an experiment. It takes up less space growing spuds vertically rather than horizontally, so we'll see how we get on.

We're also hoping to put up a polytunnel this year, and we're going to remove two unproductive pear trees and make the area a soft fruit bed. Progress should accelerate once I have the money needed to by the timber to repair existing beds and build new ones.

Pictures to follow once I get the chance.

Anyone else starting yet?

[Adam Ef]

...It takes up less space growing spuds vertically rather than horizontally, so we'll see how we get on.



Also makes it a lot easier to "dig" them up. :D


I was just thinking the other day that I always leave it too late to get seeds planted etc and this year I'd start early. Then I forgot again so this thread is a good reminder. Subscribing to help remind myself to get on with it.

[Sir Trev]

Went out on Saturday afternoon and got my seed potatoes, onion sets and all my packet seeds, so I've made a start. Spuds are in the dining room in egg box trays chitting and the onions are out of their retail poly bag so they don't sweat to death. Just need to find time to get out and empty the compost bin onto the raised beds and give them a rough dig over. Oh, and clear out the greenhouse and wash it down with disinfectant as it's not been done for a couple of years.

[garynortheast]

It's that time of the year again. Sioned and I are starting seeds off now. We're sowing quite a bit of stuff indoors in plug trays and toilet roll tubes to get things off to an early start.

Garlic chives, cucumbers, two different types of courgette, (Golden Zucchini and Zucchini), and giant sunflowers.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49601063722_ce341da4a5_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iz5qaQ)
Seed sowing (https://flic.kr/p/2iz5qaQ) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Tomatoes and cucumbers in the plug tray, broad beans and leeks in the toilet roll tubes.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49600303918_513d01d764_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iz1wiL)
Seed sowing (https://flic.kr/p/2iz1wiL) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

More leeks.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49600885326_6d29c3572b_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iz4v93)
Seed sowing (https://flic.kr/p/2iz4v93) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Sioned sowing leeks.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49601063347_f660de03e6_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iz5q4n)
Seed sowing (https://flic.kr/p/2iz5q4n) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

[Sir Trev]

You're a bit further ahead than me Gary. I normally get tomato plants from a nursery nearby but the last couple of times it has been obvious that they don't take much care with the labels as two plants allegedly the same give very different fruits... Have gone for a packet of seeds this year and will probably set those off in another week or so. If the soil has drained enough after the deluge of the last three weeks I'll dig the raised beds over tomorrow ready for the first of the planting/sowing - the parsnip seeds and early spuds will go in sometime in March depending on the weather.

[Adam Ef]

I've never had much luck with leeks and cucumbers.
Struggled with peppers too until last year then managed to grow some small orange peppers. Chopped them up and put them in a salad only to find out I'd grown small orange habanero chillies. That was a fun evening!


Hoping to get some sugar snap peas and courgettes planted in pots inside this week. Possibly some runner beans too as I really like the flowers on them.

[garynortheast]

You're a bit further ahead than me Gary. I normally get tomato plants from a nursery nearby but the last couple of times it has been obvious that they don't take much care with the labels as two plants allegedly the same give very different fruits... Have gone for a packet of seeds this year and will probably set those off in another week or so. If the soil has drained enough after the deluge of the last three weeks I'll dig the raised beds over tomorrow ready for the first of the planting/sowing - the parsnip seeds and early spuds will go in sometime in March depending on the weather.

We’ve still got a hell of a lot of work to do on the beds yet Trev. I’m just about to order all the larch boards we need to repair existing beds and build a large new one. Except for the new bed, we’ll be doing very little digging. We’re going to weed what needs weeding and the cover the beds in we’ll rotted horse muck and bark clippings. We’re going to plant our veg through that once the soil has warmed up enough in a few weeks, which will give the worms time to incorporate the mulch into the beds.


This is the first time I’ve grown tomatoes from seed but a friend grew all hers from seed last year and they were very successful.

I've never had much luck with leeks and cucumbers.

There’s no such thing as too much well rotted muck when it comes to cucumbers, and leeks are happiest in a good firm soil with plenty of muck mixed in.

Struggled with peppers too until last year then managed to grow some small orange peppers. Chopped them up and put them in a salad only to find out I'd grown small orange habanero chillies. That was a fun evening!

Now that made me laugh out loud Adam, sorry!

Hoping to get some sugar snap peas and courgettes planted in pots inside this week. Possibly some runner beans too as I really like the flowers on them.


We’ll pot on all the stuff in the plug trays once they’ve got going properly, then they’ll go out into the beds as soon as the last frosts have finished. The stuff in the toilet roll tubes will go straight in the ground, again once it’s warm enough.

[Sir Trev]

Adam - cucumbers and peppers like to have just the right heat and humidity so can be tricky to grow depending on the variety. I had a go for several years but found the results poor but it was nice to try. Had poor results with leeks too out in the garden which is odd as onions grow very well in my soil. Hopefully you'll have better luck with the peas, beans and courgettes as they're all very easy to grow.

[Adam Ef]

...peas, beans and courgettes as they're all very easy to grow.


That's why I grow them as they mostly just grow themselves and we get to watch the progress. :)

[garynortheast]

Had a good day on the veg plot in the sunshine today.

Sioned and I were out there from late morning. We've sourced lots more well rotted horse poo, so we got a good layer of it onto the two lower beds where we hadn't already mucked. Left an area without though as the carrots are going in there and too much muck makes them fork. I just need to go and get a few bags of bark chippings tomorrow morning to mulch the bits we haven't yet done.
These two beds are ready for planting now.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49688468947_5c04cf5bc6_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iGNoGt)
Two lower beds ready for planting (https://flic.kr/p/2iGNoGt) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The larch boards I need were delivered earlier this week. These are going to be used to repair the top bed and build a long new bed. I'm just waiting for the timber for the posts to be delivered now

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49687630343_ae515085b2_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iGJ6pM)
Larch boards for the new bed and repairs to the top bed (https://flic.kr/p/2iGJ6pM) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

This is how the top bed looks at the moment. Sioned and I have started digging out the weeds, but we can't do too much until the new boards are in place otherwise the whole bed will collapse.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49687630603_ca346af1a3_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iGJ6ug)
Top bed - work in progress (https://flic.kr/p/2iGJ6ug) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Sioned at work digging the edges of the new bed.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49688163446_15b7a843f7_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iGLPTd)
Sioned digging the new bed (https://flic.kr/p/2iGLPTd) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

I'm going to grow the potatoes in tyre towers to save space, so this afternoon I sorted out where they were going. I have access to a large mound of old tyres: I have half of what I need but I need to go and get the rest this coming week.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49688164411_fbbd15bf3c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iGLQaR)
Start of the potato towers (https://flic.kr/p/2iGLQaR) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

We had the last of the kale today, before pulling out the old plants and consigning them to the compost bin. This is Sioned's friend Eli harvesting the kale for us.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49687631073_704aec929d_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iGJ6Cn)
Eli harvesting the last of the Kale (https://flic.kr/p/2iGJ6Cn) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

[Adam Ef]

Finally got a few seeds planted. Not much as it looks like most of what we had in the box is very out of date and having to make do with what we have at home at the moment as we're still quarantined. So, just sugar snaps and a few courgettes for now.

We have a bet on to see which will arrive first, the first signs of green breaking through the soil or our home food delivery that we can't get before April 6th at the moment.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49690667963_15eee7e9ef_c.jpg

[Sir Trev]

Good luck getting the rest of your supplies Gary, now we're all being told to stay home.

Adam - see if you can get some seeds from the supermarket in your delivery. Most of them sell seeds so it's worth a try.

