The warm weather in March continues which has given me a chance to get out in the garden and get it ready for the new season.
In the vegetable patch, I have sowed the peas in the same raised bed as the beans. I try to rotate the beds yearly, with the peas and beans going together in one bed. The brassicas have their own bed also, as do the root vegetables.
In the fourth bed, I now have an asparagus bed to accompany the chrysanthemums. Also in this bed, the sweet corn will be planted when they arrive in May, with a few salad crops filling in the gaps.
The asparagus were purchased as two year old plants and were grown last year in a pot. No shoots were harvested. This year, I have planted them in their final place. I dug a trench about six inches deep and lined this with well rotted compost. The six asparagus plants were laid out about 18 inches apart and fine soil riddled on top. I then gave the plants a good soaking to settle them in before adding a further layer of fine soil to complete the job.
In the brassicas raised bed, I have planted 24 cabbages of two varieties, and a dozen cauliflowers. We constructed a frame over the bed and attached old compost bags, cut into strips, that we hope will flap in the breeze and deter the pigeons. This was Sandra’s idea, which we also used on the bean row which now has two types of lettuce down the middle.
Also in the garden, I have continued to remove some of the many stones and pebbles in the borders, taking out three barrow loads from the borders surrounding the rear lawn. With two barrow loads coming out of the asparagus bed, that makes a total of eight barrow loads of stones removed so far.
In the wildflower meadows, the wild primrose plants that I put in last year are in flower and there are signs of other perennial plants emerging. Unfortunately, the dock and thistle are now starting to grow, so a session with the weedkiller will have to take place soon.
On the front, lots of Chionodoxa (pictured) have flowered. These bulbs must have been in the topsoil as I haven’t planted any, but they are making a fine display. On the naturalised bank, the silver birch are starting to come into leaf.
With the weather forecast predicting more warm, sunny conditions the gardens will soon start to look great – though some rain would be nice.