Problem: growing vegetables on acid soil. Solution: raised beds

Along with recently setting up my first perennial beds, I have now also got my first vegetable raised bed growing.

first vegetable bed

I did a soil test early on, and found out two key things. One: the soil is incredibly heavy clay. The kind of clay I'm guessing Whichford Pottery might be able to use for their pots! Incredibly heavy, red-like clay (perhaps iron in it?) that is hard to stick a stake into, let along for a poor plant to try and get it's roots into.

Two: the soil is quite acidic in parts (some parts less than others). This is largely fine for most hardy perennials, most of which can tolerate a broader set of soil conditions (I did add a lot of compost to the perennial beds though, for nutrients and to improve the growing conditions). But acid soil is not much good for most vegetables as they need alkaline soil in which to grow.

This information led me to decide to dig up the grass and top soil*, about a couple of inches, and to build on this with deeper raised beds than I have previously (30cms tall rather than 15cms). By creating deeper beds, it would extend what I can grow within them, including more deep rooting vegetables like carrots, parsnips and potatoes, as well as more shallow rooting vegetables like lettuce and spinach**.

*You would normally keep your top soil, but as mine was just acidic heavy clay, compacted and weedy, it would have been almost useless to use for growing vegetables. Plus, a lot of work trying to separate weed from clay - just not worth the time/effort.

**Though spinach can send down some deep roots, I have discovered in the past when pulling out the old bolted crop at my previous lottie. 60cms or longer roots - impressive.

30cms deep raised bed, using a double row of link-a-bords.

This first bed now contains a mix of vegetable seedlings, including carrots, pak choi and winter cabbage, along with tomato and climbing French bean plants, basil & coriander. I chose a shorter variety of carrot, D'Eysines from Real Seeds rather than a longer variety that might end up growing into the acid soil.

D'Eysines Carrot seedlings. Sticks to protect young seedlings

from cats digging!

I had a bunch of coriander seedlings I had grown in pots and decided to plant them out around the edge of the bed, particularly next to the carrots. I just thought this might help deter carrot fly. I've not read this anywhere, rather I just had a theory that coriander has a strong fragrance and that it might be worth trying as a deterrent for carrot fly. Let's see what happens.

Pak Choi 'Canton Dwarf' seedlings

I got the Pak Choi seeds from my Seedy Penpal this year, Linda. It's the right time of year to sow Pak Choi, after midsummer, so glad I got to make use of the free seeds. Looking forward to stir fry...

I have two more double raised beds to build over the coming few weeks. I want to get some more seeds sown, like kale, spinach and chard, so I have something to harvest in Winter and early Spring.

I'm having to do this all a bit more slowly than I would like due to health issues (I have ME), but that's ok. I've finally got my first vegetables growing, despite moving into a new garden with acid soil only 3.5 months ago, and I'm pretty pleased with that.

If you are interested in growing using raised beds, do read VP's latest blog: I heart raised beds. It gives a very good overview for other reasons (besides acid soil) that growing vegetables on raised beds is definitely worth a try.

More harvesting, and green manure

I must say thank you to the weather, for hearing my plea and making the weekend predominantly sunny, or at least,  not very rainy, as it did rain for 1 hour on Sat. My lottie was ever so pleased to see me today.

Thankfully I got there just in time before some of the courgettes started becoming marrows. This particular courgette, verde di Italia, has yielded quite well, though I do have to be quick about getting to them before they become marrows. They taste much better when smaller. As usual, another good variety I got from Real Seeds.

Courgette verde di Italia

I only had to dig up a couple of beetroot to get enough to make some brownies...

One of them was quite large compared to the others (see right side in the picture below). This was a variety called Devoy, which rather than giving you round beetroot, gives you longer more carrot-like beetroot. This one was quiet chunky. Mmmm, brownies....

The St Valery carrots were also doing well and taste really sweet, like sunshine in your mouth.

The green manure I sowed a couple of weeks ago is coming along wonderfully. First is the Tares, (with the errant pumpkin elbowing in for some space) which over-winter without any problems from frost damage. I planted the tares after pulling up the garlic. Tares are from the legume family, and fixes nitrogen into the soil as well as improving soil fertility.

The following bed is a mix of winter salads and pak choi to the left, and Hungarian Grazing Rye to the right.

I will be putting a cloche over the salads and pak choi, so carefully marked out the space it will need for when I have to put it on. This will be just before the first frosts, probably in October. Well, hopefully in October and not late September when I'm on holiday in Bavaria!

