Week 52+24 - Bed DD1

Week 52+21 - Bed DD1

Week 49 - Bed DD1

We finally double dug this bed and cleared the section to the west (left side of photo) of grass which we added as fertility on top of the lower level that we loosened. We added a few buckets of well rotted horse manure, and this bed is not ready for planting, though we should add some more compost or other source of fertility in the spring.

Week 47 - Bed DD1

The bed is still empty waiting to be double dug.

Week 40 - Bed DD1

The two nights of frost that we got last week have put an end to the growth of everything in this bed.

The ears of sweetcorn look good ...

... but are quite small ...
... and none of the kernels have had a chance to grow, even if they were pollinated.

The courgette plants have been badly hit by frost, but most of the fruit is still edible.

The larger outer leaves have been affected by the frost the most, with some of the inner leaves escaping damage. There is a chance that the plant could regrow and continue to produce fruit ...

... but we decided to pull up all of the plants in this bed to make room for some overwintering garlic and onions.

Week 38 - Bed DD1

The corn and courgettes continue to grow in the reasonable weather that we have had.

The ears of corn are starting to swell, but there is not a lot of time left in the season.

The Genovese courgette is still producing a lot of fruit, though some of them are aborting because they have not been pollinated. We need to attract more bees and other pollinating insects to the garden.

Some of the older courgette leaves are in rough shape. I am not sure what is causing this.

The white courgette is healthy and produces ewer fruit than the Genovese courgette, but they grow at a faster rate. The courgettes, are broader than what is typically found in the shops, but just as tender.

Week 36 - Bed DD1

The sparse growth of the bed of sweetcorn will probably mean that we will have nothing to harvest (even if the weather is fantastic for the next few months) as corn is wind pollinated and in order to get cobs full kernels we would need a larger number of plants releasing pollen at the same time.
The male flower of the sweetcorn is almost ready to release pollen ...

... and the silks, each connected to a kernel, are ready to grab the floating pollen out of the air.

Both of the courgette plants are producing several fruit a week, with some of them growing quite large, like the Genovese courgette above, within a week.

Week 35 - Bed DD1

The tassels (male flower) at the top of the sweetcorn are starting to form.

The Genovese courgette continues to produce fruit along the lengthening central stem or vine.

Week 33 - Bed DD1

The growth of the sweetcorn is very erratic, with some of the plants growing quite tall and others are very stunted. The Courgettes are starting to fill out the width of the bed.

The healthiest of the sweetcorn plants.

The Genovese courgette is producing a lot of fruit, but some of the older ones were not pollinated.

There is quite a bit of difference in leaf shape between the White courgette on the left and the Genovese courgette on the right.

Week 31 - Bed DD1

We were away from the garden for most of the month, and when we returned, The fleece that covered the bed was forcing the many of the leaves out of shape, so we took it off.

Several of the sweetcorn plants are growing well, despite the cool wet weather, but we don't expect any yield from them.

The Courgette plants grew well, with some of the leaves misshapen by the fleece.

None of the young fruit on the Genovese courgette were growing and were all starting to rot, and we realised that the fleece had prevented any bees from doing the pollination. While it provided better conditions for growth, it needed to have been removed as soon as the first flowers emerged.

The White courgette (above) is slightly behind the Genovese courgette.

Week 26 - Bed DD1

We covered the full bed with horticultural fleece, which will let in the air, rain and most of the sun, but will keep out the insects as well as providing a sheltered environment. the reduction in wind and the slightly warmer temperature under the fleece will hopefully help the sweetcorn and courgettes which have not been doing very well with the recent cool and wet weather.


The leaves of the courgette plant can be seen under the woven fabric. We should have placed the fleece over this bed when it was planted.

Week 25 - Bed DD1

Sweetcorn seedlings beginning to emerge after 3 weeks.

Courgette plant showing signs of being setback from being transplanted when it was too old.

Week 24 - Bed DD1 Planting

This bed was prepared last week and in the north end we planted 2 courgette plants:

• Genovese Courgette (one 5 week old transplant from pot) - a pale, early variety with fine lightly mottled green fruit
• White Volunteer Courgette (one 5 week old transplant from pot) - an old open pollinated variety, with many short fat pale green fruit

Newly transplanted courgettes at the far (north) end of the bed.

Two week old sweetcorn beginning to emerge.

Week 22 - Bed DD1 Planting

We prepared this bed by double digging this week and sowed:

• True Gold Sweetcorn (27 stations with 3 seeds each) - a heirloom variety with golden yellow kernels and rich buttery flavour, which will grow to 180cm tall and mature in September