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May

Raised beds- Part 3 ... and lots of squash

Kirsten

• 2 min read
Raised beds- Part 3 ... and lots of squash
The boot full of plants ready for their new homes.

Ok. First things first a vole update. I checked over the nest box area, there were no signs of disturbance. Nudging the box did no encourage any squeaks so I set about dismantling the 'votel'. There were no voles (alive or dead) and there were no signs such as droppings suggesting that the box had continued to be used as a nest. Looks like mumma vole evacuated her offspring as soon as I was out of the way.

Time at the plot: 14:30 - 17:00 - 2.5 hours
Spend: £43:14

Today was busy, and one of those days when it is important to take a step back and look at what has been achieved and ignore the fact that there is still a lot left to do.

Things I have learnt:
- Don't tale nets of the peas, pigeons devour them
- It has become clear that the strawberries were not successful. I did not feed them, and perhaps they were not watered enough at the beginning.

This is what happens when you take the nets off the peas. On the left reasonably happy plants, on the right the aftermath of a pigeon feast.

My plot neighbour has also be learning stuff. She has found out that on our site overwintered broad beans do better than ones planted in the spring. The overwintered ones seem sturdier and hold up better to the pests. The new tender spring plants don't deal with the black fly anywhere near as well.

My sister-in-law has been super helpful and has been tending for several plant babies in her greenhouse. Today I collected them and in my new beds I planted chilli, tomatoes, runner beans, basil and sweetness. I made a whole bed left for salad.

Setting up the raised beds.
The salad patch, various mixed leaves.

I prepared a patch for my squashes, planting three kinds in the patch that has the sunflowers and the devoured peas. They might be a bit close together, but I am not sure. To make the squash patch and ensure that the squashes can stay well watered I planted the squashes so that they were surrounded by a moat, and then mulched each plant with straw. Before I went home I gave them a really good soak.

Squash patch, 3 different kinds of squash in the in the patch with the sunflowers and sweetcorn.

Things I still need to do:
- Plant brassicas, beans and parsnips
- Plant flowers
- Work out how to protect the brassicas
- Plant more peas

I spent some money on plants from Rocket Gardens. I purchased sprouting broccoli, yellow courgette, sorel, some different strawberries and some companion plants.