I planted up one of my the two (small) raised beds at the end of my garden last weekend and it's now all ready for the winter. I doesn't look much at the moment, but I'm very proud: last year the soil was so bad that I couldn't put anything in in time before the cold! But some months and buckets of compost later... This winter I'm experimenting with: overwintering onions (I bought sets), peas and broad beans (sowed directly in the ground for the first time!), and the piece de resistance: a patch of green manure! I went for Italian Ryegrass in the end, after much deciding among my brand new 4 packets of seed... And I even remembered to put some fleece in my newly sowed bed BEFORE the forecast cold last night. I feel like a proper gardener! These are my green manure seeds: (you can tell I'm proud :-)
Estas semillas las compre para plantar durante el invierno y hacer compost en primavera. Son plantas "especiales" que almacenan nutrientes, y en primavera las entierras y asi devuelven los nutrientes al suelo - y el suelo tampoco se empobrece y erosiona durante las lluvias del invierno. Yo compre cuatro: un tipo de habas, un trebol, un tipo de brasicacea (como una lechuga) y una hierba que en fotos parece un cereal. Esta, Italian Ryegrass en ingles, es la que plante el fin de semana pasado en una esquina de mi huerta. Tengo dos jardineras dedicadas a huerta, y una de ellas la sembre y prepare para el invierno durante el fin de semana. He sembrado: el cereal este para enriquecer el suelo en primavera, guisantes, unas habas (para comer en primavera) y unas cebollas.
The onion sets are supposed to be easier to grow than onions planted from seed (I guess it's like growing flowers from bulbs), and I really hope they fare better than my sowing of spring onions last month - which got decimated by the slugs and snails. I am hoping that by the time these onions sprout leaves it'lls be too cold the s & s! I don't have much space so I find these sets very convenient: mine are occupying the space recently vacated by some tomatoes, and by the time the onions are ripe in May (or so they promise on the label!) they'll leave the space for some more summer crops. Neat, but this is only going to be the first year I'm organised enough to do this properly so I keep my fingers cross it all goes according to plan!
Estas semillas las compre para plantar durante el invierno y hacer compost en primavera. Son plantas "especiales" que almacenan nutrientes, y en primavera las entierras y asi devuelven los nutrientes al suelo - y el suelo tampoco se empobrece y erosiona durante las lluvias del invierno. Yo compre cuatro: un tipo de habas, un trebol, un tipo de brasicacea (como una lechuga) y una hierba que en fotos parece un cereal. Esta, Italian Ryegrass en ingles, es la que plante el fin de semana pasado en una esquina de mi huerta. Tengo dos jardineras dedicadas a huerta, y una de ellas la sembre y prepare para el invierno durante el fin de semana. He sembrado: el cereal este para enriquecer el suelo en primavera, guisantes, unas habas (para comer en primavera) y unas cebollas.
The onion sets are supposed to be easier to grow than onions planted from seed (I guess it's like growing flowers from bulbs), and I really hope they fare better than my sowing of spring onions last month - which got decimated by the slugs and snails. I am hoping that by the time these onions sprout leaves it'lls be too cold the s & s! I don't have much space so I find these sets very convenient: mine are occupying the space recently vacated by some tomatoes, and by the time the onions are ripe in May (or so they promise on the label!) they'll leave the space for some more summer crops. Neat, but this is only going to be the first year I'm organised enough to do this properly so I keep my fingers cross it all goes according to plan!
La “semilla” de las cebollas viene en forma de mini-cebolla que plantas directamente en el suelo; en teoria es mas facil criarlas asi que de semilla (lo mismo que plantar bulbos para flores). Para mi, la mayor ventaja es que los bulbos los puedo plantar ahora que me ha quedado espacio libre despues de las plantas del verano (las cebollas han ido donde antes estaban unos tomates). Estas cebollas deberian de madurar hacia mayo, justo a tiempo de dejar el sitio a otra cosecha veraniega. Con suerte cuando empiecen a dar hojas ya sera demasiado frio para los caracoles y babosas, que asolaron mi plantacion de cebolletas (de semilla) el mes pasado.
You are a proper gardener Raquel. I am so impressed I have packeds of green manure including Rye Grass which have not made it on to the vegetable plot. Neither are my broad beans planted. You shame me.
ReplyDeleteVeronica
Thanks! It's all in the scale... my Rye Grass "patch" is really miniscule (I'd say about the size of an A3 sheet of paper), and likewise the beans (except they have an even smaller area). You can still sow the grass, mine says on the packet you can sow it during October. And broad beans can go in in November too. I can help the weekend after next (when we "invade") your house, if you want :-)
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