[garynortheast]

Busy couple of days yesterday and today.

The pear trees I was going to take out have had a reprieve. They're getting a last chance, so yesterday both my daughters went out and weeded most of the area surrounding the tree in the worst shape. It was falling over gradually and struggling for food and moisture, so it's now been weeded, soil loosened, a good feed of well rotted horse poo, and pulled back upright(ish) and staked. I'll give it a spray with a liquid seaweed solution soon and mulch the whole area with bark chippings.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49698381603_2ee5a5b79d_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iHFcok)
Peartree (https://flic.kr/p/2iHFcok) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

I have another pear tree and two apple trees all needing the same treatment, so that'll be one of the jobs for the next couple of weeks.

I have three gooseberry bushes which are starting to be similarly dealt with. I'm keen to keep these going as they are cuttings I took 23 years ago from a bush which was then at least 50 years old. They are dessert gooseberries; big, fat, pink fruits and very sweet. I eat them raw quite often straight off the bushes.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49698912681_0cb43b028c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iHHVfR)
GooseberryBushes (https://flic.kr/p/2iHHVfR) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

I have a few of these growing under my fruit trees. They come up dead reliably every year.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49698912896_9103cdb88f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iHHVjy)
Fritillary (https://flic.kr/p/2iHHVjy) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The bulk of the work today has been this. Finally starting to get the top bed into shape. The timber I was waiting for to make stakes with arrived this afternoon so we were able to make some progress. Tomorrow, Sioned and I are going to get one end completed first so the the rather tall broad beans I have in toilet roll tubes can be planted out. Hopefully by the end of the day we'll have the whole bed finished.
Sioned also put together the narrow bed behind the sleepers and planted lots of bulbs and some wildflower bombs in it. We'll plant loads of stuff in there to attract pollinators and predators to the garden.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49698381283_dc6a2a2366_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iHFchP)
TopBed (https://flic.kr/p/2iHFchP) by [/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2iHKuUP]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49699221007_64550aaedd_b.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)
TopBed (https://flic.kr/p/2iHKuUP) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

[Sir Trev]

Fantastic Gary. Makes my effort so far seem puny. My first lettuce seeds have come up in pots on the utility room windowsill and it looks like the tomato seeds are just about to push through as well.

Early spuds and parsnip seeds will go in this weekend for me.

[garynortheast]

I bought this great little mini greenhouse affair from Aldi a few days ago. Perfect for hardening off stuff before it goes into the veg plot. It's much fuller with seedlings now than it is in this picture!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49701848786_78bc0376ac_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iHYY4m)
Aldi mini greenhouse (https://flic.kr/p/2iHYY4m) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Sioned planting bulbs yesterday.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49702164997_1a81ca08e2_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iJ1A4g)
Sioned planting bulbs (https://flic.kr/p/2iJ1A4g) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

This is where we had got to with the top bed by 2pm today.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49702116507_b76c010df5_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iJ1kDe)
Top bed - first part done (https://flic.kr/p/2iJ1kDe) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Then by 6pm this evening the first part of the bed was dug, mucked, and ready, so the broad beans went in.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49701271178_c6133105c7_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iHW1mA)
Broad beans (https://flic.kr/p/2iHW1mA) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

My first lettuce seeds have come up in pots on the utility room windowsill and it looks like the tomato seeds are just about to push through as well.

We have lots of tomato seedlings almost ready to be potted on now. I started them quite early as I want them to be a good size when the go out into the bed, to make the most of the growing season.

I'd not thought about lettuce in pots but now I'm thinking I might get some going in toilet roll tubes to put out when they are bigger and better able to withstand the advances of the slugs and snails!

Early spuds and parsnip seeds will go in this weekend for me.

You're ahead of me here Trev but I shall probably sow parsnip seeds fairly soon too.

We have quite a few potatoes chitting on various window sills at the moment, and the Charlottes will be going into one of the tyre towers shortly. Sioned and I need to go and harvest a load of the dead bracken off the allt first though to pack the tyres before we put the compost in.

[Sir Trev]

I always start the lettuce off on the windowsill after so many got "slugged" when I tried direct sowing. I have a small heated propagator as well but this seems to work best for lettuce. Just hope it's not quite as cold as predicted this weekend.

Great work on the top bed by the way.

[garynortheast]

Close to finishing the construction work on the top bed now. Another hour tomorrow should see it finished then I just need to dig it over.

I ran out of stakes before I could finish it, need to cut some more in the morning. I suppose you could say that by the end of the days work the stakes were rare.

I'll get my coat.....

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49717937477_efe2e2df94_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iKpqEz)
Top bed, nearly there (https://flic.kr/p/2iKpqEz) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49717084688_8962190e73_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iKk4aj)
Top bed, nearly there (https://flic.kr/p/2iKk4aj) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

[shiftin_gear98]

Gary, looking good. Nice work.

[garynortheast]

Thanks Martin.

Feeling pleasantly tired now after all the digging. Really looking forward to seeing this bed finished and ready to plant up.

Once this bed is finished we can start on the job of the new 25ft terraced bed.

[chris8886]

Close to finishing the construction work on the top bed now. Another hour tomorrow should see it finished then I just need to dig it over.

I ran out of stakes before I could finish it, need to cut some more in the morning. I suppose you could say that by the end of the days work the stakes were rare.

I'll get my coat.....



GROOOOAAAN! But good work!

Thanks Martin.

Feeling pleasantly tired now after all the digging. Really looking forward to seeing this bed finished and ready to plant up.

Once this bed is finished we can start on the job of the new 25ft terraced bed.



You're a sucker for punishment aren't you?!

[garynortheast]

GROOOOAAAN! But good work!

You're a sucker for punishment aren't you?!

Haha, I know it seems that way Chris but I find the whole process really quite therapeutic. And knowing that I'll be eating all that home grown produce as well as filling the freezer with it later on helps too

[Adam Ef]

I've tried to order more seeds. Nothing available locally as all indie places are closed. Tried to get some from B&Q as they're able to do click and collect in our local one still. Only the option to buy them is greyed out on the website as they're seen as not essential? Surely they're future food (?) and B&Q is still open to sell other stuff anyway.



Then went online to other sellers to find that people are now charging £8 for 10 courgette seeds and other crazy prices and most don't have stock until an estimated September time!

[garynortheast]

I've planted all my courgette seeds now Adam, but I'll have a look around and see if I can find any around here for you.

[garynortheast]

Adam.....https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391305445093

[Adam Ef]

Cheers. Seller is away until 24th April. Probably longer I'd imagine if the lockdown continues.
I have planted a few courgette seeds I found in the box from last year, but from memory they weren't that great last year. Hopefully we'll have more luck with them this year and they weren't just dodgy seeds.


We do have lots of homemade compost that is good to use this year, so that might be a help with the few seeds we do have.

[garynortheast]

Reasons to be cheerful....

1. Twelve bags of well rotted horse poo.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49724584096_90d906fc30_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iKZuts)
HorsePoo (https://flic.kr/p/2iKZuts) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

2. A nicely filled compost bin.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49724902372_7dc42ffdd5_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iL285Y)
Compost Bins (https://flic.kr/p/2iL285Y) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

3. Top bed built, dug, and raked.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49724901852_f129ea0fae_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iL27W1)
Top Bed - Dug and Raked (https://flic.kr/p/2iL27W1) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

[BoltonSte]

Cheers. Seller is away until 24th April. Probably longer I'd imagine if the lockdown continues.
I have planted a few courgette seeds I found in the box from last year, but from memory they weren't that great last year. Hopefully we'll have more luck with them this year and they weren't just dodgy seeds.


