Raised beds and slugs

Newly planted blackcurrant in the old chicken yard, Apr 2018

I remember reading a lot about raised beds when I was first learning about gardening.  They seemed to be a panacea for all gardening woes, and I really wanted to build some in my own garden.  Many years later, I have dismantled all of them, keeping only the three brick and mortar ones built by a previous owner.

I think for some climates/situations raised beds probably work just as promised, but here they are just a magnet for slugs and snails.  I had different beds made of wood, brick and stone, and those pesky molluscs would climb in, tuck themselves away in the convenient hiding places I had provided, and wreak destruction every night.  In the last raised bed I took apart, the wooden walls were covered with happy fat slugs on all the inward facing sides. 

Slug pressure is pretty constant here, and I have come to accept that they will eventually find their way anywhere in my garden.  I've even found them in pots on top of my cast iron patio table, and in my window boxes.  Why (and how) they manage to climb such a height is beyond me, but they do.  Rather than provide them with a free B&B in a raised bed, all my vegetables are now grown in deep beds, completely level with the rest of the garden, and with no type of border or wall around them;  at least this deprives the slugs of a convenient hiding place. 

Of the three brick beds remaining, two are in the old chicken yard, which is still recovering from too much chicken for a bit too long.  Pictured above is some newly growing alfalfa, feverfew, a weed or two, and of course one of two new blackcurrants.  The slugs aren't much interested in any of this, but no doubt the population hasn't recovered yet after all those chickens!  I don't plan on putting any annual vegetables here in any case.

November 2017 garden notes

Cauliflowers for next summer with self-watering jug, Nov 2017

Roots

Still beets in the ground, but mostly just leaf, no real root.  None harvested in November.

Been eating plenty of celery throughout the month of November, though it started looking a little sad by the end of the month:  frost maybe?

Winter grazing rye sown earlier was scratched up by escaped chickens.

No sign of garlic and shallot bulbs sprouting yet.

Peas and beans

Pulled out runner beans and hung up the vines in the garage, to finish ripening/drying the pods.

Broad beans planted out at the beginning of the month and starting to sprout by the end.

Brassicas

Brussels sprouts small and purple sprouting broccoli big, but none harvested in November.

Kale and spring cabbages in the ground had some damage by escaped chickens;  cabbages in the cold frame looking big and lush, starting to form heads.  Cauliflower in planters also had some damage, but still growing well in the cold frame.  None of these harvested.

Also a little chicken damage to winter cabbages.  Picked a few outer leaves this month.

Harvested two rutabagas/swedes and two turnips, all small but tasty.  None left worth eating.

Miscellaneous

Harvested the last few tomatillos in November.  Harvested four more pumpkins, with two still left on the vine at the end of the month (they are close to the house and fairly protected from frost).

Leeks growing slowly still.  None harvested.

Picked a small amount of miners and lambs lettuces this month and three heads of forced chicory for a salad.  Trying to force one more crop from the chicory for December.

Potatoes

Ate most of the potatoes in storage, but still a few left at the end of November.  Although we had a good harvest this year (and they made up the bulk of garden veg for this month), I probably won't dedicate a full bed to them next year.

Fruit

Picked a few yellow raspberries this month.  Mulched all soft fruit with used chicken bedding (straw and manure) and/or fallen leaves.

Perennials and herbs

Mulched artichoke, asparagus and rhubarb with chicken bedding.

Still a little growth on chives and thyme this month, but everything else finished/gone dormant.

Greenery in the old chicken yard

Green manure growing in last year's chicken yard, Oct 2017

In May, the last time I updated about the old chicken yard it was full of mustard;  I let the chickens mow it down for me then before it flowered, so it wouldn't cross with my kale.  I had originally seeded this section with a winter green manure mix including mustard, rye, and red clover.  The rye and clover eventually germinated once the mustard finished, and I later sowed some alfalfa (lucerne).

Since that last planned incursion in May, chickens have been strictly forbidden from this section, and the green manure--plus some weeds--have grown strongly and covered most of the bare soil.  I'm pleased about the alfalfa in particular;  as a perennial, I hope they establish well enough to allow periodic chicken grazing, without reverting back to the scorched earth it was.

October 2017 garden notes

A few last runner beans, October 2017

Roots

We finished the last of the carrots in October.  Still a few beets growing but I don't have high hopes for them.  Picked plenty of celery, and lots more to come for November.  Harvested a few spring onions (grown in a pot).  Resowed Roots bed with winter grazing rye seed (green manure), but none sprouted yet.

