Monday 19 March 2007

Square Metre Gardening revisited

plot lostscrap wood

At last we've made some progress. After I made a start clearing a plot in the garden on Friday, Paul kindly put together a magnificent construction made out of old wood and nails to enclose the new bed. It's not quite a metre square due to some issues with the found materials but it's pretty close, quite deep; about 25cms(I might measure it and correct this later) and has some uprights to hold netting or fleece if necessary. Paul christened it "the four poster bed".

four poster bedneatly boxed

The space I've chosen for it is tiny scrap of well sheltered south west facing ground backed by the fence on the east side and the greenhouse on the north side. It should get full sun for most of the day. The soil in the plot is actually quite rich already having received a full load of compost in the recent past from when I grew some pumpkins there although it was sadly invaded by brambles, bindweed and ground elder when I came to clear it this time. I'm hoping to have got the worst of those out and dug it all over to avoid any hard panning beneath the new frame.

The frame has been filled with some two year old well rotted compost from our bins and, although I shouldn't have been surprised, took a remarkable volume of material. We're lucky with space enough to keep our two metre cube compost bins working at all times but if you had to buy the compost in you'd need something in the region of five 75 litre bags, not cheap.

We're going to concentrate on quick growing and baby veg suitable for salads and eating raw and the first planting plan is as follows;
Peas (for salad shoots), red mustard, carrots.
Beetroots, mixed cutting lettuce, purslane.
Spinach, white onions, radishes.

Of course, the weather will not oblige and has decided to have a spell of frosty nights so I haven't actually planted anything yet. I'll get some lettuces started indoors and then plant my peas, beets and carrots straight into the soil as soon as the cold snap is over. Can't wait.

Cat Update: The cat enjoyed his visitors yesterday and his health is improving, long may it continue.

Oh, and one other thing, trawling about on the web yesterday I discovered The Vegan News is still being published. This is a very quirky and individual quarterly publication with recipes, reviews of vegan products and books and tips on veganic gardening and I'm very pleased to find it again. Take a look.

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