We do have lots of homemade compost that is good to use this year, so that might be a help with the few seeds we do have.



The Range near us had seeds today, don't know if you have one near you? I don't know when we'll need to go back there again but I can see if there is anything left and try and grab you some.


Same offer for anyone, just don't hold your breath as we've got enough stuff for a while.


Ste

[Adam Ef]

Cheers. I'll check the one in Bristol.


My wife did find a packet of courgette seeds today that she'd got me for Christmas, so we have at least 10 in date courgette seeds. No sign of life yet with the sugar snaps.

[garynortheast]

Glad you found some seeds Adam. They need to go in this weekend really, give you the longest possible growing season.

Sioned and I were out doing these this afternoon.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49731826603_5629d8c30d_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iLCBqg)
Potato towers (https://flic.kr/p/2iLCBqg) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49732696207_7781189791_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iLH4Vr)
Potato towers (https://flic.kr/p/2iLH4Vr) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49732375096_009c97d175_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iLFqt3)Potato towers (https://flic.kr/p/2iLFqt3) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Our potato towers. We were only going to do three of them originally, but I was given more seed potatoes and we now have six towers with another two to be added tomorrow.
Great space saver for growing spuds. Pack the tyres with dead bracken or straw first, then plant the seed potatoes in a mix of well rotted horse poo and compost. Cover with more of the same, and when the shoots come through add another tyre treated the same way as the first one. I reckon we'll get to about six or seven tyres high before we harvest the spuds.

Sioned potted on all the tomato plants today and my little greenhouse is getting a bit full. I may need to buy another one at this rate!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49732374106_e27a366471_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iLFqaY)
Full! (https://flic.kr/p/2iLFqaY) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Planted two rows of beetroot this evening with a row of radishes sown over the top of each row of beetroot.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49732696697_7e578e871e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iLH54T)
Beetroot and radishes (https://flic.kr/p/2iLH54T) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

[Sir Trev]

I'll be sowing the parsnips seeds this weekend. My toms are already nearly ready to pot on but not quite but I set mine off later than you Gary.

[Adam Ef]

The first courgette plants are appearing. So they've won over the home delivery of food we've waitied 3 weeks for so far.


More seeds to plant today from the stash that we found hidden since Christmas.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49738751912_c393e4d296_c.jpg

[garynortheast]

Always a relief to see those seeds germinating!

Been very busy on the veg plot, up there pretty much all day, every day at the moment. The three main beds are all ready now with stuff going in. Onions, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, and radishes sown on the lower bed, and Broad beans on the top bed. Brassicas will be sown probably tomorrow in the middle bed.

Today I was building the new fourth bed. It's a long job as I am having to dig out vast quantities of bracken, and hogweed root. I have the front timbers in place now, a couple of hours more digging out the back and the back timbers can go in.

I have a load of pictures of progress over the last couple of days. I'll try and post them up tomorrow.

[Adam Ef]

I got the pack of 10 (15) courgette seeds planted and then found loads of runner beans in the border that must be there from last year. A few of them seemed decent so potted those up too in hope they might come to something. I think the sugar snap peas I planted are all duds. So now it's just the beetroot seeds to sew.

[garynortheast]

An update on progress.

The three original beds are now all operational, with several rows of seeds in the bottom bed and broad beans in the top bed. I'll be sowing lots more this month.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49754678002_41a07f239a_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJkU)
Veg beds (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJkU) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The leaning pear tree is now staked upright, weeded, mucked, fed with some wood ash (potash), and mulched, as are the gooseberry bushes. I've also planted in the bed, a fourth,
self set plant which I grew on over the course of last year.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49754678492_694caae5c7_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJum)
Gooseberry bushes, pear tree (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJum) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The bulbs at the far end of Sioned's border, up behind the top bed are all coming through, although it's too late for them to flower this year. It looks like the daffs we transplanted
have survived too. At the near end of the border are a sowing of purple globe artichokes.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49753812938_99cf4c34b9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNzic1)
Globe artichokes, Sioned's bulb and wildflower border (https://flic.kr/p/2iNzic1) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The potato tyre towers are all planted up. I need some more timber to build retainers around the platforms, so I''ll get that ordered next week, along with the timber I need to build
my fruit beds.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49753812473_d1714eb658_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNzi3Z)
Potato towers (https://flic.kr/p/2iNzi3Z) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

This was the new bed a couple of days ago.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49754678887_6d25a959a9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJBa)
New bed in progres (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJBa) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

This is where I've got to by this evening.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49753813423_58502e4728_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNzikn)
New top bed (https://flic.kr/p/2iNzikn) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

It's taking a long time to dig it over as this is what I'm having to get out. There are five or six large piles of this stuff, drying out around the veg garden. Almost every fork full turns up
a large mass of bracken, bramble, and hogweed roots.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49754679317_04463250e2_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJJz)
Weeds n' Roots (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJJz) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

All this as well. It came out of the top bed.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49753813883_7834cdb5a9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNziti)
Weeds n' Roots (https://flic.kr/p/2iNziti) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

All of it will go in these when it's dried out properly.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49754677762_bbcbd216e0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJgL)Compost bins (https://flic.kr/p/2iNDJgL) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Hopefully, one more day of digging will clear the new bed, then I'll go and get another dozen bags of horse muck to dig in, and to lay in the bottom of some trenches I'll dig and
backfill, ready to plant runner beans over.

Still to do are proper footpath construction (essential on the slope my veg plot is on), fruit beds to build, rescuing my 2nd pear tree and the three apple trees, and a polytunnel to
buy and build! Enough to keep me well occupied for what could be a long haul under restrictions.

[Sir Trev]

Seriously good activity levels Gary. I'll hopefully get the onion sets in tomorrow if my knees will let me. I did very little today after knackering myself yesterday cutting the lawn before scarifying it, weeding the herb garden and then washing all the windows around Trev Towers.

[garynortheast]

Seriously good activity levels Gary. I'll hopefully get the onion sets in tomorrow if my knees will let me. I did very little today after knackering myself yesterday cutting the lawn before scarifying it, weeding the herb garden and then washing all the windows around Trev Towers.

Have you got raised beds Trev? They could be the saviour of your knees I'd say! Onions will need lots of watering in this weather. We do need some rain....

Finished digging over the new bed today, so now it's all raked and ready for an application of horse poo. Feeling the effects of running this morning and then spending most of the afternoon digging! I'm going to make a start on weeding the second pear tree tomorrow, ready for an application of muck and a mulch of bark chippings.

Off to get another dozen bags of muck from the monster horse poo heap on Monday!

[garynortheast]

Very productive day today. Started with Sioned and me heading around the side of the allt to collect a few bags of bracken litter, ready to stuff the next layer of tyres on the potato towers. Just in time too, as I noticed this evening that the first shoots are now breaking through the compost, so I'll need to add more tyres this week.

Then, while I potted on the last 7 or 8 acorns we've germinated, Sioned sowed cabbages, Romanescu caulis, and sweetcorn into modules and toilet roll tubes. Then I headed up onto the plot and sowed early purple sprouting, and green sprouting broccoli, and chard.

Just had dinner now and it included a crumble made by Sioned, which used up the last of the previous years soft fruit - gooseberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, and rhubarb. Just pulled the first of this years rhubarb as well. That's now trimmed, chopped, and bagged up in the freezer.

[Sir Trev]

I sowed some rhubarb seeds a week or so ago in the greenhouse and they're now showing through. We inherited an overgrown crown when we moved in but something clearly go to it as it suddenly died off last year and has not come up this spring, hence sowing more.

