Vegetable Planner 2014 - Rotation Planting (part 5/5)

Dear Family & Friends

Like everything in life....we need some sort of rotation in our daily living. Our meal menu needs rotation for balance diet...and so with our gardening activity too.

Our kind neighbour, Boris, helped us do a straight vegetable garden plots

Growing crops together makes sense, especially in a large veg plot. Related crops need similar soil treatment, and it helps prevent pests and diseases building up.

A three-year rotation is most suitable for small plots:
Year 1 Cabbage family
Year 2 Peas/beans/onions
Year 3 Potatoes/root crops

Whatever size your veg plot, it makes sense to get as much produce out of it as possible. Use the winter months to plan your crops for the following season.

For larger plots, use a four-year rotation:
Year 1 Potatoes
Year 2 Peas/beans
Year 3 Cabbage family
Year 4 Onions/root crops

preparing the soil using the ancient method....manpower and cooperation is important and fun:)

Vegetable can be grouped like this:
Cabbage family Includes Brussels sprouts, broccoli, calabrese, cabbages, cauliflowers, Chinese cabbage, kale kohl rabi, swedes and turnips. Closely related plants such as radish should also be included. Soil: lime acid soil and add plenty of fertiliser. Water when near maturity.

Potato family Also includes tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. Soil: no lime, plenty of fertiliser and organic matter.

Onion family Includes all kinds of onion, garlic,leeks and shallots. Soil: needs organic matter and moderate amounts of fertiliser.

Peas and beans Includes garden and mangetout peas, broad, French and runner beans and many greenmanure crops like lupins and vetches. Soil: add plenty of organic matter and not much fertiliser.
Water when pods are being produced.

Root crops Covers carrots, parsnips and parsley. Beetroot and spinach are often grouped with the roots, but are not related. Soil: no fresh organic matter, moderate fertiliser and little water.

Planting our vegetable garden in neat rows

Crops not mentioned, such as cucumbers and marrows, celery, lettuce and sweetcorn can be grown with any of the rotation groups, as convenient.

That's the last note for my vegetable planner this year. Hopefully some of the things mentioned were also useful resource to you. Let's look forward to another wonderful year of gardening:)

Yours

Vegetable Planner 2014 - Space Filler (part 4/5)

Dear Family & Friends

Perhaps you are blessed with a big space where you can plant as much as you want to...but even with a tiny space...gardening is still a very possible activity. Afterall, it's being resourceful and creative that brings part of the satisfaction in gardening.

Variety of vegetables & flowers grown together in my kitchen garden. 

If you are like me, space is always needed no matter how much you already have...perhaps just part of our human nature. But today, I will be sharing with you about some ideas of space fillers in gardening.

we had no choice but to uproot thisvery old unproductive apple tree:(

Some crops such as Brussels sprouts can be slow to fill their allotted space. Others like sweetcorn, never
completely cover the soil. Use quick-maturing bonus crops to prevent weeds from spreading. Any of the ‘sow little and often’ crops will fit the bill. For example, try turnip, radish or kohl rabi with larger brassicas.

Leafy vegetables such as spinach or lettuce will crop under sweetcorn; early peas should crop before the
runner beans need the space.

some little plants like purslane and pansies I let grow along side the courgette

It might not be appealing to some, but mixing shapes and sizes can be quite interesting too. You could always try this or that to find out what works best for you...afterall, enjoyment is also part of what we want to get out of work.

Yours

Vegetable Planner 2014- Two Crops A Year (part 2/5)

Dear Family & Friends

Last year was the first time I tried planting for autumn and winter harvest. Most of us would think that there's only spring time planting opportunity which gives summer harvesting...but did you know that you can actually have two crops a year? I'm speaking for areas that experience cold winter.

Tomatoes getting bigger in their recycle pots indoor

Use each piece of the plot most efficiently by combining early and late or overwintered crops. Early veg that you can start off under glass, or sow direct under cloches, help extend the season.Choose hardy types of veg like lettuce, carrots and spring onions. Early croppers like overwintered onions, broad beans, new potatoes and early cauliflowers are ready to harvest in late May or June, so allowing a second crop. These can be followed by tender crops such as tomatoes, sweetcorn, French beans and courgettes started early in pots.

Late starters that can be sown or planted later in the summer are useful gap fillers as summer crops are harvested. Leeks, sprouting broccoli and winter cauliflowers are good for July sowing, and Chinese cabbage and other oriental brassicas can be sown into August.

vegetables, flowers and herb seedlings pre-sown indoor for headstart

Having an empty veg plot over winter is inefficient and you’ll miss out on a whole range of fresh vegetables that could supply you through to the following spring. Brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, leeks and winter cauliflowers (in milder areas) should be well established by the autumn. They can be joined later by spring cabbage. Autumn-planted onion sets and garlic, as well as autumn sown peas and beans, will give you an earlier crop than spring sowings.

The Sweet peeper plantlets ares now ready to be replant outside

It's good to plan and dream, but it's better to put it into action..see what comes out...whatever it will be, as long as you gave all your best will be considered success.

Be positive and always be with hope.

Yours

Vegetable Planner 2014 - Sow Little & Often (part1/5)

Dear Family & Friends

Let's keep our plan working. I'm journaling some of my gardening plans for this year and am happy to share it with you...you might know about this already.

sowing indoors using recycled yogurt pots

From experience, we tend to plant so much every year. It's good if you've got a big family to share with but there's only 4 of us in this country! Friends and neighbours seem to have as much garden harvest as we do if not more! SO what to do?

Sow little and often! This will be the goal this year. This will help to spread the harvest and avoid gluts. Instead of sowing one long row, sow short rows every two weeks. Lettuce, spinach, early carrots, beetroot, dwarf beans, early peas, radish and spring onions are prime candidates to start with. We will also try kale and summer cauliflower.

Leafy greens sown direct...it needs thinning out at some point

If you are like me, I sometimes find some of the seeds so tiny and as I pour them out, I just don't realize that I just have sown quite a lot of a certain veg for that matter...ending up with lots of sprouting seedlings and worst, I don't have the heart  not to give them all a chance to live.

OK, if you've got a lot of spare gardening space...let them grow and share with the chickens if there's no one else...or perhaps, others would welcome some of your seedlings.

radishes sown in rows

Next, we'll talk about the idea of planting two crops a year.

See you next time and enjoy what you put your hands to work.

Yours