Plans for the raised beds - or not

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

As I mentioned a short while ago, I have decided not to build more of the big raised beds, but to create an open space to hold big pots and containers. This is the space:

The two low raised beds at the back of the photo are destined to be removed. This is becoming more urgent by the day, due to the seriously decayed state of the wooden edging. I patched up this corner last Summer, but it was at best a very temporary repair:

I have four of the “New Pattern” raised beds, made with two layers of 20cm-high sleepers. The level of the soil and compost with which I filled them has gone down a fair bit, so there is plenty of room for more. The soil from the 2 old beds will therefore be distributed amongst the 4 new ones.

At the weekend I took off the galvanised steel angle-brackets from the old beds, in preparation for removing the wood. The only thing holding me back now is the presence of some rather nice Radicchio plants in one of the beds. They have spent the Winter under cloches, as seen here:

Despite the cloches, the outer leaves of these plants got frosted in the long spell of sub-zero weather we had last month. However, once you remove those outer leaves, the centres are fine.

With Radicchio, a little bit goes a long way. The heads are very tightly packed and when you “unpack” one you do get a lot of edible leaves. Fortunately Radicchio keeps for ages in the fridge, especially if you leave the main stem intact. I think these plants will all be harvested very soon, so that I can get on with the shifting of soil.

Elsewhere in the garden, the first signs of shoots are appearing on the Purple Sprouting Broccoli (rather later than usual):

My container-grown Leeks are going to be picked soon. I don’t think they are going to get much bigger.

Since the weather has turned a bit milder the bulbs have started popping up all over the place too. Most of mine are in pots, like these Tulips:

I also have quite a few of the little “Tete-a-Tete” daffodils scattered round the borders.

Is it too early to be thinking of Spring???

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