A bit late with a lot of things it would seem! I finally sowed my first seeds this weekend - but not before I FINALLY finished the vegetable beds!
I took delivery of 1000L of gorgeous organic mushroom compost, which arrived in 25 x 40L bags. Due to the narrow lane through our allotment I cannot have Hiab or tipper due to the soft verges and the proximity of neighbouring plots so I had to have it delivered to the gate of my plot. (My manure was delivered by tipper but at a cost to other plotholders....but that's a different story altogether)
Luckily I'm only 30 metres or so from the top gate so I ordered the pallet to be dumped there!
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| 3 journeys with a barrow later....
So I had a look at my beds and considered just spreading this over the manure I spread over the past few weeks. However, I had a niggling feeling that the manure chunks were just too big and you could see the manure capping(it took on a shiny grey/blue surface) from exposure to the wind and sun....not the ideal medium for planting!
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| I just couldn't tip good compost on top of this
So, out came the 5' rake - a bloody good investment for saving your back, and I had to break down this stuff piece by piece, section by section, bed by bed. It took pretty much 2 full days, but once it was done the particle sizes were more golf ball sized and nicely damp...
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| missed the odd bit but on the whole this is a much finer tilth |
Then it was on with the compost...
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| 1000L suddenly doesn't look like much... |
This was my progress by 4pm Friday - I was shattered.....
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| my back was wrecked after this.... |
There was zero chance of me attempting to tackle the 9m beds after that much physical hard work, so I called it a day and went home to a nice bottle of red.
The following morning I was up again at the crack of dawn and hit the plot again, determined to break down the manure on the large beds. However, my forearms were screaming after only a few minutes, so I decided to do it in chunks and get some other bits done on my neighbouring bonsai plot which were less taxing and offered me some respite.
In the end I got there....and I have to say that the 9m bed looked a lot like the beds at Homeacres, so I was very very chuffed indeed. The paths look a complete wreck though, due to the storms. Just don't have enough material to fill them in....
The 9m bed will house my asparagus crowns once I order them...you can see where I've tamped them down hard with my rake head. The general advice is to walk on them, but with such a deep layer of manure it would have sunk so I opted for a firm rake tamping instead.
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| Nice bed, shame about the path..... |
So all in all a great result to see them done. I need to find a mulch for the paths...and I think its going to have to be woodchip as I have nothing else to choose from. Eventually these 2 beds will be come three when I fill the centre with more manure, but for this season at least, there's no way I can face doing that again.
What better way to celebrate than by planting out two shorter beds with 2 varieties of garlic (whose names escape me for now). I know it's late but I just needed to get something down! They went into the nearest two below, approx. 40 in all.
To say I was in high spirits afterwards would be an understatement! The following day I decided to do my first ever sowing and I entered into it with all off the gusto that you would expect from a complete novice.
just ready for a top layer....
Every implement in the kitchen was used, I think!
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| hi tech tools in use! |
The commandeered photo album, thanks Tracy!
A quick reference to the Charles Dowding Veg Diary to make sure I wasn't being premature. I wasn't, with the possible exception of courgettes which I'm going to compare...
Once sowed I created a state of the art watering device to wet them down...
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| premium quality tools always help |
In the end I finally planted;
Dwarf French double marigold
Cherry Tomatoes
Mizuno
Landcress
Rocket
Red and green lettuce(mixed)
Lupins
Courgette
Red Mustard
Tall sweet Pea
Incense sweet pea
*phew* - what a weekend!
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