OwnGrown

Not much to say over the past couple of weeks due to incessant rain and now a partly flooded vegetable garden which isn’t doing anything any good. Temperatures have also been a little low so everything has almost ground to a halt - many plants looking very sick and turning yellow showing how much they hate constant saturation. Sowing seeds is also impossible - they would probably float away and, if not, fail because they are saturated! Hopefully, within a few days we should see some produce if it warms up a little.

These are a real nuisance this year and causing a lot of damage. I have tried different ways to control them over the years but slug pellets seem to be the only effective way. Some makes of these are hopeless and the slugs seem to thrive on them but the Bio product does a good job.

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It may not seem so at the time but vegetable gardens change rapidly. These two photos were taken at the end of March and end of May. Wire netting enclosures are placed over seedlings to protect them - we seem to have everything that wants to destroy vegetable gardens! Carrots are in the front left with broad beans and peas further behind.

Not strictly vegetable gardening but an important part of the whole thing and they have to be mentioned! Their contribution to fertiliser and compost is detailed in the About section. No fertiliser is ever bought and we have the added benefit of eggs which taste like nothing bought from a supermarket. We are self sufficient with eggs for about 90% of the year.

Seeds don’t want to fight their way through heavy soil, lumps of earth, stones etc. The soil needs to be raked to a fine tilth and it also helps to use compost as the base for sowing and then covering the seeds with the same compost to whatever depth is required. In this picture pea seeds are shown on a bed of compost in the flat bottom trenches. These will be covered with compost which will give the seeds a good start. The same principle can be used for all seed sowing.

Late March / April is the start of the year for most vegetable growing. Some things will already be in the ground but in general it is a waste of time starting before April outside as the risk of failure is high. This is the scene at the beginning of April and we shall see how it changes as the year progresses. There are Broad Beans and peas under the wire netting (just visible), onions (not showing yet) and a few lettuces under the cloches.  

Digging is probably the worst job of the lot - starting late autumn and continuing through the winter to early spring as the ground is cleared. Rough dig the beds and leave the frosts to break the soil down. The problem this winter is that there are very few frosts so the soil does not break down and there is a lot of rain so the dug soil then compacts. After more work than usual, this picture shows the result at the end of March - a little has been planted / sown but most of the beds are empty and waiting for the warmer April weather before most of the sowing starts.

I find that the quality of pots varies widely and some of the cheaper ones last no time at all - particularly when frost gets at them - so choose more expensive ones that last much longer. Those pictured here and in the Herbs post are all hand made in England by Whichford Pottery and have a 10 year guarantee. The pots are fairly red when new but do calm down in colour after a while. Last time I was there they were completing a large order for export to Japan so they must have something special.

First signs of caterpillars on the Brussel Sprouts and Kale - not unexpected as white butterflies have been around. Netting is used but the butterflies usually find a way in and the netting is mainly for protection from pigeons. Spraying with Liquid Derris on both sides of the leaves keeps them under control but it must be done early on as these caterpillars soon eat their way through the leaves.