Making raised beds for our vegetable garden

RB and I decided to build raised beds for the many benefits they bring: they prevent you trampling your soil,  make it easier to maintain quality soil over time as you only manure where you grow, keep the earth above ground warmer, and eventually look great, which will motivate me to get out and weed.

If you are DIY-capable or know someone who is, I suggest building your own as it is significantly less expensive than purchasing ready made ones. We plotted out our patch and have created roughly 1.5 square metre boxes – the largest possible size allowing us to reach to the centre (we both have long arms!). Here is RB building one of our 12 raised beds.

And here is the finished product in situ.

Snails in the garden

I wish I could say this was going to be one of those magical posts you find that gives you the cure-all for pests such as snails. Between worrying about them and actually going out with a flash light and picking them off the precious bounty, gardeners spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing over these horticultural evil-doers and the havoc they wreak.

No miracle here I’m afraid, however I did pick up on an interesting ongoing study via the BBC last night. Evolution Mega Lab. These guys are picking up where Darwin left off, by studying the effects of climate change and other environmental impacts on the evolution of the common garden snail. Fascinating.

They need you to help! This is a mass study through the collaboration of gardeners (or just people who go outside) all around the world. So before you pick up that snail and throw it over the fence (or perform the more permanent solution under your boot), take a quick record of what it looks like. The website provides all the background info you need. Happy hunting!

Guerrilla daffodils

This is my first attempt at posting to the blog from my iPhone. This morning I snapped this photo from the train on my way into London: a large patch of hillside next to the tracks that is totally covered with daffodils.
Daffodils aren’t my exactly my first choice flower, but when you see that a local community has brightened up a dreary patch of land next to the train tracks near Croydon, it’s pretty special. The camera phone photo doesn’t do it justice, this is pretty good guerilla gardening.

The Obama White House Vegetable Garden

The coolest couple in politics is planting a vegetable garden in the White House south lawn, and Michelle Obama has enlisted the help of her well-documented perfect biceps and Jimmy Choo boots (hearsay, but wouldn’t you believe it?).

Here is the layout of the First Vegetable Garden via TheWhoFarm who petitioned hard to make it reality. I’m not so sure about the variety myself, but it was probably very well considered on the basis of climate, usability and maybe even potager-looks. It will be great to follow the progress.

It’s worth noting that the Obamas are certainly not the first presidential gardeners. Eleanor Roosevelt inspired thousands with her Victory Garden during World War II. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was also an avid gardener and some of his garden notes have been electronically archived. Here is a page to marvel at:

Potato Art

I’ve just picked up on the Szpilman Award, a competition in Germany of ephemeral works. I love Giorgina Choueiri’s potato piece. She transforms people into potatoes. The potato heads grow, sprout, and decay. I would love to see a photo of this after a few more weeks.

Vintage gardening book

It was my birthday this week and I was over the moon to receive a surprise fedex package from my grandmother in California. I only wish I had photographed the gift wrap, which in itself was a present to receive.

Marcela is an artist and more recently a professional small tree pruner, so she knows what she’s doing in the garden. Her artistic eye and love for gardening make her a model modern gardener. Part of her gift was this super book:

We have a healthy collection of glossy books about gardening, but this out-of-print gem is simple and wonderful. The illustrations throughout show you what to do, and ‘cut here’ is exactly the way I need to be told. I will be keeping my eye out for more books like this.

I’ll never forget when as a child Marcela pulled the car over onto the side of a motorway and picked a bunch of wild fennel and had me try it – an early lesson of appreciation for what nature can give you. Thank you Marcela!

Tiny tip no. 1

Tiny tip no. 1 (meaning the first of a series, not the top tip for success!) for new gardeners is simple and perhaps obvious: don’t fill pots all the way to the top with soil, even if it does look nicer.

RB and I have planted a whole load of seed this year, ranging from herbs to vegetables to bee-attracting flowers, and by now they have pretty much all graduated into the seedling category. We’ve grown from seed before, but we’ve never had much land to play with so it’s safe to say this year we are going agricultural by comparison.

Before we knew peat-based products were gardening’s equivalent to serving jellied eels to your friends for dinner (so uncool and there are plenty of alternatives), we bought hundreds of tiny peat pots in addition to traditional seed trays.

Now here’s the tip: soil does not absorb water straight away, so if you’ve put soil all the way to the top and you have a seed or two sitting there, the water is going to make it initially overflow and probably make the seeds go with it. So give the pot a little space to fill up with water while is starts to absorb it.

Moss graffiti art

The gals at el&abe have created beautiful moss art that slots somewhere in the very small patch between nature and urbanity. This moss ‘graffiti’ manages to be arrestingly beautiful and thought-provoking. I just love it.

Pruning therapy

Is it just me, or is pruning not just the most satisfying ‘task’? I love the sight of a tidy tree or bush that then bursts into life with gratitude from the haircut. I am also particularly fanatical about keeping trees free of straggly branches up to about 5 feet, so that you get views through them, like you seen in parks. It creates depth in the garden, particularly important if you have a lot of trees that might otherwise form a wall. This weekend RB and I spent a good chunk of time thinning out under rhododendrons and cutting branches off trees that blocked views or obstructed paths. This mahonia had been particularly bugging me, ever since my mother pointed out that it was the only thing we enjoyed from the kitchen window and that we could benefit from seeing through it (thanks Muki!). Here it is in its jungle state in the autumn:

And here it is after its spring pruning – oh there’s the lawn! Mahonia is spiky so wear gloves. If you have a mahonia near the house like we do, I would wait until the birds have eaten every last berry off the tree before pruning. It’s such a lovely sight to see.

Planting strawberries

Our strawberry plants arrived in the post yesterday, with a WARNING! about planting them immediately or risking plant death – motivation enough for us. We ordered Cambridge Favourite for their promise to be relatively straightforward and good producers. 12 plants arrived tied up like this.

Our plan was to utilise an old raised bed that was left on our plot. After a bit of reading, we decided to plant them through a membrane to minimise weeding, especially since we’re aiming for 3 years of croppping. It also means the strawberries won’t be muddy.

We soaked the plants for a few hours before planting, created X-shaped cuts into the fabric, and dug deep holes so the roots would remain long. Holding the plant in the desired spot, we then backfilled the hole so the crown sits at surface level.

The plants will be covered by a cage to keep them clear from the birds, and protected with fleece while frost is still around. I’m looking forward to June!