My vegetable garden plus nearby meadow

[Jang]

I enjoy seeing photos of people's growing areas so I thought I'd post some photos in return.

My vegetable area is mainly five long strips of I think about 80' by 5' or a bit less. The grass paths have advantages and disadvantages and might one day be dug up and become wood chip paths.

A photo from one corner with Jaerert peas in the foreground and brassicas under debris netting



In the foreground an asparagus bed, beyond strawberries and on the right some bean wigwams waiting for occupants:



Sugar Magnolia, Carouby de Mausanne, Spring Blush, Bijou growing through their bottle cloches:





The rather disorganised but productive polytunnel. Over wintered cauliflowers in the foreground. On the right I'm attempting three different kinds of melons up a frame whereas I've always had them trailing in the greenhouse before, not always very successfully. Some of the tomatoes beyond that and at the end on the right early peas and mangetout and on the left Grano Violetto beans:




Part of the greenhouse with concrete floor so no possibility of having beds. Lots of plants, beans, sweetcorn, achocha, some ornamentals etc, waiting to be planted out.

[Jang]

Finally just about a year ago we started borrowing a corner of an unused meadow belonging to my neighbour. It's full of hogweed, thistles and nettles and has been quite hard work. Same principle of grass paths. We've now claimed three and a half strips. I lost lots of winter brassicas from flea beetle here last summer, but have invested in finer mesh in the hope of seeing the plants through their early stages. Rabbits and a lot else, so I aim only to trust it to plants that I can protect or which are fairly predator-proof. No peas or beans! A godsend for alliums as I have white rot in the soil of my own veg garden.

[Hector1]

Enjoyed your photos. Nice set up. We too have flea beetles causing issues

[Galina]

That is a beautiful plot of land (well 2 plots) Jang. And the wide grass paths mean that there will never be any shading whatever you plant. The brassica cages are very neat, but I guess you need a lot of protection with rabbits and other animals all around. Looks very open but you have substantial wind shelter trees too.
The size of those cauli plants in the poly, they must be loving it. Melon frame looks good, good luck with them, the plants are quite advanced. You are using a lot of straw, do you have a local source? That soil looks wonderfully dark and crumbly.
I was asking about straw, because making a straw bale garden on the concrete greenhouse floor would be a possibility and give you more growing space. Alternatively a low brick wall opposite the staging could retain soil in high bed fashion to make more use of that space.
Good luck with the alliums. 8 years without to eradicate the white rot, but there have been positive experiments with garlic powder, which I am sure you are aware of, which might shorten the time. Still need to net them for leaf miners, that new allium pest.

[Galina]

https://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf...c,80383.0.html

Sorry for cross posting, but here the white rot remedy was discussed in some detail. Plenty on allium leaf miner info on the web. Maybe it has not yet arrived in your parts. It is a recent pest and may not be everywhere yet.

[Jang]

That's brilliant and gives me hope. Thank you very much. Perfect to have that info!

[triffid]

Very interesting thread on white rot management, thanks for drawing attention to it. Now if only there was such a strategy for blasted garlic rust.

[Jang]

Thank you both for your comments.

For the main vegetable area, I invested in rabbit-proof fencing down one side and have gone to some trouble to rabbit-proof the rest - concrete lintels under gates etc. Last year I had a lot of trouble. Twice, once in the polytunnel, rabbits dug burrows under beds and produced babies there, however many steps I took to move them on. Hosing them out was the only thing which worked in the end but only after they’d had the babies and the whole thing was rather distressing. The meadow of course is still wide open to rabbits, and roe deer seem to be becoming more common in this area. On the other hand the rabbit and rat populations seem much lower at the moment. 😊

Chickens are in theory fenced out, but do fly in sometimes so I find building cages from aluminium poles and buildaballs is worthwhile, even though quite an investment - but I built up stocks gradually. The covers change according to whether flea beetles, caterpillars, pigeons or chickens are the main threat at any one time. But yes, most stuff gets covered for much or most of its life.

The main vegetable garden is surprisingly sheltered now. I’m noticing it more and more as I come in from other parts of the garden. The winds felt like they came straight from Siberia when I first moved in, and it was totally open. There was little or no hedging in the fens then, so I planted like mad for several years.

Thanks for the suggestions for the greenhouse. There’s staging on both sides so I think shade would be a problem but I haven’t forgotten your method of using grow bag trays for staging which could then be dispensed with as the season progresses. I’ll chew over all these options and of course there’s still the tempting second greenhouse option ....
And actually, thinking again, there’s space at the far end, not wide but perhaps usable in one of the ways you suggest. Hmm ...

[jayb]

What a gorgeous garden and growing space. It looks so peaceful and tranquil.
I love how you have done your long beds and the new ones in the meadow.
I had allium leaf miner problems a few years back, this is the first time I've grown any since. I've got them under cover so fingers crossed.
Thanks for sharing your lovely garden

[Jang]

🙏🙏