After a rather mild wet autumn, you may have noticed that winter has started to show up over much of the country! Days are shorter and the winter solstice is coming up on the 21st of June which is of course the traditional garlic planting day. From now on we will be thinking ahead and preparing the beds for the new season when we rotate around to Year 2. Avoid digging cold wet soils if possible. Your raised border beds will be warmer and less sodden so get a few plants into them for early spring eating. Check out the pre-season preparation on your wall chart to know the conditions your crops will be happy with.
This is the bed we have had our legumes and sweetcorn in this year but will be planting brassicas and leafy green veges (Group2) next. They will appreciate the nitrogen fixed by the beans and peas. There will be a bit of a cross-over if you have sown broad beans for eating in autumn – leave those of course for spring eating. If you sowed broad beans as a green crop then dig them in now. All green crops can be chopped up at about 15cms height and dug into the top layer of your soil. Add lime, manure, blood and bone and leave for a month or so and then you can start planting a few brassicas for spring. If your Bed1 border bed is raised then this should be warmer and well drained and you can get a head start on the season. Pop a few brassica plants in or even some of the winter type lettuces that prefer the cooler weather.
Bed 2, the top right hand bed, will be the new home for the beans and peas of Group 1. At the moment it is the home for your Year 1 winter root crops, and robust soup and stew plants such as celery and leeks. Keep weed free and liquid feed your growing plants. Celery is best home grown if you are a juicer. As a commercial crop it is one of the plants most sprayed and you really want to avoid this in the concentrated from of vegetable juice. For your root crops, lift the last of your beetroot as it won’t like the frost. Store beetroot and carrots in a clamp or in sacks in your cool dry shed. Parsnips and Swedes are nicer to eat if frosted so you can use your ground like a larder – only harvest when you need to. As you harvest root crops prepare the ground for the legumes. If warm enough, try a green crop – maybe oats to add carbon. Otherwise dig in plenty of manure, wood ash, blood and bone and lime. Leave to weather until spring. If you do have a bit of space free, sow a row of broad beans.
Bed 3 is the bottom right hand one in which all the heat loving plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins etc have been growing. It should be empty by now with the frost dealing to any plants still in – pumpkins will sweeten with a bit of frost so don’t worry too much about leaving them out for a bit. Harvest them and store in a cool dry place but keep checking on them for signs of rot. Group 4 is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of cultivation but they pretty much all don’t like fresh manure or too much nitrogen -Which is why they are last on the crop rotation cycle. Your tap rooted veges such as parsnips, carrots etc like really friable well cultivated soil –otherwise they won’t grow straight. So plan where they are to go and dig over well. Potash and potassium is what you are looking for so wood ash, a bit of blood and bone and lime can all go in. If you plant a green crop go for buckwheat, oats or barley which will break up the soil and add carbon. Seaweed will be a great for where you want to plant potatoes or beetroot.
The star of the month will be garlic and shallots. As they will be in the ground for the next 6 months, plant them in the Border Bed 3 where you can keep an eye on them. Prepare the soil as in last month’s blog and plant anytime from now on. They will require plenty of manure as opposed to some of the root crops. Try some onions at the same time.
Bed 4 (the bottom right hand bed) will still have you winter brassicas in and as it will be some time before you need to think about rotating to the heat loving crops for Group 3, then just care for the plants you have now. Keep up the liquid feed to slowly growing brassicas and harvest everything when ready. Welcome winter salads.
Weed, mulch and feed. Asparagus plants may start to show up in the shops this month. It may be a bit early to put them in but they will survive if you heel them into some damp sawdust and wait for the soil to warm up in Spring. Asparagus will love a seaweed mulch. Lime and blood and bone will be good. Rhubarb will be dying down now but love good manure so if you haven’t done so already, give the plants a good weed and then mulch with a good manure and straw based mulch. You can pot up new strawberry plants from the runners or last season’s plants. Weed and feed last years plants and you should get another crop this year.
