Vegetable Garden Update October 19, 2009

Whoah, I have been so busy this summer with work that I really had no chance to keep the blog up to date, but the veggie garden performed very well considering the limited time I have had to devote to it.

Raised Beds with Crop protection Netting

Just to carry on where I left off though here is a picture of the raised beds with the crop protection netting that I spoke about in my last post. The netting has proved very successful and has also reduced infiltration by those evil doing snails.

As you can see the potatoes in the top bed were already well on the way, as were all the other crops. At this point we had already begun to harvest lettuces, and radish.

The radish were of course the first crop from the raised beds. There were plenty of them and they were pretty good. The kids were amazed how quickly the first crop became ready and were eager to try them…but lets just say that radish isn`t going to be their favourite vegetable list! Anyway I was happy with the results and my brother`s family seemed to like them.

Overall though, this year we had bountiful crops from the Maris Piper Potatoes, with the first plant being lifted in early August, yielding 3.5 lbs of beautiful tatties. It is now nearly November and I have just lifted the last of the potatoes. One plant yielding 7.5 lbs! The average being around 5lb per plant. Very successful!

Potatoes and Lettuce!

The Iceberg lettuces provided several wonderful crisp, firm heads, and we did reasonably well until a late infestation of slugs and snails infiltrated the defences! Thanks to a very wet July and August, and high numbers of pests I decided to curtail any later sowings.

Starwberries were probably the biggest disappointment, although they tasted fine, there were not many and they were a little mushy. Again a victim of the wet weather I think and maybe a touch of overwatering on my part….live and learn.

We only had a half dozen pea plants, but they grew very well and produced a good crop for the small amount of plants. The peas themselves were tasty and went well with the Sunday lunches for a few weeks.

My favourite of the veggies grown this year was the beetroot, I only grew one row, of successive sowings, and will probably double that next year. The resulting beetroots were of good size, beautiful colour and taste. I like pickled beetroot but I much prefer it just boiled from the garden.

Sweetcorn, now I have to admit I made a boob here….The sweetcorn did everything it was supposed to do and grew fantastically well, but unfortunately I was a little late harvesting and the sweetcorn was past its best. Not a complete failure but in future I will pick them a little earlier.

The tomatoes after a slow start eventually cropped and although they only produced small amounts on each plant we had more than we could eat ourselves. So all in all a good result for the tomatoes.

Now the carrots did very well too. Again only a single row, but produced fine carrots. Some I harvested smaller for the better taste and the last ones which came out a couple of weeks back had been left in longer and produced some lovely big long carrots! More please next year.

The aim of the vegetable garden this year was to involve the kids in the growing, care and harvesting…oh and the eating part too. Overall it was mission accomplished. I had help from sowing and planting, through to watering (begrudgingly at times), right through to harvesting, they were keen to see the results and help gather the crops. They may not have been over enthusiastic but they have learned a little more about where our food comes from, and how to produce it..and so have I.

Growing your own vegetables is a learning curve, you learn by your mistakes as much as your successes. I have enjoyed the experience this year, look forward to doing more next year, and hopefully I will have more time to spend with my veggies to improve upon this years results.

If you want to learn more about veggie growing then I reccomend you visit High Density Gardening

I bought this guys ebook which is great, and got 4 bonus ebooks to boot which are all excellent in their own right. It`s not expensive in any case, well worth the money, and if you dont like it theres a moneyback guarantee and its available instantly as a download so you can start reading straight away. Anyway thats it for now.

How To Vegetable Garden – Update April 28, 2009

It`s been a little while since my last post, but I have been busy.

The third raised bed is now up and running, and there has been lots more planting!

I am sowing quarter rows of lettuce, carrots, beetroot and radish every two weeks to give successive crops, and so far no problems (other than a small amount of damage after a kiddies party!). I am thinning to the correct planting distances as stated on the packets.

The first sowing of raddish is nearing harvesting time.

Also sown are `maris piper` potatoes, 6 rows (24 seeds), strawberry plants, and I have planted dwarf sweetcorn, peas and in a pots some broad beans and a piece of mint which was salvaged from the original garden.

Now the only negative so far was with the tomatoes, which were growing great indoors, but when I potted them on I had no choice but to put them outside, protected with fleece. This did cause a little shock to the plants, but we have had no frosts and they are now beginning to put on a little growth, so we will have to see how they do.

The BIG plus was buying a crop protection net. With a few stakes and a net that cost just a few quid, I was able to protect all three beds from cats, birds, and to some degree snails, and small footballs! It took just an hour to erect and has been a huge success. I will add photos as soon as I have some.

Good luck with your veggies!

How To Vegetable Garden – Success so far… April 9, 2009

Well it`s now 12 days I think, since I made those first sowings. So far so good. Aside from the intervention of one of the local cats there have been no problems.

The radish are doing great and ready for thinning, lettuces are well on the way and the beetroot and carrots have started to appear over the last 48hours.

Oh, and the tomatoes I planted indoors are also doing very well too.

This weekend I still have the third bed to complete and will be making second sowings of the crops I already have growing. This time though I will only be sowing a quarter row rather than a half row.

