Raised Beds

As it was a very pleasant morning in Compton, we took the opportunity to construct another raised bed.

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The new bed is the nearest one on this picture and was built around the carrots remaining from the summer sowing and the shallots which were planted in October. 

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The raised bed behind is one constructed earlier this year where three rows of garlic are being grown.

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Once these crops have been lifted, the beds will be topped up with a mix of fresh soil and compost and used to grow squash and courgettes.

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November wood smoke

We’ve had a productive afternoon down at the patch.  I finally got round to fixing the door handle on the polytunnel and Heather got a fire going to burn the prunings from fruit bushes… there’s something very evocative about Autumnal wood smoke.

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We have built one of our planned six raised beds in the polytunnel and have sown Winter leaves (mizuna, mustard greens and spinach) which we hope will provide us with a cut-and-come-again leafy greens.

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Mission Accomplished

The door is on, the floor levelled and the frames for the raised beds will be constructed sometime in the coming weeks.

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Meanwhile,  there are plenty of other jobs to be getting on with :

• The bed where we will be growing climbing beans has been cleared and two trenches dug out… these will be filled with newspaper and waste that would normally go on the compost heap.  The trenches will then be filled in and the bed covered with a layer of cardboard until we are ready to sow seeds in April.
• The soft-fruit bushes will be pruned back to maintain a good shape and encourage more fruits.
• The step-cordon apples will also be pruned and side branches tied into the wires.
• Another bin will be constructed to hold leaf litter… the leaves will slowly break down to produce a very rich compost.

What we did today...

We have already cleared all the perennial weeds from around the polytunnel, fixed gravel boards along the outside, lined the gap between the boards and the tunnel with black polythene and filled this with shingle to  prevent any weeds growing close to the tunnel walls and to allow the areas around the tunnel to be strimmed without damaging the walls.

This is what we did today :

• Attached a mesh screen to the back doorway of the polytunnel.

• Hung a polythene blind at the back doorway to raise/lower as temperature dictates.

•  Rebuilt the front door and re-covered it in UV stabilised polythene sheeting.

On Wednesday, the door will be hung and we will then concentrate our efforts on preparing the allotment beds, leaving the remaining work inside the polytunnel for those cold and rainy days when it is not possible to work outside.
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Light at the end of the tunnel...

We have acquired a polytunnel !

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A neighbouring allotment holder has given up his plot, leaving this polytunnel which abuts on to our patch.

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We have managed to clear the jungle that was growing inside and removed the door and the curtain, both of which will need repairing.  The door will then be hung so that it faces onto our plot.

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As you can see from the picture, we have been washing the inside and outside of the tunnel with a solution of Jeyes Fluid to remove the algae.

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The next task will be to construct raised beds inside the tunnel and fill them with compost ready for planting in late-Winter.

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Rodima

Comparison time again !
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Last year we grew a variety of red cabbage called 'Kalibos' which produced heads of an insipid pink colour. 

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This year we obtained seeds of a variety called 'Rodima' from vegetableseeds.net and these produced some beautiful, deep red cabbages that are superb when pickled.

We will be looking to grow more of these next year.

Autumn Planting

We had a poor harvest of shallots and garlic this year, which I believe was caused by using our own bulbs for planting.  

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So, this year, no expense spared !  We bought garlic bulbs ('Solent Wight' & 'Picardy Wight') and shallots ('Jermor') which were planted yesterday.

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I will be sowing broad beans 'Aquadulce' during the week.

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