Spring update

Spring is well under way and the mixture of sunny days - up to 20C on occasion - and plenty of rain means everything is growing like crazy as you can see from these photos.

View from the conservatory door

Top of the garden taken at dusk. No leaves on the walnut trees yet.

Spent last weekend clearing ground elder from under the Korean pine. Horrible stuff that had runner roots like couch grass. it's come in from the field next door. There's a whole lot more under the magnolia!

Composting

1st-7th May is Compost Awareness Week!

Lots of information about different types of composting at www.carryoncomposting.com.

We have a fairly large garden so have lots of grass-cuttings, clippings, weeds and leaves to dispose of. So composting is the obvious way. Indeed we also need as much nutrients as possible to rejuvenate the soil in the veg plots and around the fruit trees and bushes. I also use the compost for seed-sowing and potting. This is a little problematic in that our compost heaps don't get hot enough to kill off weed seeds so along with lettuces I get a lot of weed seedlings, mostly chick-weed and nettles. That's OK because I can recognise them and quickly pull them. On the Carry-on-composting site they have suggestions for gently pasteurising compost in the oven or microwave. However, although this process will probably kill some seeds and bugs it may also kill off good organisms too.

Our compost regime

We have 3 composting bays in a row made from a wooden frame and sides. The bottom is open to the ground. They are about 2 metres square. We rotate them as:

1. Collecting
2. Maturing
3. Using

and the cycle takes about 18 months.

We dig them all over from time to time to get a good mix and aerate the compost. A rather motley collection of plastic roofing and wood panels provide part-shelter from the rain to avoid it getting too wet. It's also easier to deal with compost from the Using pile if it's not too wet.

What we put in:

1. Grass cuttings
2. Non-seedy annual weeds
3. Plant waste from tidying borders etc
4. Smaller prunings and cut-up twigs
5. Kitchen waste - peelings, etc (except for potatoes and bought-in onions)
6. Fallen apples
7. Leaves
8. Plain cardboard and paper (i.e. stuff without shiny printing)
9. Dirt from the vacuum cleaner
10. Ash from the wood-burners and bonfire

What we don't put in:

1. Rose branches and twigs
2. Thick twigs and branches from pruning
3. Potato peelings and bought-in onions (potatoes harbour viruses and I'm still nervous about the allium leaf miner which I'm sure was originally brought in from purchased onions.)
4. Couch grass, ground elder
5. Seedy annual weeds. (Must get to them earlier!)
6. Moss - takes forever to rot

This latter list goes on the bonfire and then the ash from the bonfire goes in the compost.

Potatoes in blankets

This week we've had typical April weather, sunshine and showers, but wintery showers of hail and snow. And overnight its been icy. So each evening I'm on patrol up to our unheated greenhouse to cover up the potatoes with sacking and fleece. One time I forgot till just before bed-time and i went up with a flash-lamp. Lots of rustlings and flappings and squealings as I obviously disturbed the other residents.

In the morning sun I carefully unwrap them. I think it's worth the trouble because they are looking pretty good. I reckon we'll have new potatoes to eat within 2-3 weeks.

This year I'm late with the sowing of potatoes outside. I did one batch (1.5kgs each of Orla and Colleens) two weeks ago and the second (1.5kgs each of Maris Piper and Sante) last weekend. The soil has been seriously wet and unworkable previously. I gave them all a good bed of compost to get going with and that should help with the wet too. I still have some Kestrels saved from last year but I'm getting a bit short of space so I think I'll put them in big pots. No reds this year. I hoped there would be some Desirees from last year's harvest, but they were very small and didn't store well. There will be a few "feral" Desirees I expect, and they usually grow to a good size..