I do have raised beds but only with 8x1 boards from the builders merchant. Enough to improve drainage and let me add in a few barrow loads of compost each year. I have six 10ft x 4ft beds so plenty of options for crop rotation.

The good drainage does however mean the top layer can be a bit dry and friable sometimes so beetroot never germinates very well. As a trial I sowed some in newspaper pots in the greenhouse and they're showing through now too so I may keep doing that from now on before transplanting out when established.

The biggest issue I have though is the local cats. Since we lost our black lab Jackie three years ago they now strut around the place. They also use my raised beds as giant litter trays so I have to go out every evening and wet them down to dissuade them. Doesn't always work...

[garynortheast]

Trev, if you want to improve the water retention in the beds make them a bit deeper and dig in loads of organic matter - leaf mould, well rotted manure etc.
Frames of chicken wire laid over the beds will keep the cats off.

[garynortheast]

Bit of a gentler day on the plot today. First mission was to go and bag up another 14 bags of horse manure and bring it back.
Second job was to start preparing the new bed for planting runner bean in a few weeks time. I'm doing six rows of them this year, so started digging the trenches to put a layer of muck into and then backfilling them. Ran out of daylight at trench 4 so back out tomorrow morning to do the last two. I may do the same thing for the climbing French beans as well as neither they nor the runners like to have the roots drying out.

Sioned and I went up onto the plot yesterday and made a rough plan of where we want the fruit beds to go. Tomorrow we'll go and measure up so that I can order the timber I need for the job. I'll also start on the weeding and feeding around the second pear tree.

[garynortheast]

An update!

Last week after Sioned and I decided where we wanted the fruit beds to go, I started clearing the bit for the strawberry bed. I kept getting stabbed by the Philadelphus, Buddleia, and flowering currant in the overgrown hedge above me, so I started pruning it back a bit and with one thing leading to another, I ended up completely sorting out this overgrown corner. This is Rosie's plot, named for my first lurcher who died in 2000 and is buried here. It was always a favourite corner of the garden for me, but this was the first time in 12 years I've been able to see the bench here, never mind sit on it!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837468217_5b8808a249_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY3Zp)
Rosie's plot (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY3Zp) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The second pear tree is now weeded, fed with horse muck, and mulched.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837167506_a92981b761_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVWvAJ)
Pear trees (https://flic.kr/p/2iVWvAJ) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

My eating apple trees are covered in blossom, despite being riddled with canker. They are next in line for the weeding/feeding/mulching treatment. I'm hoping that it will improve their general health and resistance to the canker.
The area in between the fruit trees is going to become a little wildflower area.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49836627763_e6937ed010_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVTK9P)
Apple blossom (https://flic.kr/p/2iVTK9P) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

My heavily pruned gooseberry bushes have fruit on them now.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837167696_f585c6434c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVWvE1)
Gooseberries (https://flic.kr/p/2iVWvE1) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The broad beans are growing well and have flower buds on them already.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837167831_ab4ca27bb3_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVWvGk)
Broad beans (https://flic.kr/p/2iVWvGk) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The potato towers are now two tyres high. I need to go for more tyres this week sometime.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837468282_97a66cd388_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY41w)
Potato towers (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY41w) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The new bed and walkway is done. The hazel poles for the runner beans are in place too. I need to get more poles put in for the climbing French beans, which will occupy the other half of this bed.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837167611_7d8bff742b_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVWvCx)
New bed - beanpoles (https://flic.kr/p/2iVWvCx) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Some of the stuff in pots on our south facing drive. I found a self sown clump of alpine strawberries growing on a neglected part of the plot. It split up nicely into 15 or 16 plants, which I've potted on. They all appear to have taken ok.
I also have sunflowers waiting to be planted out, a tub sown with mixed salad leaves (don't know if they will come up as the seeds were pretty old), sweet peas in the big tub, garlic chives, mint, and young blackcurrant and gooseberry plants growing on.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49836627648_4ef6938efc_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVTK7Q)
Driveway (https://flic.kr/p/2iVTK7Q) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

On the other side of the drive I've got Marigolds germinating, a Boysenberry (which will be planted out on the fruit beds and trained along the fence), and sorrel and rocket.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837468552_f905daaefd_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY46b)
Driveway (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY46b) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Sitting on the potting bench (as I have nowhere else to put them) are more garlic chives, Romanescu cauliflowers, and leeks. I sowed brussel sprouts in the propagator but not a single seed has germinated unfortunately, and I've no idea why.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837468237_8684dfcfd1_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY3ZK)
Potting bench (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY3ZK) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

My mini greenhouse is still full of tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, and cabbage seedlings.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49836627528_5855ee0cc4_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVTK5L)
Mini greenhouse (https://flic.kr/p/2iVTK5L) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Finally, some more stuff in pots - horse chestnut seedlings, acorns, and Rosa Rugosa seedlings.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49837468387_0f090de48e_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY43k)
Oak and horse chestnut (https://flic.kr/p/2iVY43k) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The garden is a bit too wet to dig the new fruit beds at the moment, but there's plenty more to get on with.

[Sean_Morgan]

Looking good mate, makes my effort look a bit shabby !!!

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Sean_Morgan]

I will add, a garden isn't complete without a few pet hens, you get entertainment and eggs, although the Mrs isn't too keen on them wandering in through the back door !!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200430/d262703efc74ac41292fb217e30183b2.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200430/8ca83025a811a6576a64abaf056dc781.jpg

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[garynortheast]

Hehe! I like chickens. As you say, they are great entertainment value and sociable characters too once they get to know you.

I used to keep quite a bit of livestock back in the 80s in the days when I still ate meat. However I’ve gone to the dark side these days and am a pretty strict vegan, so no more livestock for me. I’d actually struggle to fit chickens in anyway as although my garden is a reasonable size, it’s pretty much all used for fruit and veg.

I do miss having these likeable critters about though.

And there will be nothing shabby about your efforts. Any move towards supporting yourself by growing food is to be applauded. We all do what we can. I’m just fortunate in having the time and space to do what I’ve done.

[Adam Ef]

First two courgettes appearing...


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49899118267_e72c40c2d1_c.jpg

[garynortheast]

I’m jealous Adam! Looking very healthy though. All my courgette plants are still in pots at the moment as it’s too early here to get them out into the beds. We’ve had a few frosts lately and it just caught the edges of some of the tender stuff despite me tucking it all into a sheltered spot, so it’ll be the end of this month before I plant it out.

Sioned and I potted on all the courgettes the other day as they were looking a bit starved of nourishment in the toilet roll tubes. They’re looking a bit happier now.

We also went up and put the poles in for the climbing French beans, and the day before yesterday I transferred the first sowings of peas from the guttering into the veg bed. We’ve now made a second sowing of peas which will get planted out in about three weeks time and will hopefully extend the cropping time.

I had to resow all my carrots and parsnips yesterday as the first sowing pretty much completely failed, possibly because I sowed them too early. The beetroot has done the same thing so I’ll need to resow a couple of rows of that too.

I’ll get some up to date pictures tomorrow.

[Sir Trev]

Gary - try sowing your beetroot in tubes or newspaper pots in your mini greenhouse. Although a lot of my directly sown seed has come up this year (for a change) the ones set off on the bench and planted out are romping away.

Runners were sown in pots in the greenhouse today and the pumpkins sown likewise last weekend have given me four good plants already, which is all I need for the bed they'll be planted out in, probably in two weeks time. Maincrop spuds just pushing through so they got earthed up today, parsnip seeds have germinated fairly well this year, and the onion sets are all doing well. We'll be eating my lettuce from this week too which is nice. I do like this time of year in the veg patch.

