Growing things

Deep beds

New beds edged with recycled roof tiles set 50mm into the existing turf.  We have poor shallow soil so we have scrounged turf from a nearby building site, the plots are layered on top or the grass as follows;
layers from the bottom - cardboard, horse manure, one or two layers of inverted turfs, mixed topsoil and well rotted compost.
At the moment (June) we have growing outside - broad beans, cabbages, broccoli, sprouts, leeks, carrots, spinach onions and garlic and salad etc.

Compost beds

Compost bins made from recycled pallets from the nearby industrial estate.  Garden waste is layered with straw/manure from the chicken house, grass mowing and newspaper.  We also collect our pee and add it to act as an activator and source of nitrogen.
Our house compost goes into small plastic compost bins and act as breeding places for worms which we add to the other bigger compost piles.

Horse Manure (black gold!)

Horse manure pile (black gold!!)

link to - Our sowing chart and saving your own seed

Polytunnel

Polytunnel - The beds are constructed in the same way as the outdoor deep beds and are watered by 'leaky' pipes fed from the reed bed or rainwater tanks depending on the resources available. 

Slug trap made from a humus pot (bait with beer slops from the pub or other sweet yeasty liquid)

Milk bottle cloche made by cutting the bottom off the bottle and pert cutting the top as shown - the top makes a lid to lower on cold nights.  Use a stick through the handle to keep the cloche in place.

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