We have had some good weather and I have had vacation. The rainy days I had to spend at home, but no worries--I was able to plant seeds and plan. With decent weather I could spend the whole day in the garden digging, scratching and planting...and planning. One thing was to plant some lettuce in the greenhouse (which now has it's glass panes back in). Planting those little plantlets also gave me the opportunity to check and see how the soil in there was coming along. I could tell that it is warming right up, and it has a good healthy smell. Just to the right (east) of the greenhouse is a strip of soil between the greenhouse and the canal. This is where the beet patch will come and also be home to a couple of courgettes. I have seeded several types of courgettes this year for a variety. One sort is advertised as being able to grow and produce under a wide range of climatic conditions. I am hopeful. These daffs growing in front of the greenhouse are lovely to see, it's a shame that this foto turned out a bit overexposed, but you can get an idea of how attractive they are. On the western side of the greenhouse is the 'old garden'. There are some strawberry beds there. I have started experimenting with black weed-retardant cloth. Things that I am looking to see are how the plants fare generally over two season. Specifically, I want to know if there are indeed less weeds around the strawbs competing for nutrients. If the plants grow and produce fruit as well as those with no cloth. I want to see how easy it is to water and feed the plants. I was also curious to see how they would do in severe weather conditions as compared to those outside the cloth cover. So far I have noticed that one bed with the cloth is doing well, the other one less so. I also seem to have more problems with moles under the black cloth. Apparently the ground stays more loose, moist and 'wormy' that the beds without that cloth. I notice that when watering, the water tends to pool on the cloth and slowly soak through it --this is ideal for when it is raining, but not when pouring water from a can. There is no time to wait. I can introduce the spout of the watering can through the same hole in the cloth as the plant peeks through, but the disadvantage is that it directs the water stream at the base of the plants, washing soil away from the roots. I shall give it one more season and decide what to do about using the cloths. Here is a strawberry bed planted last year--it is hugely overgrown with Forget-Me-Nots and weeds. You can see one of the experimental beds with the anti weed cloth in the back. After some weeding, the bed is clean and I can see how well the plants did. They must have struggled when competing for the nutrients with those weeds, as they also have shallow roots. Over in the new garden, the plot in the foreground is for the corn this year. This is where the purple sprouting broccoli and the leeks were. It has been min-tilled and decent layers of well-rotted horse manure and compost added. The corn has not yet been planted, but they will be in the coming weeks. Meanwhile the soil can become 'ready' to receive the new tenants. Beyond the corn bed you can see the brown ground cover--that is where the brassicas will come and between that and the rack in the middle of the garden will be runner beans. Beyond that the potato crop will be planted. I have put one row in already and if the weather works with me, then the rest will go in during the weekend. The corn bed (doesn't that soil look good?): Just beyond the corn patch, you can see two segments of ground--one covered and one without. This was not an experiment, I just ran out of ground covering materials. Yellow lupines were here as green manure but froze before they got large enough and melted back into the soil. The result was that weeds took over. This next picture demonstrates the value of covering the ground--You can see the weeds and with the ground-cover pulled back you can see that there are no weeds underneath that, just beautiful, loose soil which was loaded with worms, BTW. I sunk a trowel into it and lifted a plug and there were worms hanging out of it in all sizes. This next foto demonstrates the benefit of using soil covering (mulch). That soil is so soft that one must use a plank to stand on or else their foot would sink into the loose dirt. There is another aspect of gardening ...or having a garden, I should say. it is the wildlife. Here you can see that a blue tit has made a nest in the little house. I hope that all is well, but I have my doubts, as I was sitting on the central patio sipping tea and I heard this great crash in neighbour Willem's tall, variegated holly tree then out came a sparrow hawk-looking bird and flew straight at me then made a quick bank to the left and disappeared across the canal and train tracks. I saw from behind that he had a small bird in it's claws. What a pity if that was the female blue tit. The thing that worries me is that there has been no further activity since the death of the small bird. it's mate sat in the Buddleja chilping and chilping for its mate...but there was no answer. That was a bit sad. It may be the reality of nature, but I don't have to like it. Here is the birdhouse: I almost forgot to mention that under the thick Lavender plants at the edge of the veggie plot I was checking my dead-looking Clematis'Freckles' plant and saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I bent down and looked closer. It was a duck! A female mallard...and what's more she has a nest full of eggs. Oh my. My first reaction was ..."Oh Good, this will be fun to watch"! But then I started adding up the plants that I have seen with fresh damage to them. I put two and two together, and realised that the duck, or ducks have been foraging in my garden. I do not like this one little bit. In fact, I can't tolerate it if they start on the strawberry leaves or my broad beans...or the beets that I must plant this weekend. I am going to try and be as active as I can in the lottie and hope to discourage the ducks from foraging there...and as soon as the eggs hatch, I will usher the whole family to the edge of the canal and into the water. I will take pics of the eggs and adults ....and ducklings--if they make it. There are stoats or weasels about, so it's anyone's guess if the eggs will even hatch. I shall keep you posted.
