Water butt #1 doing well

Showing Em what I'd been up to while she's been away and she suggested checking how the first water butt was doing. Very surprised to find it's almost full already! Haven't had loads of rain so I presume that corner of the house gets a lot of the run off from the roof. Now need to think about an overflow.

I'm thinking of maybe putting another water butt above it by building a frame or something. The advantage of that would be that the water from a higher one could be transported straight to the beds. For now with the lower one I'll have to carry it up in buckets, or pump it up. Em suggested looking into solar pumps.

Either way we're due for heavy rain at the end of the coming week, so I may try and get something in place by then - most likely an overflow for now if I'm going to go down the pump route anyway.

Water Butt #2

A few days ago I bought the second waterbutt to go next to the shed. I still need to put guttering on the shed to actually collect the water, but the main task was clearing out the ground at the end of the shed.

There was a lot of mess that had been left by the previous occupants. I moved some large pieces of wood from behind the shed, and some bags of 'stuff'.


There was also a mound of 'maybe soil' at the end of the path along side the shed. This is ultimately where I wanted to put the water butt.


The stuff in the bags turned out to be more slate chippings, some very muddy soil with a brick in the middle, and general yuckyness. The pile at the end that I hoped would be soil with some chippings in it, turned out to be a large pile of chippings with some soil in it.


I started by clearing all the things from the bags away and cleared much of the pile of chippings back. As I was clearing this I came across many worms which I carefully moved into my veg beds to help with the working in of the manure. I then put a board across where I wanted the edge to be and filled it with chippings.


This extended round behind the shed for another couple of feet and managed to use up all but a couple of buckets of the chippings. I then covered it with some of the blue bags of soil left over from the sifting of the veg beds. And then started to build up the front of the board with some of the large stones that I'd taken out of the veg beds originally (and which had been having a temporary home under the arbour).


Next I built the stones up some more and put the remaining wooden posts across. They didn't quite reach all of the way, so I made the left end up with some more stones. I then filled this area with more soil and built a small raised area of soil on the right side so it was roughly level with the railway sleeper.


I then put in the water butt and its overflow. I'm not expecting to get much from the shed roof - only half is even in the open as the rest is covered by trees, but its the principle of it.


I still need to level them up at some point - probably just before putting the guttering on the shed - but that'll do for now as it means I've tidies the areas behind and next to the shed. I've also managed to use up a lot of my leftover soil, chippings, posts and large rocks, which is great.


Finally I put a load of soil in amongst the rocks to try and bed them in a bit, but made sure that the rock imediately below the water butt's tap was removable so that I can create a space for a watering can when I need it :)

A lot more effort then the photos may make it look - but as well as getting the water butts in place, it's just so much tidier now and there aren't any dumping grounds still left, which feels great.

3rd Bed Finished

This was a few days ago now, but I've finished the 3rd bed, and have now covered it as well.


I'll give it a week to let the manure work in and then I can start planting!

Separating beds and more preparing

Bit of a photoblog for me this one. A picture's worth a 1000 words and all that.

In my head this was done over a few days, but it all seems to have been on 30th April. We were off out that evening and over the Bank Hol weekend, when rain was forecast, so I was keen to get as much as I could done before then as it would be easier while the soil was dry.

Stage 1 - Dividing



First task was to dig a trech 2 spades deep. I'd got some wood from an old Ikea 'Billy' bookshelf, which was conveniently 1 spade(ish) wide.

I started by trying to join the 2 pieces of wood together so I could slot it in 2 deep, But that proved too difficult to do, and then to handle, so eventually I reverted to just one piece at a time. This may make them slightly misaligned in future, but hopefully not enough that it matters.

With the first piece of wood in I filled the bottom few inches of the trench with many of the stones I'd been removing... good to know they got a use after all.


Neareing the top of the first piece I started using soil so that the stones wouldn't work their way up again too much.


With soil filling to the top of the first piece I balanced the second on top and then filled the sides with soil too.

Having carefully measured to start I found that the deep part of the second trench was smaller as one of the sleepers was inset relative to the others. So a recut later and I found that it still wasn't enough! D'oh. Another recut and it went in fine.


Again infilling with the stones for the first few inches and then soil for the rest.

And ta dah!


Stage 2 - Sifting & Top Manure

Then it was onto each 'plot'. I now have individual plots! I removed the soil to a depth of a few inches and then sifted any big stuff from the surface. I then added another, thin, layer of manure and mixed it in by hand. I then covered the remaining few inches by sifting soil onto it.


It was a bit time consuming, but again I think the results will be worth it. I piled the soil I'd removed from the top of the plot onto the plot next to it, and then sifted from that pile back into the original plot.


