Garden Blog
2008 Diary of the Garden
| February | March | April | |
| May | June | July | August |
| September | October | November | December |
View the garden from our live Veggie Cam to see what's happening.
We have been clearing up this month. The poly tunnel that was shreaded during the high winds will be repaired next month. We have been putting fresh compost in the glasshouses and walled garden ready for the spring planting. The soft fruits - japanese wine berries, black currents and red currents have been prunned ready for the spring growth.
Few vegetables are being picked, mainly roots like leeks and Jerusalem artichokes. However, we are seeing the first signs of growth from the garlic that was sown last month.
It has been a quieter month. Most of our work has been picking any root vegetables required and brassicas. We've had a delivery of compost, which we've added to parts of the walled garden beds. The weather has been cold with some morning frosts. We've been tidying up the herb beds, by cutting back dead wood to allow new growth for next season. 
Although the poly tunnels produce is protected by the frosts we have little growth now with the shorter days and little sunshine to warm these polytunnels and glasshouses. We've had two wormaries made ready for next year's students to use. Next month we hope to do some prunning of the soft fruit.
Harvesting is the main task in the garden this month. These are some marrows we've picked, which can be stored for some weeks before eating. Other squash this month that are very popular are pumpkins. They are widely used for halloween, but also make delicious soup and pumpkin cake. We are continuing to harvest the parsnips, which now taste even sweeter after our first frosts of the year. Soon, the land without crops will be rotovated ready for next year's seeds and plants. This also has the benefit of exposing the soil and killing off some unwanted pests by the cold weather.
September
At last the good weather has arrived! We've been picking the apples and pears in the orchard and walled garden and will now leave the trees until January when we will start prunning again. We've picked the pumpkins, which are now in the glasshouse to dry out. The last of the beans have been picked and we will be digging the plants up and laying them on the brasicca bed to try to stop the weeds from growing. 
Our autumn and winter vegetables are also starting to be picked including cabbages, leeks and parsnips.
The Mypex that was put down in the brasicca bed has been very successful in keeping the weeds down. However, the warmth and dark has attracted mice burrowing underneath and enjoying our brasiccas!
Results from the lab have shown our soil is 8pH. This is too alkaline for the plants. The reading should be 6.5pH. Next month we will be looking into how we can bring the soil down to this level. Vegetables for fruiting and flowering need potassium (symbol K) and we will be looking into this also.
August
We've experienced one of the wettest Augusts ever! This has allowed mould to appear on our fruits. Many of the apples in the orchard have wrotted because the rain on them has settled and allowed this mould to grow. 
The strong winds have made the apples fall before they were fully ripe. We have cut the grass in the orchard so we can get to these 'windfall' apples, and hope the weather improves to help the remaining ones ripen. We are picking beans from our Bed 2 every other day, fennel from the mixed bed and cabbage from the brasicca bed. Although our tomatoes are in the poly tunnels and glass houses they too have been affected by the poor weather conditions. The lack of sun has slowed the rippening of the fruit and they are not as sweet.
We have started planting chard, spinnach, golden beetroot, mixed salads and lettuce. These will be ready for harvesting in the winter.
July
We had a lot of rain at the start of the month so the only watering we had to do was in the glass houses and poly tunnels. Our runner beans this year have been very successful. 
The Mypex has kept the weeds down so they are not competing against these weeds for the sunlight and water. We are starting picking the beans daily. We are growing several different varieties. They come in different colours too!
June
The weather has been quite mixed this month. 
The hot dry days have helped the rippening of the soft fruits, while the rain has helped the growing of all the fruits and vegetables. Teams of pickers have been arriving and picking the strawberries for our organic shop. Our polytunnels are producing snow peas, 
courgettes, beans and Yard Long Red Noodle beans from the number 1 polytunnel. Last year we left our number 3 polytunnel fallow and this year we have grown aubergines, chillies and peppers. As a result of this these plants are particuarly healthy and have benefitted from the ground being left to rest.
Due to the weather this year, we've noticed the plants in the walled garden have not produced as well as the ones in the tunnels. 
The courgettes and pumkins are half the size of those in the tunnels. Pigeons have been eating the red currents, so we've had to spend time in covering them with netting. The fennel we planted had all been eaten by the pigeons. Our carrots in the garden are very small and have not germinated well. We will be looking to change the variety for next year. 
The Bean Bed is flourishing and we are expecting good results this year. We've covered the area with Mypex to keep the weeds down. This has made a huge difference as the beans have not had to compete with the weeds for sunlight and soil nutrients.
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May
The start of the month brought good weather and the garden is now rapidly growing. We have been weeding the beds by hand between the plants and using our burner between the rows. For two days this month it was very hot and the ground soon became dry, so we have started to water the beds with the irrigation system.
The blackfly have started attacking our broad bean plants, so we will be spraying them with an organic spray before these aphids strip the plants of their leaves and beans.
Six men in one day planted the whole of the bean bed, errecting poles and planting the young runner bean plants into the ground.
In the Root Bed the first carrot seeds that we planted did not germinate so we planted some more at the beginning of the month. The potato plants have grown and we have 'earthed' them up. This process increases the length of the underground stems that will bear potatoes. You simply cover the green leafy shoots with soil. This also protects the plants from any late frosts. We will 'earth' up the potatoes at least twice.
We are picking little cucumbers, apricots and kiwis from the glass house. From the Poly Tunnels we're picking small beetroot, carrots, spring onions, oriental salads and radishes.
Our herb garden is growing well this year and we will be picking herbs throughout the spring and summer.
April
This month we have continued to plant seeds in the seed trays. The 40 of the 100 pepper plants that were planted last month have been eaten by mice!
The broad beans that were planted in the garden are now 10 cm high.
Our beds have now been rotivated and ready for planting.
March
In planning the beds in the walled garden, we are rotating anti clockwise to maximise the opportunity for the plants to grow in soil that has not been starved from the previous year's crops and to help destroy pests that are in the soil ready to attack the crops. Our Garden plan is as follows:
Bed 1 Mixed Vegetables with strawberries and Flowers Border.
Bed 2 Root Vegetables with Rhubarb and Globe Artichokes.
Bed 3 Brassicas with Jerusleum Artichokes and Asparagus.
Bed 4 Beans with Sea Kale and Flower Border.
February
This month we've been pruning the pear and apple trees along with the red currents.
Branches of the apple trees have been tied down to encourage them to grow horizontally and this helps give a better yield. The weather has been much the same as January, but as the garden is enclosed we haven't been affected by the high winds that we've all received.
The Broad Beans that were planted in Bed 1 during December have germinated and are about 5 cm high. These plants are not as mature as the Broad Beans that we planted in trays as they have the benefit of the warmth of the glass house.
January
As the weather is rarely good this month we use our time composting and pruning the trees.
We have planted more gooseberry, redcurrent and blackberry bushes and have been cleaning the poly tunnels and carrying out general repairs to them. The weather conditions have been very typical of January; frosty nights and very wet. Never a good time for turning the ground.
In the Potting Glasshouse tomatoes and cucumber seeds have been planted in pots and watered regularly. Our own compost is used in the trays and pots.
