Another raised bed finished

Latest post from MARKSVEGPLOT – a blog about food and gardening in England”

The weather yesterday was perfect for “garden engineering” – dry, sunny and still. I used the opportunity to get another raised bed done.

This one was particularly difficult to build. For some reason I found it very hard to get it level. Thank Goodness for my trusty spirit-level! I think the problem may have been due to the fact that the surrounding soil is heavily matted with fibrous roots from my next-door neighbour’s massive Leylandii Cypress tree.

I now have four of the new-style deep beds. Only two more to go…!

I took up the Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants that had been in this bed:

They yielded quite a nice final harvest – enough for two meals for the two of us, I think.

The old-style beds look very poor in contrast to the new ones. The two that remain are in pretty poor shape. The wood is rotten and falling apart. Using some scrap wood, I made a temporary repair to the end of this one:

They will just have to wait until next year though, because I don’t think I have the energy or motivation to do any more of this type of work just now. And anyway, I really need to get on and prepare the beds for sowing and planting. The latest new bed is going to be used for salads this year.

This morning the weather had completely changed, and the forecast is for more and heavier rain – plus wind – over the next few days, so I was out in the garden early this morning, laying shingle around the new bed, before it got too unpleasant to work outdoors.

Shingle like this stops the gaps between the beds getting muddy, while at the same time allowing rain to penetrate down into the soil, which paving-stones don’t do.

If you’re wondering what is under those bell cloches, it’s Radicchio – still pathetically small. It will be coming up soon, so that I can prepare that bed for growing Cabbages.

To read more articles like this, on Gardening and Gastronomy, please visit * http://marksvegplot.blogspot.com/ *