As we have a huge amount of grass and therefore grass clippings I decided to put them to good use to kill off/mulch the new vegetable garden.
I marked out the area and we piled the first lot of grass clipping on to it about a month ago. It seems to have worked well because not only do they block out the light but they heat up too. Last week covered the next section by laying out all our many empty cardboard boxes, with all the plastic tape stripped off, and piled the clippings on top of those. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference.
I try to avoid digging as much as possible but the edges were rather untidy so I tidied them up by turning the turf over.
Vince then got very enthusiastic and started clearing back the original clippings and turning the almost dead turf over.
Then I rummaged through my seed tin and sowed some seeds. Very exciting!
It's not the best time of year to be sowing stuff but there are quite a few things that can go in now. I've sowed some kale. It's a bit late really, but if we get a mild autumn ...this is Cornwall after all... they might get going. I also sowed chard which may not get big enough to eat this autumn but will be ready to get going early next year. If we do get some cold weather (below -4/5) I'll give them some protection with some glass or fleece.
I sowed some thyme, just because I had some seeds, and today I'm planning to sow a few Sweet Williams for flowers next year and some parsley, although I think the seed's a bit old so it may not grow. Some seed, notably brassicas (the cabbage family) will keep for years, some, like parsnips ands parsley won't germinate very well at all after a year or tow. I'll do a separate post about seeds/saving and viability sometime.
I'm a great believer in using what you have so when I took on my first Devon allotment I had a access to some mouldy hay and used that to mulch the areas I wasn't cultivating to start with. Another allotment I started was mainly covered with old carpet to start with. I'm a great believer in starting with a small area and not trying to get the whole area under cultivation at once. Ultimately the veg garden will probably be about twice the size of the currently mulched bit, but it will be two or three years until it's all properly under cultivation. Gardening isn't something that should be rushed.
The long term plan is to have no dig (or minimal dig) beds. Here is my current allotment in Devon, and this is what the veg beds will look like eventually.
I marked out the area and we piled the first lot of grass clipping on to it about a month ago. It seems to have worked well because not only do they block out the light but they heat up too. Last week covered the next section by laying out all our many empty cardboard boxes, with all the plastic tape stripped off, and piled the clippings on top of those. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference.
 |
| Nearest half just grass clippings, furthest half cardboard and grass clippings |
I try to avoid digging as much as possible but the edges were rather untidy so I tidied them up by turning the turf over.
Vince then got very enthusiastic and started clearing back the original clippings and turning the almost dead turf over.
Then I rummaged through my seed tin and sowed some seeds. Very exciting!
It's not the best time of year to be sowing stuff but there are quite a few things that can go in now. I've sowed some kale. It's a bit late really, but if we get a mild autumn ...this is Cornwall after all... they might get going. I also sowed chard which may not get big enough to eat this autumn but will be ready to get going early next year. If we do get some cold weather (below -4/5) I'll give them some protection with some glass or fleece.
I sowed some thyme, just because I had some seeds, and today I'm planning to sow a few Sweet Williams for flowers next year and some parsley, although I think the seed's a bit old so it may not grow. Some seed, notably brassicas (the cabbage family) will keep for years, some, like parsnips ands parsley won't germinate very well at all after a year or tow. I'll do a separate post about seeds/saving and viability sometime.
I'm a great believer in using what you have so when I took on my first Devon allotment I had a access to some mouldy hay and used that to mulch the areas I wasn't cultivating to start with. Another allotment I started was mainly covered with old carpet to start with. I'm a great believer in starting with a small area and not trying to get the whole area under cultivation at once. Ultimately the veg garden will probably be about twice the size of the currently mulched bit, but it will be two or three years until it's all properly under cultivation. Gardening isn't something that should be rushed.
The long term plan is to have no dig (or minimal dig) beds. Here is my current allotment in Devon, and this is what the veg beds will look like eventually.
No comments:
Post a Comment