… an aerial photograph of the new vegetable garden, such as it is right now.
You can see that I’ve now installed the 8th and final (for the time being) raised bed, but I’ve had to cover it with corrugated iron sheeting as I have run out of black plastic. I’m going to have to buy some more of that.
You’ll also see the nest part of the exercise. I’ve put a board up about 50cms from the edge of the raised beds (just to the right of centre behind the old-pallet duckboarding) and I’ve started to fill the gap with rubble. This will also be covered with old slates in due course and become part of the main path. It will also serve as a slug trap as two beds will be surrounded completely by old slate and these will be the brassica beds. I hope that this anti-slug idea works.
Next part of the plan is to dig out to the left of the new raised bed (the one covered in corrugated iron sheeting) as that is where this new large cloche is to go. I reckon about 1m20 or so at the back sloping down too maybe 35cms at the front and it will make a great place to grow melons, chilis, peppers and the like. I need to experiment with some hot beds in the autumn to see if it will work and provide the heat that I need to force some produce.
Once the cloche is made, that will be the heavy manual work ended in the garden for this year. Ultimately there will be another few raised beds to the right of the new path but I need to move the old van for that and that won’t be happening any time soon. And when I move the two cars I can set down a lawn there but that’s a long time hence.
And I noticed today that the onions have started to rear their ugly heads.
Get the ash from an old fire and pour that around the edges of your beds… That will definitely stop slugs. Nothing much else seems to work in my experience.
Be careful none of your patents get stolen Eric!!!
I’ve been saving my old tin cans to cut into strips to make akind-of serrated edge around the wood borders of the raised beds and I’m going to cut old plastic bottles into rings to set into the ground and plant the plants within the rings.
And thank you Hu Flung Dung for your appreciation and if the Chinese do steal my ideas then it win’t be much of a loss. They are all ideas that I get out of ancient literature and I just upgrade it to modern-day standards.
I wouldn’t worry about the Yellow Peril. They can only make inferior copies.