Trowel and Error

[Mountain Goat]

That broccoli is gorgeous! And that doesn't sound like such a small way, Five. :))

We (mostly I ) double dug the new bed yesterday and it was BRUTAL, so many layers of builder's crap/mortar/sand/random tiles, plus they seem to have built our garden over a Roman road :)) (not really of course, but there is a long strip of cement about two spade depths down that looks like an old pavement, not rubble). I am now in a world of pain and just dropped my coffee because my wrist went as I picked it up. I think I may need to refine my digging technique. It is now covered with manure, J is currently raking it, and then I will plant my vibernum and hydrangea which arrived yesterday (hence the hurry to properly prepare the bed). Then I'm leaving it till Easter Sunday when I'll fork the rest of the manure through and start moving the existing plants into better places and clearing the area that will eventually be veg - some of that will go into the new bed and then I should be able to see what space there is and make some decisions on what else to buy. This whole thing is going to take a lot longer than I had initially envisaged....

[FiveO'Clock]

they seem to have built our garden over a Roman road :))

My first thought was Get the Detectorists :))

I hope your wrist is OK!

[Disco]

I spent another afternoon weeding the beds out and moving a fews things (split clumps of snow drops and moved a newish shrub). I need to buy some grass seed as the lawn is 90% moss. There's another 3-4 days' worth of weeding to be done but it looks to be bright and dry if cold this week so that's my afternoons sorted.

[absley]

Oh Goat, your poor wrist!

And I agree, five, that sounds like a great start! I've just had a bath to try and stave off aches as I spent the afternoon weeding and know I will regret it. However I think the alkanet is now gone! But no seeds were planted, so that remains my next task.

I also picked the first rhubarb, so we had crumble for dinner. Plus here's a pretty tulip.

[Mountain Goat]

Lovely! That is such a pretty tulip. And also pretty rhubarb.

Congratulations on all the weeding! I also had a long hot bath. :))

Five, I am in Detectorists Land to boot. :)) Though I'm not sure the Saxons spackled cement with stones for their walkways.

I've just measured the area where I want to put the raised bed for unambitious veg* and looked at raised beds and...there are a lot of options and I'm not sure what I need/should care about? Is capping just aesthetic? What dictates the height I need, is that the sort of veg and the quality of the soil it sits on? In terms of length/width, I mainly need to look at being able to walk round them so I can access the whole bed, right? Anything else? And I thought they were just wood but now they're asking if I want metal instead - is there a reason why I would? I wasn't expecting a series of decisions, I was just going to generically buy two raised beds. :))

* this sounds like a dystopian children's school. I just mean I have fairly pedestrian vegetable expectations, some salad and kale and spring onions and such, I don't need specialist equipment with which to win the village prize. YET.

[baargain]

Wood will rot eventually, so that's worth bearing in mind. Some types of wood will last longer than others. The well treated stuff can last aaaages. I think it's mainly aesthetics.

In terms of depth, I guess it depends on the soil underneath, if the soil under them is fine (and stuff is growing in your garden, so I'd guess it is), then it's more for aesthetics, or how low you want to bend, or how much compost you want to buy to fill them. If the roman road (heh), is 2 spade lengths down, then that is about 2ft. Which I think is enough to grow most veg anyway, and so any raised bed is just bonus depth.

Slugs and snails love a hiding place, so they do like a raised bed, and will LOVE the capping if it has an overhang :lol:

In terms of width, I think a max of 1.5m means that you can reach into the middle from both sides, so no bigger than that. Check if you want to get a wheelbarrow all the way round if they're near a fence.

[Mountain Goat]

Thank you Baa! I will have a good think. I feel like it's a bit small for two of reasonable size and a bit big for one, so will need to plan and jiggle a bit (maybe one chunky one and one narrow one). It's in a different spot to the Roman road :)) but god only knows what's under this bit. If it's bad I'll just get a deeper raised bed.

[Cosmopolitan]

I have given up with the random crap and rubble under my heavily concreted urban garden so have been building in raised beds with sleepers. Newest bed, just for veggies, completed today.

Bonus dog.

I'm shattered, it took 3 of 2 days to do it all. (and I pressure washed the deck)

[baargain]

Oh that is a beautiful bed! Good work.

[Cosmopolitan]

Thank you. I like it. There are more to do but not tomorrow, I'm not sure I'll be able to walk then!

[absley]

Looks amazing Cos. I hope you're not too achey today.

[Disco]

The bed is lovely.

My raised bed is made out of Monk's repurposed bunk bed. One side has rotted a bit now so I need to sort that out.

[Mountain Goat]

My god, well done! It looks great.

I've spent the day lifting and moving plants and still am only about half way through. :)) I'm sure some of them won't survive the root trauma. Also general weeding, tidying etc. And I have done a plant order. It's starting to come together, just about, but such a long way to go, my god, doesn't everything take forever and also knacker your back and hands.

[baargain]

I knackered my shins yesterday on a long walk, so yes, today was a perfect day to hoe all the weeds at the allotment :lol: I planted out my second early potatoes, I am going to be awash with carbs.

[Cosmopolitan]

I love people who bang on about gardening being a relaxing hobby. They are total liars.

[baargain]

My fitbit often thinks I am running/on the elliptical/doing some kind of outdoor sport when I am gardening :lol: I do find it mentally relaxing, but physically? Well, I slept well last night :))

I am going to plant out many seeds today, so that might be a bit calmer.

[absley]

I am determined to plant seeds today, having spent most of yesterday weeding and relocating primroses that were in the lawn. D was also productive, removing vast amounts of ivy in the bed where I wanted to put the primroses.

A question... I have some newly appeared plants that look like large sage leaves, but with a purple vein down the middle, (quite like beetroot leaves in their colouring). They also had massive tap roots - any ideas? The plant finder said foxglove which is wrong. They were in the veg bed so came out but I've spotted them elsewhere.

More excitingly, one of my (I think) peonies has buds on it!

[baargain]

Have you got a photo? Are the leaves furry like sage, or smooth?

Sorrel?

[absley]

I think they're like sage. I'll take snap when I'm out later.

Eta. Am not sure about sorrel, they don't look salady/ like something I'd want to eat.

[Disco]

Oh, are they the same size as sage? I've got some kind of sorrel - with red veins - but the leaves are not so roughly textured as that.

I've sowed lots of seeds to trays and pots and some directly into the veg bed - broccoli, savoy and broad beans. Let's see what happens with those.