Its going surprisingly well mate, were on track to be settled by xmas which will be a relief. Hope your well. With a bit of luck might even get my garlic in the ground in time for a summer harvest. although having just enjoyed the finest summer in the UK for many years suspect next year might be a wet one
Its going surprisingly well mate, were on track to be settled by xmas which will be a relief. Hope your well. With a bit of luck might even get my garlic in the ground in time for a summer harvest. although having just enjoyed the finest summer in the UK for many years suspect next year might be a wet one
Harvesting is great, but Autumn clean-up is plenty of work. Still, come Spring, I'll be mighty glad that the garden is so neat. We're trying something new. After all weeds are pulled, we're laying clean cardboard down, piling grass clippings on top to decompose.I figure to cut holes through for the plants and see if it doesn't cut down on weeding. Also I hope it conserves moisture. Any thoughts?
Sjoerd, I'm totally jealous of your onion & garlic braids. I would never have thought to use that method. Our onions turned out so small, and I wonder why. The garlic was quite nice. I rather envy you the bee hives. Living in a trailer park, (Caravan in UK, I believe) we wouldn't be allowed to keep bees, but I do buy local honey. Your crops are just awesome.
GP--I think these plans are good. I believe that it will work and indeed hold moisture. to a degree. how much moisture it holds and for how long depends upon how thick the layers of things you have on top if the cardboard. I have used cardboard with runner beans and to keep weeds down on my paths and it did work in those instances, albeit the goals were different.
I'm wondering if I should plan to plant between the pieces of cardboard? For tomatoes and peppers, cutting through should work, but for seeding such as beans, a space between sounds more practical.
I guess that your second posting was being written or posted while i was answering your first. haha. Ach wel. At any rate--thank you for the very nice words. I have had those years where my onions (and sometimes my garlics) turn out very small. I never understand clearly what the reason is for that. Well, having said that, some years it is clear that the climatic factors were definitely the primary cause...and sometimes it is the fault of the see garlics or onions. When there are probs that are down to me, it is almost always a calculating error that I make with watering during drought spells. You know GP--if you ever wanted to keep bees you could try and talk a near-by farmer into allowing you to keep them on his land. Of course I don't know if this is feasible for you personally, but sometimes there is more than one way to skin a cat. Thanks again for your kind words.
I think that it would be better to plant, say, bean seeds in-between the cardboard sheets because french beans prefer dry and hot conditions. Naturally from now until bean-planting time in the spring and summer you could cover the place where you are going to plant your seeds and then cut out a row then. I cover all my veggie plots all winter long with a thick mulch of plant debris until mid may when I begin planting things out. It ought to work for you as well.
Good idea, Sjoerd, regarding bee keeping. I may pass the thought along to my daughter as she is a bit younger than I am. I just visited your website and viewed several photos. Near us is the city of Detroit, which everyone has heard of. They could benefit greatly from the allotment idea. Happy gardening !
Wonderful harvest pics Sjoerd! Every couple of years I have a few of those garlic stalks with the little bulbs on them. I'm not sure what causes them either, but they are mighty tasty!
