Transition Southampton

Those who know me would confirm with a sigh that, like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, whenever anyone comes across me, I am invariably running late for something. I always seem to have a "to do" list a mile long, half of which should have been completed some time ago, and everything seems to take longer to complete than you'd think. Nowhere is this more true than in my garden.

Despite the best efforts of Mr A G Hellyer (whose seminal, Your Garden, Week by Week is still a recommended read) and a bewildering array of charts, tables and plans to assist me, I rarely seem to get the right plant in the ground at the right time. I'm never miles off, just generally late with everything. Still, every year we're a little closer.

The interesting thing is, it rarely seems to matter too much. I am sure I don't get quite the yields I would if I were to run the plot with the military precision of some of my peers, but I do well enough for a lot less hassle.

An interesting case in point is my brassicas. Year after year, despite telling myself I'm not going to, I end up picking up loads of seedlings at various plant sales and, to be honest, I never remember what they are when I'm told , so after sitting on a bench in my back garden for a good few weeks, they all go in a bed together 18 inches apart with a few at the end 6 inches apart for picking while young.  Then, like this week, someone offers you some "spares" they had knocking around and being a compost kid who just can't say no, I gladly take them. By the time they are in the ground, it's much later than it should be, but it always seems to work out when it comes to harvesting - I usually end up with a real mixture of stuff that crops at different times.

I guess I make things harder for myself in one respect in that, with the exception of radishes, I plant very little directly out as seeds. Seeds need the soil to be like breadcrumbs (a fine tithe, in the veg growers lingo) and the right amount of moisture, light and heat to germinate - so this is the one area where my generally "lazy-faire" attitude won't cut it. The outcome, though, is that I end up with loads of seedlings waiting patiently to be planted out instead. Still, I get there in the end and it still works better for me  than planting seeds directly then hoping they germinate.

One of my inspirations, Geoff Hamilton, used to always plant out any potatoes he had that had gone "sprouty" regardless of variety or whether it was anything close to the right time of year. I think that is great, just taking what you have to hand and making the best of it.

I guess my point is, in my experience, nature is pretty forgiving and if you plant stuff, it will usually grow - so get out there and have a go.

Planted
More lettuce
More tomatoes ( I can’t help myself – every time I see a big side shoot, I just whack it in some compost)
Brassicae of indeterminate lineage <cough>

Picked
Tomatoes
Salad leaf
Strawberries
Alpine Strawberries (more on these next blog)

I used my first nettle tea this week. Not to be confused with the much loved beverage of the same name, the nettle tea I am referring to is the sort used to fertilize your veg. It's very easy to make.

1) Cut a load of nettles
2) Submerge them in a container of water and put the container somewhere out of the way
3) leave them approximately 6 weeks until they've rotted down.
4) Drain off the liquid and water it down to the colour of weak tea. Use this as liquid plant feed.

The rotted nettles can either be used as mulch or be added to the compost heap. Here's the thing though, the smell is absolutely evil - headache inducingly foul, eye wateringly unpalatable - enough to make your sense of smell go on holiday and never come back. It really is very bad. But hey, anything that smells that bad must be good for the soil and it's turning a problem (too many nettles) into a solution (free plant food).

You can do something similar with comfrey. I'll go into more detail about comfrey in a future blog though as it really deserves a post all to itself. In other news, my courgette seedlings are up and all being well I'll plant a few out next week behind a six foot high security perimeter and a row of armed guards to protect them from the slugs (I'm taking no chances this time).

I picked my first strawberries of the season this week. There aren't many because I planted them out late, but they taste excellent.  Beside them, the blueberry bush is awash with berries just waiting to ripen up. Blueberries share an appreciation of slightly acidic soil with the strawberries so it makes sense to have them in a bed of their own. The strawberries will get planted out somewhere else next year and I'll find something else to sit along side the blueberries as part of my crop rotation plan but, again, that warrants a posting all of it's own.

Until next time...

The sun continues to bake the soil and I worry every time I plant something out that I am subjecting it to potential incineration, but, so far, by planting in areas with some shade and copious watering, I've had no major casualties.

Picked the garlic this week. There is a saying that you should plant garlic on the shortest day and pick it on the longest day, but I couldn't wait and planted it out earlier and they have done really well. Not at all bad considering I've done nothing to look after them since they went in. I wish I'd planted more now, 16 big fat bulbs is great, but it never occurred to me to actually work out how much garlic we get through in a year and try and grow something approaching a similar amount plus a little bit extra for gifts etc. I reckon I need about 4 times the amount I planted. Can someone remind me I said that in about 4 months time when I start planning the planting.

My runner beans are looking ropey though, having fallen victim to both the heat and blackfly. The blackfly, although unsightly and annoying, will not kill the beans, just hamper their progress. In the name of creating diverse ecosystems (and laziness If I'm honest) I'll grit my teeth and let nature sort it out - it worked last year.

In the next bed along though, disaster has struck - the slugs have had my courgettes again! These, you may recall were my back up plants after the first lot got eaten. How have I ended up with no courgettes?! I'll start some more from seed (which I now realise I should have done when the first lot got eaten) and just accept that I'll be having courgettes very very late this year.

Picked
Lollo Rosso 
Lettuce Winter Crop Lettuce (which has lasted brilliantly)
Sorrel
Garlic

Planted
Sorrel
Mizuna

Until next time...

Growing your own is about choice and flexibility.  One choice I have made is that I try not to use a hose - working on the basis that a) it's a waste of water b) I'd be watering the weeds as much as the vegetables. Instead, I water directly into 8 inch lengths of drainpipe, two thirds buried vertically in the soil to deliver the water direct to the roots of the established plants.

I water new seedlings etc until they become established, but to be honest, you've got to be pretty tough to stand the neglect on my veg patch. Like I said, it's a choice but there is no getting away from it, watering takes up a fair amount of time and effort and you will often find me looking forlornly at the long range weather forecast and mumbling about how we "could do with a quick downpour". This week, I cracked though and used a hose, too much hot weather, too many seedlings, not enough time - so I grabbed a neighbour's hose and made like a fireman. We'll see if my shortcut comes back to bite me in coming weeks.

One thing I have doing lately to reduce the need to water is mulching the beds. Mulching is basically just covering the beds with a layer of something - anything from plastic to compost to straw - to prevent water evaporating from the soil, keep the soil structure together (bare soil gets eroded quite quickly by the elements) and keep down weeds. Working on the principle of utilising what is freely available, I've used inch thick layers of pulped cotton from an old futon that was going to be dumped and four inch thick layers of Pamphas grass leaves and stems from a massive overgrown specimen left behind by a previous occupier. I have to say, apart from a slight increase in slugs and snail damage, it's working really well and, even in the current dry spell, my tomatoes in amongst the pampas grass are as happy as anything. As time / materials allow, I'll be doing all the beds.

Planted
Late carrots
More salad leaf
More French beans
'Red Russian' Kale & Cavalo Nero for the winter

Picked
Salad leaf
Elderflower for cordial
Sorrel
Lemon balm
Last of the red stemmed dandelion  (a gift from a friend and a real find, a brilliant addition to the salad)

Until next time...