This is the picture I couldn't seem to load properly yesterday. It is my bean bed.....no beans in it yet ...they are coming along in the tunnel. It is too early for them to go out yet anyway. On the LH side of the bed is the bean net support with sweet peas growing up it. I like to grow sweet peas on the same frame as the beans as I like to smell them when I tend the beans. The beans will go in between the peas, on the RH side of the netting as we look at it. I hope that by putting the net at an angle like this the beans will hang inside and be easy to see....that's the theory.
The reason for my putting the bean bed here so close to the tunnel is for the shading it will give at the sunniest time of the year. It wont completely shade it out, but will help.....and it blocks out the view of the tunnel from the living room. I love my tunnel but it isn't really pretty. I saw some wonderful French iron framed greenhouses at Chelsea the only time I went (four years ago I think). They were beautiful....a sort of light green colour that really looks good in the garden.
In the middle of the bed you can see my slug pubs from Lidl a year or two ago.
On the right, climbing up the strings are peas...Magnum Bonum. My neighbour gave me some seeds and said they climb quite high...hence the strings.
This morning I have put in 8 different salads....lettuce, rocket, mizuna etc in plate sized circles behind and between the peas. I am hoping the shade of the sweet peas and beans will mean we wont lose the lettuces to the sun!!
Along the edge I have sown some Calendula...Indian Prince....recommended by Sarah Raven. I like to see Marigolds in the veggie garden, they are edible as well as being pretty and they act as companions to so many different veg.
I have left space under each support pole for a climbing courgette. I appreciate that they wont climb...per se...and that I will have to help them by tying them up.
I also planted seeds of my pumpkins for the plot....Ghost Rider. They will go in holes in black plastic when they go out in the plot.
From today onwards we have visitors so I wont be doing much to write about for the next week.....see you all after that!
posted by lilymarlene @ 9:59 pm
8 comments
8 Comments:
seems like people in uk state everthing in pots before setting in garden, the only thing we do that with is tomatoes and pepper plants. Maybe you have a shorted growing season than we do but we plant beans, squach and things like that from seed right in the garden. Oh yeah if we grow cabbage we have to buy sets or grow them our selves. onions also. but everthing else goes right in the ground .
It is to do with the growing season. If we sow seeds in March or April outside we may/often lose the lot and have to re-sow. So, for safety's sake we start them off in the greenhouse or on a windowsill if we can.
I also find it helps to get the gardening bug going earlier in the year for me. It is very frustrating waiting for the groubd to warm up enough.....especially this year. Having something to do in the polytunnel satisfies the gardening urge.
Hello from Arkansas, I'm enjoying reading of your progress in your garden allotment, and seeing the pictures, too. My garden is beginning to grow, but having a rainy 3 weeks has slowed things down a little. Some sunshine will be greatly welcomed.
Since we have a large 1/2 acre garden plot, we use the tractor plow to break up the soil and a garden tiller to keep weeds under control. I do a little with the hoe between the plants. I would love to try the raised garden beds sometime.
I'll try to get some pictures taken to send to you to see how my garden is doing. My get-up-and-go isn't in full swing yet because of all the cloudy and rainy days we've been having. Thank goodness we have a long growing season here in Arkansas.
Can't wait to see yours all ready for harvesting.
I decided on raised beds because we are heading for old age...and they are easier to maintain......! However, you can't do them with a tractor! But titivating the beds with a hoe or my long-handled tiny fork is not really a chore....it is a real pleasure. I just start off and an hour later wonder where the time went.
How wonderful to have beans and sweet peas on the same frame. I put a huge row of sweet peas in the vegtable garden last year to the horror of my partner, who said the veg garden is for edible things only, and that they were taking up too much valuable space. Clearly he seemed to forget that we do actually have a few acres of land! men!
To 4th sister.....done!
to wierdbunny...Men are so stuck in their ways! They don't see that gardening is a total experience...a meditation almost....and flowers are an important part of it. They are much more mechanic about it. Also I think they get worried that the neighbours will think that their wives are nuts!!!
i am 68 today. thanks for you visit.
Excellent bean bed & frame! I sorted a frame out last year so much better than wigwams. With a wigwam the beans hang down inside. I have my frame straight with no problems but yours should be even better!
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