“A garden is half-made when it is well planned. The best gardener is one who does the most gardening by the winter fire.” Liberty Hyde Bailey (An inspiring American horticulturist 1858 – 1954) Due to the sudden drop in temperature – although probably not cold by most folks standards – we don’t even get a frost here, I have decided computer gardening isn’t such a … Continue reading Monday Message
But that is the beauty of the garden – it is completely forgiving. Plans can be made, but nothing is set in concrete – except the things actually set in concrete like fence posts! Over the last year I have spent ages pouring over my plans, making adjustments, then working on the crop rotation and then hoping to never have to plan again. It can … Continue reading Change of plans… again
After much deliberation I have a plan… of sorts. Outlined below is the first half. These are the beds where there will be no change really as they aren’t part of the crop rotation, so they are easy enough to deal with. So, this is what I’ll be doing with my permanent beds. The Annual Herbs Winter: I will try and keep all of these … Continue reading Sorting out the cool season garden
Ok so I’ve done some thinking…. About how I will tackle the next season. But I’d like to say that this is as convoluted as getting my head around crop rotation in the first place! Once I realised this, I decided I’d do it once and do it right, and then each autumn I can come back here as all the thinking necessary will have … Continue reading Wrapping my head around the cool season
The seeds were sown the other day, more than a few weeks beyond when I would have normally sown them. But I’m not worried because not only is their bed not ready, it hasn’t been filled or even built because I’m still umming an erring as to its location. This delay has a knock on effect for the irrigation of the rhubarb, globe artichokes and … Continue reading But what about the pumpkins?
Sector 4 is all fruit so no planning needed there – all I have to do before the season changes is evict the aging three year old strawberries and replace them with their offspring runners to keep the production of delicious berries at an optimum. So that leaves the back row that forms sector 5. If you take the two raspberry beds (27 and 28) … Continue reading Garden Planning – the Final Push
Sector three was once the outer edge of the garden. I’m not entirely sure how it has become part of the heart of the garden, but I think I may need a fence. I’m really pleased with my sector systems as it helps break down my large garden on so many levels – weeding, watering and feeding a sector a day makes the insurmountable achievable. … Continue reading Planning the Garden – Sector Three
There is something special about tomatoes. They complete a garden and epitomise summer. I’m not sure if it is the fragrance the plants emit from the moment they emerge from the seed raising mix and I love to run my hand over the small army of tiny seedlings in order to get a burst of this scent of summer in the early days of spring. … Continue reading Planning the Garden – Tomatoes
This is an easy sector for me to plan as most things don’t move. There are two asparagus beds and they have already had all the attention they need for the start of the season. All I have to do is wait for the first delish spears to pop up, which should be some time around August. I am a little worried though that some … Continue reading Planning the Garden – Stuck in the Middle
I tend to be a bit of a creature of habit and once I’m on to a good thing, then I don’t tend to change much and the beds that form the rest of sector one are of the ilk – ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’ Maybe I’ll do a bit of tweaking in the pepper bed but it is pretty much business … Continue reading Planning the Garden – The Back Row
