Vegging Out

Once again Jean-Luc had been labouring mightily in the garden; it's been a lot of measuring so I was allowed to assist as well as providing tea.

And as usual he did a magnificent job.

 Before

After

Yes we've been laying out the veggie beds.  3 beds, 8 feet by 6 feet = 144 square feet of glorious cultivation space.  We could have fitted in four beds but that would mean cutting down the magnolia tree so No, it wasn't going to happen.

The next step is to put in the raised bed surrounds and fill them up with some grit and compost.

Then comes bark chip footpaths and a compost heap (under the magnolia tree).

Apparently to be self sufficient in veggie production the minimum amount of cultivation space we'd need would be over 630 square feet.  Obviously we won't be anywhere near self sufficient and that's not what we're aiming for.  What we want are tasty seasonal veg, more variety, a greater choice than the supermarkets offer - rainbow chard, Jerusalem artichokes etc.

The two beds on the left will be for veggies and the one on the right will be a fruit bush bed.  I'm aiming to grow rhubarb, gooseberries and currants there; and hopefully fit some raspberries in too.

I also want to grow some salad potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes in containers.  These crops take up a lot of room so I'm looking to grow them in my incinerators which I use at large pots.

There's also a gap between the greenhouse and fruit bed which I will probably fill with herbs - not mint and lavender, which need to be confined to large pots to stop them advancing on the rest of the garden from the opposite end from the lysimachia - a vegetative rock meeting a floral hard place.

These will be oregano, rosemary, sage, chives, dill, tarragon and hyssop to name but a few.

We already have fennel in the garden and lavender, lemon balm and mint in pots.

I can't wait to get growing next spring.