Mowing the grass paths and strimming their edges was the first thing on the “to do” list. A little trial: the time is right, but not the weather. Be that as it may, we wanted to see how it would go to pop a courgette in , albeit with some protection. We had made holes filled with nutritious sol mixture with compost for good drainage weeks ago in preparation for this day. So then, in the ground went the little plant, a plastic bag with its bottom cut out over five sticks was slipped over the stick frame...and Bob’s yer uncle ! The bag was secured with clothes pegs, and inside we placed an empty plant pot over the root ball for watering and feeding later on in the season. We finished planting the last of the beans. They look good, hopefully we will not have adverse weather here at the last moment. Well on such an auspicious day we dared to plant the parsnips. The plot was made ready, raked fine and the soil in the drills made even finer with this great tool: That was the Bride showing how it’s done. Then all done and dusted. Work done, I had a look t a few bloomers: This is my Norwegian brem. If you look closely, you can see a spider inside the flower. The wild garlic is looking good: Some of those wild poppies This grand dame it so tame...and so old. She falls over when she lands. These Soloman seals seal this posting. “Hallelujah” did you say?
Its a shame that your garden is so neat and clean and tidy and ours isn`t ! I bet you do not have Texas bermuda grass or our weeds ! And flowers to boot !
Cheers Logan. Mart maybe your garden is neat and tidy, I’ve never seen it. Chuckle. No, but thanks for the compliment. I always appreciate kind words. You are probably right about me not having those texas weeds. Believe me, we have our own “bad boys” to contend with.
Beautiful photos Sjoerd. A question for you: why did you prepare the soil with compost ahead of time for that courgette? And I see you till the soil to a fine tithe.... Why is that? Do the seeds germinate better? The soil hold water better or hold more air?
Well, since my garden is in pots now you wouldn`t think I would have a problem ! But alas,, Its Texas,, bermuda sneaks in to the drain holes and up to the top !
Hoi Cayu. The questions: (1) Why did I prepare the hole that would receive the courgettes? —Cayu, to begin with, it has to do with my gardening philosophy. What in the world am I on about? In this case you may remember that I have said on here how important I find it to know the plants that you want to grow. You need to know their nature, their needs, when they normally emerge from the seeds, the conditions they need to do well and so forth...but you get the picture, right? In this case it is helpful to know that courgettes are heavy feeders. This is what I mean by “know your plant”. So then, to this end I make the growing milieu for my courgettes rich with well-rotted manure and create a well-drained structure. (2) Why do I till the soil for the parsnip bed so fine? —Well, for this type of vegetable I min-till the bed with a border fork, then I till the whole bed roughly fine with the claw rake to breakup the large clods and then in the rows where the seeds will be planted, I use the speciality tool to make the drills where the seeds will actually be planted super-fine so that there will be no obstruction for the root as it develops downwards. As you know, parsnips are a “root plant”, that is to say, we grow them to harvest and eat the roots. Now then, the nature of parsnips and their cousins, carrots is that when the roots grow downwards they will fork and / or contort when they meet resistance. Resistance such as stones, hard clods twig leftovers and the like are enough to cause the mis-formation. The idea is that I want those little seeds to have conditions as perfect as possible in the germination layer so that they can get a good beginning. Obviously misformed veggie tastes the same as well-formed ones. It’s about how easily they can be scraped, or peeled. BTW— it is important to remember that too much manure, for example, can cause serious carrot and parsnip malformation. Here parsnips are very difficult to get going. I have tried all sorts of “tricks” to get get those seeds to germinate and grow. They remain a difficult crop to deal with. You will probably read this and say, that I could have answered this with less words. That is true, but I know you to be a serious gardener and adding the why and background seemed a good idea. Personally I don’t like getting an answer without the explanation of why. It helps me to understand and remember better. Is this rambling explanation helpful, or have I used too many words?
