Finished raised beds

The raised beds where I plan to grow (mostly) vegetables are finally ready! ¡Por fin terminamos las jardineras donde voy a poner la huerta!

The topsoil got delivered in this big bag. We carried it all to the garden at the back of the house in buckets between the two of us, and it only took a few hours. 

La tierra nos la dejaron asi delante de casa, y entre los dos la transportamos en calderos al jardin (sarna con gusto no pica).

These are the beds with anti weed mat, ready for the buckets of soil. Las jardineras con membrana anti-raices, esperando la tierra.

And this is how they look now. It's still work in progress (it's always work in progress, you never finish gardening) bit looking a lot more finished now. I had trays of little plants I sowed 4 weeks ago, with which I've filled the beds on the right: three types of lettuce, spinach, rocket, parsley, sowed spring onions, and some flowers: calendula, cornflower and sunflowers. With green netting because there are lots of pigeons around, and local cats in search of a toilet.

To the left I've got two cane structures for peas and French beans. In the middle I've got two trays where I keep pots of stuff I'm propagating. Still to fill are two black planters (in the middle) and the bed in the front left. Still to plant are the courgettes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots and parsnips.

We won't be self-sufficient (maybe lettuce, but nothing else) but I'm having fun and we'll get a few special meals out of it.

De momento he plantado: a la derecha, lechugas de tres tipos, espinacas, perejil, rucula, cebolletas, y flores: girasoles, centaurea y calendula. Las sembre en el invernadero hace cuatro semanas y ahora ya estaban listas para el transplante. Les he puesto red encima para que no me las piquen los pajaros, ni vayan los gatos del vecindario a usarlo de retrete.

Atras a la izquierda tengo dos conos de cañas, uno con guisantes y otro con judias. En el medio tengo plantitas creciendo en macetas para transplantar mas adelante. Aun me queda por llenar las dos macetas negras grandes del medio y la jardinera de la izquierda delante. Y por plantar me quedan: calabacines, pepinos, zanahorias, chirivias y rabanitos.

La produccion sera pequeña porque el sitio es limitado, pero por lo menos ¡para un par de comidas especiales so que dara!

The 2014 tomatoes are out

I planted my tomato plants this week. And because it's still quite chilly at night and could even frost (which kills the plants) I've protected them with these screens improvised with plastic bags. My greenhouse is too small for anything bigger than seedlings and these plants were all squashed there. 

I bought them from my new local garden centre last weekend, and I was very pleased to see they had a big choice (at least 9 varieties of tomato that I could see!). I'm not bothering with growing tomatoes from seed anymore: I only need a few plants, and I'd rather buy one of each variety, for less than a packet of seed, than end up with too many of the same type. This year I'm growing: yellow, plum, big boy, sweet cherry and gardeners delight tomatoes.

Mis plantas de tomates ya estan fuera. Aqui aun puede helar por las noches, asi que los he protegido con estos plasticos por un par de semanas mas. Los compre en mi nuevo vivero/garden centre, que por suerte tenia gran variedad. En otras cosas ahorras dinero sembrando directamente, pero con tomates yo creo que no compensa. Solo necesito unas pocas plantas y prefiero comprar distintas variedades - un paquete de semillas cuesta mas.

In the smaller pots I'm going to plant marigolds and basil (currently in a seed tray in the greenhouse). En las macetas pequeñas voy a poner tagetes y albahaca, que tengo en el invernadero en semillero.

Raised beds ready for topsoil

Today is a very special day, for we finished building the raised beds! All the woodwork is done, the only things left to do now are: lay down the rest of the weed membrane, buy topsoil to fill them in, and plant them up!

La huerta ya esta casi lista! Hoy acabamos de constrir las paredes divisorias entre las cuatro paneles en las esquinas, que es donde va a ir la tierra. Me falta por acabar de poner la membrana anti raices de los arboles, comprar tierra para rellenar, y plantar!

The narrower strip in the middle is going to be the access path. The purple tray with plastic on top is my improvised cloche, with my lettuce seedlings underneath.

La bandeja morada tiene mi semillero de lechugas, cubiertas con plastico de momento porque aun hace frio por la noche. Esa parte central va a ser el camino de acceso.

Week three progress: greenhouse and flower beds

Between last weekend and this one I have got as far as this:

New plastic greenhouse. Some seedlings from last weekend have already sprouted! Others I started indoors two weeks ago and I've now moved outside to the greenhouse. 

Mini invernadero de plastico. Algunas de las semillas de la semana pasada ya han germinado! Otras las empece en la cocina y las he pasado afuera al invernadero.

I planted a lavender hedge in my Mediterranean/herbs bed- they came as little green plugs from the shop, you can just about see them in the gravel line.

Las bolitas verdes en la linea de gravilla son mis plantas de lavanda. Cuando crezcan haran un seto pequeño delante de las plantas aromaticas.