A little remedial action was also needed in the corner of the bed. You can't see it from this pic, but there is a gap where the sleepers don't quite meet, so I've filled this with some large stones (removed earlier). Should be fine I think.


The soil amounts worked perfectly in the end. For the third plot I sifted a large pile onto the 2nd plot, so that once I was down to the appropriate depth I could mix in the manure and then just shovel some of the sifted soil back on top.

I was running out of time at the end, so had to leave the thrid plot with a few inches still to go, but with the thin layet of manure in - it's this that needs to settle for a week before sowing, so that was the priority.


Finally for the day I put the sheeting back over the first couple of beds. I couldn't find what I'd done with the sheeting I used before or I'd have covered the last bed too.

It's still to be finished with a top bit of manure and soil, but at least the main part of manure can be working it's way in for now.

And I've still got the entire lower bed to do - but as that's just one spade's depth I'm confident I can knock that off at some point.


The filled buckets tell their own story. All full of the sifted material - many stones, but also many small clumps of the clay soil. I'll use these either in my planters for potatoes/strawberries/herbs etc mixed with other stuff, or for building the section at the back of the shed where the other water butt is going to go. We'll see.


For the final inches of the third plot I'll start to use some of the semi-sifted soil from the blue bags, which'll free them up a bit.

For now, job's a goodun :)

My Butt Works!

We've finally had some proper rain and I went out and took this...



Success :) In about a week's time, once the patch is sorted, I'll try and put some drainage on the shed and get the second water butt up and running, running... geddit? :)

Plan for the Patch & update

Well, here's my plan for the patch. The green L shape is the higher area (2 spade depths) and the blue area the lower patch (1 spade depth). It's my aim to do the 3 plot rotation in the upper 3 parts, and leave the lower for the annual leafy stuff.


I also remembered this afternoon that I intend to put boards in to separate the upper beds to prevent diseases spreading while using the rotation system - which is a key part of using the rotation system in the first place.

I did manage to get most of the log roll in place this evening. I had 2 log rolls, which I had to trim and join in the middle.


But it already looks good and still leaves space for kneeling down to sow, weed, and prune, etc.


There wasn't any easy way of attaching it, so for now I've settled for putting a few screws into the sleeper to prevent it moving backward. These are onlt stopping the bottom couple of cm, so it may well lean over at the top once the soil's in. But we'll see.


The soil is going to stop the logs falling forward, so that part should be fine. I've managed to affix it at one end to the sleeper, but not at the other, where I'm just relying on a couple of screws. So I'll have to see how that works too.

So next it's remembering to put the wood in to divide it up. Then back to the plan.

First spade depth done - extra plans

Well it was this morning that I finished having turned in the manure to a depth of 1 spade (from the bottom). What with the aerating of the soil it's more like 1 1/2 spade depths, but that's fine. I'm still going to fill the soil to the top and then work in the next lot of chicken and farmyard manure.


One thing I have decided is that I am going to raise the level at the back to the same height as the rest of the bed (orange lines below).


After looking around I'm going to use the grass edging that looks like lots of little half posts. They do them in a rool-out line from the garden centre.


So that's next on the agenda so that I can level the soil across the patch before doing the final manure bit.

The other thing that I needed to work out was what to do with all of the soil until I need it for other things.


My plan is to move my mulch sacks to the patio, and put the bag of soil next to the shed as a temporary measure. I've learned my lesson from before about not putting it on the grass, which is why the blue soil containers are currently all balanced on the railway sleepers. My next task was to find a suitable bag.


Fortunately there's a bag that they do at Homebase called a HippoBag. The idea is that you use it like a skip - you buy the bag, fill it, and then call HippoBag to come and take it away. The taking away costs more, but I, like many others, just bought the bag to use as a bag without needing to use the skip part :)

I'm hoping it'll fit nicely in the space - which I intend to clear of debris before using. So next up is using the wonderful bit of man's gardening kit I bought a while back... The GardenVac 2700W Turbo!


One of the problems with the garden is that a lot of edging has been filled with slate chips. As you can see from the patio it's really easy for leaves and other organic matter to collect in these areas - its the same for the side of the shed, but more so. They don't sweep out as you move the slates, so we're hoping the uber-leafblower should do the job.

So, my to do list is now...

• Attach log roll
• Fill soil to new level
• Turn in manure(s) & cover with sheet
• Move mulch bags out
• De-leaf next to shed
• Put down soil bag and fill with all extra soil

But all going well so far.

New Addition

While at the garden centre the other day I picked up this new addition to our garden. Nothing really to do with the veg patch, but cute none the less :)

Adding Manure to the Patch

The last week, after having finally dug the patch, I've been going back over it adding manure. I have 'poultry manure' in the form of pellets, and bags of 'farmyard manure', which is more what I was expecting.