very envious of your soil. Going to take me few years to get mine to that quality. Interesting to see your weed experiments. I've been the snow makes a nice weed barrier of its own as last years patch was weed free. Good luck with the ducks. i've got a couple of rabbits in my yard that will have to go. keep the pics coming sjoerd
great pics of your lottie sjoerd! and the mulch results for weed-free and fluffy soil are amazing! i noticed the same fluffiness of our soil last year where i mulched around the plants heavily. the soil never packed down. very interesting about the weed cloth. i bought some a couple years ago but never used it. we did use black plastic one year around the tomato plants. we had mole problems with it, like you mentioned. also, the ants seemed to love it and kept making nests around the plants. DUCKIES! i love ducks...they're eggs are delish! we had four ducks at one time who used to wander through our gardens. the only thing they really nibbled on was the lettuce. other than that, they ate bugs. poor little titmouse...i don't like it when that happens either!
Really wonderful looking garden !! Soil looks like a broomstick would grow if you planted it !! Its great !! For your hawk problem hang one or two of those plastic owls you can buy at the hardware store !! That would help keep your birds safe !! A hawk won`t hunt in the same area as an owl !! Or he could be the owls lunch !!! Drawback to that would be it could keep some of the birds away as well but after a while they get used to it being there and return !! We have one at the shop and our purple martins pay no attention to it anymore !!
Sjoerd as usual I love reading your posts.You make it as if I was right there with ya'll.Poor little tit mouse.What a shame.Yes ducks can really be bad in a garden especially as yummy as yours is.I'm glad you now have Daffies blooming and they are so very pretty.I never liked to use the cloth.
I hope you can usher those ducks away from your lotties Sjoerd as soon as possible asthey can do soooo much damage to new crops. I know you already have a rabbit problem so the addition of these birds on your land must be very frustrating for you. Such a pity the bird of prey took your female titmouse. I hope her mate will find another lady to set up home with. Thankfully it looks as though they'd just built the nest but no eggs had been laid. Your weed controlling experiment worked well didn't it? I always mulch to keep as many weeds as possible at bay. I just wish the sycamores around here would stop implanting themseleves into my garden.
I can almost smell the soil and feel the softness of it. *sigh* What a lovely sight. So sorry about the bird life, and with moles, rabbits, slugs and what-not you don't need hostile lodgers. But the ducklings are sooo cute though.
Everything looks great and ready to produce large amounts of delicious food. The soil looks good enough to walk bare foot thru. The photo of the Daffs doesn't look over exposed, the colors of the blooms come out beautifully. My first thought when you mentioned duck eggs was, breakfast.....but then my first thought when someone posts about squirrel problems is, deep fried with cream gravy. Gee, I just might be hungry.
Looking good Sjoerd, looking good. Your ground is in such good condition, so dark and soft. As you know, I dig on London Clay, thick and orange. Great for holding in the moisture, but rotten for getting wet once it has dried out. I grew my brassicas through weed supressing membrane last year and I have never had such good greens. I plan to do similar this year. I was also thinking about growing my squash and corn through it as a trial. Shame about the ducks. I love nature and love to see the critters around and about, but the damage they do is heartbreaking. As you know, we currently have a major deer problem on our site and it is a constant battle. Hopefully your duck won't ruin things for you. I sowed 25 different varieties of squash and pumpkins today - goodness knows where I am going to plant them all, but it is good fun isn't it.
