Getting the beds ready

I spent the morning working on the rug, and the afternoon in the garden. All the snow has gone, melted overnight. I am the only one in the street with any snow left, that's because I piled it high on the front lawn and stacked it up on the side of the house. It will take a few more hours for that to melt.

Welcome to my compost heap. It is behind the garage, and next to the greenhouse. I haven't got a fancy container for it, just some bits of wood along the back and one side, to stop it spilling everywhere. In the left hand corner is where I have been putting the grass cuttings, I'm starting to dig them out now and spread it on the beds. It's well rotted and full of worms. When I have removed all that I shall move the top of the other pile which is rotting veg peels, across to the left, then spread the underneath bit on the beds, to clear the right hand side out altogether, ready to start again with a fresh pile. I cover the compost heap with plastic to stop the cats piddling and pooing on it.  

My job this afternoon is to check the raised beds, and repair any wood which is starting to rot. These I built from pallets about five years ago, they have served me well. Easy to make, cut two pallets in half and stand the pieces on end in a square, and nail small pieces of wood across the corners to hold them together.

If there are gaps in the wood you have to fill them with any old wood, so the compost wont fall out. I had to replace a bit of wood here as it was rotting.

If you put three in a row like I have done here, you only need two pallets for each end and one for the middle. You need some flat pieces of wood to line each end of the middle bed. These beds are ready for planting. I have covered them in old compost bags cut open, then laid some plastic trellis over them, and put some heavy wood on top to stop it blowing away. The cats can't get on and use it for a litter box.

Job done. Four more pallet beds to sort out, and two beds I made with scaffolding planks. I shall be growing some veg this year, but I will keep it simple. I don't do brassicas any more, too much faffing about trying to keep the butterflies off them. I will be growing the usual tried and tested basics, runner beans, potatoes, courgettes, carrots, maybe some broad beans, nothing that will need a lot of attention.  

This area at the bottom of the garden is the veg plot. It doesn't have to look pretty, it's a place of work. I planted the leylandi hedge across to screen it from the rest of the garden. It's quite secluded really, and quite pleasant to potter around in here. The ground is a bit sodden at the moment, we had a lot of rain in the night, I'm traipsing through mud. Time to go in for my dinner. Toodle pip.