[garynortheast]

Gary - try sowing your beetroot in tubes or newspaper pots in your mini greenhouse. Although a lot of my directly sown seed has come up this year (for a change) the ones set off on the bench and planted out are romping away.


I'll give it a try Trev. I have done a lot of stuff that way this year but I didn't think about doing the beetroot that way.

Lots of stuff happening on the plot.

My broad beans are flowering and the bees are very happy about it!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902805077_a4ca694460_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVmZ)
Broad beans in flower (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVmZ) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902807142_c9ae48c65d_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVYA)
Broad beans (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVYA) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

First two rows of peas are in. A row of sugar snaps "Norli" and a row of "Kelvedon Wonder".

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902806852_baa157b51c_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVTA)
Peas and peasticks (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVTA) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Planted my sweetcorn out this afternoon.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902806277_284825be4b_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVHF)
Sweetcorn (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVHF) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Potato towers are getting taller.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49901985123_e3f7f45485_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHBR)
Potato towers (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHBR) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Mabel on guard duty, making sure nobody tries to steal our spuds!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902806962_3869926978_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVVu)
Mabel on guard (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVVu) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The bean bed is now ready for the runner and climbing French beans. I'm going to wait till the end of the month though just to be on the safe side as I lost a load of my runner beans to a late frost in the final week of May last year.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902805922_7c11ae2677_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVBy)
Bean bed and poles (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JVBy) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Resowed the carrots and parsnips in the bottom bed. Onion sets are growing on ok but none of the onion seed has germinated.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902498221_f6ae5f44d1_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2Hm9n)
Resown bottom bed (https://flic.kr/p/2j2Hm9n) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

I have fruit growing on my pear trees, and the trees are looking healthier than they have looked for many years, after being fed and mulched.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49901985193_b6929020f3_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHD4)
Pears (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHD4) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

My gooseberry bushes have fruit on them too, despite being hacked back to less than a quarter of their original size.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49901985393_9ae75968db_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHGv)
Gooseberries (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHGv) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Lots more stuff to be planted out yet - leeks, Romanesco cauliflowers, courgettes, cabbages, runner and climbing French beans, sunflowers, and gooseberry and blackcurrant cuttings.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902497946_6f3d24b234_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2Hm4C)
Stuff to be planted out (https://flic.kr/p/2j2Hm4C) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

More in the mini greenhouse too - cucumbers, more cabbages, tomatoes, poached egg plants.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49901984848_1bff035421_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHx7)
Still full (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHx7) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

More on the potting bench too - cabbages and caulis, garlic chives, and a lavender I've just been given.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49901984298_abe950fecd_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHnC)
And more.... (https://flic.kr/p/2j2EHnC) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

I still have a lot of earth moving to do yet. The new fruit beds need building as do all the footpaths, and I also still have several piles of stuff waiting to be gathered and put in the compost bins.
I have an area at one end of the plot waiting to be cleared and levelled ready for a polytunnel later this year.

While I was carrying a trug of stuff up the steps to the compost bins a couple of days ago, this chap or chappess jumped out of the grass, bounced of my hand and landed on the step. I picked it up in cupped hands and took it on to the veg garden intending to put it somewhere safe where it wouldn't get either stepped on or fall prey to something. When I opened my hands to let it go, it just sat there looking at me. We sat like that for probably 3 minutes before I gently pushed it off my hand and into the safety of a space behind a board leaning against the edge of one of my beds.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902765036_3537cfd280_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JHsC)
Common frog (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JHsC) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The front garden is looking good at the moment. I sowed it with wildflower seeds last year to fill the gaps between the permanent stuff - roses, hydrangea, cornflower, osteospermum, and geraniums. This year all I did was weed out the grass, and prune back the roses and hydrangea. This all came up without me doing any more. The white flowers are sweet rocket and the scent from them is fabulous, especially in the evening.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49903076907_60a7ff3bb6_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2LjaH)
Front Garden (https://flic.kr/p/2j2LjaH) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902767636_4726064391_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JJes)
Front Garden (https://flic.kr/p/2j2JJes) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49903074782_4f3684a7af_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2Lix5)
Front Garden (https://flic.kr/p/2j2Lix5) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49902251718_6b59611c26_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2G5Sj)
Front Garden (https://flic.kr/p/2j2G5Sj) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49903072267_ed80996317_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2j2LhMH)
Front Garden (https://flic.kr/p/2j2LhMH) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

[garynortheast]

Some of the cabbages are now planted but I've no room left to plant more atm. Caulis are going to wait till next month. We put a few more purple sprouting seeds in to fill the gaps, planted two new rows of Flamingo Pink chard seeds, a row of lettuce seeds, a row of spinach seed and a row of spinach beet (perpetual spinach) seeds. We also did a row of spring onions, and sowed two different types of beetroot into tubes, and four more pots of leek seeds.

I need more growing space!

[shiftin_gear98]

Looking good Gary.

[garynortheast]

Thanks Martin, I’m quite pleased with the way it’s heading. I would probably not have got this far were it not for the lockdown, and now having done all this work, I don’t think I want to go back to what I was doing before. The garden and growing food seems like a far more valuable and worthwhile thing to be doing than all the endless tail chasing, trying to earn money, most of which was being spent on keeping systems in place that paid for me to go to work to earn money.......and on and on ad infinitum.

There is a lot more to do yet. The lack of proper edges and paths around this steep hillside garden is driving me nuts, so that will be one of the things to be dealt with before the summer is up. I don’t want to be skating around on slippery, muddy tracks in the winter. Hopefully a polytunnel will also go up this summer. Hoping to get a power supply up to it as well so that I can run heated propagators in there to get stuff going much earlier in the year. And a kettle so I can make cups of tea while I spend time er... working in there! :-D

[Sir Trev]

You sound addicted Gary, in a good way of course.

[garynortheast]

I think I understand now why Voltaire retreated to his garden in the end Trev.

[Seeker]

Help, I'm a hopeless gardener. I planted some foxglove two years ago and they flowered the first year and disappeared the second year but have reappeared this year in a different place. Where the foxglove used to be this plant, which I'm guessing is a weed, seems to be flourishing. Does anyone know what it is?


https://i.ibb.co/1QB30dm/DSCN0257.jpg


Last year one similar plant grew in this spot - very tall (5 feet) and produced a tiny flower at the top, this year, assuming it is the same plant it's prolific.

[garynortheast]

That looks like willowherb Seeker. It’s what most people would regard as a weed, although a weed is only a wildflower in the “wrong” place.

Foxgloves will seed them selves happily all over the place, but you can help by collecting the seed and scattering it where you want them to grow. Don’t forget that they are bi-annual though. Leaves in the first year, flowers in the second.

Other plants which will happily seed themselves about the place, and look great doing so, are Aquilegia (grannies bonnets), evening primrose, and sweet rocket (which also has a great scent especially in the evening).

[Seeker]

That looks like willowherb Seeker. It’s what most people would regard as a weed, although a weed is only a wildflower in the “wrong” place.

Thanks, I looked it up and I'll leave it in for now. I'd put the foxglove in to attract pollinators and the willowherb sounds good for that, too.

Don’t forget that they (foxglove) are bi-annual though. Leaves in the first year, flowers in the second.

I didn't know that - but mine did the opposite by flowering the first year and then disappearing the second and have now reappeared in a different place.

I'd sowed some wildflower seeds around the back and only got poppies the first year which the bees liked. The next year I didn't get any poppies at the back but did at the front, so I collected the poppy seeds and sprinkled them over the back; nothing. Repeated the next year; nothing. This year I have poppies everywhere.

