The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: ellisr on December 03, 2011, 10:38:13 am
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Well we have decided to turn about 1/4 of an acre into a veg plot for next year. I have turned one bed this morning with an old rotavator I have borrowed and I am knackered.Just going to get some more petrol and crack on with another one this afternoon. I then have 3 more to put in which will probably be tomorrow so hope the weather holds.
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Keep thinking about the fresh veggies next year :yum: and how much you'd be paying for a gym membership to build up your biceps. ;D
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Keep thinking about the fresh veggies next year :yum: and how much you'd be paying for a gym membership to build up your biceps. ;D
Not to mention slimming world fees you are saving (if you needed SW in the first place!)
Good for you. You can feel smug about it when you stop aching. ;D
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All very true especially when OH has DVT and can't help at all, well except making coffees. The long term goal is all that is keeping me going that and santa is bringing me a huge polytunnel
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Ooh - what size of tunnel?
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6m X 3m along with my small one will give me loads more space to grow, I have in the past done bedding plants and sold them at markets so I'm going to try that again next year as well
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I'm very envious, Santas' being very good to you or you have been very good to Santa!! Would love a polytunnel but don't think I'll be getting one. Not this year anyway. Hope OH is doing ok with his DVT. :wave:
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I'm envious too. :(
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Well 4 beds done, I had planned 5 in total but miscalculated so I can actually have 6 beds. All manured and composted so far and covered in old straw.
Don't know if to plant the onion sets as it is still very mild for the time of year, we have only had 1 slight frost and that was over a week ago
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Lucky you ellisr :) I am wanting to make some beds too, mainly for onions etc, but between my shingles, which seems to be retreating now, and the 6" of snow we have, I haven't made any progress - yet. Are you having your beds flat, or with a wood surround? Until now I have always had flat beds and recently have covered them in black weed suppressing fabric, but I want to raise this one for the onions to increase drainage.
You can certainly plant out your garlic now, but up here I tend to leave shallots until Feb and onions until March, and if it's snowy then I start them in pots. But it sounds as if you live somewhere mild.
As well as young plants, have you thought of selling hanging baskets, ready planted up? As you have the young plants already, that could be quite a money-spinner, especially in your lovely new polytunnel.
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I used to do bedding plants and hanging baskets when I lived up north it is a bit of a new venture down here so I will see what goes well. I have asked santa if he can stretch to 4 cross bars for the tunnel to hang baskets on as I want a few for around the holding next year.
I'm now search for 4 new barrels for water and some 'v' guttering to feed them. I am loving the work as it is now visable and not just a drawing on a piece of paper even OH now understands.
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Good luck with your venture. In our plot I only grow for us (and the freezer) as dont want to be tied to producing to please other people and their timetables ...turning into a grumpy old woman!
I have raised beds but like a chocolate bar...they get higher at this time of the year as the old muck heap gets dud into it before the snow....well thats the thoery anyway! glad that your turning theories into practice.
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Anyone got any ideas on how to make raised beds from pallets without too much work - so I can sit on the edge of them and potter. Auld age is catching up, or rather two car accidents, so I can't bend or kneel anymore. I made some years ago from planks of wood left over from building my house, but pallets are the only thing I can afford nowadays - because they are free. ;D My son will help but I can't leave him to do it all. :-[
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Ellisr,
It sounds like your fighting the rotovator instead of letting it do all the work .
I've had the bust back for 16 yrs & a bust problematic left shoulder for 33 years, yet I have managed to rotovate several very large areas , one of which was part of a 18 inch deep rubble track some 40 mtrs long. 7 5 mtrs wide .
My mate who was a super fit kick boxing freak fought the machine for two hours solid trying to push & pull it through the area , he had to give in . I took over and much to his surprise did far more than him in less time and also kicked out the rubble for him and his son to take away . i was running less then 3 inches deep on each pass till I'd covered the whole area then adjusted the drag to get it another 3 incheds deeper 7 went over the area again. , did this several times til I was able to let the machine fine tilth down to the full 18 inches of cut.
so may I suggest you try setting the depth just a few inches at a time and lightly hold the machine ..no white knuckle riding stuff , try to ease the machine round corners whilst it's running ..no heaving it out the ground .
