The pond bed has now been finished having planted out our Hosta collection, will be good to see how that is next spring when they've filled out a bit.
The verdigris coloured heron was found at the bottom of the pond when I cleaned it out, we'd forgotten it was there ! It was black when it came out but has now recovered its original colour and is hopefully deterring any real herons (together with the flamingo on the other side)
I've just planted out some leeks (under the mesh), they're a bit small but lets see how they do.
My Brussels Sprouts are doing well, perhaps due to the pond slurry that they are growing in ? So I thought I'd have another go at growing Romanesco. My sandy soil is really not suited to Brassicas, I'd love to be able to grow cabbage, cauliflower and swede but have not much success. So this year I've started the Romanesco off in pots in the greenhouse and just planted them out, they are looking nice and healthy so far.
I have also grown from seed (3rd photo) and they are doing pretty well although the first ones I planted out (left hand side) haven't done so well. All were germinated at the same time but the later ones were potted up and grown on the greenhouse before planting out.
So looks like for next year I'll plant all my sets in the autumn and grow the seeds on in pots for as long as possible before planting out ?
Not a bad crop though not as big as last year, they'll sit in the sun to dry our before being used/stored.
(interestingly a couple of weeks later Monty Don lifted his Garlic and said they were not as large as normal, so its not just me !).
I have managed to dig in the dried out 'slurry' (hopefully the veg will like it) and buried the turf and moved some of the excess soil down to the newly refurbished pond bed which needed topping up.
So my new smaller vegetable bed is now planted with potatoes (Arran Pilot & Wilma) , sweet peas (more flowers !) and I've just planted the Runner Beans (Painted Lady & Benchmaster). The cloches are ready to plant out the Courgettes but they are currently buried somewhere in the greenhouse !
Having completely emptied and cleared the pond in the Autumn I have just finished tackling the large bed behind it. This had an area infested with Ground Elder and was also being invaded by Bindweed along the bottom edge.
I've had to remove all the planting and dig through the whole bed to remove all the Ground Elder and Bindweed root. Its now replanted with our collection of Hostas. I still need to work my way along the bottom side of the pond but the ground has now dried out and is hard to work. I'm leaving the bottom clear as I'm sure the Bindweed will return and the only solution then is weed killer.
Still to do is planting up the new border, we have lots of plants ready to go in.
Now looking forward to the MDGS Spring Sale this coming weekend not to buy plants but to sell as I am overloaded with plants, the greenhouse is so full I'm unable to plant out the tomatoes - first job to do on Sunday !
The new raised bed and number 5 of the original beds are pretty much full of onions (Radar, Electric, Autumn Champion, Senshu Yellow & Red Winter) and shallots (Menhir & Red Sun).
Those planted in the Autumn are doing well. My 'onions from seed' (Red Baron and Alisa Craig) seem to be struggling though, I blame
the weather !
The other raised beds are planted as follows:
- Bed 1 has my Garlic ('French' and Solent Wight, Broad Beans (Aquadulce), Beetroot (Boltardy), Lettuce, Spring Onions and Leeks.
- Bed 2 so far Brussel Sprouts with room for other brassicas later.
- Bed 3 My Carrot bed: the large cage holds carrots for 'eating': Early Nantes, Autumn King, Amsterdam Forcing & Harlequin, the small cage for the 'show' carrots St.Valery & Sitka.
- Bed 4 is full of salad including Spinach, Chard, Chinese Mustard, Mizuna, Choy Sum Hon & Radicchio.
I find raised beds to be a really excellent way of growing veg, they give good access and you can work on them whatever the weather ! So last thing in the Autumn I added a further very long (5m) bed along the bottom of the main vegetable bed. This means I loose quite a bit on the main vegetable plot because of the path but raised beds are so much more productive its worth it.
I've also moved my Rhubarb to the top of the plot next to the Asparagus, this spot is out of the way when it comes to watering so awkward to use for other planting. The Rhubarb should be fine as they don't usually need watering.
The 'L' shaped bed in front of the compost bins and fruit cage is now for flowers (yes I do grow flowers !), Dahlias and Iris. The Dahlias were previously where the new raised bed is, they are covered in fleece in case of frost. We have Iris all round the garden and have acquired a few new ones so I have setup this 'nursery' bed to make sure we have all the different varieties/colours saved.
