The Old And The New

What I'm talking about here is the "Old Garden" and the "New Garden". As many of you know, I have two lotties: the old being divdied into a veggie plot and a flower plot; the new one is strictly for veg production. Period.
What I would like to show today are how these two gardens are coming along in this, the time of change. The gardening plan is changing now, as things are winding down.

There is harvesting, to be sure...but there is also the cleaning-up of the veg that has finished and ground preparation and 'repair'. By repair, I mean that we can give the soil a little R&R, so to speak, from the ardous regular duties of production.

First let me begin with the old garden plot:
This foto shows the 'front' (or southern) half of the veggie plot.
You can see all the way in the back, the runner bean rack, then coming foreward--one of the the strawberry patches. Next the the 'Soldier' beets and finally the 'Green Manure', in this case it's Phacelia.
This is what I ment by, 'R&R'. The ground is not producing veg, but rather this green manure-- which will be left to die, pulkled up then laid on top of the soft soil to protect it during the winter.


Off in the upper right hand corner of that first foto, perhaps you saw the onions. In this foto you can see that there are large onions and small onions in two groups on that drying rack.
The interesting thing here is that the onion type (Centurion) is the same. They came out of the same 500g bag and were planted on the same day. The difference was that one group was planted in the old garden and one group was planted in the new garden. Care to guess which is which?
Well, the larger ones came from ther new garden on which I have been doing alot of work with weeding, improving the structure adding compost and animal manure...as well as levelling.
I re-work the soil every year in the new garden, but the "white rot" is in that garden. That fungus, once in your ground, stays there for years and years--so there is little to be done. If I plant onions or garlic, then must plant twice as many bulbs as I think that I will need becausse the loss to the white rot is so dramatic.
I guess that it is proof of how good it is to spend extra time on working on and renewing one's soil.


Now, in the other part of the old garden, beside the two-year-old strawb bed is the little section where the leeks were raised and the peas as well as Purple Sprouting Broccoli stood. Oh yes, and the Broad Beans as well.
This ground had to be cleaned and some compost and manure added in preparation to adding the strawbs. I would like to work-in some comercial Azalia soil, but that will be expensive to do in these financial times. I am un-decided at this moment.
One bed is covered with that black, permiable 'weed supressant' fabric. The other does not have any protection. We shall see if it makes any difference.
I plan to cut small holes in the fabric and plant the new plantlets which are presently growing on the mother plant's runners.
You can also see some more Phacelia in the area where the broad beans were to the front.


In the greenhouse the toms are ripening nicely with bunches of six.


Some are already ripe and will be ready for picking in ther near future.--The bowl at home is already full of toms. I may have to make some concentrate and store it in glass jars before long.


Every few days, I harvest a paprika or two...but now that I have processed and frozen several bags full of the young green ones--I shall be patient and wait for the remaider to turn red. I find that the flavour of a ripe papriks is sweeted than the green and certainly adds a certain flavour to dishes that one makes.


Moving over to the new garden, you can see right away from the path alot of work has been done with the bed where the spuds were. The bit closest to the path has two rows of leeks, but the area where the dark piles of our own compost is will still need working slightly before the Purple Sprouting Broccoli goes in in a couple of weeks.


On the last day of harvesting of the potatos, I just had to take a foto of these so-called 'Gourmet Potatos', the 'La Ratte d'Ardèche' (also called 'Buggenummer Muuskes' here.
I laid them out to dry before packing them up to take home.


...and here they are all crated up--well, one of the crates, at any rate. I left them in the ground quite long this year since there was no blight (Phytophthora) seen on the commplex. That is why they are so very enongated.


Green manure was planted in this plot in alternating rows of phacelia and yellow lupine. These, again, will be used as green manure to add to the integrity of the soil there.


Here you can see the newly cleaned beds of beets (beetroot), Parsnip and endive and the leafy spinach and Swiss chard behind that.


Look at these two courgette plants. What a difference in size!
That huge one has only male flowers at the moemnt. The big one was a 'runt' that was left-over and rather than throw it away, I just stuck it in the ground there...now it has outgrown it's plot mate which was planted a few weeks before it. I may have to give that thing some potash or comfrey tea to stimulate more flower production.


