Plot 3 – Beans & Peas Plot

Sunday I had all the intentions of filling up the 3rd raised bed from sieving the topsoil from our garden beds however it could only happen to me!

On the first barrow full I managed to dig up a red ants nest so they were all running about in the wheel barrow. I had to tip most of the soil back out of the wheel barrow and thats where I got fed up and went down the garden centre for another 3 bags of compost @ £10 to fill the rest of the raised bed up with.

I also bought some canes for the wigwam bean poles to be put up next week.

Plot 3 is now ready to be planted in. Job Done!

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• Plot 3 Beans and Peas Plot

Yipee! Seedlings have appeared on my Plots

Looks like the preparation and my patience has paid off and even though next doors cats have been on my plots (paw prints in the soil), my first seedlings have appeared which were sown only a week ago (10.04.07).

I would imagine the quick germination is down to the warm temperatures and periods of sunshine we have been getting lately. I also watered the lines of seeds every day due to the sun drying out the soil quicker than usual.

The following Seedlings with 1 pair of leaves have popped up:-
Radish,
Lettuce,
Baby Spinach (very small seedlings),
A few cabbages (very small seedlings)
and potato stems have appeared above the soil (which will be covered over/earthed up again).

Pictures to follow soon.

By the way 1st sown tomato seeds sown on 31.03.07 most have germinated in the windowsill propogator which I had to put outside as the windowsill was so hot. They are now forming their 2nd pairs of leaves.

2nd sown Tomato seeds (10.04.07) have yet to appear above the soil and same for baby pepper seeds.

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• Yipee! Seedlings have appeared on my plots

Square Foot Gardening

Well it seems there is an actual documented technique to what I was doing with my 16 cubes/squares on my plots without me even knowing it, its called Square Foot Gardening written by Mel Bartholemew.

I was wondering whether I had spaced my seeds rows too close together as some of the seed packets say 30 inches between rows which is a bit excessive on a rasied bed with not alot of space. Earlier today I was reading a post on the BBC Gardening Forum and the Square Foot Gardening concept was mentioned.

So for example this method suggests that your plot should be divided into 16 squares (or in my case rectangles) and the spacing should be as follows:-
One plant per Square for large plants like Broccoli, cabbage etc,
Four plants per Square for medium plants like lettuce,
Nine plants per square for spinach
Sixteen plants per square for small plants like onions, carrots etc.

Click here for more details.

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Vegetable Plot 1 and 2 are Go!

I have sown the first seeds on my vegetable plot today 10.04.07 it only took approx 1 hour. I divided the 5 foot x 4 foot beds into 16 square plots by using garden canes and drawing in the soil with a cane.

Each of the seeds were sown in drills between 0.5 – 1 inch deep and the potatoes were 4-5 inches deep and in accordance to the instructions on each packet and watered in well.

I will be planting successionally which means I will sow the same crop at 2 weeks intervals so hopefully I will not get a ‘glut’ where certain vegetables will all need to be harvested at the same time.

Here is my revised Planting Location Plan on Pdf document.

Plot 1 Seeds sown:-
Potatoes,
Carrots,
Onions,
Baby Spinach,
Radish,
Lettuce.

Plot 2 Seeds sown:-
Cabbages,
Kale,
Leaf Beat (Perpetual Spinach).

Please check out this link for more details on the varieties I am growing.

After sowing the seeds I covered Plot 1 & 2 with Enviromesh and left the canes in place for now. I put rocks around the edge of the mesh to secure it on the ground. The plants in plot 1 and 2 will not need pollinating by bees so the mesh will stay on the plot until successional sowings or weeding. Watering can be done with the mesh left in place.

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• Vegetable Plot 1 & 2 are Go!

What to Plant and When – April

I have mostly be growing in April so far:

• Potatoes – Desiree and Nicola in pots and on the plot,
• Tomatoes from seed – Tornado F1 Award winning outdoor variety – Sweet Cherry Tomato and Plum Roma VF Italian plum with excellent flavour, one of the best for sauces and Yellow Cherry bell – Unusual Shape and colour but sweet cherry variety.

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• What to Plant and When – April

My Vegy Plot (picture)

This is what all the blood, sweat and soil was all about, my first vegetable plot picture is here!

The boards and stakes were screwed into place and layed on the site. Then the stakes were hammered into place one by one and a spirit level was used to maintain the level.

Each plot was forked over to allow for drainage and any big stones removed.
After reading about the soil mixtures from Dr Hessayon – The Vegetable and Herb Expert the advice was to fill the raised beds with 1 part organic matter with 2 parts topsoil.

The plots are being filled with the following soil mixes:-

• Plot 1 (at bottom of photo) will mostly be growing carrots therefore there will be no manure. Multipurpose compost (2 x 75 litre bags) and Topsoil sieved from the garden, so far 5 barrows of garden top soil sieved by my fair hands, I must be mad! and it still isn’t full.
• Plot 2 (middle) A 50 litre bag of farmyard manure from B&Q and it really pongs in this heat! 2 x 75 Litre bags of multipurpose compost and a hell of a lot more sieved topsoil from garden.
• Plot 3 (top end) Same as middle plot but some compost will be left over for the beans and peas trench when planting the seeds.

The topsoil is soil from our garden. I am quite lucky in that there was a lot of soil dug out of the area where the vegetables plots are now and put in the garden borders. This soil is going back into the plots after being sieved.

Tip! – Topsoil from the garden centre is expensive and if you need it delivered in bulk you will need an area where the crane can drop it into your garden.

Even though it is hard work and very boring sieving the garden soil as it is very stoney, this is a good option to recycle the soil in our garden without buying more in. They do say it is all in the preparation, so the sieving is worth it!

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• My Vegetable Plot Picture