There was a good turnout this morning down at the garden and nearly all the jobs on the list to do were accomplished which makes for a very satisfying morning.
David built the new frames for the ends of polytunnel minor. Graham and Neil put in the boards for building the front of the raised bed in the polytunnel major. Barbara brought in some hops to put on the raised bed.
Captain Angie got her Team Fruity group off to a good start by pruning and cutting back the fruit bushes which produced some lovely kindling for the fire next time. Quite a lot of weeding was done and the last of the carrots and leeks dug up joined by a few parsnips which were shared out among us to contribute to a nice supper later maybe.
Some of the potatoes to be grown by the Popeye Group have already been put to chit in polytunnel major. Three varieties have been ordered: Charlottes which are a nice waxy potato, good for salads and boiling; a heritage breed called Shetland Black, which are delicious roasted and the knobbly Pink Fir Apple potatoes which have a lovely flavour.
Discussions were had about what needs to be done to prepare the ground ready for the potatoes. Two beds will be devoted to these and one of them will run along from the back-end of the pig pen up to the orchard fence, where the chickens were previously. This means the chicken coop needs to be moved to the end of the polytunnel major, which will be the new home for the next batch of chickens. On this bed the ground here needs to be dug over well . So there are two jobs already for next week. Is this something you could help with? Have you decided which growing group you’d like to be a part of ?
Kate and Lois have gone through all the seed packets and sorted them according to the growing groups, each group has their own labeled container in polytunnel major along with the gardens’ own copy of “River Cottage” Veg book, for handy reference on all things related to growing our veg crops. Please do look there for guidance as to when and how to do things. Kate has also put together a folder to be kept in the polytunnel with some good reference material collated.
Handy Tip: from Kate, when opening seed packets for the first time make sure that, the part of the packet with the date of when to use by, is kept in tact. This is important to refer to later.
Nick, Archie and I have just walked down to the Garden to check on yesterday’s progress – it all looks great. Missed being there too!
Before we get planting, what about combining beds 6,7, 8 and 9 into one, getting rid of the grass paths in between by covering it for 4-5 months, so that we have a greater growing area? We would then have 1m beds and 0.5m paths (soil paths with compost on: we walk on them by plant roots can take the nutrients from the subsoil) in between. That will give us a much greater growing area for crops and flowers. It would mean planting in long rows, i.e against what we have been doing to date. So some crops are already in and we would need to work around them. Overall, less digging, more crops, less mowing.
Why don’t you make this into a post. It will be more visible and you can explain how this will work in more detail?