Deb, I would not use the pine needles for general mulching. Pine tree elements are specific for plants that like acid an milieu. Things like blueberry bushes, strawberry plants, rhodi’s, hydrangea’s and that sort of thing. Do you have other materials that you could mulch your plots with?
Oké mate. Good luck with those beds. Please come back and tell how things go in the spring, not only how the mulching went but about your planting plans.
Will do, Sjoerd! 2021 was my first year gardening, so I'm excited to see how I can improve things for next year.
Good, thanks. It is so exciting to meet new gardeners who are starting. It will be interesting to see how it develops for you. Are you already planning for next year? You have a totally different climate than I and probably completely different soil to work with. It is interesting to see how things go in other countries.
Oh yes, I'm excitedly planning for next year already! The soil here is fairly heavy clay which makes things interesting during spring and autumn when we get quite a lot of rain. The relatively mild weather means a nice long growing season, although it can get quite hot in summer. We have almost doubled our growing space since last spring, and our soil should be much improved thanks to a good amount of homemade compost which we didn't have last year as we've been on the current property for only 11 months. I'm hoping to have enough compost ready by spring to amend some rather rundown flower beds in front of our house and turn them into a herb garden. If not, I'll fit some of my favorite culinary herbs into the veggie beds and save the herb garden for the following year. Do you have any big changes planned for your garden next year?
Hoi DK, Interesting hearing your plans for the coming season. Good to hear you are making plans for the spring. Having fresh herbs in Italy is perhaps more cultural than hobby, I suppose, but still the growing and harvesting must be done. I am not making any big changes this coming year. I always try new veggie sorts each year, but the way I garden calls for rotation between four quadrants. Those beds are now mulched. You know DK, the planning goes on all year long, whatever stage I am in, I am still planning for the next phase or two that is coming. The flower beds have been moderately cleaned. I will chuck in some annuals. When the weather dries, I will plant some more daff bulbs. I shall have to replace some fruit trees one of these days, but not yet. The bees require attention, but I must wait until spring to see what big job (if any) will be required. So then, no big changes this time for me. It would be nice to see some piccies of your work.
Sjoerd, here are photos of my little garden from early June, mid July, mid September, and mid November. It's quite gratifying to go back and see how much it has changed in such a short time! Edited to add: the beds are roughly 4 ft wide by 32 ft long for reference
Wouldya lookit that ! That must be the longest raised bed I have ever seen. Chuckle. It looks like you take proper care of the soil in them. Do you find this type of gardening easy yo do? It looks good. Thanks for taking the trouble to send a few pics. Are those beds running N—S? You have mentioned that you have plans to grow herbs and I have seen sunflowers. What other things do you or will you grow? You certainly have the space.
Thanks I wouldn't recommend repeating the dimensions. There have been some less than graceful moves trying to get to the other side without walking all the way around. At least it probably entertains the neighbors. The beds run more or less N to S.... more or less because we needed to incorporate a small overgrown bed that was already here. As far as what I'm growing next year, the list is long... garlic, leeks, onions, tomatoes, chillies, eggplant, summer squash, winter squash, okra, bush beans, pole beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, collard greens, celery, sweet corn, carrots, and...and... probably some others that have slipped my mind
