Plot 30

Another Wilko cheapie 'Marian': 9 June 2019 Planted inside a rough and ready cage to prevent attack by birds etc: And in another spare bit of plot covered with some mesh: More updates shortly... 31 August 2019 And here are the ones in the cage some months later:

The results of our attempts a planting tulips, eventually deciding on dark / light variants to add some contrast. We chose the following bulbs from Marshalls seeds : National Velvet and Ivy Floradale:

Seeds bought cheaply from Wilko : "Hollow crown" 20 April 2019 I then dig over and water a section of plot, mix in well-rotted bone meal, manure etc and create a narrow trench in which to place the seeds: Updates to follow... 22 May 2019 Parsnip shoots beginning to appear, will need thinning at some point: 31 August 2019

Some photos of us setting out a raised bed area with the long term plan of getting asparagus from it.  And asparagus is very much a long term plan - as the Royal Horticultural Society advises on its excellent website , to not harvest within the first two years of harvesting.  This plot previously had some rather large rosemary bushes, curry plants and other herbs that were coming toward to the end of their natural lifespans, so these were dug up and burned, while the plot was thoroughly dug over (" double digging method ") with plenty of horse manure added, and left for several months. Digging the trench  We start by digging a trench (the date started was 1 March 2019) on the right side of the plot, and transport this soil elsewhere, some of which went into the wheelbarrow you see at the bottom right of the picture.  Into this trench we added more well-rotted horse manure, and worked this into the bottom of the trench.  At the far end of the plot there is a...

... consisting of bay, rosemary and sage

Sowing Witkiem broad beans in October 2018 My first ever autumn sowing of broad beans (traditionally I have always sowed broad beans in the Spring). One row of Witkiem seeds laid out as follows.  Those planks I have recently been using to protect the soil from undue compacting as I walk up and down while digging, weeding, planting etc. Watch this space... Update 27 January 2019 The Wikiems 3 months later: Update 26 May 2019 The Wikiems now that we are approaching summer: The mice are still getting their share alas, but I have have managed to collect my first proper crop, which I will boil gently in salted water ready for a pasta dish I have in mind...

Some notes and photos of the locations and varieties of various onion and garlic seeds planted on 29 September 2018, obtained by seed suppliers Marshalls . Elephant garlic Planted right at the front of my plot, next to existing parsnip plants. Using a standard sized dibber tool to create the holes in which to insert the garlic - these holes had to be widened a little by wiggling it around as these cloves are pretty huge: Normal garlic Next to be planted were normal garlic cloves of type Provenance Wight: This occupied I think a full row, followed by three more cloves left over: And then followed further planting of another make Carcassonne Wight straight after these: Onion sets A number of rows of onions (Shakespeare) to follow Followed by more rows of red onion sets, Red Cross. And that is it for the Autumn planting of onions and garlic: elephant sets at the front behind the parsnips, garlic a bit further back in front of...