Seeds and being good to bees

I wanted to spend last evening getting some more seeds in while I can, especially now that I have two beds dug. I think its wise to plant them and then get on with the rest of the garden. And also after I get home from work, there's not so much time. Later when the days are longer I can do more.

So in the raised beds I planted, purple sprouted broccoli and leeks which are a long term crop. And in the pots and various containers I have planted a bush tomato, Moneymaker tomato, sweet corn and courgettes.

Also as the pic shows I have been good to the bees and planted flowers for them.

This is the result in the various recycled containers, plastic food trays, Coke/Pepsi cans and a Heinz beans tin

Also in other news, my salad is sprouting - that's quick, The Basil I planted the other day is also starting to sprout. Its exciting.

And I sourced some more wood for the raised beds.

Hessian Sack grow bag

I've been away on a few days holiday but that doesn't mean my search for freebie ideas ends there. There are ideas everywhere if we can only look for them and see them. So heres a great idea, initially utilised by african gardeners i believe. Its the humble hessian sack.

What you do is first find your sack. Then fill the centre of it with bricks, then you surround the bricks with earth. The you simply plant the think with whatever you want - genius hey?

I've seen similar ideas using plastic bags, so if I cant find any hessian bags I'll try with plastic.

This particular bag, shown off in last Saturdays Guardian is part of a 'kit' which would cost you about £20!

I bet the african gardeners don't buy kits!

A few photos of my plot

These are the pictures of my back garden. Its not very big but it is majorly overgrown. The earth seems to be full of old masionary and other junk. There are a few flowers that poke their head up and a few years ago we did attempt to put in a few daffodils - but pretty soon after moving in the marriage went haywire and so nothing got done.

Any how my main problems at the moment are:

Clearing the plot of the brambles and what I think is bindweed. The large trees at the end obviously cast a shadow over a large part of the garden - they do it in two ways. The first is they block the sun a bit and secondly under the trees its a bit like scorched earth nothing is growing. If the do kill everything - maybe this is the spot for my compost etc.

Someone has suggested I cut them down. Im not sure that we should be cutting down trees. Obviously if they are dangerous or ill then yes - but these are healthy trees. The birds like them. I think we have some pigeons or magpies nesting in them and generally the canopy is a busy old place. And I like lying in my bed watching them wave genetly in the breeze. So i think the trees will have to stay and just be factored in to my plans.

While Im on the subject I do also want to try to be organic with my garden and try to be friendly to the animals and insects that might live there. I have sent off for Blue Peters Bee friendly flowers - so I'll need to find spaces for them cos the Bees need our help at the moment.

http://www.saveourbees.org.uk/

At the moment all I have is a spade and a fork - well I haven't checked that I still do have them and that they are iin a workable condition, but I know I had them a few years ago. So the clear the brambles is a major problem if I can't borrow a brush cutter, or even a pruning fork or what ever they are called. If I have to buy, I will try to buy secondhand so that I can recycle the tools. But I am away this weekend - so can't go car booting or rummaging around and I am away all of next week on business. I am not a full time gardener remember, Im just a guy at work who will ponly have the evenings and some weekends to do this.

I also need plants. I'm going to staret chatting up my work colleagues to see if I can beg any off them, although even though I have been here 8 years I don't know anyone who has spoken about gardening or has bought stuff into work. So it might be a problem.

But hey ho thats the fun of the game.

My back garden - March 19th 2009

Hello,
So this is my blog about turning my back garden from a weedy, briar infested wasteland to a veggie plot that with give me fresh and healthy vegetables to eat, give away and generally enjoy. I am going to try to do this on a shoestring and as cheaply as possible. I don't want to spend money getting my veggies - I want them to be free just as God intended (obviously if you don't believe in God - and my own choice is Lord Krishna - then I hope to be growing cheap veggies just as if they had been growing on this fine earth since the dinosaurs ruled the planet - this is a non denominational blog after all - despite the early appearance of God - ok that's the theology over and done with lets get back to the rationale)

I am going to utilize all the benefits of web 2.0 to try and achieve this free food experiment utilising websites like freecycle, twitter, facebook, google, eBay and so on to beg borrow or steal seeds equipment, person power and so on. I haven't spent a penny yet but as I spend (if I really have too I will keep a running total. I also will be trying to find stuff in skips, dumps, the side of the road and of course re cycle anything at all to use as containers and other stuff I might need.

Now I'm not a gardener at all. I work in an office all day so the only time I have is my spare time. I've never gardened apart from some flowers and stuff. I've never really grown vegetables at all but every time I switch on the TV some TV celeb is telling me how easy it is to grow my own stuff. (Although I do have a sneaking suspicion that Jamie and Hugh etc have a huge staff of gardeners toiling day in and day out perfecting their veggie gardens and producing their award winning - if appearances are anything to go by - veggies - unless of course they have just bought them from Waitrose!)

At the moment my total resources are:

A spade
A fork (I think I'm not sure got to check)
TV celebrity chef induced guilt
A back garden (photos to follow)
Enthusiasm

A few more facts. I live in Plymouth which is in the South West of England. The garden is South facing and doesn't look like its been used for anything for quite a while. Im 55 years old so the back may take a bit of a pounding and as I mentioned I don't have green fingers. Lets see what happens!