Tag Archives: Early Potatoes

How much more can you fit into a raised bed?

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A few years ago just before lockdown we were given some ace pallet box collars which were ideal to be used as raised beds. The one above is packed to the brim now so God knows what it’ll be like later this season. The top contains some giant garlic, below that from left to right: parsley, the early tomato plant under one of the two cloches and in the third column an end part of some shop-bought celery which is regrowing. Below that some marjoram bought from Shannon’s years ago and a solitary egyptian onion. That’s one variety pack of a raised bed isn’t it?

Above is a simpler arrangement of some giant garlic with a seed potato stuck in the middle. We may get away with it what with hopefully harvesting timings but who knows. The seed spuds we put in a couple of large pots are doing well (below), fingers crossed we’re into the frost-free zone now.

Also we’re starting to use some of the nettle tea we made a few weeks and and starting to get some comfrey veaves going for a herbal compost brew. It all helps and it’s all free.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring (in lockdown)

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It’s funny how the days all melt into one during lockdown but certain days bring certain pleasures. Yesterday we spotted our first courgette/zucchini flower even though the plant was sown very late as the ones we sown earlier amounted to nothing. We’re going to be keeping this one watered and fed a lot so we can get some decent fruits.

And after a delve into the compost in the raised beds (making sure any small marble sized spuds were covered over as they turn green in the sun making them poisonous) we got a nice amount of small new spuds!

And we found these two fibreglass tubs in the street to be chucked out for the binmen. They’re about a foot high and needed a wash and a lick of grey paint (which we found in a half opened tin under the stairs, we didn’t even know we had it) and they are as good as new. There you go, something good to report in lockdown!
#gardeninginlockdown #lostandfoundinlockdown

Play misty for me

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We didn’t do too much in the garden today (apart from the odd bit of watering in the morning) what with it being so warm. Sometimes it’s good just to stop and enjoy it all. The Love-in-a-mist at the bottom of the garden which self seeded in the champagne box that mysteriously appeared on our doorstep (here) in 2015 (Cheers Maz!) is now starting to flower.

And so are the spuds! How many weeks have we been in lockdown again?

And the garlic cloves we put in last autumn from Shannon’s to overwinter were harvested today. It seems a bit early but the leaves were starting to go yellow and the plants were falling down on their side so we dug them out. They’re now drying out for a couple of days outside the back door. The big question now is what shall we sow in the space where the garlic was?

That was my mistake, that was my mistake

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Everything has gone green

Big gardening mistakes of all-time – number 5 in an ongoing series.

Never fill a compost trench with the contents of a compost bin that has lots of potato peelings in it. The above picture taken earlier this evening is proof why. If you look closely there is a courgette and a pumpkin plant in there somewhere. You live and learn…

compost trenchMore on why the compost trench (above) was originally dug in April here (you will laugh!)

A touch of the twirlies

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Year ago when I worked as a postman in Coventry, if you were ever late back to the office after the first post your workmates would jibe you with the line “did you get the bus back with the twirlies?” Back then, pensioners could ride the buses for free after 9.30am but you’d get the odd one trying their luck at twenty past using the phrase “am I too early?” (sounds like ‘twirly’ in midlands twang) if ever a jobsworth bus driver gave them the knock-back.

Talking of twirlies, a couple of weeks ago I sowed a couple of seed potatoes in the cold frame and they are now on their way. I’ll have to keep them under cover until the risk of frost has passed which might mean raising the frame up a bit as the plant grows but it’s worth the trouble for those early spuds. I do like a home-grown potato!

On the biodynamic calendar it was a “flower” day today so sowed some Borage and Foxgloves in trays on the kitchen windowsill. I transplanted some hardened off Morning Glory seedlings into the new raised bed, putting some jam jars over them just in case the weather gets cold again (which it might) and also moved some self-seeded Poppies from around the garden in there too.

This is a very busy time in the garden now, preparing for the season to come and to get a bit of a head start on yourself, so sometimes it does pay to be a bit “twirly”!