It’s been so busy this month I haven’t had time to write my blog!
We have had one Growers’ Market and then, last weekend, the Food and Garden Festival, so I have been flat out, sowing, potting up, potting on etc, not to mention all the other jobs in the garden.
The first photo is of my raised, turf-walled bed in the lawn, which I made two years ago. It was exhausted, so I replenished it with compost, manure and vermiculite, before dividing it into 6 sections as my version of the ‘square foot’ gardening I spoke of at my TTL talk in March. The sections are separated by either stepping stones or a chive hedge (to be).
So far I have planted lettuce, dwarf beans, rocket, onions, pea shoots and chard. I cheated a bit because the onions / leeks / garlic section were already there, scattered about the old bed. and the chard is from last year. I have sown new seed amongst it which the squirrels are digging up as fast as it appears! I’ve had to cover some sections with twigs to try and deter them.
The weather is still not really warm enough to put the tomatoes or cougettes outside but I have planted out beans and peas started off in the greenhouse. They seem to be doing all right so far. The carrots and spring onions I sowed outside are just coming up, along with their accompaniment of weeds! As someone said at the GIY meeting on Sunday, that is why people plant in rows–so we can hoe between to get out the weeds. I agree, when planting enough for a whole row, but it is nice to have a mixture in small quantities in the raised beds and it can be attractive and ornamental too, especially when mixed in with flowers.
The second photo is of my uncut lawn. Not edible I know, although I could make wine from the cowslips I suppose!
If you haven’t planted yet, now is a good time. It’s too late for tomatoes and peppers, but fine for carrots, lettuce, beans, and courgettes.