Sunday, October 29, 2006

Back with a vengeance!!!!

Ok, so it's been a little while since I have updated the old blog (5 months, a bit of an understatement), due to work and home commitments, but I am now back in a position to work on the plot again. The plot itself is still a bit of a wilderness, due to said time restrictions, but is slowly starting to take shape. The biggest problem I face on it is the fact that there is broken glass everywhere from where the last occupants decided to destroy everything on the plot. Oh and there is also the bindweed from hell. This stuff is like the bloomin' red weed from War of the Worlds. It's everywhere. But I shall not be defeated. As you can see from the nice pic to the left, the left side of the plot is now nearly fully turned over, with most of the weeds and roots removed. This has now been covered woth weed membrane, and will stay like that until probably January / February time, when it will be marked out into beds, and prepared for planting. Once I get the last two metres or so turned over and covered, the right side of the plot will be tackled. This will be cut down, treated, turned over and then covered in the same way, in preperation for next season. The three beds on the left of the plot have been dug over, and planted. I went shopping at the local garden centre (which just happens to be right next door
to where I work , handy that), to get some produce ready to go into the ground to over winter. I am a big fan of asparagus, but not a great fan of the prices that the supermarkets charge, so this is going to be a kind of experiment. I have bought two packs, green and purple, as I love both of them. Also bought were Senshyu Yellow onion sets, Jamor Shallots, and Garlic. The garlic is going to be another experiment, as I have also bought a couple of bulbs of Tesco's organic garlic of the veg counter, to see if there is any real difference in germination etc. The first planting were the onions. They were planted about a week ago, about ten inches apart, 12 inches between rows and about an inch down. Managed two and a half rows of these, giving fifty onions in total if they all take. The shallots have been placed in another row next to these today, at about the same spacings. Could just see the first of the onions sprouting and pushing through the soil. Also gave this bed a good weeding today. The garlic bed was prepared with a good forking of organic compost, and the two varieties planted in seperate rows last week as well. The garden centre garlic (milan I think) was planted first, followed by the Tesco organic garlic. Usual planting procedure here, splitting the bulbs into cloves, and planting about an inch down. One thing I have made a point of this time around is to actually label my beds up with what I have planted, so I know what is there. Common sense I know, but I didn't do it last time. This bed was also given a good hand weeding today. And finally , the asparagus bed. This was where my early potatoes grew earlier this year, and is currently home to a row of leeks, which will be harvested in the next month or so. This will then become a permanent asparagus bed. Teh ground was prepared by forking in plenty of organic compost, and a trench dug down the centre. This was lined with more compost, and the crowns placed on top. There are six crowns in total, four Connover's Colossal (green) and two Purple Pacific (purple obviously). The trench was then filled in, and each crowns location covered with a mulch of compost. This will allow me to carry on weeding for a few weeks without damaging the crowns. Once the leeks are harvseted next month, I will cover this bed with fleece to protect the crop from frost.
Whilst I was on the plot today, I removed the Gardeners Delight tomato plants from one side of the greenhouse, weeded teh ground and covered it with a weed membrane. I then put the two shelving units in that were kindly donated from work (as is most of the stuff on my plot), ready to start seeds of in the next few weeks. The next sowing should be some All year cauliflowers which I will probably start off next week. All in all, I think I am getting to be in a good position for next year, and am looking forward to the next few months, especially those leeks.
Anyway, that's it for now, hopefully more next week, watch this space. P