Both only really talk about adding it on top of the soil and then raking it in. My plan has been to first add it to a depth of one-spade at the bottom of the patch, and fork it in. I start by pulling in a spade'd depth of earth and then first sprinkling the chicken pellets onto it. I fork them in, and then add a layer of manure to cover the area. It breaks up quite nicely as you take handfuls (with gloves on!) and then sprinkles nicely over the area. I then fork that in, and then pile it up to one side to create a space to pull the next bit of soil into, and so on.


I'm already down the last stretch, and should get this layer finished by this afternoon / evening.

I've also made a decision on the L-shape. One part of it is lower than the rest at the edge as it's missing a railway sleeper. In some ways that's handy as it's easier to access the patch, but it limits the amount of soil, and causes a slope. So I've decided to build it up again, but using some of the edging logs you can get. Which should hold the soil back to the same height, but still leave a bit of space for kneeling on.

I'm also going to have a lot of soil left over. The act of digging it has certainly aerated it, but also increased its volume somewhat. However I may need some extra soil for when I put in the second water butt on the end of the shed, but we'll see.

It looks like we may finally get some rain in a couple of days, so I'm going to try and get all the manure dug in by then. I'm expecting digging in the top spade's layer should be easier as there won't be as much bending over, and reaching into the patch. We'll see about that too.

Survival of The Fittest - seedlings get first thinning

I'm already geeling guilty. Partly as I should have thinned the seedlings about a week ago (about 20th April), so as to prevent them competing with each other for light... but mainly as I feel cruel. Having planted and nurtured the seedlings, encouraging them to grow, I'm now thinning the herd.

While speaking wth Phil she says she feels the same. However as it's survival of the fittest it was time for thinning.

A quick update on seedlings' progress...

Planted 12th Apr:

22nd Apr (Day 10). L to R: 1 B.Sprout, 2 x 1 B.Sprout, 2 x 3 Tomato (Mm), 2 x 2 Tomato (GD). Which is a pretty good start. They should all be thinned to 1 per cell.


26th April. All starting to get tall. Chatting with Phil (my veg guru) they may be all getting tall as they are competing with their cell-mates to get the light, so there's a chance they are too tall and thus a bit wussy. Brussel Sprout 1 fell over under his own weight ages ago and I presumed him dead, but he continues to grow and has even got little sprout leaves now! So we'll just keep him going for now.

27th April: The key when doing anything with seedlings you want to keep is to only touch them by their leaves. When you are planning on removing some you can touch them however you like. The spouts were ok, but the others needed to be thinned to 1 per cell. The idea on putting them in reasonably sized cells to start was that I could leave them in longer, but only if it was 1 per cell.


I had to be careful not to disturb the other seedlings as these were now quite well established. I must remember with the herbs to thin them a little quicker.

Before & After for the tomatoes:

For the Sprout it was more about a helping hand, so I stuck in a plastic label to try and rest it against:
It still falls over now and again, but this helps a little. I'd try and tie it, but the stem still seems too fragile. As only one germinated I'll probably try starting another of it shortly. I planned to sow some direct as well anyway, so I'm not too worried.

Update: 2nd May. The seedlings are definitely starting to turn ino small plants now. The tomato plants have little hairs on their stems (just like real tomato plants!) and the sprouts have little leaves like the individual bits of a brussel sprout! Don't know if they've grown too leggy already due to unnecessary competition, of if they'll carry on just fine and bear loads of yummy veg in the months to come. Only time will tell.

Herbs #1

Along with the veg I'm going to try herbs - although these'll go in pots on the patio steps for ease of access from the kitchen. I was sure I'd be able to plant some direct - but needed to see if there were any I needed to start off indoors, which I needed to do sooner rather than later.


Herbs come in two types - Perennials (happy year after year), which tend to like sunny, drier well-drained soil; and Annuals (plant again each year) which like moist rich soil. However, things are never entirely that simple, and some perennials like moist soil, and some annuals like drier soil.

I'm going to do them in pots, with a few in each pot - so I'm going to end up grouping them by what sort of soil and water conditions they prefer.

For now it was simply which one's I'd do, and which of those I needed to start off indoors now.

