Weekend Gardener – March and April

I’m behind updating my garden happenings. I was a bit worried with the weather we had last month that I didn’t have anything to report.  But in typical British style the weather changed, materials have been ordered and plans are a step closer.

Well, in a sense they are a step closer to fruition. The problem is I’m spending a lot of time researching various permaculture methods.  In doing so I’ve fallen down a rather interesting rabbit hole.

I had it all planned that I was going to build eight 4ft x 8ft sleeper beds and in between have nice, neat gravel paths. But the amount of wood required has proved to be way above budget, especially when I want to get stuck into gardening so urgently. (Follow after me – I must grow crops, I must grow crops!)

So then I thought, do they need to be sleepers? I searched around online and found people were making beds out of all sorts of materials – bricks, wood, pallets, stones. Some just weren’t making raised beds at all. What a great idea!

I could start right now! Just mark out a patch and dig. If it wasn’t for the fact that areas of the garden got rather flooded and the ground is solid clay.

Then I discovered mulching! All this time I thought mulching was for shrubs, not beds but turns out I have a lot to learn. In particular, you can build topsoil from adding layers of materials, and just keep topping it up. This is also known as the no-dig method. Essentially this is what a raised bed is for but I thought I’d need to fill it with “perfect” compost, as I did in my last gardening adventures. But depending on how much time you want to invest in compost depends on what you can fill the bed with. Commercial compost is the quickest. But also cardboard, grass cuttings, fallen leaves, hay, straw and wood chippings can also be used.

I got rather excited at one point watching a garden full of woodchips be turned into the finest compost ever to grow anything in. Of course, it was in America and upon further research, woodchips aren’t ideal for the British climate due to such damp and wet weather. It would do nothing but harbour molluscs. And you have to have the right woodchips. Not this decorative type you spend a fortune on in garden centres but the fine, messy woodchips that aren’t cut to any particular size. The bigger the chip, the longer it takes to break down.

So I spent an age looking for the right woodchips and even now I just can’t find it! I’ve tried asking about to no avail. So it’s just as well they are not suited because I can’t have them anyway!

I’ve decided gravel boards are the way to go for raised beds. They will last at least a couple of years and cost wise they allow me to get growing this year.

Rather than digging the lawn out from the inside of the beds, I’ll leave it in place. I intend to fill it up with layers of cardboard, newspaper, followed by any grass cuttings, compost and finally something a bit different – straw. I used straw to grow potatoes last yr. The method wasn’t all that successful. But this could have been because the crop was competing for moisture and nutrients with the ever-growing eucalyptus roots. It would be worth trying this method again.

Once the season is over, I intend to top the beds up with woodchips (any!), and straw again to see what kind of compost I can make ready for next year’s planting.

I’m unsure what the paths around the beds will be made of – grass, possibly.  And if I get fed up of strimming the edges (which I am sure to do!), then I may opt for bark.

The other addition I’ve made to the garden and one which will make a huge impact is having composter bins. I’ve got one now in place but I have my eye on another two.

So I have the compost and the gravel boards being delivered next week which I’m more than excited about. I’ll need to level the ground in places. I can only imagine that the dedicated undulations seen in the garden are a result of former paths and big beds from owners long ago. It’s nothing that can’t be gently rectified to accommodate the new gardening plans.

One big issue I have encountered is couch grass.

This was something that was nothing more than a slight bother in the old garden but in this one, it’s a huge pain in the backside.  Most of the lawn is made up of couch, mostly taken hold at the edges and has made its way deep within all areas of the garden.  It’s managed to penetrate through weed barriers and even gravel!

I’m slowly renovating path borders that are besieged in couch grass.  Both are currently filled with gravel.  The one side I’ve kept as gravel and added all our pots and containers on top and the other will have the gravel removed and turned into a soil border. The only way to effectively remove couch grass is by hand!  I do a bit every weekend.  So far the gravel side is clear and I’m 1/3 of the way down the other side, removing the gravel and adding it to the border on the other side.  I’ve met some weeds in my time but this takes the absolute biscuit!  I can’t even compost it because it will just spread again!

There is so much to still learn about permaculture and the no-dig (or Back to Eden) gardening methods but it’s fascinating stuff.  I just need to be mindful that this England and not the American mid-west.   Climate is as important as anything when planning a garden.  If I don’t get the basics right straight off I might find myself having to re-do it!

What I’m Growing So Far in 2018

• Three buckets of potatoes
• One bucket of garlic
• Two blueberry plants
• One redcurrant
• One blackcurrant
• Mint

Still to Sow:

• Chives
• Rosemary

Ready to Plant

• Rhubarb
• More potatoes