Because the rye is a cereal it can fit anywhere in a rotation. I thought I'd try it because it is supposed to stop nutrients from leaching, for example, from heavy rains or flooding. Apparently it can really take off and put in deep roots in Spring, so I need to remember to dig it in, in early Spring. Ok braincell, remember that...

You dig in green manure in Spring, at least 4-6 weeks before you want to sow seeds. The freshly dug in green manure can inhibit germination, which is why you need to wait a few weeks to let them break down and release their manurey-goodness before spring sowing can commence. My plan in general, is to have some kind of green manure growing through winter in any bed that I don't have veg over-wintering, such as my Brassicas, Spinach/Chard and the winter lettuces.

Whilst I was busy harvesting, weeding, and sowing more Spinach, Chard and an overwintering cabbage, Wintergreen, Kevin was working on digging out weeds and preparing another raised bed.

Our great aim(!) is that for a change, next year all the beds for the potatoes will be ready when it is potato planting time (traditionally Good Friday), rather than the desperate rush in mid-late May as has been the case in the last two years! Oddly, the late sowing of the potatoes doesn't seem to effect the yields, but still, it would be nice to not have rush in May for a change.

My final photograph is of a poppy that has self-seeded in my spinach/chard bed. Seems a bit late for a poppy to be flowering, but hey, not complaining. I mean - pretty! Ok, perhaps it is flamboyant, but still, pretty...

Post-snow lottie: the results

It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged. I've been finishing up at my job at INASP and busy applying and preparing for interviews and it's rather taken over a bit. However, I did finally get down to the lottie the other day and can now report on what did and didn't survive the heavy snow.

First up is the Broad Beans. For over-wintering, I had planted Aquadulce Claudia, The Sutton and Crimson Flowered. The Crimson Flowered (left) were just a trial. I had only ever planted them in spring before and have found that the blackfly rather likes them and this could inhibit growth. Though the flowers were very pretty, crimson (!), I found if you didn't get to picking the beans quick enough, they would not taste as good (though ok for a Lebanese Fava Bean dish, I think the corriander, garlic and lemon helps). So I didn't know what to expect by planting them in autumn. As you can see, they have done very well and of all my broad beans, these are the perkiest post-snow. Will be interesting to see how they grow into spring, and the onset of the dreaded blackfly in late-spring-early summer.

Aquadulce Claudia (right) is known as THE broad bean to plant for over-wintering. However, as you can see here, they are looking a little sorry for themselves. Some of the beans haven't germinated either, although maybe some got nicked by mice. I'll sow some more come February to fill in the missing plants.

My third type of Broad Bean, was The Sutton (below). This was another experiment. It is said these might be sown in autumn, so I thought I would give it a go. They are looking ok, better than the Aquadulce Claudia, though again some missing plants so will do another sowing in February. Also, it is possible I should have planted them under cloches or cover for autumn sowing. Will try again next autumn and see what happens. I haven't grown The Sutton before, so just going hearsay that they are a bean worth trying. Overall, I'm pleased that the broad beans largely survived the heavy snow. Yes I have to sow a few more plants in Feb, but I tend to find this happens most years when there hasn't been heavy snow, so feel the overall success rate has been good.

Now, onto a failure. Not, I hasten to add, because of the snow, but because of, I suspect, Pigeons. Look at my poor brassicas! If you look carefully, you will see that the tops have been ravaged. During summer and autumn I did have agricultural mesh covering them in a cage to protect them from the darned Large White cabbage butterfly, but then removed it for winter since the butterfly is not around then.

I recall someone at the Lotties expressing suprise that I had taken down the mesh cage at the time, mentioning they might get attacked by pigeons. However, based on previous experience, I wasn't worried. SILLY ME. Previous experience was based on growing brassicas in the back garden in Witney, where we had Merlyn the cat prowling around, stalking pigeons and anything else that moved. I didn't have any problems with pigeons there. But Merlyn doesn't get down to the lottie; really, he needs to do more to earn his keep. Just shows you how contextual growing is. Suffice to say, next year the agricultural mesh cage will stay on!

Returning from the 'dark side', I can happily report that my carrots, d'Eysines Large Half-Long (right) that I have been growing under cover, are doing absolutely fine. Look at the happy bunnies.
 
