Spring Has Sprung

Today there has been a big change in the weather compared to yesterday when we where at the chippenham food festival the sun has shined all day long may it last although the forecast doesn't look good.
the combination of the rain with the warm weather has made the seeds in the veg garden pop there heads out of the soil. you no that spring is here when the first seeds of the year come through out doors.



in the greenhouse the seeds have been growing away for a few weeks now. the cell grown veg will only be a couple of weeks away before they will need hardening off before planting out.

THE THINGS YOU FIND WHEN PLANTING SNOWDROPS

we where dividing the snow drops last week and replanting them along the river when we came across some stones just under the soil. we scraped the soil of the top of them to find that the smallest was about 50cm wide and 90cm long. we got the digger out to find that they where also 30cm deep all nicely carved it turns out that they are some of the stones of the bridge that crossed the river at that point in the
17Th century. we have cleaned the stones up and put them to one side we will incorporate them some where in the garden at a later date.



under one of the stones in the clay there was the toes of a boot preserved by the clay. there was no bones inside all i can assume is that during construction the stone ended up on some ones foot no HSE in those days they got the foot out but had to leave the boot.



a bit further down we dug up a magazine of bullets probably dropped during the second world war by a solder walking past.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

GIANT MARSH MARIGOLD

SPUD MANIA

the potato planting season will be with us soon and our seed potatoes are all in trays in the greenhouse sprouting away. we have gone a bit over the top this year and have 70 variety's to go in we are going to plant 5 tubers of each. except for our main variety's such as swift, rocket, kestrel, king Edward, rooster we will put 10 each in as they are are main variety's for eating.
the reason we are growing so many is to compare them against each over in the same growing conditions all will be planted at the same time (well over a week) about mid march weather dependent.
we will then get fair results harvest dates, crop, disease and more important taste.
we will let you no how they are getting on through the growing season

VEG OF THE MONTH

I have had to change veg of the week to veg of the month due to work load and having not another hour in the day this month asparagus

ASPARAGUS



The Asparagus some would say it is the king of the vegetables you really have to like this veg to grow it. As it takes 3 years from sowing to get your first crop or two years if buying in crowns. Even then you will only get a small crop until about year five. its a permanent crop that needs a bit of room not suitable if you have a small veg garden although i have seen it growing in the flower border as it has lovely ferny foliage which is much sort after by florists.

sow seeds indoors march - April in plug trays one seed to each cell they are slow germinate rs so you have to be a bit patient. when germinated you will get a single grass like plant when large enough and the plugs are full of root plant out in a well prepared seed bed 6" (15cm) apart and grow on for another year. the following February - march the crowns will be big enough to dig up and move to there permanent growing position.

if you opt for buying in crowns instead of growing from seed or you have just dug up your own one year old crowns. the first decision you need to make is where you are going to site your asparagus bed. it can remain productive for 15 - 20 years this also means that you need to prepare the soil very well as it is the last time it will be dug for a few years. incorporate large amounts of compost or well rotted manure in to the soil as you dig also apply some blood, fish and bone.

once the ground is prepared dig out trench 24cm (8") deep and 30cm(12") wide. the base of the trench should be on a curve so the crown sits on the top. spacing 48cm
(20") apart and 90cm (3') between the rows once the crown's have been place in the trench back fill with 6cm (2") of soil. as they grow back fill the soil bit by bit until you are back to the original soil level. as they crow keep weeded and watered in autumn cut back fronds to 6cm (2") folk over soil around crowns apply blood fish and bone how in and mulch with a layer of compost or well rotted manure. when mature and cropping in year three pick lightly to start with for a year of two until early June and then leave the rest to grow on in in to fronds this puts the energy back in to the crowns and gets them to grow bigger and stronger year on year. if looked after well it will crop well for many years.

SPRING FLOWERS

photo of the week