Ok then, well this long-winded posting has come to an end finally. This veggie story did not include any flower blooms, I will post a few of those in the coming days, I hope. It is quite hectic now with the harvesting and processing of the fruit and veg. You know how that goes.

One final note. My partner discovered this anomaly when harvesting courgettes. This still had the flower attatched and there were seeds coming out of the inside of the courgette. I've never seen that berfore.


Here a ''bug's eye view'.

 

Your plots and crops look great Sjoerd. I find it hard to believe you are already preparing your lottie for next year and harvesting...my veggie patch is just beginning to be productive.

 

Looking good Sjoerd, almost as good as mine.

I have the dreaded white rot also on my plots - it is a nuisance isn't it?! This winter I plan to grow my garlics in troughs of sterile compost rather than on the allotment because from several heads of seed garlic, I am lucky to harvest more than 2 or 3 decent bulbs.

I have just purchased some mustard seed and will start sowing this weekend on vacant patches. I hadn't used green manure until last year on your advice and I have to say I noticed a big difference in the crumbly texture of the soil, and the water retention definately improved.

I have never seen a courgette with the end distorted like that. I wonder if something nibbled it as it grew?

It all looks fab Sjoerd and it seems unbelievable that already we are starting to clear our plots for the autumn and winter. Time flies when you are having fun!

 

All of those wonderful potatoes and your garden is always so wonderful.

 

Your veges look so good. I as with Netty cannot beleive some of you are already planning your winter crops and planning for next year. I'm still waiting for my crops to come in for this year.
Those potatoes are lookin good, they'd make for some good fries. So what was up with that zuchinni? Thats mighty strange, huh.

 

Thank you all for your kind comments.

TONI, we do indeed spend quite a bit of time at the lotties. We have to work quite intensivelt when we do work because we both have jobs--this means that although at least one of goes each day, the time spent there each visit isn't very much. There are domestic chores and such that also need attention.

Yes Netty, it seems that we are quite a bit ahead of you there. At least I can enjoy your stories and pics when your things start to roll in.
I would have thought that the plants here would be almost at the same stage since you guys aren't all that much further north than us.

Ha ha ha, EJ-- you are a rascal. Yes that white rot is a real pain alright. I am wonder ing is the success with the onions this year inthe new lottie is due to the fact that I have added such a significant layer of compost on top of the "old" soil, so that the onion swere planted in the 'new" ground. s'possible isn't it?
I am well chuffed that you tried usiung green manure and are having a noticable differance in your soil. That is such good news. Just keep doing what you are doing and do not make the mistake of thin king that because there is an improvement this year that it will be good forever. The idea is that you keep up the use of the green manure.
What would really benefit your type of soil the most would be seaweed right straight from the coast. I am not kidding. It is free for the taking and the benefits are well documented on the internet.
I get a kind of little glow when I learn that someone has tried something that I spoke of....and had success. It's very nice.
I don't know what was going on with that courgette. A very strange thing indeed.
Thinking back, I probably should have saved that courgette to open it and have a look, but I put it in with the rest for the Food Bank.
It sure is amazing thet we are already making plans and doing the season's end tasks already. I'm not ready for it to end.

PETUNIA, I did not discover what was happening with that courgette. I am very curious, though. I may surf a bit when I get the time. Who knows what I will find.
Those spuds might well make good fries, but I find them too 'special' to cook them in that way. hahahaha I just steam them and roll them through butter.

 

Ah, food! *drooling* I really need to fix me some breakfast.

I am in awe at your tidiness. Wish my garden had someone like you to set it straight.

 

Fantastic garden! Your beds and soil looks so rich, not to mention the vegies :-D

 

Thanks for sharing pics of your plots. You have lovely gardens.

 

Thanks for the compliments, Droopy. Well, if the price were right, I might come up there and give it a go. hahahaha

Jewell and Bluelace--thank you for your nice comments too. I am very happy with the soil, it seems to keep getting better, but boy was it quite a job to get it improved to the stage that it is today...it's sort of an ongoing process.

 

Sjoerd, you and your bride are some very dedicated gardeners, everything looks grand.

 

Thanks so much, C'belle...you are indeed, a very sweet 'Belle' indeed to say that.