I had resigned myself to holding off on a lot of planting until May as there is really no point in trying too early unless you have a really good setup with artificial heat, but I'm starting to panic that Im too slow and conservative with my seed sowing. Any way, I am proud of a few things.
I am terrible at seeing things through to the end, with a few shortcuts on the way, so I was delighted to make a decent go at planting my peas as shown in the following photo:
In the photo you can see that I have erected a metre high wooden frame covered in wire by hammering wooden stakes to it and burying them in the ground. Some of the wood I used was cut offs from our laminate floor which was no fun to hammer a nail through. Good indication of the quality of our flooring, bad for my poor index finger on my right hand which got injured in the process. This standing frame will act as support for the greenshaft peas I have planted. Old scratched dvds have been hung on string from the top of the support to act as bird scarers as they blow around and glimmer in the sun. I have planted the peas in a zig zag line and stuck sticks in to the soil where the peas are planted to try to prevent birds from landing and picking out the seeds. It is pigeon country here so I will have to be vigilant with my legumes as I know they love them.
I'm pleased with that.
As I mentioned in my last post we have bought a house and have a massive expanse of grass to plant on. It is overwhelming. So I started by laying down three rectangular pieces of carpet, about 2 metres by 1 metre, to kill the grass. After a few months I dug over the soil. The first bed had about two bags of multi purpose compost added to it and is now hosting beetroot seedlings, slowly germinating carrot seeds and tiny pak choi plants that I started from seed on the inside window of the garage. I've surrounded these oriental salads with a ring of crushed egg shells.
To the second bed I added a bag of farmyard manure, purchased in a garden centre. Height of human madness paying money for bags of shit but hopefully it will be a worthy investment. In this bed are my peas and the MAGIC BEANS (broad beans) that my 5yo planted, and space for something else. I'm thinking parsnips will be next.
The third bed is tossed virgin soil waiting to be impregnated with a big fat seed. Or a tiny seed. Great things come from big and small!
So that's where we stand at the moment. I have leeks on the window sill but only one germinated so far. I need to plant courgettes. Purple sprouting broccoli also. I'm forgetting something obvious I know.
Ok bye and happy gardening.