I have also bought some seed Maris Piper potatoes which I have chitting in a windowsill in the porch, so they too will be planted in the next couple of weeks.

It`s all quite exciting and the kids are beginning to show an interest!

My only none starter at the moment is the strawberries which I hope will not let me down. Next up for planting are cucumbers and cabbage, and I still need to get some peas and beans and maybe some brussels.

I`m like a kid in a candy shop…mmmmm but vegetables are so much healthier!!

How To Vegetable Garden – Germination April 3, 2009

Well it`s only been  five or six days since I sowed my first seeds and I am seeing the first sign s of germination.

First to show are the radish outdoors, and a solitary tomato plant has appeared overnight in the propagator on the kitchen windowsill. So far so good!

I have had to water lightly this week to keep the raised beds moist, as we have had some good sunny days with temperatures around 13C. The propagator I mist with a spray gun when the surface begins to dry.

Hopefully this weekend I will install the third raised bed…..

How To Vegetable Garden – Cats!! March 30, 2009

I don`t believe it….I left the fleece off for two hours this morning and a cat has struck…right in the middle of newly sown seeds.

Fortunately my own cat was not to blame. Lucky for him!

Anyway, looks like I need to arrange some cat proofing for my raised beds. I think some netting may be the answer, but for the next few days the fleecy membrane I have will have to do the job.

How To Vegetable Garden – Sowing Seed March 29, 2009

Well the weather has drastically improved and the long range forecast is good for this week. So, today I have made my first sowings in the raised beds.

I have sown half rows of carrots, beetroot, lettuce and raddish. I have also planted four strawberry plants, and sown some tomatoes in a small home made propagator.

Next I built the third raised bed but still need some stakes to add support.

Also completed today was putting together a fleece membrane cover to pull over at night to prevent frost damage….and stop the cats from digging everything up and messing all overthe place! Hope that works.

How To Vegetable Garden – Seeds March 26, 2009

 Hi again, the raised beds (2 of 3 ) are now finished, but could use a few extra stakes around them to make them more stable. I dug down and broke up the soil to a depth of 18 inches  and a little beyond that as there is a heavy layer of clay underneath. I then added lots of compost and dug it in, the soil now looks pretty reasonable.

So today I just had a quick run around the local garden center and picked up my first batch of seeds. Nothing amazing here this is the first year and I`m aiming to teach the kids more than anything else so I want to keep this simple. Anyway, I have gone for :-

• Carrots – Nantes 2
• Cabbage – Golden Acre Primo (II)
• Cucumber  – Marketmore
• Lettuce – Iceberg 2
• Radish – Cherry Belle
• Beetroot – Perfect 3
• Tomato – Alicante
• Strawberry Plants – Corona

I am also going to get some peas, beans and potatoes.

There is also a pack of sunflower seeds just for fun.

Weather is pretty poor here, heavy wind, with heavy showers, followed by brighter spells. There is the possibility according to some that there could be snow at the weekend.

So I think I will wait  a few days before making any sowings, although I may start the tomatoes indoors.

How To Vegetable Garden – Raised Beds March 21, 2009

Hi, everyone.
Had a busy day in my vegetable garden today… I say vegetable garden but at the moment it`s still in the build stage. We moved into this house just over a year ago and I have stripped out the whole garden. First things to go back in apart from the boundary fences, are the raised beds for my veggies.

I only have room for three, 5ft x 5ft squares, two of which will be completed and ready tomorrow if weather is good. The raised beds are constructed from pressure treated timbers, that I have also treated with a water based timber treatment so that they match the fence! The wood is about 2 inch in thickness and 10 inches across and cut to 5ft lengths.

Raised Beds

The timber squares were loosely knocked together first using nails, then once in position on the ground they were staked around the oustside so that they would not fall apart once soil was added inside. As the site is on a steep south-ish facing slope, I have sunk the boards slightly into the slope to level them up a little. Sometimes I would protect the boards from the soil with a plastic liner but in this case I have not. Hopefully they should still last 3-5 years.

The soil inside was then double dug to provide ample depth for root vegetables, improve drainage and aeration, and break down underlying compacted ground. As it is very close to planting time and and the soil is of reasonable quality I am simply going to top up the raised beds with compost and dig it in. In the Autumn I will add some well rotted farmyard manure as required.

My main reason for growing my own vegetables at home and starting a vegetable patch is that I want to teach my kids how to vegetable garden, as knowing how to vegetable garden is, in my opinion, a lifeskill. Vegetable gardening is something that should be taught more, and lessons on how to vegetable garden should be covered by schools. What do you think.?

How To Vegetable Garden – Welcome! March 21, 2009

Welcome to How To Vegetable Garden…the blog.

Ok, over the next few weeks and months I am going to post on here what I am doing and how my new vegetable garden is progressing. The plot is being developed from scratch, in my own garden, which is a little cramped and far from being ideal situation. Still, we struggle on, and let`s see how we do.

Please make comments when you visit!!

Photos are welcome too, for our gallery, they can be of anything gardening related, funny, sad, good or bad but no nudity…they won`t be published but we may take a peek lol!

Send to: contact@how-to-vegetable-garden.com

 

 

Paul