Happy Days
‘Happy’, my little pigmy hippo, has become part of the family. He follows me around the house and loves to spend time in the garden, nosing his way amongst the colourful spring flowers. He is super-clever, communicating in so many ways and always seems to have a smile on his face! When not exploring the beds, his favourite place is one of the wide window cills where he sits for hours on end, keeping an eye on his kingdom.
Happy, lost in a miniature jungle of tulips and daffodils, where only a few weeks ago the bed was mainly bare soil
The weather has improved over the last few weeks here in Aberdeenshire. The famous Morayshire mild microclimate means is has becoming warm enough to risk sowing this year’s crops – almost no risk of frosts this close to the coast. So, over the last few days I’ve made the most of the sunshine and showers and filled all of the raised-beds with crops and even sown some salad ‘catch crops’ between some of the potato furrows. We only have a small garden, so we are only growing crops that should give a good steady harvest of veg that we enjoy eating. Also, our plan is to try avoid ‘harvesting gluts’ which can lead to wasted produce.
Happy joined me to check on the seed potatoes that had been left in a shed to chit for a few weeks. They have now all been planted, as follows – Duke of York – 1st earlies; Charlotte – 2nd earlies and Maris Piper – main crop. Together they should provide potatoes from July right through to next spring.
Elsewhere, my Polish garlic, planted last November, are growing well. I also transplanted a few leeks that grew as offsets from last year’s leeks that were not harvested. These were grown on in individual pots over winter and transplanted during one of the recent nice days. Unfortunately, the day after planting, we had some very strong winds that knocked a couple of them over. This can happen, living a few hundred meters from the sea! They have since been replanted and are now growing well, putting new roots down.
Happy, checking out the Polish garlic – he seems to be enjoying the warm sunshine
Last week I also planted onions and shallots. These are both vegetables that we use a lot in the kitchen, so well-worth the garden space. Yesterday, salad crops, spinach, carrots, parsley toot, beetroot and radishes were all sown, along with dill and fennel, sown in thin strips along the edges of 3 of the raised beds. As has been often said, there is nothing better than being able to go from harvest to plate in just a few minutes.
A reminder of last year’s fruit harvest – minutes between picking, washing and eating – the soil toil is all forgotten!
Our cherry tree does produce a lot of fruit but we never seem to get any! Cherries are a favourite of blackbirds and starlings! I don’t actually mind. It is great to see the birds feeding around the garden (mainly eating insects and caterpillars rather than our fruit) as we no longer provide focussed bird seed during the summer.
Happy, checking out the cherry tree. There are lots of blossoms, so looking forward to some fruit – I guess I will have to net the whole tree to keep the blackbirds away!
With all of the above crops sown, and the beds full, I realised I’d forgotten about the broad beans. They are one of my favourite crops, eaten freshly picked and boiled, straight from their skins. They also make a great hummus alternative. The only space left was a small area of grass where the bird feeder used to stand. As we no longer directly feed birds the area has become available, but rather than build a new raised bed, I thought I’d experiment sowing directly in to holes made in the turf. Two seed were planted at the foot of each bamboo that forms the growing frame. I’m keeping them well-watered and fed and, fingers crossed, perhaps we’ll get a decent harvest!
Will the broad beans grow through the grass and if so, how well … extreme ‘no dig’ gardening!
The whole garden (flower and veg beds) was well-fed during the winter months and all of the raised veg beds received a mulch made up of our own homemade compost plus decaying leaf litter, so I hope the soil will be more moisture-retentive than last year. I’ve been using a homemade seaweed fertiliser too (made from seaweed collected on a local beach) and will keep using this to feed the plants over the next couple of months. It is a bit whiffy, but this quickly disappears once it is diluted and doesn’t make the garden pong! Can’t wait to start harvesting the salad crops in about 6 week’ time. Happy days!
Happy Flower and Veg growing, from SeeHow
There are over 70 blogs on SeeHow’s website covering a wide range of environmental and garden-related matters.
For 15% off our gardening books – www.seehow.co.uk/shop
The above Text is copyright of Wincenty (Wicek) Sosna. Please contact SeeHow(07939 226417) for permission to reproduce in any way, in part or as the complete text.
Wicek, now semi-retired, is a multi-award-winning architect. He is also a writer, horticulturalist and keen gardener. He lives in Macduff on the dramatic north Aberdeenshire coast. He invented the unique interactive SeeHow - Gardening Books concept, to actually show how plants and veg grow throughout the calendar-year. Because SeeHow books work visually, anyone can use them - from school children to garden design professionals – no experience necessary. Pictures really are worth 1,000 words!
Exciting Opportunity!
SeeHowis looking for investors / crowdfunders to help it grow – specifically to develop the SeeHow App.
Please spread the word to friends and colleagues you think may be interested. For anyone who would like to know more about becoming part of the SeeHow adventure, please contact Wicek Sosna on +44 (0) 7939 226417