Episode 31 in writing
I have been notified that some downloaded podcasts of episode 31 have come through very quiet and inaudible. I can not explain why this has happened but I am looking into it and I apologise to those who have been affected. So I thought I would put into writing the just of that episode.
updates
site updates. I have completely changed the theme and layout of the website to more of a blog based layout. I believe that this has made the site much simpler, tidier and easier to navigate of which I hope you all will prefer.
the home plot.
at home not much is being done as the plan is to move this year (of which I'm hoping to get a bigger vegetable plot). However I've managed to get the mower working and mowed the lawn and trimmed back the ivy. All these cuttings get taken to the compost heaps up the allotment. I've also completely covered the veg plot in wood chipping to keep all weeds down I have then placed all my pots that have plants (herbs such as mint, lemon balm and oregano and trees such as olive bay and peach) on top of the wood chip. I found it quiet amazing just how many items I have growing in pots once I saw them like this. I've also been cleaning out a lot of pots and stacking them ready for use. Some of these pots I've started to sow some seeds in and placed in the cold frame. These seeds include pea and broad bean, onion, cauliflower and wild strawberry. Now I'm not expecting all these to grow but it'll be interesting to see what will grow this early in the year.
The allotment.
Up the allotment I've cleared bed 1 and 2 and bed 2 I have covered in compost and well-rotted horse manure. The compost came from the compost piles up here after serving through and returning the un rotted stuff back. The horse manure I get from a new supplier after losing my previous supplier (nothing to do with anything I done). This supplier has manure already rotted down so it is ready to use on the beds straight away. I've also been burning a lot of wood waste. I've also harvested some Jerusalem artichokes of which have made some tasty addition to roast dinner.
Lessons learned from last year.
Tomatoes suffer from blight on both plots so I wasn't going to grow any this year until flicking through a seed catalogue I've seen another breed of tomatoes that is completely resistant to blight so I'm going to buy these as plug plants and see how these do. Going into a new garden I am going to sterilise everything in the hope that I won't spread it to there. Blight affects potatoes too however I seem to get away with it on potatoes.
Weeds have been my next biggest problem and although the landscaping fabric was very good at stopping this it was very fiddly and expensive to use. I'm hoping that a thick layer of mulch will stop weeds coming through after I've dug out any perennial roots out. I'm using compost, horse manure and wood chip as a mulch and making it about 8inches thick to smother any weeds. Also I'm hoping to spend more time weeding to keep on top of any that do grow.
Slugs and snails have been a problem but organic slug pellets have been effective so I'm going to use those again as well as a garlic spray.
My next lesson is to be tidier (sounds like New Years revolution) and this can simply be achieved by throwing items away when not needed and putting items away in there allocated places.
well I think this wraps up everything and hopefully the next podcast will be trouble-free however please let me know of any problems. Thank you.