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Last year we planted a few varieties of strawberry in a large planter, as we didnt have space anywhere to plant them out. This year, we have plenty of room, so I have transplanted them all into a 2×1m bed.

Biggest challenge now is woodlice – how to keep the little blighters out of the fruit. I dont normally bother about them, they are fairly benign, but they do like strawberries so they have to go ! I would normally use straw to mulch, but as that is a perfect home for woodlice Id rather not, but I dont know what else would work instead. Need to find something in the next few weeks, maybe something artificial that is less welcoming to wildlife ?

Our order was for 10 crowns each of Backlim and Ariane , plus 12 of Stewarts Purple.

So far the Backlim and Purple have arrived and are in two beds. 7 Backlim and 4 Purple in one, 4 Purple in the other waiting for 7 of the Ariane. The rest will go to Loulou and Booya for their lottie.

Beds are fab – Stevie dug them out, we put compost and cardboard in the bottom, premium topsoil above, with a few handfuls of FBB mixed in.

As much as one can do really to give them a good start. They were a little bit dry – left in the bag in the box for a couple of days while I was away, but not too bad.

Now though, we have an unanticipated problem. One of our blackbirds likes asparagus ! Maybe he thinks they are worms/caterpillars, but he is having a real go at them and has damaged 2 so far. I will have  to net the rest asap until they are strong enough to withstand his attention.

Ages ago, we said we would plant an apple tree in our garden, for Granny Pam.  Pending the new veg garden, we weren’t sure where it would go but now that is all sorted, it was time to get it done.

So, here is the evidence – Granny Pam, ably assisted by Charlie, planting her tree. But not any old tree, it is a 3-apple tree. There are Gala and Sunset dessert apples AND Bountiful cooking apples all grafted onto one dwarf tree. Not sure how long before any of it will bear fruit, but we shall offer the first harvest to GP to make pie !

At the same time, we planted a dwarf dessert cherry nearby.

First parsnip seeds have been set to germinate, using the widely recommended kitchen-roll method. Basically, the seeds are put on damp kitchen roll, kept warm until they germinate and then moved out into a prepared drill by which time the soil has warmed up a bit more. The bed isn’t even dug yet so we need to get cracking on that asap.

If this works, I will start another batch off in a couple of weeks time for succession planting.

The wireworm risk is high for parsnips (and all roots), given that we are planting on land that last year had sheep and cows grazing on it, so I am a little nervous about how well they will perform, but we have to give it a go.

The parsnips (Picador) will share a 3m x 1m bed with a few different types of carrot – round ones – cant recall the name, came free on a magazine, as well as Purple Haze, a rainbow mix and Samurai (red). Some of the local kids want to grow the coloured and round carrots too, so in return for their help moving stones, I have set aside a 1m square bed for them to share and they can choose any of my seeds that they like. So far, all have gone for the ‘funny carrots’, with one considering a side order of yellow cherry tomatoes. I think a few pumpkins will be fun too, if only for making lanterns.

Having read in various gardening forums that 2009 asparagus deliveries are already underway, it was time to get the beds to their next stage of readiness.

Steve has moved a whole load of the topsoil from front garden to back – an ingenious ramp system on the wooden steps made it possible to get the whole way with the barrow without having to unload/reload it or use buckets, phew.

We now have both beds filled to ground level. We are allowing them a day or two to settle during which my job is to get the edges weeded and straightened up, line up the raised bed surrounds nice and straight, then fix them into position for Steve to top them up with more soil. We will fill them almost full, as they will sink down as the compost composts and we can top up as required from there. I will also add some fertilizer to the topsoil layer – probably bonemeal.

Planting will be in blocks, 11 plants to each 2m x 1m bed which is perhaps too many but I am hoping it will be okay:

X X X X

X X X

X X X X

I will use 7 of each green variety and an extra purple one. The rest of the order will go to BooLou for their lottie:

Stewarts Purple x 12 early, sweet, purple

Ariane x 10 (organic) early season

Backlim x 10 (organic) mid to late, can be grown as white asparagus after a few years

We received our topsoil order today.

I also continued work on our raised beds – adding compost then covering over with old newspaper and cardboard (as per instructions from wifey).

The topsoil was delivered by a local company (Farnaby) who deliver via a huge artic. lorry (er… wagon in Yorkshire) with a 3-wheeled fork lift on the back to lift the large bags of soil off the wagon and deliver to the customer site.

Made me think… I wonder how much energy (joules, KW, calories – whatever) will have been used in “producing” then delivering the soil we received… and how much food will we need to produce to generate the equivelent amount of energy. Also… can you imagine the idea of shipping topsoil around the country – even relatively locally – without the aid of fossil fuel based transport and “mechanical muscles”? I guess I’ll find out what it’s like to shift 2 tons of soil about 30 meters at least… by wheelbarrow!

The topsoil arrives Tuesday pm. I imagine Steves biceps are protesting already at the prospect of barrowing that lot down the garden path !
I am doing remote support by reading the latest ‘Garden Answers’ mag – free asparagus ! I wish Id known about that a month ago.

Mothers Day
Ordered 2 tons of topsoil from Farnabys, just down the road near Scotch.

This will come next week sometime, mainly to start building up the asaparagus beds once Steve has put in layers of compost, cardboard and any other organic stuff we can get hold off. I am now officially talking horsesh*t !

TO DO #1 – dismantle the old raised beds, rebuild as 2 x 2m instead of 3 x 1m squares. Use the old site near the lawn to prepare for the two trees. New beds will be for root veg and/or salad, not sure which to do first, must check planting plan.
TO DO #2 – order topsoil for next weekend.
TO DO #3 – make a list of what to sow/plant and when, by month.
Ordered a starter pack of Gripples, mainly for the raspberries.

Ordered some fruit from Blackmoor Nurseries: A ‘Family’ apple tree, this is a dwarf tree with 3 varieties of apple grafted onto it, courtesy of Dr Frankenstein. It grows to 8-9’. Bountiful is a cooker as we don’t have space for a Bramley. Raspberries: 10 canes of Prosen & 10 canes of Polka for extended season and finally a Cherry Maynard – 2 Year old tree on a dwarf rootstock, about 6’ max. That’s the ‘orchard’ sorted.
Picked up a bunch of free pallets from the local garden centre, to stand the potato sacks on – keeps them a bit further away from the slugs ! Also, will help keep weed fabric in place over the wild patch at the southern end of the lawn.