Kitchen Garden Forum

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I am going on theory that if a member of Royal family can talk to plants I can play them organ music.



Work to be continued

Looking good Pa! Well done - makes mine look a mess!

Would that be a mouth organ as I can't see even you carrying a Wurlitzer to your plot unless you could get one beamed down

robo wrote:Would that be a mouth organ as I can't see even you carrying a Wurlitzer to your plot unless you could get one beamed down

I'm intrigued to know how you knew my organ was a Wurlitzer in its day. Played many a good tune

ROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY,

But this raised bed was.

4.8mt x 1.0mt x 0.6mt (15ft x 3ft 3 x 2ft in Imperial)








NOW the question is have I got enough topsoil stashed away to fill it.

Hi,

Wow! That's a raised bed and a half! That's certainly going to take some filling! What do you plan to grow in it?

I noticed the blue plastic pots - do you put holes in the bottom. I only ask as Aldi have them on offer and I had thought about getting a few to turn into pots.

Pawty

Yes Pawty, drilled 3/4 inch holes in base. Had those many years. Think a supermarket had made a mistake with price. Large size cost me £1.75 each. I grabbed their entire stock.

Over time the sun has affected a lot of the handles and they broke off but main part all good.

The raised bed will take just under 3cu mt to fill I reckon.

That doesn,t look like a raised be, more a wardrobe for containing all the robes of members of the House of Lords! That's is going to take some filling with soil ! If you hadn't,t filled it with earth it would have made a nice communal allotment jacuzzi !

Primrose, I did have in mind making it a hot tub instead.
Then another use sprung to mind but I couldn't be bothered to make a base, lid and fancy handles

Heaven forbid Pa! That had better be a very long time in coming!

Wow Pa!

That is impressive in a day! You must be back on form & over those nasty lurgies that slowed you down with the rotavator! I was down today & starting to gain control but never will be as pristine as your plot.

Ps, as matter of curiosity what's growing in the blue plastic containers? . Is it hopefully your potential prize onions? I'm curious how you restore or restock the compost in them every year and how you rotate the crops you use them for to li it any disease build up in a small soil area. . I imagine in warmer weather the soil in them probably heats up more quickly than the soil at ground level. Does that work to the crop's advantage or could the roots overheat?

I didn't fill my beds right to the top, leaving room for new compost or manure each year, I also got some free soil improver from the council tip to add to them.

Primrose wrote:Ps, as matter of curiosity what's growing in the blue plastic containers? . Is it hopefully your potential prize onions? I'm curious how you restore or restock the compost in them every year and how you rotate the crops you use them for to li it any disease build up in a small soil area. . I imagine in warmer weather the soil in them probably heats up more quickly than the soil at ground level. Does that work to the crop's advantage or could the roots overheat?

The blue tubs you can just about see contain garlic this year as an experiment. I Have another 12 or so which have strawberries in them.
This year the 3 garlic tubs had some soil replaced by composted manure.

The tubs with strawberries in get a dressing of FBB early in the year. Late last year I made 4 raised beds for strawberries and at the end of this season the blue tubs will be emptied of strawberries, the soil will be given growmore and the tubs used for next years carrot, beetroot and parsnip.

The soil does get warmer and regular watering is essential, raised beds do work to an advantage with soil heat earlier in the year.

tigerburnie wrote:I didn't fill my beds right to the top, leaving room for new compost or manure each year, I also got some free soil improver from the council tip to add to them.

I fill mine to the top because as the soil settles so the top layer gets lower and I don't want the soil lower that about an inch from top of bed

The raised beds get liquid feed on some during the season as well as a top dressing of fertiliser on an annual basis. A percentage 25% minimum of soil is replaced every few years subject to what has been grown in them over that period.