We, sow the seed... Nature, grows the seed...

I spent a relaxing hour or so this evening finishing off my raised bed, and sowing some veggie seeds. I topped off the bed with a mixture of rotted horse manure and (peat free) compost, and added a bag of perlite. I then divided the bed into 1 x 1.25 foot sections using bamboo canes, giving me sixteen rectangles to play with. Depending on the crop I either sowed a few seeds into a grid of holes in each rectangle, or broadcast them randomly.

So far I have sowed:

• American Land Cress
• Spinach
• Turnips (for harvesting when small)
• Chinese Broccoli (never tried it, worth a go)
• Swiss Chard (Bright Lights) - sowed into two rectangles, as I'll only get a few plants per rectangle
• Lettuce (Leibacher Ice)
• Lettuce (Red and Green Mixed)
• Carrots (Early Nantes)
• Radishes (French Breakfast)
• Beetroot (Detroit Red Ball)

Hopefully something will start to grow before long! I will get a photo posted soon.

Raised bed

I spent a pleasant few hours on Sunday afternoon listening to the cricket whilst I constructed a raised bed in the back garden, so I can grow a few veggies at home. It's eight feet long by two and a half feet wide (i.e. long and thin!) but it will allow me to grow a few bits and bobs, especially if I adopt the Square Foot Gardening approach.

I'll post a photo when it stops raining long enough to take one, but it's quite basic, made from gravel boards and wooden stakes for strength. Building the thing was easy, getting it level(ish) then filling it with soil was the hard bit. I could hardly move when I tried to get out of bed this morning!

Wigglers

I set up my wormery on Friday evening, which proved to be very simple. I then spent the next day or so worrying that the initial worm bedding material was too wet and the worms were drowning, or that I'd added too much waste in one go as nothing was happening to it. However, by last night there was clear indication of worm activity amongst the food scraps, so all seems to be well.

I am sure my wife thinks I'm a bit mad as I keep on checking under the lid to see how they're doing. I haven't given them all names yet though. I think I shall use the collective name Geoff for all of them, as they're a bit difficult to tell apart.

Introducing Geoff the worms.

The Worms! The Worms Are Here!

To cheer myself up a bit after having to give my allotment back, I bought myself a Can-O-Worms wormery for the garden, from these lovely people.

It arrived this morning, and although I have yet to add the worms (tonight's job) I assembled the wormery in the garden.

Very swish. In a few months or so I hope to have a good supply of compost and 'worm juice' from all our kitchen scraps.