[Sir Trev]

It can depend a lot on the weather too Seeker so keep it up and you'll get some nice but varying results each year.

I have the opposite problem as I am getting an increasingly bad infestation of ground elder. Nasty stuff you can only get rid of by applying heavy duty herbicide when the plant is young. I've taken to painting on stump and brushwood killer with a small brush, but you have to do it in the evening when it's cooler so it does not all just evaporate. It's wrecking my back in the process but I'm slowly working my way around the estate and the first area I did is now a sea of dying leaves. Sounds harsh but this stuff clumps around the roots of plants you want to keep and starves them of water so they start to die.

On a happier note we're eating the first of my home grown lettuce of the year tonight. Hoorah!

[Sir Trev]

Hopefully this works... The veg plot at Trev Towers is now all planted up.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49992739762_4534c75f9c_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jaFRP1)20200530_164750 (https://flic.kr/p/2jaFRP1) by Trevor Laight (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116210840@N03/), on Flickr

[garynortheast]

Not working Trev.

[Sir Trev]

Not working Trev.

Now I know I cannot host pics on Google Pics then. Ah well, back to Flikr then.

Post above refreshed.

.

[garynortheast]

That’s looking very good Trev, it’s certainly a lot tidier than my plot!

I need to get out and take some pictures for an update. Plot is pretty much fully planted now although I have to find some room to plant out my leeks and some Bright Lights Swiss Chard grown from 9 year old seeds! Just been given some sprout plants too so I’ll need to make some space for them in the brassicas bed.

[Bibio]

Now I know I cannot host pics on Google Pics then.

Post above refreshed.

.
use google drive and you have to make each pic public.

[Sir Trev]

use google drive and you have to make each pic public.

Ah right, cheers Bibs. Don't really want to do that!

[garynortheast]

Update time.

It's been a mixed bag really. Carrots, parsnips, and onions just have not done it. I've sown three lots of parsnips and not one has germinated. I managed to germinate a row of carrots by sowing them in a length of guttering. They're now transferred to the roots bed. Onions from seed were equally poor. Three rows sown and two seeds germinated. I've now transplanted leeks into the rows where the onions should have been.

The rest of the plot has done much better, and with the mix of rain and warm sun is really starting to get going now.

Courgettes and cucumbers got off to a slow start when I first planted them out, and a couple were being chomped by slugs. I've put some of the sheeps wool slug pellets down around them which seems to be doing the trick. Cucumbers are right at the back of the picture and are still pretty small but have just started to put on growth.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50002841736_7f9b10f994_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbzCLY)
Corgettes, cucumbers (https://flic.kr/p/2jbzCLY) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

I've been making butterfly mesh cloches for the brassica as there have been a couple of large cabbage whites flying around the garden. The first two are done and in place, got two more to make. The plants in the nearest cloche are Russian Red kale which seeds itelf all round the garden each year.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50002841916_7888d5fa7f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbzCQ5)
Cloches (https://flic.kr/p/2jbzCQ5) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

I was given some purple sprouting broccoli plants to replace the ones that failed so they've just been planted out, and the green sprouting has been thinned out and moved about so I have properly spaced rows. I have several rows of cabbages and lots of Romanesco cauliflowers in too. The broccoli is only just starting to get going properly now.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50002842286_81d16900bb_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbzCWs)
Brassicas (https://flic.kr/p/2jbzCWs) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The broad beans have been the real success story so far. Heavy crop of really tasty beans. I started by steaming the really small ones in their pods but lots of them are big enough to shell and eat now.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50003099387_9208a319a4_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbAXne)
Broad beans (https://flic.kr/p/2jbAXne) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The peas are going well too. I made two sowings of them. You can just see the later sowing through the sticks to the left of the first lot. I noticed this evening that a few flowers are developing now.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50002321698_9983c96b79_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbwYbN)
Peas (https://flic.kr/p/2jbwYbN) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Salad Bowl lettuce and sweetcorn. I have a climbing french bean spare which I am going to set to scramble up the sweetcorn later.
I also have spinach and chard in this top bed. The chard has been patchy but I have some Bright Lights chard in a tray which has germinated from 9 year old seeds! That will be going in to replace the failed chard on this top bed. Spinach has been patchy too. The annual spinach has done very poorly but the perpetual spinach has germinated very well.
You can see one of my wooden plant labels lying on the bed amongst the sweetcorn. The birds keep pulling them out, the little gits.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50003097642_d72265b387_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbAWR9)
Sweetcorn, lettuce (https://flic.kr/p/2jbAWR9) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

The potato towers are generally doing ok although the Charlottes have been poor. One tower of them has failed completely and the other is growing but not as well as I'd hoped. I need to get the next tyres on some of these towers now.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50002840756_bc362e6355_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbzCu5)
Spuds (https://flic.kr/p/2jbzCu5) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Three ridges of runners, and two of climbing French beans, all going well now. it was a bit of a battle to stop the sparrows from hoiking the beans out of the ground initially, but the CD bird scarers have done the job!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50002321503_9c8945bfa9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbwY8r)
Runners, French beans (https://flic.kr/p/2jbwY8r) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

I've managed to get a couple of globe artichokes on the go. That piece of bracken will be coming out tomorrow though!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50003098542_414c94a235_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbAX7E)
Globe artichoke (https://flic.kr/p/2jbAX7E) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

An assortment of stuff on the drive. Some will be staying there like the tomatoes, and the caulis in the crate, some, like the gooseberry cuttings, and the blackcurrant are waiting to be potted on or moved to a final position and some are dead pots for composting. There are a few germinating acorns as well which will go to my friends up the lane for their tree field.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50002322143_ec125cd49d_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbwYjt)
Driveway assortment (https://flic.kr/p/2jbwYjt) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

This was a water butt stand. The water butt split and is waiting to go to the recycling centre so I turned the stand over, drilled a few drainage holes in the bottom and planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and a sunflower in it.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50003097462_5fb7712eb9_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jbAWN3)
Toms, Cucumbers, Sunflower (https://flic.kr/p/2jbAWN3) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Jobs for tomorrow include fetching more compost, planting out some of the Swiss chard, and finding space for four or five sprout plants.

[Adam Ef]

We're similar. Lots of stuff failed and a few things doing well, eventually. We now only have two courgette plants left out of the 8 but they are growing courgettes, one better than the other. Peas are doing really well. Runner beans are climbing but very slow. We have a surprise tomato that has seeded itself and is doing really well. Chives are also going crazy. Spinach is bolting very quickly in the heat.

[garynortheast]

Spinach often does better in partial shade Adam. It helps to stop it bolting.

[Sir Trev]

My lettuce is bolting very quickly now too. Was a bit grumpy this morning whilst weeding the beds when I realised the mud all over the last of the current lettuce batch was not actually mud. A wretched cat must have literally squatted on top of the plant and let loose. Now in the compost bin - the lettuce, not the cat... The next batch is a good week away from being ready and two of those have been dug up, presumably by cats as well. Grumble grumble.

[garynortheast]

I've not had a problem with cats but I have had to push twigs into the beds around the smaller stuff to stop Mabel from running across the planted areas! The Geoff Hamilton cloches are great at keeping animals off too.
I've just transplanted a load of beetroot to the beds and used another of his inventions to keep the birds and lurcher off. These are curved lengths of thick straining wire pushed into the ground with a sheet of clear heavy duty plastic secured over the tops like a mini polytunnel. I made the setup around twenty years ago after watching GH make them on Gardeners World. They've been sat in the shed for at least 12 years so it was nice to bring them back into use.

