I feel like I'm making such good slow and steady progress with the garden this year. It's only been just over a month doing my half hour a day (and a few extra units of time at the weekends) but it's really moved things forward.
I've decided to alter the layout slightly as well. Before you walked in and out on a narrow strip of slabs and it was always a bit of a fight to get in and out, the gate made from old wood is also on the way out so I think I'll make the entrance bigger and have it slightly further away from the greenhouse.
Also a much wider slabbed area as you first walk in. This will be great for setting out pots when hardening off and I'd really like to get it so I've got somewhere to sit in the veg garden. I had a bench in the veg at our last house and I was thinking that would be nice to do again.
The slabs are only set rough on the soil, but that means I can change it again in the future should I want to do things differently.
So far I've had 8 bucketful's of bindweed roots from the patch where I'm now going to make the new entrance. I'm also thinking about investing in a bit of sweet chestnut pailings and possibly an arch way to train two apple trees up. We'll see though as I'm terrible for getting carried away!
Anyone else altering the layout of their garden at the moment?
The changes make sense. It's wonderful to be able to redesign to suit your needs.
ReplyDeleteWe are not changing the garden, per se, but the chook run which is adjacent to the garden is being redone, including installing new plants around the perimeter to hide the fencing from neighbors.
Continued progress, Kev!
What plants do you plan to put in around your chickens? I always want to add some in their bigger pen, was wondering if cardoons might survive them?
DeleteI'm still in the planning stages. I try to do as many natives as possible. These will be placed outside of the run, so they may not be able to get to them much.
DeleteAh, probably a good idea - I always wonder about growing a willow chicken pen as a woven living fence, but know it would get out of control too quickly. Would look great for a few years though!
DeleteKev, I am thinking of taking more action on the backyard/garden area as my garden, while nicely set aside as a unit, is almost completely out of the sun in Winter. We still have a couple of months before I could start anything, so it is just looking and thinking as this point.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the progress!
Yeah, I kept thinking about what put me off being a good gardener last year and that one gate way was such a pain I thought I have to change it! Hopefully the work I put in now will pay off later.
DeleteI will have to clear the land before we can veg garden. I have been watching lots of you tubes on No Dig. What are your thought Kev? my gardens are so over grown and the brambles, my goodness the brambles as rampant. they are nearly an inch in thickness near the base. it is terrible. Thoughts on no dig would be welcomed
ReplyDeleteNo dig seems a great method, although I do sometimes, rather tongue in cheek, refer to it as import gardening. My issue is how would I import enough weed free (seems to be the key bit) compost to cover my garden. I can get cow muck but it's grows some weeds like the clappers!
DeleteIf you were to attempt it you'd have to get them brambles out first. Anything with big roots like that will mean a big fight if you just cover it. Nightmare to dig out as well!
It is prime gardening season here. I have been using your technique for months a little bit a day hauling compost from the chickens to raised beds. I planted corn, tomatoes, potatoes, turnips cabbage, bananas, pineapples, cabbage and broccoli. Everything was beautiful, biggest tomatoes in years, corn 8 to 10 feet high just tasseling and forming ears, baby bananas forming. Last weekend we got the first freezing temperatures in 5 years. I covered everything but the pineapple. Everything but the pineapple, broccoli and cabbage looks like it has been Napalmed. The farm fields about 5 miles further east from here feed New York City...not anymore, at least not this year. Yes, I am altering the lay out. I am digging up and starting again. Seriously, I am going to put new winter beds closer to our metal buildings. I have noticed they hold the heat, especially in the summer, and hope to use this to our advantage to keep winter temps from damaging my more tender crops. Anyone else ever try this? They would cook them in summer but may help in winter. Farmers never give up!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's sad that you lost your crops like that. Our last frost date isn't until the beginning of June. Around here when blackcurrants were grown more they used to light fires in the orchards and fields on cold nights to try to keep the frost off. I've also heard of them spraying the whole thing with water the whole night through as the frost can't settle then. But I guess that would depend on water costs.
DeleteI know some put black barrels of water in greenhouses and polytunnel to act as a heat sink in the day then release it at night.
Your slabs have caught my eye. Are they stone? concrete? 'Other'? I've not seen anything like them here where I live. I'd love to know more about them, as I can see lots of great uses for them in my garden.
ReplyDeleteCast concrete with a stone like pattern on them. People use them to make patios and paths, normally bedded down on mortar, They're great for this but the voles love to get under them unfortunately.
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