Well I say new year but we are already into March but the new name and the new plans bit is true enough. After a wonderful wedding in December - it really was an amazing day, the best ever in my life and I was so, so happy but I am also so, so happy that I have no wedding to plan in 2009. This year brings freedom at the weekends (although they seem to be filling up quite quickly) which means more attention to the garden all year round - last year the attention dried up throughout the summer into 'wedding season' and 'job hunting. The new name has been an interesting one - people can't spell it or pronounce it which drives me mad after having 32 years of an 'easy' name. Oh well one must for one I love...I suppose hurumph!
As for plans...well they are well underway and we have already managed to spend a fortune on composted manure, shale, plant protection and I slipped in a few seeds. Seeds seem to be most gardeners Achilles heel - there are so many wonderful options and although I declared I was going to have an easy year i.e. pick up ready propagated tomato plants, I have bought several new seeds and am so excited about getting them in the post :)
The veg patch has been well prepared with the composted manure - it was good value at four bags for ten pounds. I know I could have visited a local farm for some cheap fresh stuff but a) I was concerned after all the problems last year with manure damaging or even killing off veggies and b) collection time would have been a few weeks before the wedding and that just wasn't going to happen! So the lovely bagged and ready composted pasteurised manure was spread over the majority of the beds in January and dug in last week - Oh it does look so good and feels so good as well - lovely and loose and just begging to have seeds sown in its lovely soil. I have cleared some of the leeks out last weekend and added manure to that area but when I clear the remaining 3ft x 4ft area I will be leaving that manure-free for the brussels that will be going in there later in the year. Similarly the area with the Swiss Chard will be left free too for the carrots and beetroot although I'm getting conflicting advice about beetroot and their love or dislike for manure...it is pretty well composted so I'm going to risk it after all my beetroot can't be any worse that last year.
2008 was an interesting year for vegetables in Robin the Bobin's garden - french beans were a great success but runners were poor initially although they took off towards the more useful quiet end of summer. I'm still not convinced by dwarf beans so I don't think I'll be growing them again this year although I am expanding the veg patch so perhaps I may grow them near my potatoes. up near the house. Spring onions didn't spring at all, leeks stayed as baby leeks, one lot of brussel sprouts (noisette) didn't sprout and climbing courgettes just dropped off. My traditional winter veggies of kale and perpetual spinach were terrible although the kale is now picking up - I may have to freeze some to save it. Tomatoes were okay in the greenhouse but I'm going to reduce my crop down to two per grow bag as three was just too many and didn't crop enough...although looking through all the blurb it seems that three per bag is perfectly feasible. Who knows what is the right answer there!??
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