14th May 2017 - Beds prepared and start of planting out

I did get a bit more time at the plot this weekend but Littlest L had a football match at lunchtime on Sunday so that meant I didn't get to the plot until half past 3 (her team won 8-1 and she scored 5 goals!!)  I had to meet a new tenant who is taking on a particularly overgrown plot; she was so excited and hopefully she and her partner will get on top of it as it's next to one of the nicest plots on site.  It is one of the nicest parts of my job being the site rep when someone takes on a plot that has been neglected and turns it around.  

Back to my plot though, this week I wanted to focus on getting my beds ready for planting out.  I worked out that each section of the beds need one 50l bag of manure so these beds need 4 bags and the slightly smaller ones need 3 bags.  I don't manure the bed that my root crops will be in but that means I need 18 bags of manure for my beds.  I am therefore sourcing some manure to put into one of my compost bays for future use because buying that amount every year will soon become an expensive do!  Although for me it was a bit early some of my peas and beans were so big they really needed to go out.  I've had my polytunnel door open for a couple of weeks so they've been hardened off and I'm hoping that we don't get another frost in the next couple of weeks.  A couple of weeks ago we chopped down a hazel tree and I grabbed a few of the branches that I have then used as posts to hold the strings my peas and beans will grow up.  This is a new experiment for me so we'll see how it goes.  

As you know, my pond is for wildlife, I don't have fish in there and last week I showed you a photo of a newt that has found its way into the pond.  This week I had a damsel fly on one of the water forget-me-not leaves.  I'm still hoping to see a dragonfly but this was almost as exciting!  I've also got myself another fountain for the pond; this one doesn't store any charge so the sun has to be directly on the panel but the fountain is much stronger than the one with the stored charge.  I have put it into the corner next to the iris and it makes a really lovely sound; the downside of course being that it's very stop/start.

The last thing I did this week was make a self watering pot.  I intended to film doing it but it was so late by the time I got around to it that I actually forgot about it.  If it works; I will do another and film that one.  In order to make one you put a tray inside a pot that it slightly bigger so that it doesn't make it all the way to the bottom of the pot.  You then put 2 holes in the tray.  One is big enough for the pipe that you water through and the other you place a small plant pot into.  A small hole is drilled into the main pot so that when you pour the water into the tube you can tell when it's full because water leaks out of the hole in the side.  

The small pot has a number of holes drilled into the sides so that as much water can get into it as possible.  You then fill the little pot with compost (pack as much in as you can); I also used some strips of capillary matting that I put into the little pot under the compost and pulled up through the compost into the main pot.  The water soaks into the compost in the little pot which then transfers through the rest of the compost.  The capillary matting strips will also help with that water transfer. 

I planted the pot with one of my "Winky Blue" aquilegia and surrounded by white pansies.  When the aquilegia gets a bit bigger I'm hoping that will be a really lovely display.  After planting I did give the plants a really good soaking from above but it isn't my intention to put any more water into the compost; I will only water through the tube and see how the plants get on.  I've chosen these particular plants because I have 3 other aquilegia so if it does fail it won't be the end of the world. You do need to remember that the pot has no drainage to speak of so if you water from above as well you may drown the plants.  Having said that when I did soak them, some water did drain out of the little hole in the side so the water was able to make its way out through the soaker pot in the bottom.

I do feel like my plot is coming together ready for the growing season now and hopefully I'll be putting more of my crops out next week (I know it's a few days before the Chelsea Flower Show instead of after but fingers crossed it will be ok) so until next week - happy gardening everyone :-)