Well all the hard work has paid off. I picked my first beetroot today and have lettuce coming out of my ears. I think I had better plant half the amount of lettuce next year! Sorry for the long delay. No excuse really just lazy. More to come soon with photos.
Stupid mutt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After the excitement of the first planting session I had high hopes for an amazing growing spree from my little veggie plants. But it was not to be for some of them. I have a very stupid but adorable german shepherd cross called Obe (you can see where this is going can’t you?). He likes to dig – A LOT- and decided that my newly installed veggie beds were installed for his digging pleasure. Suffice to say I have lost half my tomato plants, three lettuce plants, a dozen carrots, two onions and three leeks. Upset is not the word right now.
We have plants
My son decided that we required some heavy machinery to plant the seedlings. So in true Travis style he went and got his JCB digger out to help mommy with the planting. All of the seedlings grew except the courgette for some reason. Not sure why so you will see in later posts that I cheated and bought one from the local garden centre. Hey give me a break it is only my first attempt at gardening of ANY kind! Now to plan where everything will go.
I planted plum and cherry tomatoes, beetroot, red onions, leeks, two types of lettuce, sage, thyme, peppers and carrots. They all had a good watering after being planted out. I have to say nobody tells you they go a bit ill looking after being planted outside, we will see what they look like tomorrow (Update: this morning they look great even with a very overcast day).
Add some plastic rod things and some canes across the top and you have a perfect frame for putting on the protective netting. The netting is not only for cats and birds in my case. I have a dog that we call bomber harris because he has a tendency to bomb everything in sight i.e. he digs for victory!!!
After a hard days work and lots of happy times we are finished the veggie patch. Now to tend the plants and hopefully watch them grow.
Topsoil and crappy weather
Ben, Darryn and Gavin went and collected two trailer loads of topsoil today. The weather was less than wonderful and made the job a lot harder than it should have been. The trailer tyre went flat as we filled it (by we I mean the royal we) but luckily the farmer had a compressor that soon had the tyre back to normal. It was all fun and games though seeming as Gavin has never towed a trailer before. It went very well considering. the first of the two beds was soon filled with lots of deep, dark topsoil specifically for vegetables. Now onto the second bed.
The Three Stooges
Three strong boys and a trench that needs digging for a new wall at the bottom of the garden equals lots of good (if not dry) soil for the bottom layer of the veggie beds. The boys did a sterling job digging the trench and placing said trench soil into the beds so that I didn’t have to spend as much on vegetable topsoil. The beds were lined with heavy duty plastic and had drainage holes added. This will hopefully prevent the very irritating horsetail plant growing up through the beds. It is a nightmare to get rid of and it seems that weed killer does not kill it. In fact it is growing better since we applied the weed killer elsewhere in the garden (didm’t fancy poisoning my veggies with weed killer!). This is going to have to be the next port of call in the war against the weeds.
It is finished.
Gavin and dad have done a sterling job. The beds are all finished and now we need some lining membrane and soil. That is the next big job. The seeds are propagating and look amazing and will love their new home.
Put it all together and we have…
We start with the two short ends. They look so good. I am very pleased with the choice of decking boards. The ridges give a fab texture and decorative effect. I think it makes them look bigger. Gavin thinks I am seeing things. With all of the bits put together they beds look amazing. One more to build and then we need soil.
Huston we have lift off!
My boys did a sterling job of assembling the veggie beds as per my mom and my instructions. They just got on and did the job, very well I might add. Travis decided it was prudent to supervise the other two just to make sure they towed the line. It was like a council job really. My dad and Gavin did all the work whilst mom and I enjoyed the sun. Ahh what a life.
One step closer…
We have come far on this little aventure of ours. The plot is ready and we now have materials and tools. Seeing as my husband and I are so very uninterested in DIY we do not actually own any DIY tools; hang on I tell a lie. We have a hammer and tape measure both of which we did not actually buy. So with the help of my wonderful parents (my mom is a DIY nutter and is scarily in love with tools, the bigger and badder the better) we have everything a would be gardener needs to build a rather nifty veggie bed or two. The wood was from a local timber merchant and we decided on decking boards. they are pretty with a nice pattern, they are designed to be outdoors all year round, they are pre-treated and they are straight(ish we later found out). So now on to the actual building works. Who thought starting a veggie bed would actually involve so much other work besides growing plants.
Food glorious food.
Well the troops have been working hard. They need grub and drinks and lots of them to sustain them through the grueling ordeal of building the veggie boxes. They are looking good. More to follow on them. As you can see, Travis is working very hard at sampling all of the food available for the workers to ensure their quality and suitability to consume. He found this task very hard but he managed some how!!
Mud and Glory 