Spring 2012- seedling cultivation

I have sensed a weather pattern over the past decade or so that gives us an over-warm and early spring, which is then followed in June/July by a nondescript "summer" and occasionally a late warm spell in September or even October. This year started off true to this new pattern, with a very warm period in March but then reverted to cold weather in April. These stop-go-stop changes in our weather don't make life easy for gardeners. And Spring 2012 featured particularly sharp contrasts in temperatures and contrast between hot sun and very cold air from the east.

Spring chaos in the greenhouse

Autumn-sown endive and transplanted strawberries 

This year I was particularly well-organised, with potatoes chitting and many seeds sown in January. The warm March spell reinforced this precocious start. Thus by March my tomatoes were well-advanced- around 3" tall, indoors and ready to move to their new home in the greenhouse. Then came winter again! A similar false start afflicted my potatoes which were all in the ground by the end of March. Although I have been cautious with planting too early in the past, I played safe this year and fleeced most of the rows- but still nearly got caught out with a late frost in mid-April when the first fleshy leaves were fully exposed!

I have, over the years developed a sequence of stages for bringing on my plants. I sow in trays or modules of potting compost, water well and enclose in a large plastic bag. This holds in the moisture and retains some heat. Later, when being hardened off, it also protects from the wind or cold air.
I then keep these trays in a warm room indoors. Certain seeds, notably aubergine, peppers etc need around 70deg to germinate- so a warm place to get them out of the ground is vital. Keep a close eye on them as, as soon as the stems appear they will go go very leggy if not kept in good light conditions- a window ledge is not usually sufficient.
For this purpose I suspend the seed trays immediately under our Velux windows where the new seedlings get maximum natural light. At this point I have
removed the plastic bags

Seedlings in the light

Having only limited space of this kind, many of the protected trays will go in the greenhouse during warm days to get full benefit of the heat and light, and brought back in at night
One note of caution-- if using the bag-covering system, make sure the soil doesn't get too damp or wet or damping-off will be a risk:
some seedlings are more vulnerable to this than others.

Obviously, during this process, I will transplant seedlings from modules or trays into individual pots as they outgrow their environment.

PalletVille

We are fortunate in having a small factory nearby which disposes of mainly small, hardly used pallets.  Being only 1/2 mile away I make best use of this facility for firewood and 101 other uses. In the garden I have discovered that upturned, small pallets, with wooden strips nailed to the sides make excellent, instant raised beds. Just create a shallow, flat trench and lay the pallets end-to-end.
This photo shows our rear garden, in early spring with beds fleeced against further frosts and blue trays of seedlings being hardened off. As in all garden structures, these pallets will of course offer refuge for slugs and the like but my argument would be that these will be around somewhere anyway- best to have them where you know where to look and dsipose of them regularly.

Greenhouse

This greenhouse once lived on a nursery in Uplowman. With the help of my 8 year old son and a rather aged van, it was dismantled and transported to our back garden, where it was partly re-erected. Only 2/3 of the width was utilised as it rests against a retaining wall adjacent to the railway embankment.  In order to create raised beds on either side, the central path is sunk about 18". To the rear stands a 1000litre IBC tank which collects water from the roof. The greenhouse is currently being refurbished as many of the timbers now require replacing. Grapevines have been trained along the roof beams, being rooted outside and entering from each end.

Staggered Raised Bed Terraces

This area of the front garden was once home to a very large cherry tree and a prolific growth of weedy vegetation. During a period of about 5 years, it also provided a semi-wilderness for our 3 guinea pigs which were allowed to roam freely. Strangely, even though there was no netting over this run, cats never invaded and the guinea pigs died of old age. The cherry tree, beautiful as it was, especially when in spring blossom, never yielded us a single cherry. I even tried, unsuccessfully to net the tree, to protect the fruit from marauding birds, but they always got the better of me. The tree unfortunately was also constantly growing through the electric wires coming down from the road and as such provided a regular headache. Ultimately, I bit the bullet, took the tree down with help from a friend with a chainsaw and created these beds from recycled concrete blocks. The first step was to make terraces by digging into the bank and putting the soil aside.Then the raised bed walls were built. Inside them, the subsoil was covered with thick cardboard or even hardboard, then well-rotted horse manure was layered over and finally topped over with my own superb compost!.
This picture shows in the foreground a bed with woodruff ground cover (the odour of which, like new-mown hay, I love when dried) and a bronze fennel plant; the left rear bed accommodates my asparagus plants; and to the right of the picture, at the rear is one of my compost bins which is loaded from above and emptied by removing the front slats.

Log Store

When we moved to this house the rear garden was being invaded by brambles from the railway embankment which runs along the end of the garden. Firstly, I built a retaining wall to stop this invasion, then later I made a horizontal platform along the top of the wall to provide an extra dimension of space. Most of this platform is now home to wooden bays, constructed from "free" pallets to house logs being seasoned.

Pear Tree With Raised Bed

Having an upright, slim structure, this pear seemed a good candidate for a little experiment in permaculture which has worked out well. In the bed I planted some of my surplus climbing French bean seedlings, a squash, a few basil plants and chicory. Now, the French beans are over 7' high, clambering their way past the heavy pear crop that has broken one of the trees branches. The raised bed not only exemplifies stacking, but "mulches" the tree. It should be stressed that I made a smaller triangle frame that protect the lower trunk from being covered with soil.