Our beds are filling up!

Finally we found some time to get all our irrigation pipes dug into the raised beds and tested so that we could plant all the seedlings that were just itching to get our of their pots and seed trays!

As expected the planting plan has been tweaked a little.  The first bed (at the forefront of the photo above) has been divided into 3 sections.  Each section has 4 drills carefully prepared so that no seeds will be planted directly ontop of the irrigation pipes.  The 4 different root veg sown in this bed are: carrots, beets, radishes and parsnips.  Each row is marked with a garlic bulb and interspersed with marigold seedlings.  We have only planted 1 of the 3 sections at the moment and will plant the next section in a month’s time to ensure a good succession of crops and avoid too much of a glut.

Bed number 2 (moving backwards from the front) has onions and lettuces in and because we planted these some time ago, it is the only bed without an irrigation system dug in.  Bed number 3 has sweetcorn and lettuce in a square in the middle, interspersed with marigolds and garlic.  This bed was supposed to have sprouts and cauli too but the sprouts didn’t make it all and the cauli is still wavering.  We have stacks of tomato plants though so we have planted some at one end, providing stakes (bits of trees from all the land clearing!) for them to scramble up and have sown some radishes too.

Bed number 4 has beans in the middle (notice the wig-wam of sticks!) and peas at each end, with beetroot sown in between and interspersed with marigold seedlings and more lettuce (we have stacks of it!).  The next bed is waiting for the brassicas!  There are still 3 cauliflower plants hanging on and I’ve just sown broccili and cabbage, which are both doing really well in their seed trays.

The final bed, at the far end, has cucumbers all around the edges with peppers and chillies in between and a row of tomatoes down the middle.  We are a little concerned that our cucumbers are looking yellow and it seems that they may be getting too much/ not enough of some nutrients.  Time to order a soil testing kit on line me thinks!  Any recommendations anyone?

We decided not to plant the courgettes in Bed 6 as they will take up too much room.  We have set off marrow and courgettes (they are doing really well!) and we have pumpkin seeds too.  These are all sprawling plants that take up lots of space but provide great ground cover and help the earth underneath mulch and improve so we are planning to plant them on the new mountain of earth we have up on the top piece of land where the water tank was dug out.

I have planted lots of dill and taken rosemary cuttings and once these are strong enough they will go in pots in the beds, as companion plants.