Cumbrian Garden Project

Well done Steve, what a great space you have and i LOVE that church in the background, its so pretty!

 

I am absolutely amazed how quickly your garden has come together! You really are a trooper!

Your veg is coming on a treat too - I'd be interested to find out how the Pak Choi comes on, I considered planting it myself but wasn't sure if it would like the Manchester weather - perhaps next year when I have a greenhouse and have a b it more room to do a trial!

Looking forward to seeing your next update! :thumb:

 

can't wait to see more of your pics.

 

Its just a folly...:lollol:

Steve...

 

Well done then :hehe::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

 

I posted this earlier in the year in the Member gallery area of this site, so its not new content....I'm just updating this topic as its best to keep things organised before I start making more changes/additions to our garden, and hence adding more posts here showing what has been done.

A mini tour around the veg in our garden, here in Cumbria. Its my first time growing edibles apart from herbs so most of the planting/digging has been last minute and some of it is temporary.

Area 1: Potatoes, tumbling cherry toms, carrots, rocket, lettuce, Aliccante toms.



Potatoes chitted and grown in old compost bags (8 of them) a mix of varieties including Vale emarald, Rocket and Pink fur apples. I harvested these last night and we had some PFA for dinner...as good as Jerseys if not better.

The tumbin' cherry toms, yet to ripen..



Carrots in the old bin and in the wooden trough behind it are all the salad leaves, some sweet peas and alicante toms, also yet to ripen.



New for this summer is a herb trough including mint (in its own fort knox style area) and oregano, basil, chives. parsley and coriander. We have sage, bay, rosemary and dill elsewhere in the garden.



Another new bed for this year with "A" frame supports holding runner beans and sweet peas, you can just make out some beetroot at the base of the frame.



The same bed from the other side.



On this side of the bed there are shallots at the front ( we have grown and harvested radishes in the centre of the a frame when everything was first planted)



The strawberry bed down the side of the house in front of the compost bin and behind the greenhouse.Half of this has already given us fruit, the other half has yet to and are repeat fruiting (apparently) although right now they are just going crazy sending out runners. (Note to self: Get those runners planted!)



Another temporary bed for this summer inspired after a conversation I had with a another gardener in the village about the american "three sisters" gardening technique, where you compost and grow at the same time. Basically I emptied my compost heap (no where near ready to use) into this bed and put a couple of inches of soil on top and planted into that...everything is doing incredibly well and I'll have a healthy bed full of compost to use again at the end of the season. (three sisters technique for those interested - http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/teach/2003045238014436.html) We have more sweet peas and runner beans in here, a couple of courgettes (green and yellow) three squash plants, radish, peas and a variegated sorrel.



Three rows of radish, next to the sorrel.



And the squashes now heading out over what remains of the lawn.The lawns days are numbered and wont be there next year images/smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Big Grin" class="inlineimg" />

[img]http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c71/photocumbria/IMG_4368copy.jpg

Yellow and green courgettes





Late planted peas just coming through, for an autumn crop...I hope!



At the end of may we bought a couple of huge strwaberry plants from a may flower market in cockermouth, these are now re-potted and producing fruits for us.





In the greenhouse we have Moneymaker and Gourmet tomatoes (just starting to crop) and a couple of cucumbers tht got scorched earlier in the year but are recovering now that I have painted on some greenhouse shading...and they are now starting to grow some decent sized cucs.

Thanks to kristen with his advice on "layering" my toms we have saved some space on the height and allowed more trusses to grow on the toms.

Moneymakers



Gourmet



Whole greenhouse.

I used a wide angle lens to get as much of the inside space as possible, the tom plant at the end shows how high all my plants would be if I had not layered them as per kristen's advice. Thank kristen!



This is the end of the gardens veggie tour, I'd just like to thank everyone who has offered advice to my daft questions, and also to those who asked questions and got advice that then saved me asking the question in the first place...this probably includes YOU..if your reading this.

Steve...

 

What a difference you are making there Steve.
More power to your elbow.
It will all be great.

 

I've just made a new veg bed from Larch slabs, from our local timber mill. Larch slabs are the sides of the log from where they have squared it up for further processing, they vary in thickness from 5-6 inches to almost nothing and cost 10p per foot. I sorted through a pile of these slabs to try and find ones that where as even as possible.

To construct this bed I overlapped them from the bottom up on 24 inch lengths of 3 x 3 post offcuts for each side, then dug a small hole at either end with a shallow trench in between them then set both sides into the ground. Then I just cut some slabs up and screwed them to the ends to join up the sides. I've stapled some old plastic inside to aid water/soil retention and I'll continue filling it up today. Its 8 foot by 3.5 foot and cost was less than £10





Please excuse the muddy mess of a garden and wipe your feet when you leave..:lollol:

Steve...

 

A mixture of veg will be going in, to give you an idea of what I am planning to grow this year in this new bed...here is a planner I threw together. It will serve as a guide for me so I do not forget anything.

http://www.focal-pla.net/GardenTimings2010a.htm

Steve...

 

I just love that Steve :gnthb: Much more practical than my growbags. I will have to chat to OH nicely I can see.

 

I have my name on the list for an allotment in the village, so the greenhouse will be at capacity growing plants just in case I am offered one this year (end of march)...got to have something to go straight into the ground. If I am not offered one I shall give lots of plants away to friends, neighbours and also the folks at the allotments too that has a plant sale on its open day in aid of the Village Hall.

I'll also probably sell some plants when I open the garden at the end of May, our village is having an NGS style garden open day organised by the church (again, in aid of the village hal)l, and a number of gardens through the village will be open for that.

You should see our flowers list Shiney..:lollol: Actually, so should I, as I have not got as far as that yet :hehe:..ho hum..onwards.

Steve...

 

Love the new wooden bed, and what a great list you have for growing this year too.