Time to brave the cold in the last few weeks and plant the potatoes - Charlotte, Ambo and Epicure (all organic). We're experimenting by growing the majority in the traditional earth-up fashion, alongside some no-dig, through cardboard and with a mulch of straw and grass cuttings. We'll see which is easier and if it affects the yield at the end of the season.
I also made a willow dome and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out as I made it up as I went along, and we'll have to wait and see if it takes as it's a bit late in the season to be planting. Alison also helped me create a 'fedge' around the soon-to-be wildflower meadow and the sometime-in-the-future chicken pen.
Herbs have been planted- rosemary, blackcurrant sage, bronze fennel and purple sage - at the four corners of the raised beds, which are all following the basic crop rotation principles i.e. potatoes followed by legumes, then brassicas and lastly roots. This keeps the heavy feeders (pots and brassicas) away from each other, lets the soil have a rest, and helps to avoid a build up of pests and diseases. It also helps fix nutrients that will be of benefit to the crop that comes along next. No one book will give you the exact same suggestions for what to plant as a crop rotation, but they all pretty much follow a similar idea to the above.
I might as well do a quick summary of what else we've planted in terms of fruit and vegetables, as I'm a little behind on this blog!
Asparagus (two different varieties - Thelim and Backlim) alongside Jimmy's strawberries and some poached egg plant.
Strawberries in a barrel - Sophie, Florence and Alice
Blueberries - Bluecrop and Brigitta (and one other which has given up the ghost)
Jerusalem Artichokes - to bully out the weeds; I thought they were dead but they've just popped up
Redcurrant - Redstart
Gooseberry - Greenfinch and Invicta
Raspberry - Julia and Malling Jewel and Jimmy's autumn fruiting
Loganberry - donated by a parent
Apple - White Melrose, Beauty of Bath, James Grieve and George Cave
Damson - Farleigh
Blackcurrant - cuttings off a bush in my garden and heeled in over winter; not sure of the variety
Hops - Prima Donna
Rhubarb - Champagne and Victoria
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