SFG looking a little more cared for

After rather disastrous germination from the previous attempt I’ve weeded, cut off the beans at ground level (leaving roots in the soil to help fix nitrogen), dressed the surface with fish, blood and bone and re-planned for the end of the summer and partially into the winter.

I’ve tried to maintain a rotation so that I’m not growing the same crops in the same places.

 
The rocket, chard, leeks and lettuce were grown from seed in other parts of the allotment. The runner beans were from last year’s seed, grown inside in compost and the carrots were from a free packet of ‘Autumn King’ national Trust seeds (see last blog entry). This time I’ve sown them very thinly in rows and I’ll cover with fleece to deter the carrot fly. Again I have protected seedlings against slugs with fine gravel.
 
The previous crop of rocket did not survive so I’m planting under home-made plastic cloches to see if this keeps the flee beetle away. The photo below shows the rocket and chard.

The leeks below were first trimmed, top and bottom, then planted in a hole, about 10cm /4” deep (made by a broom handle) which was then filled with water. I’ll drop a little fish blood and bone in each hole when they’ve established.

Some may think I’m late with planting runner beans. We have had broad beans; are currently eating French beans so these runners will hopefully fill the gap at the end of the season. I put the four sticks in first, tie them at the top, and then ‘puddle in’ the bean plants.

The pictures below show the SFG looking a little more cared for. Now all that’s needed is weather, neither too hot nor too dry!

PS 17th Aug: Since I wrote this on the 15th, all 5 lettuce have been eaten to the ground by slugs! Maybe there were gaps in the gravel as the beans and chard survived. I have replanted and put lots of coffee grounds around them and just hope that works.

Been away and the plot has suffered

Well folks, I’ve been away, the weather’s not been very kind and the plot suffered. The picture below shows the SFG as it was before the current rain. The seeds planted in June have not germinated, or germinated and were eaten by slugs, so there are 3 vacant plots.

However, I have picked some beetroot (picture below), and carrots (next picture). One beetroot was large whilst most were smaller. The carrots are small and sweet with a lovely flavour, but need thinning out so that they grow a little bigger.

The French beans are a mystery, as the plants are very small and the beans, which I left to grow, have not grown! Compare them to some plants from the same batch of seedlings, planted in another part of the allotment (second picture below): good sized and healthy plants with a heavy crop. I don’t have any answers: I just hope yours were good.

Over the next few days I’m going to cut back the stalks of the broad and French beans, lift the onions, clear any weeds and begin to plant the vacant plots for the autumn and winter. Any suggestions would be welcome.

While I was away I saw a display of vegetables grown in containers at a National Trust Garden and thought you might like to see them for inspiration. The pictures below show pak choi, parsnip, runner beans, peas and lettuce and the last picture is a square metre given over almost entirely to beetroot. So, there’s no excuse even if you only have a window box!

Another inspiration recently has been from Garden Organic. Their web site http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/ has lots of ideas for SFG and the summer edition of their magazine “The Organic Way” has a really interesting article by Colin Shaw entitled ‘What a lot of veg!’ where he explores alternative ways of using SFGs. For example planting 56 carrots in one square meter and harvesting 9kg!

Don’t forget, suggestions please for winter planting on the SFG.