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.

The Results are In!... it's Sandy Clay Loam

Yesterday was an exciting day as my soil analysis came back from the Royal Horticultural Society.

First I should note why I'm even bothering with all of this soil stuff. One of my favourite books for my veg patch is the River Cottage Handbook No.4 - Veg Patch. It says

"It's not you that grows the plants, it's the soil. Your primary job is to care for the soil and it will (for the most part) look after the plants"

I also think that preparing the patch fully is something that I'm only going to do once - hence the time investment in double-digging and finding out about the soil. So, on with the analysis...

Soil texture - Sandy Clay Loam
Organic Matter - medium
Soil pH - 7.2
Phosphorus - high
Potassium - medium
Magnesium - medium

So in general pretty good.

I knew it was a clay soil before the report came back as after the first 20cm or so it's been thick compacted clay - but that's also the idea about breaking it up.

As far as veg are concerned - while there was a moderate amount of organic matter in the soil, further applications of organic matter are recommended to increase the fertility. After having spoken to Phil, and Donna (while I was away) I was going to mix in some manure and chicken manure at the start anyway. I'm going to do this as "base dressing" - which is incorporating it to root depth (as opposed to "top dressing" which is just applying to the soil surface), which I hope will make the soil organically rich for many years to come.

My pH is 7.2 - very slightly alkaline (0 - extremely acidic, 14 - extremelyalkaline). I think some plants prefer less (about 6.5), but it wasn't high enough to require lime. My phosphorus content is fine, and potassium and magnesium are adequate. I'm planning on using a liquid fertiliser while things grow anyway, but it's good to know that I don't need to do anything specific.

The report finished by recommending Growmore (NPK* 7-7-7) as a fertiliser as it gives a balance, and I don't require any extras specifically. [*Nitrogen, Phosophorus, Potassium]


Back in my River Cottage Handbook it says that clay soils have excellent reserves of nutrients, and that you need to free them up by getting air and fibre into the mix and incorporating organic matter helps. Which is what I'm planning. And it also warns "avoid (at all costs) damaging the soil structure through compaction by walking on it while it's wet". This I've been trying to do while digging - it's back-breaking at times, but good to know that's worth it as well.

So, on with the digging - and time to get some manures... (whoo hoo!)

Planting my first (indoor) seeds

Knowing I was off for a week for Julie's birthday I wanted to get some of my indoor seeds started while I was away. That was a week ago yesterday (Tues 13th).

I'd been to the garden centre in the afternoon and bought a seed tray (which I was surprised to find has holes in the base - so I'm a little concerned about over-watering), a seed tray insert of the biggest size (15 cells to a tray), a clear lid, some potting compost and my first seeds to plant.


I'd chosen my tomatoes, Moneymaker (normal size) and Gardener's Delight (cherry). They both want starting indoors in Apr/May, so that's still fine.

For my brussel sprouts I've gone with Maximus (harvest Oct-Dec) and Petrus (harvest Jan-Mar). I'm impressed that they both sound like Roman Gladiators. I wonder if they'll be as hardy? They are supposed to be started indoors in Feb/Mar, and sown direct outdoors in Mar/Apr. I decided to try some indoors and plant them out at the same time I sow the outdoors ones and see what works.

I've also bought some leeks (they didn't need starting indoors, but I'd researched which I wanted so bought them at the same time). I'm going to try Oarsman (harvest Oct-Jan) and Musselburgh (harvest Nov-Feb). As with all my veg, I'm selecting the most common for beginners - which usually mean they are hardy and give a good crop... experimenting with flavours and the like can come after I've managed some in the first place :)

First thing was to prepare the tray. Popping one inside the other I filled the cells with the compost - which was very light. I'm sure I'd read to compact it a little, so I did that by hand in each cell, and then filling it to the top again. I didn't know how much water to put in - the lady in the garden centre had warned that over-watering is common, and the roots get too soggy and die. So I opted for using my old plant sprayer... which is probably what it's supposed to be used for anyway. Spraying was a bit hit and miss, literally, as you can't spray-down into each cell directly, and for those near the edge to get enough entails soaking outside the tray. Ah well, job done.


Next was opening the packets. Never having done this before I was really cautious in carefully peeling off the base of the first packet so as not to spill any seeds... only to find that they're actually contained in another packet inside the first! Next year I'm sure I'll look back on this and laugh - but if no one's told you it's the sort of thing you wouldn't know :/

The sprouts handily told me that there were 15 seeds in each pack, and I'd already read that they come with all the things they need in a special coating - that is coloured blue so that you know - so that they have a much higher chance of sprouting (so to speak). I was planning on putting one per cell, and 2 cells of each and seeing what developed.