More interesting, is the how the lettuce Winter Density has done. On the left are those that were growing completely in the open. They are looking rather sad, but if I'm lucky and we don't get any further snow they may perk up and get growing again. On the right are those that happen to have been sown next to the carrots and therefore got a bit of protection from the cloche covers I put over them (you can see the make-do cloche covers below, just a bit of perspex from a broken mini-greenhouse). These are doing much better and I have confidence they will definitely continue to grow and I should be able to pick lettuce once it warms up again. And what has this taught me? Put my Winter Density under cover and I'll be able to pick lettuce through the winter. Guess what I'll be doing next year...

Finally, still no sign of the garlic. I guess the snow kept them dormant for longer (I think that's what happened, does anyone know if this is right or wrong?), but hoping that the unfreezing will now mean they kick into action. Here is an overview picture of the lottie beds post-snow (plus those 'cloches' I'm using for the carrots). Might look neat, but I happen to know that the weeds have already started growing. Next job.

Gwenfar's Lottie in the snow

I did manage to get down to my lottie today. I was clearly the only one who bothered, as I had pristine smooth snow to walk through (nearly 2ft deep) to get through the gate and to my plot. And here it is:

That's my brussels sprouts poking their heads up. If you look carefully you can see the outline of my raised beds. No idea how the winter lettuce and carrots are doing, will  have to wait for the thaw. It's getting close to sunset now and been snowing on and off all day. However, now the sky is now a clear light blue and a freezing night is expected, so we have been told not to expect a thaw for a few days.

Here is the back garden at Cornwallis Road. The lump in the bottom left is the poor old bamboo even further driven to despair. I did clear the snow off the bird feeders and now have lots of birdies in the back garden. I also put some seed on the ground for ground feeders like blackbirds and finches. It must be hard for them with all this snow and being unable to get to the grass and worms. I wouldn't usually put bird seed on the ground because of Merlyn, and the fact there are a lot of other cats in the neighbourhood. However, cats don't appear to be venturing outside at the moment. The darlings don't like to get their paws wet. Bless. So safe for the birds.

Kevin and I went for a walk at lunchtime. Florence Park is looking stunning in the snow. See this avenue of trees...

I've uploaded more snow pics to my web album if you want to take a look-chook.

My brain hasn't completely gone to snowy mush. I've been catching up on some reading and came across this brilliant article by Gary Younge who discusses how the so-called 'war on terror' has been more about scaring peoople than protecting them. This is his reponse to the recent air plane 'terror threat'. As usual, Gary brings together complex and emotive issues and makes sense of them and a clear and concise way. I recommend his article to you.

What I did over the winter break

Well it's 2010 - happy new year to you! I hope you enjoyed a good winter (or summer) break. As someone who cannot stand Xmas (or sit Xmas either), I choose to view the forced holidays as a time for a quiet winter break. A time to veg about watching bad television and films, reading good books, and with some luck, catching up with a few friends. And that's pretty much what I managed. However, I also managed to include a bad chest/head cold that stayed with me throughout the winter break. ugh! Kevin had it even worse, starting before the holidays and carrying on the whole way through, so double-ugh! for him.

First up was a visit from Kate & Simon and their two boys, Sam and Alexander from Bonn. We hadn't met Alexander before, so it was lovely to meet him. And what a cheery little boy he is.

Simon, Kate & Alexander

And here is young Sam, enjoying Shaun the Sheep, the only child-friendly item I think in our whole house!

With Sam being busy giggling at Shaun's antics the adults managed to catch up a bit and eat brownies.

About this time Kevin's cold hit and the poor boy was home sickly. I was fine though and worked up until 24th Dec, then, BUGGER, I got the cold too. I know partners should share, but you don't have to share everything. Really.

So the next few days were very quiet. The days were beautiful, with lovely cold English sunny winter days, and we couldn't bear being inside even though we were feeling quite crap.  Kevin's mum, Audrey, had left us her car whilst she was over in Denmark visiting Tamsin (daughter) and Troels (Tamsin's partner), so though we were feeling cruddy, we decided to take a short drive through the Chilterns, south of Oxford. It had been snowing a few days before, and the hills were still covered, snow sparkling in the sun.

I managed to capture the late afternoon sun in a photo at Ewelme (pron. u-elm).

