The 30 Day plan explained!

[veggiechicken]

Bed 1 - one of the smallest beds, so I enlarged it a bit to 4' x 9' Its alongside the chicken run and has a plum tree, mint and too much montbretia.

March 1st & April 1st

[ATTACH=CONFIG]72423[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]72424[/ATTACH]

The plum is flowering

Planted 6 Allium Mount Everest and 40 Allium Sphaerocephalum, 6 Achillea millefolium "Cassis" and 6 Aquilegia "Swan Mix".

Eyed up the fencing around the chicken run for beans

One year on and this tiddly little 4' x 9' bed has expanded to include the old chicken runs behind it - 3 fenced areas totalling 240 sq ft. I'm still clearing this lot up but I plan on using the wire fences to grow peas, beans and squashes - maybe a Tromba or two.

My A sowings today were
Asparagus peas (very old seeds),
Anise hyssop/Agastache Anisata (also old)
Aster - Ostrich Plume
Alyssum - Easter Basket (seems appropriate)
Atriplex hortensis rubra/ Purple orache.

Interestingly, the plum is only just budding - no sign of the flowers this year. Hope there will be some eventually.

A few photos today.

Bed 1A is the little bed in ftont of the wire and everything behind it and inside the fence to the right.

Last year's little bed - the alliums are up.

Aquadulce and Wizard beans and Bijou mangetout in one of the old runs.

Bed 2/B tomorrow although the forecast looks dire.

[muck lover]

You are soooo far ahead of me with all your plantings.
You must never have to buy veg?? Have you humunguous freezers?

[veggiechicken]

No - I just play at gardening. These are my experimental areas where it doesn't matter about productivity.
As long as I have plenty of fruit, tomatoes, beans and courgettes, I'm happy.

[veggiechicken]

Day 2 - Plot 2B............or not 2B



Plot 2B, approx 20' x 10' and mostly fruit.
Bushes on the right are Blackcurrants, those on the left, jostaberries, with some redcurrants and raspberries in the mix. All grown from cuttings.
In the foreground, on the right a young medlar, planted last year, on the left an old pear tree that was here when I moved in - 35+years ago.
All the green stuff is Lovage and there are Bluebells, White comfrey and Balm (lemon).

Today, I've sown:-
Borage under the fruit bushes,
Brachyscombe/Swan River Daisies under the pear tree;
Buckler leaf Sorrel in front of the pear
Beetroot (Chioggia, Boltardy and Yellow Cylindrical) in all the empty spaces.

One useful thing I picked up today - its pointless sowing seeds with a chicken at your feet. Good job I had plenty of Borage! (keep wanting to call it Boris)

Bed 3C beckons tomorrow!

[veggiechicken]

Day 3 - Plot 3C



This plot is about 10' x 12' and has 4 little fruit trees, planted last year.
At the back, an Apple and a Persimmon. in front a Mirabelle plum and a Quince.
The green clumps in the middle are Land Cress (finally a C)
I've just sown, in a scattered sort of way, hundreds of old Carrot seeds, Giant Pascal Celery, Caraway, Coriander, Cosmos and Calendula.
What, if anything will germinate?

Plot 4D tomorrow

[veggiechicken]

Day 4 - Plot 4D



Plot 4D is approx 12' x 16' and has doubled in size since last year. The back half was the woodchippings dump where the treemen did their chipping last year. Most of the chippings have been moved off and spread elsewhere - it was a huge heap initially.
There's a young almond tree, front right and back right a newly planted pear tree. Along the centre (which was the old fence line) is a forsythia, buddliea and a couple of hazel stumps. Bluebells and random raspberries that need to come out.

It wasn't a good day for gardening, the soil is too wet and claggy, and there were too many docks to dig out - so the seedlings will just have to grit their teeth and push their way through the weeds.

D isn't a good letter for vegetables (Dwarf French beans and Daikon radish later this year) but April sowing had to make do with Dragon's Tongue Rocket and Dill for the herb. Flowers are Delphinium -Scarlet Fire and Didiscus Madonna.

Tomorrow's bed 5E is the Rhubarb Room, the area with the tree stump cromlech beyond Plot 4D.

[Small pumpkin]

I love your garden VC. It's so natural. I can't wait for the all grown up photos of all your beds.

I try to do the natural look with the front garden. It still looks a little regimented though. Currently It looks more like a war zone due to puppies.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks SP I don't think there's a straight line anywhere

[veggiechicken]

Day 5 - Plot 5E



Approx. 12' x 25'.

Mostly rhubarb with a young pear tree on the left, planted 2 weeks ago, and 3 blackcurrant bushes at the far end.
The wooden "cromlech" covers an old apple tree stump - plenty of roots remain.
This bed also had 2 giant kales that had been there for several years - one I pulled up today as it looked to have suffered over winter.

Don't ask me how many rhubarb plants there are, because I lost count and the little ones are still emerging which made it difficult to hoe.

I've planted E for Elephant Garlic (10 cloves)
and sown (scattered) Echinacea Purpurea, Echium Blue bedder and lots of Eschscholzia (sp.?) (Californian Poppies).

[Lumpy]

Brilliant you daft duck. It looks lovely and in a few weeks will look marvellous.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks Lumpy. It keeps me out of mischief.
All the photos were taken on April 1st and the changes in a week are noticeable. Buds on fruit trees and lots more weeds.

Plot 6F tomorrow - needs a dry day please.

[veggiechicken]

Plot 6F



Bed 6F is roughly 10' x 20'.
A plum on the far side and an apple near the camera.
Day lilies, daffodils, perennial geraniums, Montbretia , lemon balm, stray raspberries, cow parsley and a variety of weeds.
I've sown Bronze Fennel, Feverfew, Scarlet Flax (thanks NG) & Forget me not, all jumbled up together and Fenugreek in a patch of its own in the hope that I'll recognise it!

Bed 7G tomorrow - the one you can see a corner of on the right.

[nickdub]

Looks extremely excellent VC - very much my style of gardening though much tidier than mine, and by the look of it not subject to attacks by deer at frequent intervals.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks. There's only one old deer who attacks this garden at frequent intervals It does have to contend with 3 dogs and 3 chooks daily as well.

[veggiechicken]

Plot 7G



Plot 7G is approx 10' x 17'. Has a Greengage/Reine Claude plum and a Beure Hardy pear (both planted last year) and an established apple (russet).
Some of you may remember that this bed was the Physalis Forest when green and purple tomatilloes took over part of the plot (where the dead stalks are). I haven't weeded that part as I want to see whether they self seed this year. I shan't be sowing any more.

There are bluebells, daffodils, honesty and bellis.

Today, I've sown Godetia and Gaillardia (Red Plume & Goblin) and Garlic Chives.

Tomorrow, Plot 8H - to the right, full of Honesty.