I had no idea how many tomato seeds there were in each - and what the chances of any of them sprouting would be. It turned out to be about 50 of the Gardener's Delight, and about 100 of the Moneymaker. I only want 3 plants - 1 cherry (GD) and 2 normal (Mm) - so I opted for 2 cells of each, with 2 seeds of GD, and 3 of Mm per cell - with the intention of 'picking them out', or whatever the "culling of the least good" phrase is.


I put each on top of the compost and scattered a bit more (maybe just a mm or two) on top, and then watered with the mister again.

I made myself little paper labels. These have already gotten a little soggy since with the condensation - so for the next ones perhaps I'll get some plastic ones, which I seem to remember having seen in other people's greenhouses in the past.

I put the cover on and put the whole lot on the front upstairs windowsill - which is south facing and gets the sun most of the day.

The interesting bit will be the temperature. The tomatoes want 18-20 deg, and the sprouts want 10-15 deg. Fortunately the weather forecast was sunny for the week I was away, but it was going to be 'suck-it-and-see'... which I'm sure will be the first of many times with this veg growing thing :)

Finally it says to keep the seeds dry, and in an airtight container in a cool place. So the last thing I did was to find a handy Lock&Lock container where they are now nicely stored.

So, with all that - the first seeds were under way, with me not having the first clue as to what would happen next!...

Turning (& more destoning)

Yesterday and today were spent starting to turn all of the soil, while destoning and removing roots and weeds in the process. Fortunately there aren't that many weeds at present - the cover probably did its job; however there are lots of roots left over from the shrubs. Some are just bits of root that are free in the soil - but deeper down, and near the edges the original roots are still buried and clinging on. I'm keen to clear as far down as I can get them so that they aren't stealing water or nutrients from my soon to be veggies. So the turning was serving a few purposes.

In part it is an opportunity to break up and dry some of the soil - which also helps to break it up, so that I can end up with a nice "tilth" - basically a fine broken up soil that new seedlings will like.

For the lower bed I used a "single digging method" - aparently the depth of a spade is one depth, so single is to that depth, and "double digging" is to twice that depth. Nothing to do with how many times you do it. The books recommend digging a first trench and putting the soil in a wheelbarrow - which I don't have, so I put in on the other bed. I then dug from the wall of that trench and put it in the trench.


By working my way around I effectively turned the whole bed - and finished up putting the original soil back in. Hard work - lots of sweating - but its now not a thick dense mud, more of a broken up soil.


Today I started on the main bed, by first shovelling (why isn't there a word "spading"?) onto the lower bed, and then to elsewhere on the main bed.


For this I'm going to "double dig" as I will be planting things with long roots in these beds, and it also lets me get further down to dig out the remaining shrub roots.


I finished the day with about a 5th of the main bed done - I'm off to Somerset soon so want to get it all finished by end of tomorrow. We'll see. Yet more destoning along the way today - I'm now up to 4 buckets, and there are still plenty in the soil - but I know I've already got the worst out - and I'm sure some will help with drainage, or something.

This evening I plan on planting my first seeds to start growing in trays indoors. So off to the garden centre...

Destoning and clearing

The afternoon of the morning of putting the water butt in (Thur 8th) I started on the destoning and clearing. I'd pulled out handfuls of stones while originally pulling the shrubs out, but there were still loads in the patch. I'd bought myself some buckets and a garden sieve which was perfect for the job - although it was taking ages.


As the soil is very clay-ey it clumps together, and if any of the soil in the sieve is at all moist, the sieving motion just turns it into tiny pellets, so I have to push my hand around once most is out to mush up what's left. Over the last few days I've been doing more of this, and it's definately been easier now that the soil is a little drier. In future sift for the stones once the soil had dried a little as this makes it a great deal easier.

When removing the cover sheet, the large rocks - which I'd handily used to hold the sheet down - I'd temporarily put on a bit of cardboard on the grass. The good is that I've now moved the rocks to a new (probably temporary) home under the arbour...


The bad is that in the meantime I've managed to leave a lovely patch of bare earth on the lawn.


The lawn needs a good going over at some point anyway, with weed killer and lawn stuff (technical term) so I'm not too worried about it for now... it's only April after all.