And I continued down the garden (it's in a slope). I started the next bit with some plants I had already: the lilac on the left and the philadelphus (the green bush in the middle). The yellow plant is cytisus 'all gold', a fragrant broom, I love it. In the middle I'll sow something for the sumner, but I'm still not sure what it'll be.

Y empece con el siguiente trozo de jardin. El lilo de la izquierda ya lo tenia, la planta amarilla de la derecha es nueva y me encanta: es una xesta de olor!

All the boards are up in the future vegetable raised beds . The bits of broken paving were holding down a weed mat under the decking, I plan to recycle them in a new path to the entry to the new "allotment area".

Ya levantamos todas las maderas en lo que sera la huerta. Los cachos de baldosas estaban debajo, los voy a reciclar haciendo un nuevo camino a la entrada de la zona de huerta.

First week progress

I've done all this in one week and without buying any plants or seeds (I'm quite proud of that). Todo esto y todavia no he comprado ni una planta ni semillas!

I started sowing seeds last Sunday, and by Wednesday the ones in the kitchen window sill had starting sprouting already! It really is very sunny and looks perfect for seedlings (so far). I sowed some more outside but those aren't as speedy. I sowed: marigolds, cornflower, lettuce, chard, basil, cauliflower, rocket, spring onions, leeks, cosmos and purple peas.

Las primeras semillas en la ventana de cocina empezaron a germinar en tres dias! Las que sembre fuera van mas lentas. Sembre: targetes, centaurea, lechuga, acelgas, albahaca, coliflor, rucula, cebolletas, puerros, cosmos y guisantes morados.

By the front door I had a tree that I think is a climbing hydrangea. It's a bit shady (north/east facing) and I've turned it into a spring garden, with things that flower when it's too cold to go out in the garden to enjoy them, because I will still walk past them every day after work! I'm particularly fond of the viburnum (foreground of the picture), it smells amazing and now I will enjoy it fully every year.

Junto a la puerta de entrada he puesto plantas que florecen a finales de invierno o primavera, porque aunque haga demasiado frio para salir al jardin siempre pasare por aqui todos los dias. El arbol mas grande ya estaba en el jardin, el resto (incluyendo el viburnum delante) los tenia en macetas del jardin anterior.

This spiky plant and jasmine were already in the ground but in the wrong place. Now I'm making a mini bed between our patio and the neighbour's. 

Un jazmin y la planta que parece una fuente ya estaban, pero las trasplante a esta mini jardinera que estoy construyendo entre nuestra terraza y la valla del vecino.

The magnolia was already there, and I'm making a semicircular bed with stuff I had that like part shade: rosemary, hosta, honesty, phlox, sweet williams, astilbe, a white lilac bush at the back.

Los antiguos dueños nos dejaron el magnolio, y a su alrededor estoy plantando un semicirculo con plantas que ya tenia: y que les gusta esta zona de semisombra Romero, hosta, phlox, lunarias, astilbe, clavelinas, y al fondo un lilo blanco.

I'm digging this corner, which was riddled with weeds. It's very sunny so I'm planning to plant Mediterranean/South African style plants.

Esta zona estaba llena de malas hierbas. Cuando terming de preparar el suelo, pienso poner plantas del mediterraneo / Sudafrica, porque es una de las zones con mas sol del jardin.

The decking platform at the back of the garden is hopeful going to be turned into raised beds for our veg. If it works out we will only need to buy the soil and we can recycle all the wood!

La plataforma de madera, si todo sale bien, la vamos a convertir en jardineras para huerta.

First stage of the move done

Last Friday we moved the furniture and plants into the new house, and we are hoping to exchange contracts and complete the sale this coming Friday. I left all of my pots in a cluster, with the small ones in the middle - the guys selling  us the house still live there and have two big dogs, so hopefully this will stop them from attacking the smaller pots!

The house is equally barricaded with boxes and furniture piled up in two rooms. It is an unusual arrangement, but it's only a few days left!

We are moving!!

We are swapping London for Bedfordshire in less than a week, very exciting! The new garden is south facing (and much bigger), and I'm already daydreaming about what I'm going to do with it... In the meantime, here are my plants, all ready and waiting for the removals van. 

Luckily I've kept them in pots from the last move, less than two years ago. I'm leaving a few behind, but there's a good reason for that and they're not irreplaceable. 

My dicentra spectabilis alba (white bleeding heart) I put in the one and only strip of soil in my patio garden. It is still underground and I can't find it, so I can't transplant it. And my lovely blue clematis, which is about to flower, is in a pot that is way too big to move, and would suffer too much from a transplant. So I'm leaving it for the new tenants, and hopefully they'll enjoy it!

The rest are coming with me. I've moved some from heavy glazed pots to plastic ones, easier to carry, and I gave some of them a prune. I think they are looking quite good, I hope they will not suffer much from the move and will enjoy the new garden. I can't wait!