Week 16 - Bed PC4 Planting

This bed was prepared by removing the top layer of sod, digging out a trench of soil to a spade's depth, loosening up the hard pan a bit and removing some of the larger stones and replacing the soil. This is a lot more work than some of the earlier beds in this plot, but we wanted to make sure that the root vegetables could have more room to grow. A fine seedbed was prepared a wide range of seeds were scattered across the whole bed:

• Long Black Scorzonera - a heavy yielding, long root with white flesh and black skin
• Autumn King Carrot - a high yield popular maincrop variety with good flavour and storing
  
• Halblange Hamburg Parsley - a variety of parsley grown primarily for its thick, pointed half long parsnip-like roots
• White Gem Parsnip - wedge shaped root variety with smooth white skin
• Tetra Dill - a herb with feathery foliage and aniseed flavour

We also added a number of different lettuces:

• Marvel of Four Seasons Lettuce - red and green butterhead heirloom variety
  
• Aruba Lettuce - a very red, large headed looseleaf variety
• Salad Bowl Lettuce - cut and come again looseleaf lettuce, with long green leaves
  
• Roger Lettuce - red batavia variety
  
• Little Gem Lettuce - dwarf cos variety
  
• Till Lettuce - dense looseleaf variety with arrow shaped leaves
• Thirza Lettuce - a medium size green lettuce with well filled hearts, crops spring, summer, autumn
  
• Brun D'Hiver Lettuce - a heirloom variety dating from 1855, with compact, wrinkled green/red leaves
  
• Alvaro Lettuce - a crisphead variety to harvest from mid may to autumn
  

The seedbed was then lightly raked to cover the seeds and then onion sets were pressed into the bed at random:

• Centurion Onion (approx 30 sets) - early maturing round variety with brown skin suitable for medium term storage

Week 16 - Bed DD8 Planting

We double-dug this bed and planted:

• Orla Potatoes (36 seed potatoes) - a 1st early variety with creamy white oval tubers with light yellow flesh

These were planted in 3 rows of 12 down the length of the bed and because they are so close together the rows will need to be mulched instead of being earthed to prevent the tubers becoming green.

Week 15 - Overview

Some of the people involved in the gardening course, digging one of the beds on a cold but dry April afternoon.

This bed is being double dug, with the top spade depth of soil removed and then the lower level loosened with a fork and any stones removed.

Week 15 - Bed PC7 Planting

This bed was prepared last week by cutting the sod off the top and removing it. The soil was then dug to the depth of a spade without going too far into the compacted layer of stones about 25cm down. In this bed we planted two types of potatoes:

• Orla Potatoes (23 chitted sets, north part of bed) - a first early variety with creamy white oval tubers with light yellow flesh
• Maris Peer Potato (17 sets, south part of bed) - a second early (or early maincrop) variety with cream skin and creamy yellow floury flesh

In the next few weeks we will sow bot peas and broad bean seeds, to grow up in among the potatoes as a polycrop.

Week 15 - Bed EX7 Planting

We cultivated this bed as a fairly rough lazy-bed and planted:

• Maris Peer Potato (south 1/2 of bed) - a second early (or early maincrop) variety with cream skin and creamy yellow floury flesh
• Hangdown Green Broad Bean (1/2 long double row) - a vigorous early longpod variety
• Ambrosia Sugar Snap Peas (1/2 long double row) - early fairly tall growing, sweet variety with edible parchment free pod

Week 15 - Bed DD6 Planting

We finished cultivating this double dug bed down to a fine seedbed and sowed (listed from north to south):

• Swiss Chard (grid of stations covering 20% of bed) - dark green leaved variety with broad white ribs
• Rhubarb Chard (grid of stations covering 20% of bed) - rich ruby-red leaf stalks and dark green/purple foliage
• Barbietola di Chioggia Beetroot (grid of stations covering 25% of bed) - a mild-flavoured italian, pink skin variety with white flesh and pink rings
• Storuman Beetroot (grid of stations covering 35% of bed) - a fast growing globe variety, which can be used as both summer and main-crop

These are the same varieties as were planted on the same day in long rows in bed EX5, rather than in a grid covering the whole of this bed.

Week 15 - Bed DD4 Planting

This bed was prepared by double digging with some of the sod being chopped up and placed between the two layers of soil for extra fertility. In this bed we planted (from south to north):

• Red Sun Shallots (12 bulbs covering 20% of bed) - mild flavoured red variety, ideal for salads and stores well
• Printanor Garlic (40 cloves covering 20% of bed) - spring planting variety with cream coloured cloves harvested in the autumn
• Sturon Onion (120 sets covering 60% of bed) - a golden bulb variety with fine flavour and good storability

Week 15 - Bed EX5 Planting

We finished cultivating this lazy-bed down to a fine seedbed and sowed 3 long rows

• Rhubarb Chard (south 1/2 of long row) - rich ruby-red leaf stalks and dark green/purple foliage
• Swiss Chard (north 1/2 of long row) - dark green leaves with broad white ribs
• Barbietola di Chioggia Beetroot (1 long row) - a mild-flavoured italian, pink skin variety with white flesh and pink rings
• Storuman Beetroot (1 long row) - fast growing globe beetroot, which can be used as both summer and main-crop

Week 15 - Bed EX4 Planting

We finished cultivating this lazy-bed down to a fine seedbed and sowed 4 long rows:

• Printanor Garlic (south 1/2 long row of cloves) - spring planting variety with cream coloured cloves harvested in the autumn.
• Red Sun Shallots (north 1/2 long row of bulbs) - mild flavoured red variety, ideal for salads and stores well.
• Sturon Onion (one long row of sets) - golden bulb variety with fine flavour and good storability.
• Guardsman Scallions (one long row of seeds) - very strong upright salad onion variety, especially suitable for autumn crop.
• Nantes II Carrots (one long row of seeds) - an early, small cored, medium length, blunt variety.

Week 14 - Overview

General view of the context of the plots with four lazy beds of the Extensive Plot in the prepared. This field has been grazed by cattle in recent years, and has probably not been plowed for decades. The infrastructural works for the eco-village is currently underway with the storage and working yard visible in the background. This whole field will be taken up by allotment gardens and a nursery, and will look very different in a few years time.

Four Extensive beds have been prepared by cutting out a 15-25cm deep block of sod, with soil still attached to the grass roots and turning it over in place so that the grass is upside-down. This grass will rot down and provide fertility. The top surface was then chopped up with a sharp spade to produce a seedbed.
The top layer of sod has been cut off the top of the double-dug and single-dug (Polycrop) beds and most of it is set aside in a pile. This will be covered and compost down in to a nice loam for potting soil for the next season.

The first of the double-dug beds, with sod shown removed to the right. The sod from the paths between the beds was removed and chopped up on top of the lower dug section. This will put some fertility deeper into the soil.

The soil here is very stony, particularly in a 'hard pan' layer about 20cm below the surface. We are trying to remove most of these stones. This pile alone is from one third of a bed.