Veg plot - day 10, where I actually get to plant stuff!!

Another beautiful day - and I did get up earlier than I thought I might. Still not actually early, but never mind.

I thought I'd show you what the different seeds I planted look like, because there isn't much else to see really. So here are the seeds...

Asparagus.

Potatoes (I know they aren't seeds).

Beetroot.

Parsnip.

Carrot.

Salsify.

Spring onion.

Lettuce.

I also sowed a mix of wild edible plants, which I couldn't help including in one of my seed orders. And some companion plants - flax, marigolds and marjoram.

Sayre asked if I'm going to sow direct, or sow indoors then transplant. The answer is, both. Some seeds won't germinate at low temperatures, so can't be sown outside, like tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, squash/pumpkins, aubergines (eggplants) and tomatillos. Sweetcorn will germinate outside once it's warmer, but will grow better if I germinate it indoors. I've also sown leeks, peas, beans and cauliflowers indoors (but without heat), mostly because I wanted to start them but didn't have the beds ready, but also to stop slugs, mice and/or birds getting at the seedlings. Everything else goes straight in the soil.

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the "indoor" plants - currently squash, pumpkins, melons, beans, peas, tomatillo, huckleberries, aubergines, peppers and chillies. The leeks and cauliflowers might be visible by then too.

Veg plot - day 9, where things really start moving

We couldn't have asked for better weather today - it's been really warm, gorgeous blue sky, and birds singing away like mad. My face has actually tanned a little which is annoying because now I'm pink, but much better than being soaked to the skin like yesterday.

Michael shovelling the last few bits of topsoil. Well, at least the soil for this bed anyway. There's still a ton and a half on the drive. But...

Bed #1 is finished!!

Well, except that we need another bag of compost.

Frame is done, all the topsoil's in there, and a layer of compost on top. And we've used string to mark it out into square feet, leaving narrow strips between the three sections of the bed where I'll grow herbs and companion plants to attract beneficial insects and deter the nasty ones, and generally help the plants grow better.

The bricks are there to hold the compost in, and will be moved as soon as the beds get filled completely. I'm not adding compost to the potato section (the end furthest away) now, I'll use that compost to earth up the plants as they grow. And I know that the bed isn't square, but I don't much care, especially as the ground isn't level anyway. It looks, er, rustic!

I'm now desperate to get some seeds sown in it... perhaps not desperate enough to get up early, but I'm looking forward to getting out there.

Oh I forgot to mention that yesterday we had a couple of helpers. A pair of magpies were wandering around the bed while we were inside drilling, I thought at first they were looking for insects but once I got the binoculars on them I realised that they were collecting weed roots from the soil! Must have been nest-building. Now mags get a bad press, because of silly superstitions and ideas about them being unlucky (obviously not) and stealing shiny things (maybe) and being responsible for the decline in songbird numbers (definitely not, blame pesticides and habitat loss and monoculture), but I've never heard of them gardening! Have to say I do like them, very attractive birds even if they do have a horrible voice.

Anyway, I think that having a project agrees with me, because I've felt pretty good the last week or so, despite not sleeping well. Tonight I'm really tired because we've worked hard today - arms and legs and back and shoulders are all a bit achy, but strangely not in a bad way. Just in an exercised kind of way. I can live with that.

Veg plot - day 8, which was considerably more productive

Well we had fun today. In the rain.

I decided we really needed to get cracking with the sides of the bed, so we called the local timber merchants to get a price on some, er, timber. The price sounded fine.

So I sent Michael off with a list of what we needed, i.e. 6 bits of wood 200cm x 30cm x 25mm to make up the long sides, and 2 bits 120cm x 30cm x 25mm for the short sides.

Apparently that's just too complicated for the timber people. Michael phoned me while I was busy putting soil onto the bed to tell me that the wood comes in 4.8m lengths, 15cm wide. So of course, I then had to work out in my head how to make up the frames from that.

Now normally my spacial awareness is not great, which is why I have to make little drawings of everything when I plan. But since I was outside in the rain with half the garden stuck to my boots (I took shelter in the greenhouse) I was forced to visualise, and use (gasp!) mental arithmetic.

The answer of course, is to buy 6 pieces, and get 2 of them cut into 4 x 1.2m lengths each. But then the four 4.8m bits had to be cut in half to fit in the car.

So finally he got the bits home and I marked out holes for drilling pilot holes for the screws. Michael drilled, and I screwed. No jokes please.

We got a few bits fastened together before the light dropped and the cordless screwdriver battery died and we had to stop. But we got a lot done today.
By the looks of things we should get bed #1 done tomorrow, soil in and everything, then I can plant asparagus and potatoes and roots! Fennel and carrots and parsnips and beetroot and salsify, along with spring onions to deter carrot flies, and sweetcorn. Yay!!

Summer's worked hard too. It's hard work sniffing everything and walking in my topsoil and chewing stray sticks.

Veg plot - day 7, where nothing at all happens

Weather's been too unpredictable today to do anything outside. I didn't fancy tearing up the lawn with the wheelbarrow, since the ground's really soft with the rain. Bah.

On the plus side, the siskin came back.

Having trouble getting the onion sets I want, I may have to order like 300 of them when I actually want 100. Maybe I could sell the surplus, or keep them for next year, or something.

Hopefully we'll get lots done tomorrow.

Veg plot - day 6, and a pleasant visitor

More seeds arrived today. Beans, peas, winter squash, cabbage, cauliflower, rapini, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, leeks, corn. Yay! All open-pollinated types so I can save the seed, with instructions on how to save said seeds.

So I was in the utility room this afternoon sowing peas in a module tray and vaguely watching the bird feeders through the window and thinking about moving more topsoil, when I spotted this pretty little chap.

It's a male siskin, small finch, likes coniferous woods. Apparently also likes sunflower seeds, judging by the amount of them it got through.

I've never seen one in my garden before. In fact I've only seen them in Scotland, at RSPB Loch Garten - although they aren't uncommon, they just don't visit gardens much. I remember chatting to the girl on reception and saying I hadn't seen siskins before and she replied, "Oh I like siskins, they're like little highlighter pens." I can see what she meant, although to me they look more like a little brownish-grey streaky bird that someone's used a highlighter on. They are almost fluorescent in the sun. The females are duller.

I hope he sticks around, because then Michael might be able to get something better than my crappy record shots. Especially as the sisk isn't timid. It sat in the apple tree for ages as I trundled backward and forwards with wheelbarrows full of soil, singing a pretty little scratchy wheezy twittery song. I liked him.

And yeah, I shifted more soil. Half a ton, because the muscles still feel rather used, I'll do at least another half ton tomorrow. It's cheaper than going to the gym anyway!

And I'm getting more and more excited about growing stuff. I've drawn out plans of my beds and I know exactly what I'm planting where, because I need to organise myself. Needless to say, it's all colour coded.

And now I need to order onion sets.