Garden Layout for 2013

a look back at 2012's plants, the spuds on the right created a lovely wind break from prevailing sea winds. i'm going to try and contain them more this year, some vines reached around 6 feet!

Garden Layout 2013:

this is my new garden layout for the coming season. im trying my best to incorporate a bit of 'no-dig' practices and proper crop rotation. im failing a bit with the rotation side of things, so i'll incorporate more nutrients into the soil with homemade seaweed/nettle/comfrey fertilizers and well rotted manure. rotation has been a bit difficult, since im trying to place contrasting colours and textures together in my planting. im excited to get the plants going and i have plans for putting up a wooden arbour over the central seating area, for sweet peas and vines! im also trying to add height to the garden with wooden pea/bean wig wams and creating a useful wind break on the left side of the garden with broad beans and orache.

 



Charred Purple Sprouting with Hollandaise and Poached Eggs

what a change in weather from last week! we've had some rain but the frosts subsided and its just begining to feel like spring. just in time cause it was starting to get me down! (see last post) for paddy's day this year i spent the afternoon in the garden, a long awaited treat. i planted seed potatoes as many people did for paddy's day, (it seems to be a tradition here in ireland.) i opted for three floury types: coleen's (a first early crop), record (main crop) and golden wonder (a late main crop). i wanted to try and introduce a bit of crop roation to my current garden's second year. so i planted them where i planted roots and onions last spring.

 

 

 

the idea of crop rotation is an old one. the basis is: different plant families take different nutrients from the soil as they grow. in turn they release new nutrients to the soil that benifit other plants. in a lot of vegetable gardens this determines alot of the seasons planting scheme. after some research there turns out to be some debate on what rotations people use. im following a four year rotation plan:

 

LEGUMES > BRASSICAS > ROOTS & ONIONS > POTATOES

 

do you use a different roation in your garden than the above one?

 

 

after planting spuds i was able to clear bolting kale plants, weed the flower beds and sow my first bit of lettuce, radish and beetroots. i popped in some garlic sets for good measure and much needed slug protection. in the lettuce area of the garden i was hoping to create an artistic planting effect by alternating plants with different colours and textures: frilly red mustards next to a row of little gem lettuce heads, followed by red beetroot and a row of pea shoots. its an exciting prospect to add a bit of colour and intrest to the veg plot. we'll see if it turns out as planned! fingers crossed.