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GARDEN 20 |
The Vegetable Garden contd.
As has been mentioned before, the garden is divided into eight, roughly equal sections. To the East, two beds contain permanent vegetables, (Globe Artichoke and Rhubarb) whilst to the West, two beds contain flowers to be cut for decorating the house and also providing room to line out cuttings and seedlings.
Beloved by bees, globe artichokes are grown more for their flowers than their culinary worth.
(L) An overview of the Vegetable garden 2003, looking towards the cut flower beds. (R) Looking back towards the house.
The central four beds contain a 4-crop rotation which includes potatoes. The addition of spuds in the rotation means that all the beds will get double dug and manured in turn, on a regular basis. I do not follow the traditional pattern for a rotation however. As I am not producing food for anything other than pleasure, I am able to clear three of the four plots by the end of the Autumn ready for some serious digging over the Winter. The remaining plot contains my "Winter Bed" i.e. Brussels sprouts, leeks, carrots, and parsnips, and spring greens for the following year. Winters are generally kind and root vegetables can be left in situ to be picked at leisure.
(L) Root vegetables do very well on our thin soil. This carrot weighed in at exactly 4lb. (C) Parsnips were particularly good in 2001. (R) An old wattle hurdle is pressed into use as an onion drying table.
(L) A view of "Compost Corner". Marrows benefit from being grown directly on the compost heap. (C & R) Far more exciting on a plate than the normal green varieties, yellow courgettes and custard marrows have just as much flavour.
(L) Growing carrots with onions can almost eradicate predation from carrot fly. A further barrier of pot marigolds ensures almost complete protection from onion fly too. (R) Un-netted soft fruit never really stands a chance but the blackbirds do more good than harm.
Conveniently situated within a shovel throw away are the power house of the garden-the magnificent compost heaps. Not hidden away as in Victorian times but proudly proclaiming their re-cycling message for all to see. Nearly all our organic waste is composted. I do NOT compost rose prunings or potato haulm for fear of disease, roots of weeds such as bindweed or ground elder which sadly are all to prevalent in the garden or food scraps for fear of encouraging rats to visit. I do not add proprietary brands of activator to the heap, relying instead, on chopped up comfrey and nettles. I do not cover the heaps in any way and turn them on a regular quarterly basis. Rather than an eyesore, the heaps provide much needed space in which to grow courgettes and pumpkins which would otherwise take over the main growing areas. They also provide incubation facilities for quite a large grass snake population and very importantly, a winter home for hedgehogs, frogs and toads.
My new cold frames, (Spring 2002), are invaluable. They were made possible thanks to the generosity of a local National Trust association.
Appropriately enough, next door to the compost heaps are my new cold frames. Having struggled for years to grow things with no protection at all, these have been an absolute godsend. I am now able to sow even the most mundane things with a degree of confidence. Previously, half-hardy annuals were completely out of the question unless I sowed them in July and taking cuttings was a hit and miss affair. Now I am able to sow French beans to plant out in May and overwinter pelargoniums that would otherwise freeze to death if they remained in the house.