A sunny February morning down on Sally's Plot today, there at 9am in the mist, with glorious blue skies by the 12pm finish followed by a few pints down the pub!
Clearing off old wood and matting, pulling up old fat hen stems (already self-seeded, no doubt), tidying up plastic and weed-control covers, and digging over a few patches.
Excellent soil condition, some already dug over and covered, abut a few beds with last year's failed potato harvest still in there. That will have to be next weekend's mammoth job.
We're West-facing to the houses on Corporation Street, with sunlight coming from the left.
I haven't named or numbered beds yet, but here's a quick run down of the plot.
(Above) This is the back of #Plot21, it extends as far as the fence behind and Keith's plot from then on.
There's a mature apple tree, apparently red-coloured, don't know if cooking or not. There are a few on the ground, so last year seems to have had a good haul.
There's a bit of unused land which could have compost bins, or storage space. It's not level, and I don't see why it should be here...
Amar's plot is to the right, you can see a cherry tree and a couple of unknown fruit trees.
Then there's a covered area. Haven't tested the soil underneath yet. I'm thinking as this area is shaded by the apple tree, it might be good for squash. It can sprawl freely, be relatively unkempt without worry and still have good morning, and dappled afternoon sunshine.
Then there's the polytunnel. The cover was ripped off late last year in October storms, and was disposed of today. I'll order a new polytunnel cover, but I guess it's cheaper to buy a new complete set, framework and cover, and start again... This framework won't go to waste, I'll buy in some scaffolding netting and cover this over as a wind-sheltered protected area. Perhaps some hardier chillies.
In front of the polytunnel frame is a dug over area, not checked soil texture yet, then a hard-standing area that used to be a shed. I don't see the point of buying a shed, if it's advised against locking it anyway. I'll only need a few tools from home at a time, and fertilisers etc can be stored in the polytunnels.
I'm not sure where to place the new polytunnel though. Behind the existing frame, or in front over the hardstanding, or in front of that even, on the right of the photo. I'm tempted by the last option at the moment., leaving a gap in between for tender plants, herbs, some squash, etc.
This might be where that new polytunnel goes... still haven't checked out sizes yet, maybe a 4mx2m will fit?
This is a strangely-shaped L-bed, with last year's potatoes in front, four rows I think, with a bed to the left that I've dud over and recovered, the top left had sweetcorn in it last year, and then a bed to the right that is also dug over and ready for planting.
I dug over this bed this morning, re-edged the sides, and then have covered over again. This will be the first bed I plant, but I think too small for potatoes, so maybe onions, shallots or late-planted garlic.
To the left, off camera is a permanent bed, that currently has asparagus... I'll wait until next 6 weeks to see how that does. If it does well, the aspargagus is only in one corner, I could plant three other permanent plants there, rhubarb, sea-kale, any other suggestions? So, that way, I could force one a year, leaving the rest to recover. I've never harvested asparagus yet though...
To the right, is a salad and radish/beetroot bed. It looks like many are still in place. There could be a Spring harvest there, I don't know yet. Do these crops need to be rotated too? I guessing root veg do, but salads? It looks a nice bed to keep on growing salad.
Then I have the main veg plot... Last year's potatoes, 3 rows, NOT harvested. I'm sure there will still be some small edible ones there, MANY in fact, that will undoubtedly sprout later this year. But I don't know Sally's crop-rotation plan, so will assume NOT to plant potatoes here this year.
The frame on the left came from Amar's plot. It won't stay here. It fits another (seen earlier) patch better, and although I'm not interested in growing brassica, could still be used to protect crops from butterflies, birds, maybe even badgers...
Then there's Sally's famous front-of-plot flower garden!
There are four Chocolate Sedums that have flowered and should come up strongly next year, and two tremendous hellebores with beautiful large flower heads. A few dafoodils are emerging, there are markers for other [errenials: poppies, anemones, everlasting sweetpeas, dahlias, etc.
I think behind this bed, I'll plant some annual cutting flowers... cosmos, gladioli, etc
