| #87 |
You know, I'd completely forgotten about this thread. It can't be an age thing, because I'm still young. Anyway, Mrs H reminded me about it this morning, so I took some photos.
It's been just over a year! So let's dive straight in...
Veg bed no. 1 wasn't great last year, only the runner beans did well. So I've given it a proper digging over with fertilizerand a generous mulch of rough home-made compost. I've sown a row of early carrots under the mesh, planted five rows of potatoes and a few lettuces. Later on there will be sweet corn. In the foreground of the picture there's some wigwams for climbing french beans and sweet peas a bit later.
Veg bed no. 2 was OK last year, I got some nice sweet corn and some other bits and pieces. I had a row of sweet peas along the hedge, that space now has a couple of thornless blackberries (Loch Ness). There's a row of autumn rasps (Joan J) in the foreground. The netting at the back is there ready for a few brassicas, I've got some summer cabbage and kohlrabi started in the greenhouse. I've also put some branches in as the start of a runner bean wigwam.
Later on there will be strawberries on the left (next to the lawn) and some more salady bits further back.
In that picture you can also see where I've cut away some of the stacked turf. I've seived this and spread it on the lawn where the birds have spent the winter digging up chafer grubs. I put fresh seed there last week and covered it as best I could with spare netting. The birds are still digging up the lawn round the edges of the netting, so I'll have more re-seeding to do later this spring; but we've recently acquired a couple of cats, that will slow the blighters down a bit. Here's what the lawn looks like just now...
The Aquilegias in the narrow bed by the greenhouse did well last year and look as if they could be even better this year:
The rose garden was really nice last year. I'm hoping for even better things this year, now that the plants are well established. But I will almost certainly need to replace the Dahlias that I put in to complement them; I think the early hard frosts will have done them in. I'm also hoping the apple tree in the middle (Braeburn) will produce something this year too.
My pear tree (conference) seems to have established nicely and has some big fat flower buds on it. I've got my fingers crossed that the flowers don't open until the frosts forecast for the next few days have passed.
What else? Well, the summer raspberries (Glen Ample) look OK. I left just one strong cane per plant so as not to stress them too much in their first growing season. That pile of dead stuff between them and the compost bins has gone now, I shredded it this afternoon after taking the picture...
More pictures in the next post...
It's been just over a year! So let's dive straight in...
Veg bed no. 1 wasn't great last year, only the runner beans did well. So I've given it a proper digging over with fertilizerand a generous mulch of rough home-made compost. I've sown a row of early carrots under the mesh, planted five rows of potatoes and a few lettuces. Later on there will be sweet corn. In the foreground of the picture there's some wigwams for climbing french beans and sweet peas a bit later.
Veg bed no. 2 was OK last year, I got some nice sweet corn and some other bits and pieces. I had a row of sweet peas along the hedge, that space now has a couple of thornless blackberries (Loch Ness). There's a row of autumn rasps (Joan J) in the foreground. The netting at the back is there ready for a few brassicas, I've got some summer cabbage and kohlrabi started in the greenhouse. I've also put some branches in as the start of a runner bean wigwam.
Later on there will be strawberries on the left (next to the lawn) and some more salady bits further back.
In that picture you can also see where I've cut away some of the stacked turf. I've seived this and spread it on the lawn where the birds have spent the winter digging up chafer grubs. I put fresh seed there last week and covered it as best I could with spare netting. The birds are still digging up the lawn round the edges of the netting, so I'll have more re-seeding to do later this spring; but we've recently acquired a couple of cats, that will slow the blighters down a bit. Here's what the lawn looks like just now...
The Aquilegias in the narrow bed by the greenhouse did well last year and look as if they could be even better this year:
The rose garden was really nice last year. I'm hoping for even better things this year, now that the plants are well established. But I will almost certainly need to replace the Dahlias that I put in to complement them; I think the early hard frosts will have done them in. I'm also hoping the apple tree in the middle (Braeburn) will produce something this year too.
My pear tree (conference) seems to have established nicely and has some big fat flower buds on it. I've got my fingers crossed that the flowers don't open until the frosts forecast for the next few days have passed.
What else? Well, the summer raspberries (Glen Ample) look OK. I left just one strong cane per plant so as not to stress them too much in their first growing season. That pile of dead stuff between them and the compost bins has gone now, I shredded it this afternoon after taking the picture...
More pictures in the next post...
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