..... to quote (or misquote) from an old school hymn. The last of the "Pink Fur Apple" potatoes have been harvested. It's been a good crop (sorry to those of you who have suffered blight..!).
My first year at veggie growing has been a great success (in my terms anyway!). Twenty five onions, loads and loads of crunchy, tasty carrots, bags of broad beans, several barrowloads of tatties. Several courgettes, which is great as they were late going in. The peas didn't do so well but those I did have were delicious. The strawberry plants were new so only a small crop from them, but am hoping for an increased crop next year!
I hesitate to say I didn't have any problems with pests - hope they are not reading this blog and heading towards the walled garden for next year! I suspect it's because the garden was "new ground", not having been used to grow anything but wild grass for over 15 years. I did use some "sacrificial" plants too. And initially the hens were wandering about the garden picking off aphids etc. I'm hoping next year is as easy going too........ (well they say gardeners are optimists!).
I'm hoping I get a chance to put some seaweed down as fertiliser this autumn (that was the only fertiliser I used this year), and am then also hoping to put some "mulch matting" down and weight it down with stone. But it rather depends on energy levels and weather......
Now for planning for next year.......
Your veg has been way more successful than mine!
ReplyDeleteSounds like the hens are very useful for keeping the pests away too. Do you have any problem with the hens uprooting things?
I find that the birds (mostly starlings and blackbirds) about my garden tend to pull baby plants up - especially onions for some reason! And I had a young plant which I loved which they pulled up so many times it eventually died.
Hens uprooting things - w-e-l-l it depends. With my previous crops I netted everything until it was well established. I'm conducting a trial at the moment - some of the onion rows I've protected from potential hen disturbance, and some I haven't.... For the bulk of the main growing season the hens will be banned from the garden (entrances blocked etc), but in the winter it seems a shame to bar them from a nice sheltered patch with some juicy worms..... though I'm disappointed they don't like slugs.....
ReplyDeleteI've told all my allotment pests that if they want a little holiday next year, there is a nice plot on Graemsay.... just kidding! Sounds like you had a very successful first year of gardening - good luck for next season!
ReplyDeleteIt's Pink Fir Apple by the way, or maybe they need little fur coats up in Orkney???