Mr L filled the bed in the polytunnel, he didn't leave room for any manure; which I really wanted to do so I just added some dried chicken manure instead. I needed to get the tomatoes transplanted because they were really becoming pot-bound and if I wanted to get them growing I needed to plant them into the beds. I've only ever grown tomatoes in growbags or hanging bags before so it will be really interesting to see how well they do in the bed. By growing in bags I've learnt how important it is to water (and feed) them to their roots so I have planted them with their pots planted at the side of them. I then water into the pots which means that water isn't pooling around the stem and the water gets right down to the roots. As the plant gets bigger I can replace the pots with bigger ones. I've also transplanted my cucumbers into the bed, they have been in fibre pots and the roots were starting to come through so it was time to plant them out too. I've seen lots of comments recently about fibre pots, people have complained they don't breakdown, they dry out or that they get mouldy so I wanted to just make a comment on my experience with them.
I have used fibre pots for a couple of years now. I used to find that I would water them and they would almost immediately dry out. It is true that the smaller the pot the faster the compost dries out and so you have to solve that problem! I found that if I layered 5 pieces of kitchen paper into a gravel tray (you will probably have to fold it to make it fit so make sure it fills the gravel tray and you therefore alternate the side that the fold is so that it's equal thickness on each side) and kept them properly wet the pots did not dry out. It's important that the pots are not standing in water but on very wet paper. With this approach I found that not only did the pots not dry out but the roots of the plant can work their way out of the pot more easily. I have capillary matting now so I don't have to worry about that any more but it essentially does the same job! In relation to the 'mould' on the pots; the white stuff that people call mould is just the fibre pots breaking down; it is a sign that they are too wet but it's not something that will infect your plants. When you plant them into bigger pots with soil and more water that's exactly what happens to them, it's just under the soil so you can't see it :-) Finally the question about the pots breaking down. I don't know whether people expect that the pots will be planted into the soil and just disappear but that's not what happens. With the fibre pots the roots will come out through the pots and you will probably be able to see the pot until the end of the growing season. If your roots don't come out and the plant effectively becomes root bound then your pot hasn't been kept wet enough (which can be resolved with the tip above).
So, back to the beds outside...
I did not have enough topsoil to fill either beds but I had brassica's in the polytunnel that desperately needed to be planted out. I therefore decided to fill my beds with a mixture of manure, topsoil and compost. I know that brassica's would prefer that the manure was added in Autumn but I'm pretty certain they'd rather have manure now than nothing to grow in! I'm prepared to roll the dice and hope it works with an acknowledgement that I might have to sacrifice them; let's see how they go! I got a free 2.1m x 4.5m veggiemesh from www.gardening-naturally.com when I ordered the bird netting; I'm delighted that it's exactly the right size for my bed and while I don't have any net clips left (I've ordered some more today) I have fashioned a fix with some of the leftover planks until they arrive.
I also only have 1 bed left to fill and so I don't think I'll be buying another ton of topsoil, whilst I accept that buying bags of soil is a more expensive approach I also realise that spending £45 on more topsoil than I need is a false economy and so I will buy the bags and take the hit this time. My plan for my last bed is to make it a cut and come again flower bed.
Overall I am pretty much there with the structural work on my plot. I have more weed membrane to put down and I can't even begin to imagine how much woodchips I'll need but there are no more areas that don't have the potential to be productive, there are no more structures to build and no more topsoil to transport. Mr L could not be happier!
I recently had a doctor ask me if I'd thought about joining a gym (after dismissing working on an allotment as a form of exercise) - this weekend (4 days because I took Friday off and it was the bank holiday today) I've spent over 25 hours on my plot. I have carried 7 scaffolding planks up the hill as well as 450l compost, 150l manure and 200l topsoil. I have cut the grass with a handmower, laid weed membrane and lined my beds with cardboard. All of these things I've done in the sunshine so I really don't understand why spending 3 hours in a sweaty gym would better than that!
I want to finish by mentioning an app that I have come across on one of the Facebook pages I'm a member of. It's called Gardroid and there is a free version or the premium version (which costs around £1.75). The free version has just vegetables whilst the premium version has fruit and herbs as well. You already know that I use KGI Garden Planner and this does not replace that. I am however genuinely impressed with the app, you put in the date that you sowed something and it works out when you should be able to harvest (it even puts the date into your calendar!) you can log when you transplant and every time you water and it tells you when to water next. As well as all that, when you click on a plant it tells you everything you need to know about it - how deep to put your seeds, how far apart to sow, what sun it wants and what soil it needs.
I particularly like the app because I can access it when I'm on the plot, I can click to say I've watered everything or I can click on individual plants. If I sow something new, I can add it to 'my garden'. I have sent a suggestion to add flowers, particularly those that are good as companion plants so hopefully they will be added soon - watch this space!
Back to work tomorrow but hopefully I'll be able to pop up to the plot after work when I might be able to take more soil up to fill that last bed. In the mean time - happy gardening everyone.
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