Plot 30

4 January 2025 Trying out some compost created from the rotting down of plant material over the 2024 period. There advanced science at work here: basically let all of this organic matter pile up and rot down over the year and let nature and the decomposing process do the rest. Using a plastic sieve, I gather the finely-screened compost into a builder’s bucket. I then mix it with some blood, fish, and bone to create a nutrient-rich medium, that will hopefully be suited for for starting seeds, onion sets, and so on. Adding a little nutrients as shown: Before obtaining a full bucket of this stuff surprisingly quickly: So I then try out this mix to plan a few onions sets, it still being a bit early for much else. Watch this space...

 Planted 27 March 2022 at the top end near the fruit case, next to the lettuce. 29 April 2022 - one month later, nothing much appearing as yet. Sigh.

  "Salad Bowl" planted 27 March 2022

 A single row of "Tender and true" planted 20 March 2022: And sown today (3 April 2022) some free seeds ("Sabre F1")  from the same D.T. Brown, this planted nearer the fruit section.

Using seeds saved over from 2021 (see last year's blog post ).  I set these in my garage in a deep seed tray, with a light source and heating pad underneath ( 19 March 2022 ). 28 March 2022 The beginning of the Borlotti beans just starting to poke through.  3 April 2022 They seem to like being under the light source and small heating pad... 21 April 2022 Training some of them up wigwam poles.  Some still left in the deep trays as spares... An update from 23 June 2022 beans are now going great guns filling out nicely, with "Black Beauty" courgette plants interspersed between.

Some seeds set off from a packet I've had unopened for two years(pic from 4 March 2022) These were set off in the ground on 18 March 2022 as shown: And some seeds set off using seeds saved from 2021 (documented in this post .) Pic dated from 13 March 2022. And the same plants after hardening off outside for a week (taken 20 March 2022) Which were then added to the existing broad beans on the plot Update 2 May 2022 Update 19 June 2022 Update 23 June 2022.  Broad beans starting to thicken a little

Three rows of Swift earlies, planted 18 March 2022.  First row planted using Old Alabama Gardener's technique of placing a small amount of fertiliser & bone meal alongside the seed potato, covered up with some compost.  Second row planted as per the first row minus the compost, third row as per the first but with horse manure instead of compost.  Also in the third row I split quite a few of the seed potatoes.  One concern I have is that I may not have waited sufficiently long enough for them to sprout ("chit") before I had planted them.  We'll see. And a little further up the plot, a further three rows of Charlotte second earlies, using seeds saved over from 2021: Planted in 3 lots of trenches containing 11 seeds also with compost, bone meal and Growmore fertiliser added: Also planted in this section: late potatoes of variety Golden Wonder and Desiree (saved) - three rows of each, thereby occupying the remainder of this half of the plot.. Also some other sa...

Some cloves planted earlier this year that I've saved and planted at the front of the plot (29 December 2021) that when split up gave four big cloves to plant on in total: Planted the same day: Update 13 February 2022 Found in my cupboard this morning was another whole elephant garlic bulb containing a further five large cloves which I will plant in the same row as the existing ones:

As a means of generating heat underneath a makeshift cloche... Dig a square shaped trench, probably about a foot or so deep: Fill with about 6-7 bags of fairly recent horse manure.  Turn it over thoroughly before firming it down. Cover the remaining with a layer of soil Place cloche (containing some early broad bean sowings) on top.  Within the next few days the heat generated by the decomposing horse manure should regulate the soil temperature a little during this cold February of 2022. A temperature reading taken on 16 February 2022 - approximately 13 degrees Celsius.

  Ordered from Simply Seed "Rhapsody Wight" This year, I have deliberately not dug over the soil, but instead raked it over leaving the bed quite solid, a tip I learned from an old hand that garlic actually prefers a firmer less spongy bed. Also taking some tips from Old Alabama Gardener on how to plant garlic .  He mixes in a little rabbit manure for each planting which I substitute with well-rotted horse manure. Here are few planted in a row ready to be covered over: And here is an update from 29 December 2021 showing the garlics poking through: Update 11 February 2022 1 April 2022 And here they are drying out:

2 May 2021 16 May 2021 22 June 2021 Plodding on nicely.  The result of keeping of top of the weeds plus occasional feeding with seaweed extract:

 A row of Boltardy sown earlier this year (I don't have the exact date to hand), this image dated 5 June 2021: 25 June 2021 30 June 2021 And some of the produce, picked ready for boiling and pickling...

16 May 2021 6 June 2021 Using a weeding tool to clear away a small layer of soil around the base of the onion to allow it to more easily swell in size: A more recent update from 1 July 2021

  As of 5 June 2021, 'Black Beauty' variety: 25 June 2021 Actually 4 courgette plants and 2 squash - they look very similar when still young plants.