“Building” and planting the new garden

The new garden in the hills is coming along nicely.  As described on 14 April 2013 I used what was at hand initially to begin the new veggie patches and I have continued to do this to make fertilise and enlarge them.  As I have an absolute aversion to either exporting or importing fertility or potential fertility I do everything I can to recycle garden “waste” as close to the place where it was generated as possible.  In addition I try to do this in ways that make next to no work for me.

There have been grass cuttings a-plenty over recent weeks and I have mostly been spreading them out on top of the newest part of the veggie patch (which was mostly unplanted).  Grass cuttings have also been used to mulch round plants in the rest of the patch, along the pathways crossing the bed and some have also been distributed around plants in the “hedgetable patch” as they were in danger of drying out before they became fully established.  As we are not here all the time they needed some help to retain moisture and the grass cuttings have helped with this.

As always happens I have raised more plants than I can accommodate in the existing beds so I needed to create more space and the end of the hedge bank behind my main veggie beds seemed the best place.  I initially tried to dig into the grass with a spade and with a trowel but it was like iron and I could not get more than about two inches down.  I’m not terribly strong anyway so I quickly gave that up and started piling up organic matter – lawn cuttings, upturned turf, twiggy / leafy hedge trimmings and some topsoil donated by the next door neighbour. 

My partner has been generating hedge trimmings and I wanted to ensure that they were incorporated into the garden straight away.  I was not sure initially what I would do with them, but looking at the veggie beds I decided I could use them to ‘build’ outwards from the side enlarging the growing area.  The edge has been held in place by a mix of large stones from under the hedge and longish branches also from the hedge.  I removed these and cut the soft new green growth off the trimmings and cut them into bits no more than 12 inches long (much was shorter than this) and let them pile up where they fell along the side of the bed.  The woody material, large twigs and small branches were laid neatly alongside the edge of the bed to make the edge again and the rocks replaced outside this.  Afterwards I also dropped some pea seeds in to add some life as they seem to be able to get started in fairly minimal amounts of soil.

To get the garden established I have been bringing as many and varied perennial veggies and supporting plants as possible from the other garden.  So far this bed is home to these plants. 

Jerusalem artichoke	Raised from tubers saved last year
Oca	Raised from tubers saved last year
Yacon	Raised from tubers saved last year
Mashua	Raised from tubers saved last year
Apios americana	Purchased this year
Salsify	Raised from seed
Skirret	Plants raised from seed last year
Dahlia (a new root for me to try)	Raised from seed
Potato	An odd one from somewhere
Parsnip	A single plant saved from last year, now flowering with the aim of it setting seed naturally
Field beans	From seed saved last year
French beans	From seed saved 2011
Peas	From pack of peas dried for kitchen use
Daubenton’s kale	From cutting
Nine star perennial kale	From seed saved last year
Wild kale	From cutting
Red Russian kale	From seed saved last year
Asparagus	Purchased
Wild rocket	Some from purchased seed, one plant purchased
Flax	From seed saved last year
Horseradish	Purchased
Wild marjoram	Transplanted from other garden
Chives	Trans
Sage	Purchased
Lemon balm	Purchased
Wild leek	transplanted
Nettle	Transplanted as a green manure
A few miscellaneous wild plants	Have just appeared as they do!
Gladioli!	Corms going cheap in local shop!

The “hedgetable patch” is now home to:

Field beans	From seed saved last year
Runner beans	Purchased seed
Peas	From pack of kitchen peas used on dry, slippy bits of bank as experiment
Skirret	Raised from seed last year
Burdock	Raised from seed last year
Lathyrus tuberosus	Raised from seed last year
Three cornered leek	Transplanted
Allium paradoxum	Transplanted
Wild garlic	Transplanted
Bunching spring onions	Transplanted
Shallots	Saved from last year
Wild kale	From cuttings last year
Daubenton’s kale	From cuttings last year
Nine star perennial broccoli	From seed saved last year
Lamb’s lettuce	Transplanted, now setting seed
Nettle	In situ already
Raspberries	Transplanted and a new autumn fruiting variety
Blackberries	Purchased
Blackcurrant	Transplanted from cuttings taken last year
Honeyberry	Purchased
Tayberry	Purchased
Wild strawberry	Transplanted
Sweet cicely	Transplanted
Primrose	Transplanted
Phacelia	Seed travelled in soil with transplants
Clematis and honeysuckle	Purchased
Herb Robert	Transplanted from another part of the hedge and used to stabilise the edge.
Saxifrage and bugle	Transplanted from ornamental border and used to stabilise the edge.

This looks like (and is) a lot of plants in a small space.  On the one hand I am happy to concede that they may well be too close together and could suffer as a result.  On the other hand I had the ‘problem’ I always run into at this time of year – too many plants for the space available and I end up putting them in where I can on the basis that if they don’t all work then at least some will.  Also the beds are deep, particularly the hedgetable patch, and this should give the roots a place to dig into as the organic matter they are composed of decomposes.  I noticed a number of worms as I planted things yesterday, plus beetles, spiders and a chrysalis of some kind.  I have also added some fertility in the form of wood ash from the wood burner and meticulously saved over the cold months in order to use as fertiliser.  This photo shows the main patch with peas and yacon close to the front, mashua on the left, oca on the right.  The other plants are on the small side to see individually!

The signs are that the new beds are shaping up to become healthy and fertile in due course and based on experience at the other garden I have every reason to expect that they will.  There is lots still to do but I have had some initial small harvests of wild rocket, pea shoots, rosemary and thyme!