Monday, May 01, 2006
Digging
Last year we dug three small vegetable beds, each about ten feet by four, and a couple of smaller ones. We also rejuvenated an old flower bed of about 20 feet by five and turned half of it into a herb bed, rescued the rhubarb bed, and performed some essential maintenance on the existing redcurrant, blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes and the apple trees. Aptly demonstrating our incompetence, all the rejuvenated beds and plants need little maintenance this year. Our vegetable beds reverted to the wild almost as soon as we had dug them. We believe that it had been five or six years since the kitchen garden had last been used, and in that time, it had been taken over by a particularly agressive form of grass, and a nasty perennial weed, which I think we identified as some kind of wild parsnip. Both of these happily stuck roots in from the paths between the beds and sent up new shoots that shrunk our beds rapidly. Additionally, any left over half-inch of parsnip root in the beds sent up half a dozen shots a week, which grew three times faster than anything else.
This year I am determined to do better, so last weekend completed digging over a twenty foot square with great care, and made some thin earth paths to split it into four long thin beds. To reduce shrinkage, the whole square was edged with six inch planks, dug into the earth to stop any adventurous roots travelling where they are not wanted. Yesterday, I dug over the whole lot again and removed any weeds that were making an appearance. Next weekend is for adding compost and then we will think about planting some seeds.
I wish that I had taken more care with my garden journal last year, for although I recorded what was planted when, and whether from seedlings or seeds, I did not record the success rate, and cannot remember it as well as I expected. However, I do know that I started planting outside in the first week of May last year and lost quite a lot to frost. I also know that some seeds, broad beans spring to mind, need some cold. My task is to discover, by Saturday, which seeds need to be planted immediately, and will not suffer from going in at the same time as the compost. Most of the information will come from books written for a different climate, with some help from local sources, but I will also use this website, which although based in the UK, with milder winters, is full of information from an allotment holder who is far enough North that frost in May is no great surprise.
This year I am determined to do better, so last weekend completed digging over a twenty foot square with great care, and made some thin earth paths to split it into four long thin beds. To reduce shrinkage, the whole square was edged with six inch planks, dug into the earth to stop any adventurous roots travelling where they are not wanted. Yesterday, I dug over the whole lot again and removed any weeds that were making an appearance. Next weekend is for adding compost and then we will think about planting some seeds.
I wish that I had taken more care with my garden journal last year, for although I recorded what was planted when, and whether from seedlings or seeds, I did not record the success rate, and cannot remember it as well as I expected. However, I do know that I started planting outside in the first week of May last year and lost quite a lot to frost. I also know that some seeds, broad beans spring to mind, need some cold. My task is to discover, by Saturday, which seeds need to be planted immediately, and will not suffer from going in at the same time as the compost. Most of the information will come from books written for a different climate, with some help from local sources, but I will also use this website, which although based in the UK, with milder winters, is full of information from an allotment holder who is far enough North that frost in May is no great surprise.