DAN-- Thank you for your nice compliments on my soil. It has takes alot of work to build it up. I work on it every year to build it up and maintain it. It's the one thing that I put the most work into, because I feel that one's soil is the basis of the whole gardening effort. I wish you success with ridding yourself of those rabbits--they are a great annoyance, to say the least. Thanks KK for your kind words. Thank you NETTY-- I'm glad you liked the daffs. I shallreplace them later on with marigolds. Hi BUNKIE-- Yes, I was well chuffed with the soil results. Your soil results where you mulched gives me the idea that my efforts were not co-incidental. I know of a couple of folks that used the plastic. I have not spoken to them about their results though. If I continue using the cloth, then I will have to become adept at catching the moles. Yeah....the duckies. I wish that they weren't there. I find myself a fairly obsewrvant bloke; I just can't believe that I have not seen them before. The fact that the eggs are in the nest already means that they have been there for quite a while. Hmmmm. I'm glad you liked the looks of the soil, MART--I chuckled at your "broomstick" remark. That was a good one. The sparrow hawk problem will fade now that I have stopped feeding the birdies. It's the same cycle each year: I feed the birds during the winter and the sparrow hawks notice all the birds one day, then they predate. when the birds move away after I stop feeding, then so does the sparrow hawks. Thanks for reading the post, GLENDA--You always say such nice things. Makes me feel all proud. I also appreciate your comment on the weed cloth. I am curious about the experience of other folks. EILEEN-- It sure does seem as if I have a pest problem here. Well as the spring rolls along and I get more and more chores and tasks compleated, I shall devote more time to controlling and discouraging the pests. I am, pleased with the few weeds in the veggie patches--the flower garden is another story. I don't think any amount of mulching can suppress bindweed and ground elder--removing them is a 'hands-on´ job, if you know what I mean. DROOPY--You are right about me not needing any more hostile lodgers on the plots. Well, I will just have to see how it goes with the ducks; however, when it comes to slugs this year I have a new (secret) weapon in my arsenal....shhhhhhhhhhh...whispering.... I don´t want them to hear. They are not going to know what hit them. Thanks TONI-- Well, I am glad that you liked the daffs. They look cheery at this time of year when there is still so much brown about. Those duck eggs are tempting, I must admit, but I will leave them for now as long as the parents are on good behaviour. EJ-- I am very pleased with my soil too. I wonder what it would take to convert your soil. It has to be possible to change it with say, sweaweed and so forth. One of these days, I may rent an auto and drive over that way and we will give that ground a good work-out, whatcha say--hahaha. Really though, I am so hard-headed that I believe that any soil can be tamed and changed....even if it has to be done plot by plot. I am stubborn that way. I am delighted to hear that you grew your brassicas through one of the weed suppressing cloths last year with good results. That interests me VERY much indeed. Using it with squash is interesting as well. I shall be following your test results closely. Please post some pics with text, ok? I know that you have deer probs on your allotments. Having wild animals about is such a nice aspect of gardening, but in some cases the wildlife is so destructive, that they must go. I am hoping that it doesn´t come to that here, but if it is necessary, then I will find the strength to intervene. COR--so many varieties of squash. I had six and thought that was alot. I will have maybe ten or twelve plants, which is absurdly many. The people at the Food Bank had better brace themselves, that´s all I can say.
This post was a delight to see and read. Wow, what a great looking place. I love it every time I see it. You can really see the fruits of your labor (pun intended) in those photos. Years of working that soil really pays off. Out of curiousity, what is that brown ground cover? I hate to say it, but I about cried thinking of that male titmouse chirping for his mate... As much as I love the birds, I frankly find Spring very stressful when the birds are nesting, esp when the babies are about to fledge. I am happy when they choose my neighbors' yards. I wonder if this is a dumb suggestion -- what if you were to provide food for the ducks until the babies can leave the nest. Maybe they would leave your plants alone. We have ducks all over the place here in the neighborhood. They don't bother anything at all, but then they are well fed by the homeowners... They are awfully cute. Maybe you could take them to EJs when you drive over there!
My Garden Sjoerd, I love how excited you get about the garden. I feel the same as does my companion. We always have ducks nesting on the creek banks and they never seem to botther our plants. Groundhogs, Muskrats, voles, yes. The black ground cover sure helped the Bindweed grow last year. I find that a layer of newspaper first and then the black weed barrier works better. So far I have spinach, arugula lettuce and peas up outside and tomatoes, onions inside. Possibly some potato seeds which I hope to grow seed potatoes for next year's planting. Are you allowed to fence your allotment, Sjoerd?
Hiya DAISY-- Thank you so much for your nice posting. You just say the nicest things.......and make the most outrageous puns! Do you have a licence to do that? You had asked about the brown ground cover: that is the skeletal remains of a crop of green manure--Phacelia. Mist folks knock it down and turn it into the soil before it actually blooms, but I prefer to let it bloom, as the honeybees are wild about it. Once it has bloomed-out, then I simply use it as you see here. If it is extremely fragile in the spring then I min-till it in, otherwise it goes into the compost bin. I can imagine that you almost cried when you read about the titmouse...it was a poignant scene. it would take a particularly callose person not to feel anything at all, I think. Your question about providing food for the ducks was definitely not dumb...but I shall not do that because I do not want those duckies to feel at home there. It may make them difficult to evict once the chicks fledge; and I have heard that ducks sometimes return to nest in the same spot. I really do not want to encourage that. It will be great fun to observe them this one time, but then that is it. Thank you GP for your nice comments. Being enthusiastic about gardening is difficult to conceal, I guess. Thanks for the newspaper tip. Yes, we are allowed to fence in our allotments. It is a necessity here, as we have trouble with rabbits. Sadly I have had to fence-in both my lotties in order to keep the rabbits out. That duck is just inside the fence and nesting almost right up against it under the clematis and lavender.
