On Saturday, I took the piccie below to show the jungle that is Plot 35.
I started by consolidating my compost bins. I had two full ones, though some of the contents could do with a bit more time to rot down, and a wire-bound pile of Autumn leaves. I refilled one of the compost bins with the merged contents and placed it at the bottom of the plot, out of the way. I sat the other one next to it and restarted it with layers of freshly mown grass from home and the leaves. I have since added some kitchen waste and some comfrey (from the huge clump near the shed).
I planted the sweetcorn and Lady Godiva seedlings in Bed 9. I am intent on keeping my sweetcorn safe from The Badger so I put some wire netting around them. I put 3 Lady Godiva squash plants next to the sweetcorn (see piccie below).
Bramble Man came to say hello and we had a look at the globe artichokes. I was very pleased to see that 3 of the plants have little chokes growing in the centre (see piccie below).
Fingers crossed that these continue to develop into a nice big chokes to eat.
On Sunday, I didn't have too much time to spend on the plot but did get an hour in the early afternoon to trim some grass from the paths. I nipped round in the early evening with J and G. I'd bought some new hose attachments earlier in the day but after a little bit of fiddling with the old attachment, G got it working properly again. J helped me with the watering.
Today, I headed over to the plot at about 1330 for about 3 hours. First job was to continue the grass trimming on the paths. Then onto weeding and hoeing. I weeded carefully through the parsnip bed. Most of the stations had little seedlings in them. For those that didn't, I tried transplanting some spare ones from the more crowded stations. I don't think parsnips are known for loving transplantation but they seemed to do ok last year (see piccie below for freshly weeded parsnip bed).
I carried on weeding and hoeing round Beds 1, 2 and 4 before taking a photo of the plot.
I think it looks much better, though there is still room for significant improvement...
3 comments:
Oh my goodness you have choke heads already!
Is that good? I don't know. What, in your experience, is the usual time? I am new at this globe artichoke business. Any advice/guidance gratefully received...
I think its good.
Your much further south than I am and you've also been getting better weather.
In Paris recently I saw artichoke heads the same size of yours, so I am sure it is all good. But I cannot advise for certain, as I have never grown them. I have cardoons on my plot which are similar, but they aren't ever knee high yet.
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