Am I a plonker?

I’m definitely a plonker…. it’s official.

In the vegetable patch there is something called crop rotation, this is where you rotate your heavy and light feeding plants to avoid getting any nasty pests and diseases in the beds. I do try to adhere to the rules and try to be organised with the planting but invariably I end up plonking plants in any available space I can to get them out of their seed trays instead of being methodical and planning where they should go.

Julie tends to put labels on the seed rows and organises herself and then I come along with my petrol powered strimmer and shred them into tiny pieces. This means that the courgettes are mixed with pumpkins and cabbages mixed in with the broccoli. It doesn’t matter though as we won’t get them mixed up when they deliver their crops.

PEAS IN A POD
There is one exception here though, peas and mange tout. They look so similar that you can’t really tell them apart. Every year we try to chew our way through pea pods instead of the soft flesh of the mange tout, whose pods are grown to be eaten. So we did take the precautions of planting both of them at each end of the garden, surely even I can’t get them mixed up now….

The peas and beans are starting to come on now and I should think so after all of the sunshine we have had over the last three weeks. We did plant out more seeds straight into the beds to come on with a second flush but none of them have appeared. We think that the mice got them.

ALPINE STRAWBERRIES
Julie wanted some alpine strawberries in the garden this year and sowed some of their tiny seeds. Most of them have all come up and have been transplanted into containers. They are very tasty and you get loads of them over the growing season. I also like the crunchiness of the seeds. I’m not sure if we will get any fruit this year but it matters not as we cut back an old hebe on the driveway and found a small family of about ten alpine strawberry plants hiding underneath. They have flowers already.
SUCCESSIVE SOWINGS
Another aspect of gardening that needs a bit of planning is successive sowings. I mentioned the peas and there are loads of others you can plant to extend the growing season, especially salad crops. Salad crops are ideal for sowing every three weeks or so to get fresh tasty produce all summer. It’s not too late to plant pick and come again lettuce, rocket, radishes and chives. Plant bedding plants and annuals in succession too. Julie has just planted out some more last minute night scented stock seeds for later on in the summer.
WEEDING
Weeding has been very easy this month because the ground is so dry. If you do a bit every week this will stop the plants from seeding and reduce the amount you will get next year. Julie has her favourite tool for weeding the vegetable beds, a small hand held hoe, and enjoys the close contact with the ground. I on the other hand, prefer to be standing upright with one hand on the hoe and the other holding a cup of tea….. I’m waiting for the long handled hoe from John and Mary Fruit hill farm delivery.

SOIL QUALITY
There is a big difference between the soil in our veggie patches. Some was heavily fed with well rotted horse muck and other beds had only garden compost. It’s our first year in the garden so it’s interesting to see the difference. Other factors might be light and water. One of the beds is in more shade and near to some trees so that might take away nutrients needed for healthy growing.
NO PRESSURE
We have low water pressure here, I can’t fathom out if it’s the water pipes leading to the house or if there is a blockage in the pipe. Either way by the time it comes out of the hose it hasn’t enough power to initiate a spray, it just sort of flops out and has a wetting range of about a foot so it’s more of an irritation than an irrigation system. We have utilised the big blue recycling bin, moved it next to the raised beds and filled that with water.
Now it’s just a question of pushing in the watering can and filling it up then walking the short distance to where we need to water. Although we have had a dry spell, there isn’t really much need to water a lot unless you have just transplanted some young plants and they are in the sun. Rain water would be the best system so if you can fit a butt to the down pipe of the house and collect it then all the better. This is a good point to note if you are on a meter. The council in Buncrana have a great system in place on their polythene tunnels. All of the water is collected from the roof and goes into a massive storage tank underground so it can be used when needed to water their bedding plants. The only drawback is the fact that they have to wait 2 months until the ESB fits a pump to get the water above ground and under pressure to work…. Hopefully the plants will be brightening up the Buncrana streets by then… In the mean time let’s hope they have more water pressure than I do………