It has been good over the last 3 weeks to finally get stuck into planting and "working" in the Potager. I have not written much at all. Even my journal which is usually updated each evening has lay fallow. I have a family to be with and a garden and wood to actually work in. I have made some progress and learnt a few lessons.
Lesson number 1. If you plant small stuff out and just leave it to the critters - of which there are many and diverse - you should not expect them to prosper. The same goes for seed planted directly such as radish. Whether its voles, fly larvy, pigeons or aphids everything wants its fair share of your crops and plants. This is an obvious lesson but I wanted to learn it first hand. I planted out something like 50 assorted brassica plants lovingly raised in the conservatory and within two weeks a good 30-40 % have been munched or stripped back to twiggy remnants. I have also encountered flies which lay eggs on the underside of leaves. The assault comes both by land and air.
I bought a net to protect my baby plants but something stopped me from deploying it ! I think I was so taken with the look of the new raised beds that I did not want to begin the descent into something that looked more like an allotment than a national trust property. The lesson has been learned and I have begun to erect my first defences rather haphazardly using anti-critter mesh, picture hanging pins, bricks, some small bio-degradable pots and chopped up beanstalks. The resulting lop-sided and unsymmetrical baby brassica marquees are not that pleasing to the eye but they appear to work.
The material reminds me of the materials used for the false skirts of ladies gowns - organza is it ? Brasscias you shall go to the ball.
I clearly had no idea what I was doing - next year I will be ready with a whole bought in "system" that can make some perfect hooped lids that fit onto the edge of the beds themselves like those coverings on a western wagon.
Lesson number 2. Everything seems far prettier and more organised by using lovely slate plant markers and a white paint pen. Jane gifted me a set of slate plant name markers on arrival from Dubai and I wasted no time in creating a set of labels to remind no one but myself what I had planted. I think I am going to extend the courtesy to all my plants around the place.
I have lost one of two squash plants to high winds lately - another force of nature that needs to be "tamed" if I am going to grow food properly. Unless small plants are supported they will rock in the wind until they snap or the roots are damaged. I have a feeling this otherwise well "named" plant has subsequently perished in high winds for want of a bit of care and support. He looked good while he lasted though !
I have allowed a bit of whimsy with the slate markers - I think inspired by the Chiltern Seed catalogue. Here some salad onion have also germinated with the spinach. A lot of my small "leaf" germinations have been munched by voles.
The plan is to thin the seedlings in the bed but using a tiny seed dibber. Its seems a shame to waste the bulk of my Spring onions.
The rocket so far seems to have excaped unwanted attention but I expect that is just a matter of time.
Over in the other dedicated allium bed (Leeks and onions) this sowing of a main crop onion "Golden Bear" is having a hard time getting going !
There is much excitement over in the Demi-lunes but also much consternation as the Artichokes have started to form heads only to be assaulted by both aphids and their black ant farmers. The Aphids drink the sap and cluster near the heads themselves and are tended to by the ants who milk them for their sweet excretions. I am sure it must weaken the plant and I have seen ants hiding in the scales of the heads themselves. A good blast with a hose seems to work but it is a temporary solution.
I'll conclude with two more success stories. The Squash "Honey Bear".
And the one I am most excited about from a ornamental prospect - the Squash "Turks Turban". They should be the small flat Patti type squashes which are a good meal for one when stuffed with a savoury filling - perhaps pork and sage based. They are a deep orange colour so should be a decorative draw in the raised beds if we can achieve some mature squash by the Autumn.
Finally no trip to the garden centre is ever returned from with just the couple of bags of manure we went out for. I picked up some mediterranean herbs and I thought a couple squeezed into the corner of the beds would look good.
Commentaires