Elderly cat breathing difficulties when purring

[Valkyrie]

I thought I had better put these on a separate thread anyway. So the veggie beds continue . . .

 

 

This is the parsnip bed - few parsnips, loads of leaves. In the front are yet more chards (goodness knows why so many this time round) and some golden beetroot. These replaced the garlic which is drying off in the greenhouse - should be nearly done now!

 

 

This little bed contains yet more toms, celeriac and onions. Behind them I have put in some more beetroot. The pathway leads down to the lower garden - to the right is a terraced bed with apples, blackcurrant bush (did have more but they disappeared), two redcurrants and now two dead rhubarb crowns The big leafy bush is a bay tree gone mad! Also lots of different flowers and roses and lots of weeds.

 

 

Here we have sweetcorn, more climbing French beans - they are deep purple and the flowers are purple too - very pretty. I thought at first they weren't so good, but all of a sudden they seem to be flowering all over the stalks - even where I thought they'd finished! To the far left, Gladstone peas are ready to harvest. Underneath the wire frame is a row of turnips and then lastly more Gladstones for the next session. Not quite ready - still picking the others. Behind them in a little trench to themselves are Jerusalem artichokes to provide some shelter for the cube and run. Two different sorts in there.

 

 

 

This was the broad beans BA (Before Aphids). All harvested and now living in the compost heap. They have been replace by more dwarf beans. Tou cant see from the pic, but I have swedes in that bed in between Lazy H and the dwarf beans.

Edited July 12, 2009 by Guest

[Valkyrie]

Here are some more:

 

 

This is the other side of the bed with the peas - spuds. There is another bed for spuds, the earlies have been dug up making way for me to put in the leeks. There are still more spuds in the other half to harvest later on. You can see the artichokes quite clearly here.

 

 

 

Tomatoes everywhere.

 

 

And more - you can see our bottle cloches stacked up here and there is comfrey against the fence - all along it in fact.

 

 

We have another 3 of these toms. There are more toms in pots - just not in the photos and even more in the greenhouse!

 

 

 

And something without toms! Flowers and lots of rainbow chard - because it is in the shady part under the pergola.

Edited July 12, 2009 by Guest

[Guest]

it looks gorgeous! How long have you been at it?

[Valkyrie]

Too long! This is probably the best year ever since we've been here. When we moved in 17 years ago, there was a small greenhouse and veggie plot with a huge path running along the edge of the drop. It was very heavy clay and very waterlogged. We changed the path to go near the fence so that the sun could get on the veg better. We also started the raised beds, but with a knot garden look - didn't like that much and we eventually started the long beds instead. Then we got an allotment for a while and I was just starting to put flowers in the home veg plot when we gave up (too many rats, too many weeds, too much time spent there and our garden was suffering), so back came the long veggie beds. As there wasn't really much room, I adopted the companion planting method - using our bible (Geoff Hamilton's Organic Gardening book) along with Bob Flowerdew's books and a bit of John Seymour for successional gardening - which I have always had a problem with, but beginning to get the hang of it now! The swings and slides weren't needed anymore and so (much to the hens disgust) we took over the bottom part of the lawn (originally a small patch of grass with shrubs and a fruit bed full of nettles - all sorts). We added the 3 more beds starting just before Christmas and finished them in February after the snows - again very long drawn out because of investigating chickens. They were so stoney - but we have a slight problem because not only is some of it London clay, it also has a lot of chalk and flint, so we are very much on the border soilwise! The upper veggie beds are just beginning to be under control more, so this year OH is delighted - phew. I think originally it was so weedy and sticky that it was always daunting. Still learning new things all the time. What I loved about Geoff H was that he told you when he made mistakes - I have the disks to watch and get inspired - particularly the cottage garden one.

One year there were so many flea beetles that I decided never to grow brassicas again. Glad I ignored myself this year! But our main pests are slugs and snails. Thank goodness for Diatom this year! The other big pest only seems to attack the peas:

 

 

All those peas in the trug and this is what's left:

 

Edited July 12, 2009 by Guest

[Snowy]

@ your pea pest!

What a lovely garden Koojie - all that hard work looks like it is finally paying off!

[Valkyrie]

I'm not showing you the weeds in the rest of the garden though! Or the bits that have been chicken mangled!

[Guest]

smashing photos!

[Space Chick]

Looking fabulous Koojie

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That's so impressive . I love the little triangular bed .

[Guest]

our garden was full of clay and rubble when we moved in. DH has worked very hard to dig compost, grit, sand etc into the soil to improve it, oh and of course copious amounts of chicken poop

[Valkyrie]

Yep, really looking forward to next years chicken poopy soil! It badly needs some proper goodness as well as the ordinary compost and leaf compost. Every year I intend to get loads of bracken before it starts to spore because that is supposed to make excellent compost. Add it to the chicken waste and you have one heck of a good soil conditioner. I forgot again this year!