I love England in winter. In many ways I think it is when England's gentle beauty shines through best. Yes, it can rain and we do get yucky grey days for days on end. But I often think all the who-ha about the crap English winter is an exaggeration. Much of winter can be cold crisp days with blue skies, perfect for walking through the countryside, or even in city parks. You don't get hot and bothered like summer, and there is always a lovely warm pub somewhere along the way. And in England, it is ok to ask for a cup of tea in a pub. You don't get laughed at for requesting tea like you do in Oz pubs! So walking in the sun through gentle countryside with friends/loved ones, with a friendly publican welcoming you with a hot cuppa. What else could you want?

We also visited the lottie to see how it coped with the recent snow and icy days. Nice to see that even all that didn't kill off my winter lettuce 'winter density', that my spinach and chard were looking good, many more of my broad beans had come up. No sign of the garlic yet, though I'm not really expecting to see any shoots until mid-Jan or so. The late carrots I sowed, d'Eysines Large Half-Long, were doing well under the make-do 'cloche' I put up.

I used some perspex from an old broken mini-greenhouse we found when we moved into Cornwallis Road and it has done the job nicely.They are looking healthy, have plenty of air but not getting covered by snow and ice, and so far I cannot see any slug damage. I'm growing these ones specifically to save the seed from; my first attempt at saving carrot seeds. Bit tricker than peas and beans as you need to make sure they are pollinated, but not cross-pollinated by other carrot varieties, including wild carrot 'Queen Anne's Lace' which flowers at the same time. I've found Carrot - d'Eysines Large Half-Long to be a very reliable variety, good germination and good tasting, and Real Seeds, who I got them from, don't have much seed at the moment. I met Ben from Real Seeds at the Oxford seed saving event and he inspired me to have a go at saving the seeds, so hence this attempt.

We then had a couple of more days at home watching bad films, such as the original Day of the Triffids. Kevin and I thought it would be fun to watch again, however, going back to some films you loved when younger isn't always a good idea. It made us realise how badly acted, sexist, and silly, it was. Basically, plants get big, start eating humans, lots of silly women screaming (I bet they were hired just for their ability to scream) and being rescued by brawny men who saved them from the big bad plant. I forgot early sci-fi was so sexist. sigh.We did also watch some good old films to though, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner still a delight to view, and still quite relevant.

Then, with hacking coughs and a bad case of sniffless (sniffles with extra sniff), we ventured out once again, this time to Stow-on-the-Wold with Jackie, who was also starting to get a cold. 'Wold' comes from Old English, 'wald' meaning "high ground cleared of forest" (so says my English Place-Names book). And yes, Stow is on top of a very big hill. A very pretty Cotswold town with a large number of tea shops, which of course one is obliged to enter and partake of the victuals therein. YUM. We might have felt unwell, but be buggered if we were going to miss out on cake. Marie Antoinette was on to something...

Speaking of cake, I managed to do a bit more baking. My first attempt at Victoria Sponge cake, with clotted cream and damson jam in the middle. And being from my gluten-free veggie cake book where I got the brownie recipe, this one had a vegetable in it too. Can you guess what it might be? (ans. at bottom)

The 'lucky' recipients of the latest baking attempt was Mau & Hetan, who we visited in London on 30th Jan, and got to meet their lovely new daughter, Keya, who was born just a few days before my birthday. What a cutie-patootie huh!

She is kicking with her leggies very fast, obviously keen to get going in the world.

We managed to sleep through the new year. We were invited to Jenny & Mark's (lottie buddy) but were both feeling so utterly crapola we didn't have the energy to stay up that late. How pathetic.

Mau & Hetan have loaned us the first 3 seasons of The Wire, and you can probably guess what we spent out last few days of holidays doing... Apart from a slight excess of swearing (even for me, and I swear a lot), it is a brilliant show. I've heard so many people talk about it, so great to finally see it. I don't like many US detective/cop shows, other than Bones, as they don't usually have the subtlety, dialogue and good story as British ones (ie. Inspector Morse, Lewis, Prime Suspect, Taggart -a fave, love those accents!), but I have to say that I'm definitely a fan of The Wire.

So, we are starting the new year getting well, relaxing and enjoying some bright sunny winter days. Back to work tomorrow, my last three weeks at INASP. I hope you enjoyed a good winter break and are enjoying a good start to 2010. Happy New Year.

* * * * *

Answer to mystery vegetable in the Victoria Sponge: potato. I used 'Stemster', one of my absolute favourite varieties. Reliable, large potatoes, high yielding, and good all-rounder (ie. baking, frying, mashing etc). The cake turned out lovely and moist, and pretty light. Just what a sponge cake should be. Going to be baking that again soon.