September Garden
In the veg patch
Yikes! After a long hot summer (eugh heat waves are the worst!) the garden got a little wild! With little shade and no access to running water, we did the best we could in 30oc+ heat. Now as the weather is a little more forgiving, we’re diving back in.
This week we’re…
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After a good weeding of the used potato bed (we have a battle with creeping buttercup), raking it flat, B and I scattered handfuls of field beans onto the soil. Their roots help break up the heavy soil and they’ll fix some much needed nitrogen back into the soil, not to mention provide a cover crop to protect the soil over winter.
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There’s never a simple step-by-step in the Kith garden, instead we backtrack from where we want to be and the steps we need to get there… for example…
Main job: Mow the wildflower patch
Before we can do the main job:
3. The full compost bin needed to be emptied to put the wildflower clippings in
2. The beds needing a compost top up needed to be cleared in order for the compost to be added
1. The things coming out of the beds (onions) needed a space to dry which meant the field house needed to be finished so there was shelf space available
THEN we could mow the wildflower patch.We don’t tend to turn the soil but layer on fresh compost and manure each year. It’s definitely working as the soil is looking so fab in comparison to where we first started. But back to the compost…
3 years in the making, our first compost bin is now ready to use! and WOW! I felt like Monty Don holding onto the lush earthy compost and shouted to Si and B to come check it out. Ooh it smelt earthy and crumbled from our hands as we sunk our hands into it. A far cry from the heavy clods of soil we began with 3 years ago.
If you’d like to geek out about compost with me, PLEASE get in touch. I still have a tonne to learn but my goodness it’s exciting to see our efforts coming to fruition.
We have 3 methods of composting at the moment…
- 2 bay slow composter where all the grass clippings, woodchip, coffee grounds, cardboard, garden waste etc goes
- A hot bin for our combo of woodchip and coffee grounds (a bit of an experiment)
- A Subpod for the quick compost making; using our veg and fruit scraps -
Hurrah!
We’ve had a wonderful few seasons of our wildflower patch. Beginning with the tallest ribwort plantain I’ve ever seen, then beautiful ox-eye daisies followed by thistles and wild carrot. It was a thriving little patch. We opted for a 1 mow year this year, the patch just seemed too full of life to cut it 2-3 times during the season; next year I might be brave enough but we were all enjoying it far too much to chop it more.
Si took the lawn mower and began the mammoth task but 3/4 of the way through discovered a frog buddy and for 10 minutes played chase with it to avoid it getting chopped. He’s such a gentle soul it was hilarious to see him on all fours coaxing out the little frog who was of course terrified of the commotion! You’ll be pleased to know the frog buddy hopped away and Si went for a cuppa to recover from the drama.
The whole space has opened up now, I’m missing the height of the patch already. See if you feel the change next time you’re at Kith too.
“YOU HAVE TO COME SEE THIS!”
I had a shameless little brag then like a proud compost-making-Mama,
I shovelled it onto the beds and stood for a moment admiring it.
