The Sheet is Down

The rain never came so the soil stayed dry. I don't think it would have made much of a difference, as this morning I cut up and put down my sheeting, which lets moisture and heat in, and keeps sunlight and therefore weeds out. I got a roll of 1.5 m by 8 m, which was ideal as the plots are about 1.1 m sq, so it fitted nicely over the edges where I was able to weight it down with the decorative rocks that I took out in the first place - just as well I kept them :)


The plot is now all nicely undercover for the next couple of weeks. It'll need raking through again, and certainly destoning, but that can wait. I can now officially call phase 1 - clearing the trees, shrubs (what is the difference?), rocks and weeds - complete.

First thing when we're back from hols will be to start on the seedlings, so next it's back to the books.

I've already decided that the things grown in bags/pots that I was going to put on the patio will now be better at the far end of the garden as it gets much more sun (i.e. some). There's a perfect couple of meters between the tree and the shed:


The recent sun has been lovely and makes all of this much easier to do.

Phew! Ahead of Schedule

Saturday - and fearing rain later I tried to get the remaining bed dug over. Not as well done as the first couple, but at least it's all level and the major stones are out.


I also tidied all the dead leaves I've been scraping off and put them in the compost. I think it's the first actual garden material that's gone in there (all kitchen scraps and cardboard to date), as all of the first leaves I bagged up for leaf mulch. Still not entirely sure what my leaf mulch will do, just that it's a good thing and it'll be ready in a year or two.


The final shrub bases are in the car ready for the recycle plant, and I even used the new garden broom to clear the patio of all the dried mud before the rain comes and makes it a lot harder to sweep! More than I was hoping for, and certainly more than I was expecting to achieve this morning.

All I have left before hols is to put the sheeting down - for now it's time to clean up then off to see Huddersfield take on Gillingham.

Job's a Goodun

Finished off the day by pulling the last 3 - which were easier, but not to say easy. I've still got to turn the soil - and rain is due for tomorrow - so perhaps Sunday. I went to the garden centre on the way back from (yet another) run to the tip and bought a sheet of soil covering mesh stuff, that'll keep the soil warm and prevent weeds from growing. I should be able to put that on on Sunday, then it'll all be good for when we're away for the next couple of weeks :)


Exhausted, but good to finish the day at least having removed all the shrubs, and just made it as I lost the light. Good timing.

How Deep is Your Shrub?

The morning started well, with the next shrub. It was hard going with a few breaks, but eventually came out.




Then I started on the biggest. At first I thought it may be a few trees as there were about 4 trunks (trunk seems too much for something about an inch in diameter), but as I dug down they were all part of the same tree.



However this was a much tougher prospect than the last two. I dug to the depth of the fork and still wasn't any nearer to getting it to budge. There were times when I wondered just how deep it did go. My next plan was to dig out the area around it so I some room to work - this was particularly difficult for the area near the fence. I ended up on my hands and knees quite a few times, spooning the earth out with my hands as it was far more efficient than with the fork or spade.


Finally I got enough earth loosened at a deep enough level to start to rock the tree free, like wiggling a not-quite-loose-enough tooth. By reaching under and snapping roots by hand (I'll have to dig around then to pull them free later) I had it coming out all except one last root. I presumed it must be a huge root as the tree just would,'t budge from that direction. After an almighty pull it came free, and I realised that the huge root was actually a cluster of tiny roots, that had been made significantly denser by butting up against the edge. I knew this as half of the earth on that edge came away with it!

Exhausting.


Still have to pull out the roots, and turn the soil; but 3 down, 3 to go. I just hope I'm past the worst.

I'm looking forward to the day when I'm talking about the veg, and what they're sitting in is but a distant memory... "Oh, the plot has always been this way" :)

One down...

As I suspected the patch is currently far from ideal. When it was created the small stones probably looked quite attractive on the surface, but over the years have worked themselves into the soil. Luckily they're hard to spot anyway in amongst the scattering of dead leaves. Also there are other things growing in there... mainly ivy from a nearby plant, but also some holly and bits of other plants I don't recognise... which don't look like weeds, but whaddo I know.


Raking, destoning, digging, root removing and more digging was pretty tiring, and that's just my first bit. And my back aches despite bending the knees. Either I'm going to have no back by the time I get to eat the first veg, or it'll be as strong as iron. Can you get "Gardener's back" like "tennis elbow"?

The first tree eventually came out with a huge root ball. However I was a little worried that the roots left in the patch may continue to suck up water and nutrients that are meant for the veg, so I dug as deep as I could and got as much of each remaining root as I was able. I know I'll not be able to get rid of them completely, but hopefully I've done enough.


I'm going to put some an ant poision down - it's in trap form so that they take it back to their nest - I didn't want to spray powder all over where I'm about to grow veg. And I also got some slug powder, which I'll use now, but which I can continue to use once the veg are planted.

Tiring, but a good start.

My current aim is to get all the bushes out before going on holiday in just over a week, and then covering the ground in black plastic while I'm away to help disuade any plants/weeds still there. I don't know how realistic that'll be, but it's a plan.

Project Veg Patch underway

Well setting up the blog is a start, right? When we moved into our new place just before Christmas, the addition of a garden meant that I could try growing my own veg (and maybe some fruit).

Having read around the subject it seems I'm doing it for all of the usual reasons... food grown yourself and picked fresh from the garden, in season, tastes infinitely better. And being outside and getting in some manual labour should help too.

The purpose of this blog is a way for me to keep track of what I'm doing and when. I'm a complete novice, so this should be interesting.

First things first

I've already bought and read lots of books, and have decided on using raised beds, in part because it'll help with bending over lots, and also you get to control the soil a bit more. As it happens we have some already in the garden, with bushes in them. I'm not looking to be a plants gardener so am happy for these to go. It also means we don't lose any lawn in the endeavour.

The first thing to do is to remove the bushes. I'm not sure what they are, and it seems a shame just to chop them and take them to the tip, but I'm presuming it'd take me ages to find a suitable home for them and I want to get on with the soil.


Part of the problem is that the bushes all have rocks and little pebbles around them for decoration. Taking out the big rocks I found a ton of ants, and a load of slugs. They'll have to go before I plant the veg.


I decided to start by chopping the foliage so that it would make it easier to pull the trees. This worked fine and was a good start. Now I just need a fork to ease the soil to aid in the pulling.

So next stop is local garden centre to buy some tools!