Yes! I finally got the feeling things have started at the allotment. While april was mostly about getting the beds ready, there are actually some vegetables growing already. The structures are also up again and… THE HEDGE IS FULLY CLIPPED! 😀 I absolutely hate to do this, because it takes so much time which I would rather spend on preparing the beds, but my amazing partner came with me to the garden and got all excited clipping away all the branches growing into my garden that it is now looking fabulous again. Maybe even for the first time since I got this plot.
Meanwhile the beds might look barren, because I weeded all of them and got rid of many self sown flowers too. But don’t let that fool you. In most of the beds there are already things growing and within a few weeks it will all look so much different! It’s an exciting time for the garden in May.
Here are the two basic overview photo’s. Later this year I will put them all together to show you how much the garden changes over time.
The first three beds are looking good. In bed #1 you see 5 holes, in every one of them are two potatoes buried. I needed to top them off today, so they are definitely growing! Bed #2 is still empty and topped of with compost. This will become a pumpkin-and-corn bed quite soon now. And in bed #3 you can see my broad beans growing. They are flowering so I hope I can start harvesting soon! Another pumpkin will be planted in here.
And bed #4 is all ready! The bean tipi is up, I even already sowed 3 beans a pole last weekend, and later on in May two pumpkins will be planted. I am sowing my pumpkins at home so they won’t be eaten by slugs when they are still tiny and vulnerable. In bed #5 the garlic is still growing but after harvesting those will be replaced by my sweet peppers. I have also sown my winter carrots in here, but they aren’t showing yet.
Bed #6 has a structure for peas, but up until now only 2 have made it. Probably the mice got to them. I have sown another row though and in front are lots of my smaller vegetables planted out. Things like beets, lettuces and bulb fennel. When they are harvested I will grow my cucumber here. It can trail along the pea fence so they won’t rot on the ground. In the bed behind, bed #7 I have sown the first rows of summer carrots and they are FINALLY showing up. More rows will be sown soon.
Bed #8 and #9. The left one in the picture is bed #8, I have sown my parsnips in here and later on my leeks will be planted out in here too. Bed #9 though, I didn’t really know what to do with it this year and I have sown all kinds of flowers in it. They will match up nicely with the artichoke. The first bud is showing, I decided to not harvest it but leave it to the bees first.
And of course after sowing all the flowers one of the plot neighbors came by. She offered two seedlings of Peruvian spinach, so I put them with the flowers hoping that they will grow faster and above the flowers soon. If they will grow at all that is…
This little corner is probably going to jungle up again. My autumn raspberry canes are sprouting up everywhere. I even found some three meters away in my herb garden. If you ever grown raspberries, you know how it goes. :-p
My lovely clipped hedge! I am so grateful! Now I only have to tidy up a bit below it and put some flower seeds in.
How is your garden going? What is already growing in there? And what are you preparing at home? Did you receive any mysterious plants from your neighbors? Let me know in the comments!
That looks impressively organised and tidy, congrats! (Definitely compared to our backyard 😉
Recognise that raspberries indeed tend to travel (but taste grand), try brambles – that’s just everywhere ‘weed’ 😀
Afraid our small box of lettuce that we tried didn’t survive, and the blueberry bush seems to dislike our soil. But the redcurrant (Aalbes / Ribes) is doing grand. And the brambles need ‘keeping down’ – as always.
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