Planted out some of the Bright Lights chard on the top bed today, and a couple more of them in the front flower bed as they are so ornamental as well as good to eat. Also spaced out the few successfully germinated Flamingo Pink chard plants.

I need to thin out the spinach beet tomorrow.

[garynortheast]

First small picking of broad beans today. Had them with dinner. Yum!

[garynortheast]

We've had steady rain now since around the early hours of the morning and I've been listening to the very pleasing sound of my water butts filling up. They're now both ¾ full.

[garynortheast]

Well the veg plot has exploded with growth. Broad beans have been eaten and I’ve cut the plants down but left them in the ground as they help to fix nitrogen in the soil. Several of them are sprouting from the base again so we may just get a second small crop of beans.

French and runner beans are sprinting up the poles. Quite a few of them are flowering and I noticed a couple of tiny beans on the runners yesterday. I’ve had to tie them all in well as it’s been really windy here, and they are being blown off the poles.

Our sugar snaps are absolutely covered in loads of mangetout sized peas. I’ve had one picking of them for a stir fry. I’d like to leave them to fatten up a bit before picking any more but I may not be able to resist. The main crop peas are also doing really well, the plants are also covered in pods, and the second sowings of both types are growing away strongly with flowers already coming on them.

I’ve been eating great big handfuls of cut and come again Salad Bowl lettuce, rocket, sorrel, and chives for a couple of weeks now. Tomato plants are looking good, both the ones in the veg beds and the ones in containers. I recently rooted a load of the side shoots that I’ve been removing from the plants. They were potted on the other day so I now have about twenty tomato plants in all! I may have to put a few up for adoption.....

I’ll get out for a picture update this week.

[garynortheast]

Another picking of the sugar snaps, which went into a pasta sauce this evening, as did the first two courgettes. Yum!

[Sir Trev]

Nice. Have been eating a lot of lettuce before it all bolts in the warm weater but the early spuds were very poor due to the dry spring. First lot of beetroot are ready though which will be nice. The pumpkins are going mad with the damp/warmish weather of the last couple of weeks but my runners are being attacked by blackfly so I had to spray them, which I don't like doing...

[garynortheast]

The spuds in one of my towers are flowering now so I shall probably harvest them next week sometime.

Turned the compost in bays 1 and 2 into bays 2 and3, and took the opportunity to chop up into smaller pieces all the woody stems and prunings I’d thrown in without reducing them in size. Had to relocate about a dozen slow worms from bay 1 into bay 3. Very satisfying job and one I’ve been trying to get done for the last week.

[Sir Trev]

Dug up the last of my early spuds this afternoon - having some for dinner tonight. Yum. Hope yours come out well Gary.

Turning the heaps is a job I need to do as well. Bay 1 is pretty full and bay five is empty so I will have a go at it in stages over this week after work each day.

[Sir Trev]

Lifted my onions today and laid them out on the bench in the shed to dry. Only lost a few to bolting so a nice haul this year. Stinks in the shed now of course...

[garynortheast]

My onions were a total failure this year. :-( Rest of the garden is going mad though. Brassica bed has been fab, we're drowning in cucumbers and courgettes, French and runner beans are covered in flowers and little pods now the sparrows have buggered off. Still picking a few peas and broad beans too.

[Sean_Morgan]

Not exactly veggie plot but, the new hen coop and run is up in their temporary home, in the orchard and the chicken run has been cleared and turfed.
They don't spend very much time in the run so the new grass, once it has settled in a few weeks, will survive, they spend most of their day loose in the garden https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200830/a1ba49f5af69b67739095987b48f6de3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200830/c8c365e006218bba10da7001732d0233.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200830/4fd7d43649da19ed9d030620c1f0df49.jpg

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Adam Ef]

Not had the most successful crops of anything this year.


The one thing that seems to have done ok though is our pumpkins. We have a competition on in our family and with my brother in laws family. Everyone had one seed. Including our dog, who is currently winning!


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50298763881_ef9ca75e86_c.jpg


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50298916767_eb3c9289c9_c.jpg

[garynortheast]

That’s a useful looking chicken coop there Sean and nice looking pumpkins Adam!

Had a fair bit of work on over the last week or two and consequently not been on the vegplot as often as I need. I need to get up there with the strimmer as the grass and weeds are growing a bit too big for my liking.

So far I’ve harvested the spuds from six of my towers with the results being from ok to good. I’ve cut the foliage off the last two towers and I’ll harvest them this week. Very tasty spuds though.

Runner beans are covered in flowers but still very few beans. The purple podded French beans are cropping quite heavily though with most of them going in the freezer for later in the year. Courgettes are doing - well, what courgettes do, and producing like there’s no tomorrow. Had some broccoli and cabbage this evening too and the kale needs picking again.

So strimming and weeding is on the agenda for this week.

[Sean_Morgan]

Been to pick up a couple of new hens. We should get green and blue eggs apparently
They'll be allowed to wander in the orchard with the 3 we've already got once they have had time to settle inhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200906/1d91e7745855f5b875e9a48d81a701ba.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200906/c58858df54bbc87b7869852cf6fb6d7b.jpg

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Bibio]

as someone who ties fishing flies i would call the cream coloured one a Honey Dun and the other a Furnace due to the colour of the neck hackles.

[garynortheast]

Funny old business, veg growing. I look at my veg plot and what I see is the stuff that hasn’t done so well, mostly brassicas under slug and caterpillar attack. But then when I think a bit further I remember that I’m not only eating stuff off the veg garden every day, I’m also picking enough to put in the freezer.
So this evening for example, I put around 7lbs of French beans and about 3 or 4lbs of runner beans away for the winter months, and also picked tomatoes, courgettes, Swiss Chard, Russian Red Kale, and a globe artichoke. I have homegrown spuds on the go for dinner, along with chard, and courgettes roasting in the oven. The only part of dinner not from the garden are the vegan sausages, and the onions (mine were a failure).

Even the brassicas will largely recover in a couple of weeks now that the cabbage whites have almost stopped laying eggs on them.

[Sir Trev]

Adam showed us his pumpkins the other day so I thought I'd share a pic of mine. I harvested these yesterday and although I only got one fruit per plant it was what I expected based on growing similar varieties before.

Lady Poppy and the Monkey thought it was very Halloween-ey (for some reason) so Batty Bat, which Lady Poppy made, was duly fetched to be part of the picture.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50341855218_d676d1b6d8_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jGxaF1)Pumpkin Heads (https://flic.kr/p/2jGxaF1) by Trevor Laight (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116210840@N03/), on Flickr

So you get a better idea of the size of these things Monkey offered to put one on her head. And of course the bat came into this one too... They're mad, the pair of them!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50342694792_f96f0e08df_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2jGBtfq)Monkey and Batty (https://flic.kr/p/2jGBtfq) by Trevor Laight (https://www.flickr.com/photos/116210840@N03/), on Flickr

Should keep us in soup and stews for ages!!!

.

[garynortheast]

Impressive crop there Trev. I must have a go at growing pumpkins next year.

[garynortheast]

Well the veg plot really is at it’s peak now. My freezer is full to the brim with purple podded French, and runner beans, bottom drawers in the fridge are full of cucumbers and courgettes, I have a bowl of tomatoes constantly on the go. All my veg is now coming from the garden.

I’m shortly going to cut down the pea plants as soon as the final pods have swollen and ripened for next year’s seeds, and then I’ll have a look at what I can put in as an overwintering veg.

The Swiss Chard is particularly spectacular. The colours are astounding and really glow when the light is on them. I’ll get some pictures tomorrow.

