It surprises me how much time it takes just to prepare the new beds. I could have spent this entire season just mowing the grass, rotovating, digging, raking, setting up the fence, and have had a comfortable time doing just that. I’m glad I planted the first potatoes when the first bed was ready though, because they’re almost ready for harvest now, when I’ve still got 4 beds left to prepare. I’m not behind schedule according to the information on the back of the seed packets, but there’s no time for zipping cocktails in the corner of the kitchen garden yet. Hopefully there will be time when I’m done sowing the seeds (apple juice… cocktails, that is.) The cocktail bench is still in the garage collecting dust, where it has been since we moved in last year, together with my 4 precious self-watering polystyrene boxes, which I haven’t had time to set up yet this year. I’m not sure they’ll be that important this year, as my tomato plants and cucumber plants are growing surprisingly well out in the open, despite the very sandy soil. I guess they have reached the rotovated pieces of lawn and topsoil that was filled into the beds, before the sandy soil on top. I used the rotovator on the raw lawn-like patch, and threw the resulting mix of grass, grassroots and topsoil to the one side, and used the rotovator once again, now 25 cm (10 inch) lower in the ground than before, and threw the sandy soil found below, to the other side. Then the mix from the upper layer went to the bottom of the now 50 cm (20 inch) hole, and the sand back on top of the bed. Now I have almost no weeds on top of the beds, since the weed roots and seeds have been buried below 25 cm of sandy soil, but the downside is that there’s practically no nutrients in the sandy soil, but apparently the tomatoes and cucumbers have hit gold below.
I have set up most of the wire mesh fence around the kitchen garden but there still large holes which the cat insist on using as entrances to it’s personal Kitty garden. Cats and newly prepared soil for sowing don’t mix well, or, the result is pretty chaotic. Deep holes from paws, small pyramids covering toilet visits, long running tracks for hunting squirrels and occasional dating events with male cats (which have even larger paws). Again, kitchen gardening is also about doing things in the right order, and having patience, which can be hard when the sun is shining and the weather is perfect in the middle of the season, and all you have to do is stare at some stupids empty beds, because the fence is not up yet. But next year it will be better, right? We’re growing.
And the potatoes are growing, like crazy. As far as I know they like sandy soil. In total the potato bed would be 27 meters long (89 feet) if the 3 beds were added together. There are two rows in each bed, which would be like one row of potatoes, 54 meters long (177 feet), and with 30 cm (12 inches) between each plant that’s… an awful lot of tubers. I’m looking forward to see just how much food will come from the potato bed – we’re keeping a log in a small note book in the kitchen each time something fresh comes in.
The rhubarbs have yielded like crazy this year, but it’s also a group of well-established plants that have probably been growing in this garden for years. I’m just wondering what would happen, if I actually provided them with some nutrient rich compost. They would probably take over the garden overnight. Charlotte is busy in the kitchen, and we’re eating wonderful jam on everything.
Now that the rainy period is over, I can sow even more seeds. It’s time for Legumes and Brassicas, according to my crop rotation plan. Then more mowing, rotovating and sowing, before I can enjoy a cold apple juice in the shade.
Did you harvest already, and where is your garden located?