So after a good destoning of the quarter where I took the last shrub from I called it a good start.

Next turning (and more destoning)...

Water Butt #1

I intend to put in a couple of water butts - the main being for water from the shed, which will be right next to the beds - but also one to take water from one of the main downpipes from the house. As this would get more water, and the guttering was already in place I decided on this first. There are kits in Hilliers (our local garden centre) and Homebase for taking a feed from your downpipe. Unfortunately these are all for round downpipes, and we have a square downpipe. However some hunting found me one offered by Screfix - in case I'm looking for another Square Line Rainwater Diverter. Even better, there turned out to be a Screwfix depot in Horsham :)

I bought a 200L butt which will tuck nicely away at the side of the house.


The first task is to cut a 26mm hole about 100mm from the top. After several tools the good old Stanley Knife proved best. And after many attempts at making the hole gradually bigger I found a 10p was about 26mm diameter. For the next butt I should get a 10p, draw around it, cut spokes from the centre to the edge and then cut them out. The plug slots in easily with a couple of plastic washes that'll hopefully cover up any areas a little too large.

The real problems started with the downpipe. The instructions say to cut out a 30mm section, with the base level with the base of the hole in the butt - this is so that if the butt overflows it will flow back into the downpipe - clever.

I cut the section using a special blade for my Stanley Knife again - the blade with the really small teeth. It worked a treat but was a little awkward as I had to cut the pipe in situ.


The instructions say to move the top piece of pipe up, and the bottom piece down, slot in the diverter and push the bits of pipe back together. However the top bit would hardly move up (not necessarily a problem), and the bottom piece was fixed at the base so couldn't move down. Hmm. I ended up moving the top piece up as much as it would go, about 1cm, and fixing it with the wall bracket. Then I cut out just enough of the bottom to be able to slide the diverter in, and moving the top back.

It's all worked fine, but it was hard to judge where the level of the pipe is now. Too low and it won't flow (uphill) into the waterbutt, too low and it won't flow back into the pipe if it overflows. I expect it all needs to settle too - so now I just wait for the first rain... perhaps I should keep the bit of drainpipe I cut off - just in case.

Still, water butt #1 is now in place. Which means that we'll now not have any rain for at least a month! :)

Catching Up

I've not posted in a while, and the simple explanation is that I haven't really done much. We came back from holiday 2 weeks ago, and its rained pretty much constantly. And the days when it hasn't I've had other things I had to do.

But there are a few things to write about, including today's fitting of the water butt.

Once back from holiday I hit the books again, and now have a list of what I plan to plant, which I'll write up shortly - along with my plans for the beds. I did go and by my first seeds on the back of this though. I've decided to go for Chantenay Red as my early crop of carrots, and Autumn King as my later crop. And White Lisbon spring onions to accompany them. These seemed to be the best conbination of taste and most-likely-to-grow according to a couple of my books.


Also before Easter I saw an old friend, Rachel, who has been gardening for a few years and threw me a pack of Mengetout, and Pumpkin - both of which were on my list-to-try. So that was good.

First though I wanted to get my soil sample off to the Royal Horticultural Society. Phil recommended this when I went to see her as they give you a breakdown of your soil along with what you have to do to it to plant various types of fruit and veg. Seeing as I have no idea if what soil is in the beds at present, and even if it is indicative of local soil conditions, this seemed like £30 well spent.


First I took the sheets off - however after the best part of 2 weeks solid rain the soil was pretty much mud. The instructions say that you shoud

1. scrape off 1" of top soil
2. dig a hole about 15cm wide and 15 cm deep
3. then take a slice down the side of the hole
4. repeat 10 times across the bed
5. mix all together to get an average
6. take out any stones
   
7. weigh 200g and send it to them (thankfully there is a special envelope)

I had a bit of difficulty with 5 and 6 as the soil - which was essntially just thick mud - wouldn't mix, and stones were hard to tell. I ended up pushing trowelfuls through a garden sieve, which did enough of the trick. I then dried it out a bit.


before once again putting it through the sieve and then taking the required 200g to send off.


If I ever have to do this again I'm going to dry out the trowelfuls before mixing. But that's hindsight, and part of the reason for capturing things here. It's only just gone (Tue 6th), but I'm not intending on planting until it's back - and before then I still need to de-stone and turn the beds as they are. I may even get started on that this afternoon.

But first today was the water butt...