If you can get it going one direction only in an oval circuit growing larger with each circuit it gets even easier.
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Anyone got any ideas on how to make raised beds from pallets without too much work - so I can sit on the edge of them and potter. Auld age is catching up, or rather two car accidents, so I can't bend or kneel anymore. I made some years ago from planks of wood left over from building my house, but pallets are the only thing I can afford nowadays - because they are free. ;D My son will help but I can't leave him to do it all. :-[
perhaps cut the pallets in half along the run of wood boards if needed leave the central blocks and board in place and set the new cut halves down in the ground .
If you look at some of my posts you'll see that i've used a bed 900 mm deep because of spinal injuries , you could use the pallets and make hollow boxes screwed together then lined with builders heavy duty water proofed membrane ,.
get your lad to fill with alternate layers of well rotted manure ( several types if possible ) one earth and one soil .
Don't just use spent mushroom compost as it has gypsum or lime added to it and you wil get chlorossis of lime affecting the plants .
Perhaps even look up the " all new square foot gardening "as the raised high beds make for a good set up in this style of gardening.
Note the All new square foot gardening superceeds the original book by only using a home made ,made up soil less growth medium but so long as you don't tell them what your using you can pick up some real good tips .
i now have 21 beds each 3 x 3foot long or so and can garden them from either side four foot eas too muchb of a stretch .
My total area is almost 189 sq feet of fully useable space , it has very few weeds due to the methods employed in cutivating the squares one at a time as & when I can do them .
Whereas small height raised beds would be impossible for me to work due to not being able to do bending , having wrecked knees and a bust left shoulder joint
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Thanks, Plantoid but at almost 68 I am not going to start cutting up pallets by myself. I'm useless with a saw anyway. I'll just wait and see what ideas Donald comes up with when he comes over at the weekend. He can only spare a couple of hours a week, and he's promised to set up a polytunnel for me as well.
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Anyone got any ideas on how to make raised beds from pallets without too much work - so I can sit on the edge of them and potter. Auld age is catching up, or rather two car accidents, so I can't bend or kneel anymore. I made some years ago from planks of wood left over from building my house, but pallets are the only thing I can afford nowadays - because they are free. ;D My son will help but I can't leave him to do it all. :-[
I've not tried this personally but I met someone who made raised beds with pallets. She stacked several then put one on each side vertically to form sides. This is all lined with heavy duty plastic with drainage holes and filled with compost, so you end up with a bed about a foot deep but that you can work from a standing position. I think each bed took 8 pallets for a square one although I suppose you could make longer ones.
Hope this is clear.
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I'm not fighting the rotavator just going with the flow it is very wet here on quite heavy clay so every pass I end up a foot taller. The rotavator is very old and had a few quirks so it is slower than using a newer one but great fun and very satisfying. I suppose I would have got more finished if I hadn't usual chores like cleaning chickens and the stables out cooking lunch and trying to get the washing done as OH bless him can't move around to well just now but he did hobble up with coffees and directed me so my lines were straighter. I have no aches and pains so didn't work too hard. And the beds are about 20 meters by 4 meters each
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Thanks, Plantoid but at almost 68 I am not going to start cutting up pallets by myself. I'm useless with a saw anyway. I'll just wait and see what ideas Donald comes up with when he comes over at the weekend. He can only spare a couple of hours a week, and he's promised to set up a polytunnel for me as well.
If you can get him to just hack the pallets in half do so, then.....
scrounge some old dumpy bags/tonne bags whichever you like to call them. fix the pallets into a square with baler twine ( ;D) and bung in the dumpy bag. fold the excess over the sides of the pallet and fill. Ta da! instant raised beds that you can sit on the edge of.
Also if you have a sneaky early or late frost you can pull the spare bag back up and tie it over the seedlings for a few days to protect them.
Pallets, dumpy bags, baler twine and cable ties, you can build anything out of these!! ;D :thumbsup:
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I tried the dumpy bags last year - my fruit bushes produced loads of leaves, no fruit, then went brown and they needed an awful lot of watering. Maybe they were just in the wrong place and I did use soil from the 'cowp' so maybe it wasn't very good stuff.