Friday 11 February 2011

First day in the Potager

Yesterday we went to the potager to start preparing it for the coming year. I mowed around where I want the vegetable beds to be and hacked out many of last year's weeds.

This year I am having three largeish beds rotovatored, with 2 metre wide paths between them. One bed (where last year we had onion and garlic) I am leaving fallow. When we first bought the garden the potager was completely tilled, which was far too much space for us to plant, and even more far too much space to keep weed free.

I will be planting less variety of vegetables this year: potatos, onions, garlic, a couple of varieties of beans, tomatoes, peppers, chillis, aubergine and sweetcorn. I might plant a couple of courgettes and a melon, but the melon seedlings always seem to arrive in the shop too late to produce fruit.

Carrots and beetroots dont appear to like our soil (either that or we have never prepared it properly) and leaf vegetables need too much water. The strawberries will be left to fend for themselves as they were a dead loss last year: even though we had about 60 gazillion plants we had one punnet of fruit. Likewise the raspberries (which all appear to have died), and the currants, which appear to resent having to produce fruit.

Simon

4 comments:

Emm said...

I like your description of the currants, picture them with arms crossed and sulking. What is a "punnet"?

Susan said...

Emm: a punnet is a small basket or box that soft fruit is packaged and sold in. The term is apparently used in the UK, Australia and NZ but nowhere else.

Carolyn said...

Now the fun begins. Today I'll start leek seedlings. Wish it could be outdoors, but turning the garden soil is 4-6 weeks away at best. The smell of damp earth as the soil warms up in spring is so energizing.

Emm said...

Thanks, Susan. From the picture with the Wiki, I'd call it a pint container. But I like "punnet" better.

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