Growin’ stuff
So a description of all the beds (for those who are interested)! There are nine, six running west-east and three long ones running north-south. Are you ready…
Bed #1 has the legumes: dwarf broad beans (and the black aphids), dwarf purple french beans and dwarf peas (from Luis). All have flowers and some pods. Climbing up poles: runner beans and peas, and up the teepee: barlotti beans. Only the peas have no flowers.
Bed #2 is for the solanaceae: 4 cherry toms with lots of flowers, 8 yellow ones (golden sunrise) and 4 stripy ones (tigerella), these all need to be staked soon. Plus various peppers: red, chilli and very chilli, these are all small and seem to be growing very slowly. Finally, a couple of aubergine plants under a mini cloche which are now growing but not that fast…
Bed #3 is for the potatoes. We’re already eating the ‘Jersey Royals’ which I’m very pleased with, averaging about 600g per plant. The supermarket ones (the ones I bought from the supermarket and chitted on the windowsill) are ready to be pulled up and very soon the 16 plants that Luis gave us. Something, however, has eaten all the flower heads…
Bed #4 has 8 perpetual spinach which seem to double in size every morning, plus a rather weedy selection of sweet corn which I now wish I hadn’t bothered with having discovered that you only get one cob per plant!
Bed #5 is the winter brassicas: brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli all doing well, plus the central row of turnips (although having thinned those recently there’s definitely something eating those).
Bed #6 is for the roots and onions. The first sowing of these have worked well and we’ve been enjoying the (carrot fly free) carrots but subsequent sowings haven’t worked. The red onions I sowed in a seed tray have at last worked and these are all in the bed now, fingers crossed. The four strawberries have suffered a bit recently (I think the fruits got sunburnt!) but have given us some delicious strawbs already.
Bed #7 is the curcubits. Squash, courgettes and cucumbers are growing well, have some melons ready to plant out but not sure where to put those yet, perhaps in the potato bed.
Bed #8 has 54 leeks (!) and 6 asparagus in a raised bed, all fine so far. The ferns are all a metre tall.
Bed #9 has cabbage, 6 more asparagus and loads of globe artichokes, again all doing well 🙂
In front, in various pots, are the herbs, some flowers, rhubarb, celery and I can’t remember what else. Our latest purchase was a hose and sprinkler which comes with a timer. It covers the whole area (although patches get left out if it’s too windy) and it’s just great, come 6 o’clock and on it comes, fantastic!