[Sir Trev]

Nice one Gary. I have a few runners left before they're all done, leaving just the parsnips. Once we get a frost on them (I'm in NO hurry!!) I'll start lifting them. Roast fresh parsnips are fab! Still got a fair few toms to ripen up from the greenhouse and that will be it for another year.

I have too may hedges close by which means a lot of insects, so brassicas are a no-go for me unfortunately as they get chomped to the ground no matter what I try to stop them. What the insects don't get the wood pigeons and/or foxes and badger gets in the colder months so not much point I've found.

[garynortheast]

Just been out and picked several more pounds of French and runner beans. I'm really hoping we don't get a frost yet as the plants are still flowering and also have loads of small pods on them. Another week of grace would be good.

A lot of my brassicas have been pretty well chomped by cabbage white caterpillars to Trev, but I'm not too bothered as most of them are things that will grow on over the winter, and the first proper cold snap will see an end of the caterpillars.

[garynortheast]

Well, we had a bit of a frost last night but it never touched the veg plot so my beans have survived. It’s very clear again tonight though and I’m hoping we don’t get anything too hard overnight.

[garynortheast]

Back up on the veg plot for a while this afternoon. We had a frost last night so it’s seen off the last of the tomato and courgette plants. Daughter Sioned and I pulled them all out and chucked them in the compost bin, did the same with the long dead pea plants, which I’d left in to help fix nitrogen in the soil, and hoiked out the sweetcorn plants.

Harvested a good sized bunch of carrots, a bunch of Russian Red Kale, and a swede, all for dinner this evening. Started tidying up the dead and yellow leaves off all the various brassica plants, and then started staking them as they are all quite tall. Got about half of them staked, I’ll go up there tomorrow and finish staking the brussel sprouts, green and purple broccoli.

If we get a couple of dry days I’ll hoe the weeds off the beds ready to mulch them all, and then think about what quick winter crops I might get in.

All of this of course pre-supposes that I will:
a). Get the tenancy back when the work is done on the house, and,
b). Be able to have access to the veg plot to maintain it while the work on the house is being carried out.

Worrying and uncertain times.

Still, there’s another thread for that somewhere.....

[garynortheast]

Back on the veg plot this morning and managed to get quite a bit more done. Finished staking all the brassicas and tidied up the last of the yellow and dead leaves under them. Earthed up my leeks and cleared all the dead leaves from the cooking apple tree that had fallen on them. Then cleared away the frosted and crispy climbing French bean plants.
Just stopped for some lunch and then it's back out to tackle some thick weed growth before I can mulch the beds.

[garynortheast]

Well then, new veg plot and a greenhouse. Only temporary although I don't know how temporary, so no serious long term crops going in.
Made a start this afternoon when Sioned and I went and cleared the greenhouse of old pots and debris and then weeded it. Tomorrow I'll get some of the well rotted horse muck we have here on the bed in the greenhouse, and also wash all the glass down.

This evening I will look through my seeds from last year and see what is still viable.

[redtrummy]

Gary - have you looked at 'no dig' gardening? I have this year made a bed straight on part of my lawn (or should I say moss bed)? Y tube and Charles Dowering is the site.

[garynortheast]

Gary - have you looked at 'no dig' gardening? I have this year made a bed straight on part of my lawn (or should I say moss bed)? Y tube and Charles Dowering is the site.
I have and it's the aim here asap. My previous garden was at that stage where I had enough homemade compost to operate no-dig, and the beds were deep enough in good soil. Broke my heart to have to leave it just at that point.

I've been aware of Charles Dowding's work for quite a while now and he really is the inspiration behind my desire to have a no-dig veg plot.

The new beds here have too many deep rooted perennials in them for no dig this year but hopefully from next year if I am still here, that's what we'll be doing. We also don't have enough compost ready here this year, but we are planning on building a lot more compost bins and getting them filled. As long as I keep turning the contents on a regular basis, and keep the temperature up in the bins, we should have a decent quantity of good compost by next winter.

Did you put cardboard down first on the area you are cultivating?

[redtrummy]

Yep but I scrimped a little just one layer, two would have been better. I could have done with a deeper layer of compost as well. The compost was very fibrous and settled down to a 2 -3 inch thin layer. I planted some garlic in it late winter and it shot up like mad catching up with some I had set conventionally back in late autumn. Then it just stopped growing. On investigation the roots had gone through the card layer (which had pretty well decomposed) and into the grass thatch. That is were I think the problem lies - the lawn has not been looked after as it was looked after using a low maintenance policy, I don't use lawn feeds e.t.c. so was not fertile soil. So I have now transferred the garlic to my garden plot and this year will just use the new bed for shallow routed salad crops.
I have had great success using no dig were a compost heap has been - just left a thin layer of compost on it and then set veg straight in the ground, also I have used cardboard on bare cultivated soil after crops have been gathered to suppress the weeds - not pretty but it does work.

[Sir Trev]

It seems so cold this year compared to this time last year but I may just plant my onion sets this weekend. Seedlings of lettuce, beetroot, tomatoes, carrots and parsnips currently in the greenhouse and I'll plant the main crop spuds in another couple of weeks.

I do love this time of year in the veg garden.

[redtrummy]

Yes the cold is a problem - I have cucumbers, toms and chilli peppers in the utility room, on top of the freezer. All need repotting but I don't have the storage space and I dare not put them in the greenhouse yet as the nights are too cold. I was just too early. Lettuce under cloches doing well though - I used the old shower cubicle doors that I took out last backend. Concerned about the fruit tree blossom, hope it can survive the frosts. The other concern is the ground is very dry after a very wet winter. Don't think we have had any rain best part of a month

[garynortheast]

Pretty busy on the veg area here lately. It's a huge area and I'm taking charge of most of it for all of us at the property.

Planted the onions today. Grew the sets on initially in modules before planting out, so they all have a good, well developed root system. They're also big enough to deter the birds from yanking them out of the ground.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51175627904_41a44b7a87_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kYdtf9)
Onion bed (https://flic.kr/p/2kYdtf9) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Potted on the gooseberry cuttings.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51175627784_dfea7ee1cd_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kYdtd5)
Gooseberry cuttings (https://flic.kr/p/2kYdtd5) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Lots more stuff to be planted out once I'm certain that we won't get any more frosts.

Runner beans, celery, French beans.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51174840166_bb71b26ab0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kY9r5s)
Stuff for planting (https://flic.kr/p/2kY9r5s) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Borlotti beans, courgettes, and cucumbers.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51174164377_49c563fb03_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kY5YbV)
More stuff for planting (https://flic.kr/p/2kY5YbV) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Lettuce in the greenhouse

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51175932260_f7445aaee4_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kYf2HE)
Lettuce (https://flic.kr/p/2kYf2HE) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Chilli plants

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51175065178_43381d14c1_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kYazXY)
Chilli plants (https://flic.kr/p/2kYazXY) by garynortheast (https://www.flickr.com/photos/67411872@N03/)

Loads more to do yet with several more beds to be prepared.

[redtrummy]

Had to scale back the new no dig bed. The compost I used is very fibrous, the birds love it for a dust baths, also it had settled so there was only a couple of inches of compost left. Plant roots had penetrated into the ground below but that was old lawn that had mowing taken off and nothing put back, so the soil is impoverished.
Therefore I have halved the bed size and doubled the compost on the remaining piece , then covered that with netting. Lessons learned

[Sir Trev]

Try and keep the bed damp RT - it will stop the sparrows dust-bathing and help it settle. Plus it will discourage cats from using it as a giant litter tray (like next door's two new cats do to my beds. Grrrrr...).