So my list (with some notes from books) is:
Annuals

• Basil - 'Sweet Genovese' [grow in same pot as Parsley]
  
• Coriander - likes rich soil, water only in drought [like Perennial]
  
• Dill - likes well drained soil [like Perennial]
• Parsley - [grow in same pot as Basil]

Perennials

• Chives - likes rich moist soil [like Annuals]
  
• Mint - highly invasive - grow on own - just one type, or strongest will outmuscle others
  
• Oregano - aka 'Marjoram' - likes sunny, grows vigourously - just buy one plant
  
• Rosemary - expensive so just buy 1-2 plants - tall, so put at back
  
• Sage - don't water or feed, like Rosemary
  
• Thyme - buy 1 plant, and sow seed, don't water when developed
  

I'm also going to a bay tree - but that can wait for now.

The one's I needed to start indoors are Basil, Chives, Coriander & Thyme.

I decided to do 3 cells of each (I bought 2 Corianders).


In the packets:

• Basil ~100 small seeds. 3 per cell - pinch out to 1
• Chives ~ 100 small seeds. 4 per cell - pinch out to 3
• Coriander (organic) ~ 100 med seeds. 4 per cell
• Coriander (sow direct) ~ 100 med seeds. 4 per cell
• Thyme ~ 200 teeny tiny seeds. 5 per cell - pinch out to 1

My thinkings on the pinching outs are because they say to start out broadcast sowing in a tray of their own and then rpot into 9cm-ish pots. I'm hoping to avoid that bit by just doing a few in each cell and then thinning the cell to what it would be for an equivalent pot.

No idea if this'll work, but it seems reasonable to me.

Caution! After my revalation that seed packets come with another seed packet inside, I got caught out again, when I discovered they Coriander (sow direct) doesn't. Now I know that's a possibility I'll check twice in future, and now don't feel so bad about my earlier caution.

Finally potting was a lot quicker this time as I knew what I was going to do.


I'd even bought some of those plastic sticks to label them. Oooooh, I'm a real gardener now I am :)

That was on 22nd April. Today is 26th...


Nothing yet - but I think it was at least a week on the veg before I even saw the first seed leaves appear.

Exhausted! - but the patch is now dug

Got up (eventually) and went and bought the couple more Draper bags, which worked a treat and gave me enough space to make things a little easier.


Some of the day was spent reading on what soil conditions I'd need for my different plots (I'll write that up later), but much was spent digging. The plot saved some of the worst until last. There were many roots still left from the shrubs - often several feet in length(!) - that bound the soil to itself and the webbing on the side of the railway sleepers. There were even one or two final big rocks buried nice and deeply in impede progress.


For much of the final meter the soil was also almost solid in places - I know it's mainly clay at that depth, but I could have been cutting bricks out of it. I'm pleased that I've taken the time now to turn it - and hopefully will never have to do so to that depth again.

The webbing on the side was also very ragged and kept falling in and making life difficult, so I've been pinning it back in places... literally, with the use of drawing pins and a hammer, which I'm hoping will help from getting soil in behind it (which is what had been happening) and preventing it from becoming part of the bed itself.

So, after much digging well past when my body had the energy, and just as the light was fading I finally got the the end!


Next will be turning in the manure(s), but that's for another day.

The digging continues... and the manure arrives

Over the past few days I've been continuing the digging of the patch. There's still lots of roots from the shrubs low down, and the clay is solid near the base, so I'm confident that it is the right decision to dig 2 spades depth at this stage.


As for progress, I'm now finally round the corner and on the home straight. One of the problems I've been having is where to pile up the soil while I dig some more. I've been creating a vertical 'coal face' which I can then take vertical slithers from to the same depth, breaking the compacted clay up in the process. The problem comes with where to clear that to. As you can see, what I create is a slope back to the coal face.


As the left side of the L shape is one railway-sleeper lower, its been creating problems as I dig out more soil than I can put anywhere. Today I came up with using my Draper gardening bag, which has worked perfectly and made things much easier (I wish I'd thought of that a week or two ago, as it would have made working conditions significantly easier and so probably quicker too!).


Tomorrow I'm going to pop out and buy a couple more - they're excellent for this temporary storage, pack flat and have already been useful for other garden tasks as well.

With my soil analysis back, I also went and bought some manure today - both the usual farmyard and poultry varieties. I know I could have probably picked up farmyard manure cheaper - but it's a convenience thing for me at the moment, and with 4-for-3, it really wasn't too expensive :)


My aim now is to get the digging 'hole' to the end of the patch, and then repeat the process backwards, mixing in manure as I go. Now that the clay is broken up I'm hoping it'll be much easier for the second pass. The weather continues to hold (no rain since I fitted the water butt - typical!) but I'm now keen to get it all mixed in before it does rain or the difficulty of the task will increase 10-fold.

So I'd like to get to the end of the first lot of digging by the end of tomorrow and then see how quick the mixing in of manure is - but still a few feet of back-breaking work to go first. Hopefully depositing some more soil in a couple more Draper bags will help.