This is my veg plot, pictured earlier this evening.
It’s a raised bed, just three meters by two, fenced in against the depredations of the chickens and Beelzebun Demon Bunny of DOOM, all of whom turn up to watch when I’m at work on the plot (Honestly, sometimes I feel like I’m Snow White).
At the far end you can make out six runner-beans, five of which are running, the sixth only limping. Last week I planted mange-tout peas along the inside of the left-hand fence, and these are just beginning to emerge.
All the other stuff came out of my greenhouse – about two dozen sweet corn, interplanted with about sixteen ridge cucumber plants and about ten butternut squashes. I’ve never grown anything as intensively or as close together as this before, but apparently you can with a raised bed, and the beans/corn/squash/cucumber combo will resemble some South-American forest clearing rather than a traditional veg bed. The only problem will be getting in there to harvest the stuff.
As the bed is fenced off I can use the hard stuff against the evil marauding alien bastards slugs. There shall be no quarter!
Next year I have plans to plough up some of the lawn for another veg bed, but until then I have nowhere obvious where I can sow my melon seedlings and, moreover, the zillions of tomato seedlings in pots and tubs in the conservatory/dining room. I think they’ll just have to stay there, and we’ll have to eat as if in the garden of Eden, plucking the fruit of the vine etc etc.
I’m looking forward to a somewhat different activity tomorrow night. Me, my Hammond organ and my trusty Evolvo will rumble southwards to the disputed border town of Brandon where I’ll be playing a gig at The Bell with my friends Stone Pony. Do come along and see us.
Right now, though, I have to write some stuff for Rage of Stars, the almost-finished third volume of The Sigil. This bit is a big fight between warriors mounted on woolly rhinoceroses. One of the warriors is a Neanderthal, the other a Yeti. Kitchen-sink social realism, that’s what it is.
What’s the picture that you’ve attached to the post?
Er… it’s my veg plot. I know it’s small, but it should at least be visible to the naked eye.
I think Cath means the thing in the top right hand corner of the photo. Possibly.
Definitely in the “strange cabbalistic symbol” class.
Oh, that. It’s a plaque that Mrs Gee gave me as a present years and years ago. It reads _Death Death Death To All Slimy Alien Molluscan Bastards- Welcome To My Garden.
double take
Oh, a plaque. With a ‘q’.
I was rather black there, for a minute.
Henry – I see the problem. By invoking Death Death Death To All Slimy Alien Molluscan Bastards you have left it open to attack by slimy terrestrial molluscs.
I do sometimes wonder, despite the wide availability of formal French gardens, why the French tout an English naturalist garden as the epitome in beauty and sophistication (witness Giverny) while English gardeners pin inspiring pictures of Le Notre-inspired plots to their posts.
Sounds quite lovely and appetizing come August. I liked the Snow White description.
@ Richard: Oh, a plaque. With a ‘q’.
There are worse mistakes. The other day, Mrs Gee called from another room to ask what I was up to. “Blogging,” I replied. When we finally caught up with me she said something rather choice. I think she thought I’d said dogging.
@ Brian: By invoking Death Death Death To All Slimy Alien Molluscan Bastards you have left it open to attack by slimy terrestrial molluscs.
I’m convinced that all garden molluscs are of extraterrestrial origin.
@ Heather: why the French tout an English naturalist garden as the epitome in beauty and sophistication (witness Giverny) while English gardeners pin inspiring pictures of Le Notre-inspired plots to their posts.
Funny, isn’t it? However, the jardin at the Maison Des Girrafes could never be formal, given the Dark Forces of Entropy ranged against it.
Some Dark Forces of Entropy, yesterday
Next year I have plans to plough up some of the lawn for another veg bed
Instead of ploughing, you can start by putting cardboard on the grass during autumn and winter, and plant potatoes in spring.
Thanks Raf – I had thought of planting potatoes in the first year. I already cover my veg plot with old carpets during the winter and early spring as a weed suppressant, so I shall take your tip and do that for the new plot.
By the way, what do you think of my brand new, Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-themed crocs?
Remember, Henry: Pirates don’t ride escalators
I have heard of the practice of covering gardens with carpets during the growing season as a weed suppressant. I am surprised you take them up rather than simply cut holes for the plants to grow through.
Regarding the molluscan problem, I have two potential solutions.
You have not shared with us the species, or told us if they are edible or not, perhaps you have not yet done that experiment and need some recipes to try?. In some places, such as France, snails are considered sufficiently worth eating that they are specifically cultivated. Snails might also be able to consume your grass clippings and uncomposted garbage and produce edible biomass.
The other suggestion is more complicated, but is something that you might find more satisfying. In the Brazilian Amazon region there are very rich and productive soils called Terra Preta.
These are synthetic soils containing substantial dark carbon from partial combustion of biomass. They are extremely productive soils despite being in tropical rainforest where leaching usually turns soils into laterites rendering them infertile. There are suggestions that even small landholders can benefit from the practice.
I suspect that the ancient custom of
burnt sacrificepartial combustion ofadversariesagricultural surplus was a way to generate Terra Preta and to derive ongoing benefits from that agricultural surplus. Partial combustion generates activated carbon which serves as a high surface area substrate for bacteria. It also supplies cationic ion exchange sites which typically are carboxylic acid groups. In tropical soils organic matter is rapidly oxidized by bacteria, but charcoal is pretty inert and persists long term providing porosity, water sorption capacity, and ion exchange sites. This preserves the phosphate and potassium and turns some of the proteins into slowly degrading time release nitrogen fertilizer.If you subjected the snails you capture to a partial combustion and return their charred carcasses to the soil, you would be practicing the ancient custom of
propitiationmaking Terra Preta. Carbon as char will have a much longer lifetime in the soil than will carbon as compost.Of course your neighbors might be concerned depending on which way the wind blows, what
oathscursesmnemonics you chant while doing the charring to pass the time, and what type ofsacrificial altarpartial charring device you use.Yes, I meant the wooden post, not the blog post ;)
Nice crocs and I trust you are wearing them at tonights gig.
I’ve spent a bit of time over the past weeks reforming our fab 90’s (year not age) squad at our new (deals are being considered) Glasgow HQ
and using the web, we would be delighted to have some talented input from the likes of yourself if you are up for this. SERIOUSLY.
From the BBC archives; here here and here
@ Jon: Pirates don’t ride escalators, but they do make people sit through interminable films starring Orlando Bloom and another bloke dressed up as an octopus. And then they make them walk the plank.
@David: I can just imagine the expressions on the faces of the human inhabitants they discover that the dish I told them was limaces en croute is actually deep-fried slugs. As for the snails… I don’t think they’re the same species as those eaten in France. Nope, best leave the slugs and snails to the Dark Forces of Entropy.
Some Dark Forces of Entropy, yesterday
The partially-combusted organic matter idea is fascinating. Back in the day when people had
diphtheriaricketsHitleropen fires, ash from fireplaces would have been an excellent compost activator and soil conditioner, I guess. All that surface area, as you say, has excellent water-retention properties as well as provided usefulhutcheshomes for bacteria.@ Graham: I did wear the crocs, and the gig was great. The first half was hard work, but during the interval some young ladies arrived, who had obviously benefited from the earlier imbibition of bacardi breezers. After that the gig had a real swing to it.