Week 52+24 - Bed DD7 planting

Week 52+21 - Bed DD7

Week 52+7 - Bed DD7

This bed is still fairly bare but the clover is starting to grow now that the weather is starting to warm up a bit.

Week 49 - Bed DD7

We finally cleared the old pea plants out of this bed and failed to find any nitrogen fixing nodules on the roots. It is possible that any nodules that formed had fallen off when the plants died, but we suspect that the specific bacteria that form these beneficial nodules are not in this soil. This field contains many clover plants which have the nodules, but it is a different but species which forms the symbiotic relationship with plants from the bean and pea family.

This absence would make sense, given that peas and beans probably have not been grown in this field for many decades. The lack of this extra source of nitrogen probably reduced the yield of the peas. We will have investigate how to inoculate the soil before the next sowing of peas and beans.

Week 47 - Bed DD7

There is some new growth on some of the pea plants, but most of the pods have been damaged by frost. The clover has sprouted but has not grown much. We sowed this cover crop too late in the season.

Week 40 - Bed DD7

The two nights of frost that we had last week do not appear to have affected this bed ...

... but when we took a closer look, many of the pods have been affected.

While the leaves of the peas plants are generally unaffected by frost the fleshy pods are easily damaged, shown here as mottled darker patches.

The white clover is starting to sprout, and hopefully they were not affected by the frost. Mature clover plants can survive frost over a mild winter, but the young seedlings are more tender.

Week 38 - Bed DD7 Planting

We dug up the last of the potatoes out of this bed, which were still in good condition. We cleared all of the weeds and created a seedbed across the entire planting area, including under the peas, into which we sowed:

• White Clover - a low lying nitrogen fixing crop that is suitable for undersowing

The clover will grow where there is space and light for the next few months and wen the peas are finished and pulled up, the clover will continue to grow slowly throughout the winter. If the weather is reasonable, the clover will fill the bed and can remain until we are ready to sow into the bed next spring, at which time it can be dug in as a composting crop, adding fertility to the soil, including lots of nitrogen.



The peas continue to grow ...

... and produce new pods each week.

Week 36 - Bed DD7

The first crop of peas were picked a few weeks ago, but the plants are producing a few more each week, with new flowers forming in the young growth at the top of the plant. These plants should continue to produce pods, providing we pick them all.

Week 33 - Bed DD7

The potatoes are still in the ground, and we will start to harvest them in a week or so. They can stay in the ground until they are needed, or until we need the bed to plant something else.

The pea plants are full of pods ready to be picked ...

... with each pod filled with delicious sweet peas that are best eaten immediately in the garden.

Week 31 - Bed DD7

We have not been at the garden in more that 3 weeks, and we have had well over a month of wet weather. Instead of being full of growth, this bed is looking quite ragged, with the gaps in the peas and the potato foliage has been knocked back by blight.

The peas that are growing well are producing pods some of which are starting to swell and will be ready to harvest in a week or so.

The potatoes leaves have been killed off by blight, and we will cut the haulm (stems) off at the soil level and destroy the affected foliage. The potatoes will be left undisturbed in the ground for a few weeks. This will reduce the chance of the blight spores spreading to the tubers.

Week 27 - Bed DD7

The tendrils of the young pea plants have already attached to the support.

Week 26 - Bed DD7 Planting

Less than half of the peas that we sowed have sprouted, possibly due to poor seed quality or the dry weather when they were sowed 6 weeks ago, so we filled in the gaps with additional seed of the same variety. These will likely mature later but will extend the harvest.

















We earthed up the potatoes and constructed a structure out of sticks and twine for the peas to climb up.

Week 25 - Bed DD7

Only roughly half of the pea seeds germinated, leaving gaps that can be filled in with more seed.

Late planting of main-crop potatoes ready to be earthed up.

Week 24 - Bed DD7

Four weeks after planting, only some of the peas have sprouted. Perhaps some of the seedlings were eaten or pulled up when they emerged, but there is no trace of stems or other remains of plants. It is possible that the conditions were not favorable or it was a poor batch of seeds.

The main crop potatoes are looking very strong and healthy, and show no sign of being affected by the frost that hit the gardens at the end of May. They were likely to small and still sheltered by the warmth of the soil.

Week 20 - Bed DD7 Planting

We finished double digging this bed and sowed:

• Bastion Dwarf Peas (approx 160 seeds in a double long row) - a mid season main crop variety, with a high yield and up to 10 very sweet peas per pod
• Record Maincrop Potatoes (13 seed potatoes in one long row) - an oval potato variety with mealy yellow flesh

The peas will need a structure of chicken wire or similar for support.