Planning the vegetable garden
Posted: Monday 27 December, 2010
I've spent the last couple of evenings working on the planting plan for the vegetable garden. Well, actually, the planning started a few weeks ago when I did the basic bed plan, decided what vegetables were going where and then chose the varieties we're using this year. After that, I placed the order for our seeds, seed potatoes, onion and shallot sets and garlic. I've done this for a couple of years now, but it's the first time at Dalmore, where we have more and bigger beds and, obviously, different growing conditions.
The seeds arrived last week, so I've been working on the more detailed plan - down to what's going in each metre of bed - then drawing up a calendar of what is to be sown or planted (or harvested) each week from April to September, or each month in the shoulder months. It's now pretty much completed and I have a fairly good mental picture of what's going where and when.
We will have five raised beds, each 1.2m wide and 18m long. This allows us to operate a five year rotation - potatoes, brassicas, garlic /onions / shallots / leeks /sweetcorn, legumes / carrots /beetroot / parsnips and a fifth bed, which this year is going to have sunflowers and wheat. Well, definitely sunflowers.
This might all sound a bit anal but when it gets to March, we won't have time - and we won't want to make time - to think about the planting. This way, we just refer to the plan and plant, no thinking required. I aim to keep better records this year of what works and what doesn't - the plan is never perfect - so that I can improve it the following year. That's the plan, anyway.
- Previous « Thawing again
- Next Cattle keeper »