In 2018's Roots bed (2017's Misc bed), planted out 99 garlic cloves (all own grown garlic), and 35 shallot bulbs (7 from own grown, the rest bought).

Peas and Beans

Harvested a few runner beans in October, but finished them by the end of the month.  Left some growing for seed.  Put broad beans in a plastic bag to sprout, for planting out in early November (will plant out in 2018's Peas and Beans bed, which is 2017's Potatoes bed). 

Brassicas

Brussels sprouts staked up, and growing new leaves and sprouts, after earlier caterpillar damage;  none harvested yet and plants still small.  Purple sprouting broccoli growing very tall and sturdy.

Planted out four kale seedlings, and two looked still alive at the end of the month.  Harvested a very little off two older plants.  Winter cabbages growing strongly, but none formed heads yet.

Transplanted about ten spring cabbages into 2018's Brassicas bed (same as 2018's Peas and Beans), some of which were damaged by marauding chickens, but all still growing.  Transplanted summer cauliflower seedlings into cold frame with the remaining spring cabbages, and a few cauliflowers into planters next to the cold frame.

Gave up pak choi in planter:  slugs.  A few turnips forming roots in October, but none harvested;  same for rutabagas.  Harvested the last two (small) heads of summer cabbage.  Harvested a little bit of self-sown mizuna, and more are growing.

Miscellaneous

Harvested another few handfuls of tomatillos in October.  Plants still standing at the end of the month, with at least one more handful of fruits on them.  Tomatoes finished by the end of the month:  cherry tomatoes finally all succumbed to blight, but not without ripening a few last fruits.

Picked the last two squashes at the end of the month.  One small, one medium;  then pulled up the vines for composting.  Picked one orange-ish pumpkin (actually, the chickens did);  the rest were all still maturing on the vine at the end of the month:  one medium, four small (though the small pumpkins are about the same size or bigger than the medium squash).

Picked the very last of the zuccini at the end of October (four very small fruits), then pulled up the plants.  Picked the remaining sweetcorn ears, and also cleared away the plants.

Leeks still growing (including a couple recently discovered ones), none harvested this month.  Picked a couple radishes, the last of the leaf lettuce, and started on the arugula and miners lettuce.  Still harvesting chard once or twice a week throughout the month.  Only a couple winter lettuces still growing:  slugs AND chickens...

Potatoes

Both remaining beds dug up and stored:  one batch in a paper feed sack in the garage, the other in a plastic tray in the kitchen cupboard.  More bug damage in the potatoes from the main bed than in the shadier bed near the chickens, but a similar amount of scab.  Eating potatoes all throughout the month of October.

Fruit

Picked all the almonds this month (saving them for our Christmas stollen bread).  Picked all three Williams pears at the end of the month to ripen indoors.  Picked one alpine strawberry.  Still have fruit formed on the raspberries, but none ripened yet.

Moved some strawberries and runners to a new bed in the Perennials section.

Perennials and herbs

Artichokes, asparagus, rhubarb, and sorrel still alive, but all dying back except the sorrel.  None harvested.

Rosemary looks dead, but will leave it for now, in the hopes it regrows.  Still harvesting a little thyme, chives, basil and dill in October.  Picked a few leaves of mint and parsley for eating fresh.

Chicken yard remediation update

Chickens amongst the mustard greens

In the old chicken yard the mustard greens matured--nearly flowering--when I let the chickens on it;  I didn't want the plants to flower and cross with my kale (which I want to collect seed from).  I sowed them in Jan/Feb as green manure/cover crops, to help remediate the soil back there, which had been bare for several months thanks to too much chicken pressure.

The patch I grew only covered about a quarter of the old yard--a little bit of the yard is paved, and elsewhere holds some shrubs;  however, there are still some bare spots where my seed broadcasting skills obviously failed.  Actually, I take that statement back;  it's pretty much all bare again, as the chickens demolished that patch of mustard--they loved it!

I planned to let them on it for a week, but took them off after five days as they discovered a weak spot in the fence and escaped multiple times.  The mustard is nothing but a few short stems now;  I don't know if they will regrow, but I'll get out there and sow some more seeds (mustard or something else, not sure) and try to get the whole yard this time.

Green manure

Green manure (mustard), daffodils and hundreds of hedge garlic seedlings (weeds)

In November (I think), I broadcast seeds from a winter green manure mix in the perennial/ornamental section of the garden.  I know for certain it had mustard and winter grazing rye, although I think there may be one or two more other kinds of seed too.  As far as I can tell, only the mustard germinated at that time, and has been growing slowly over winter. 

I'm actually pretty impressed by the mustard's tenacity;  it's continued to grow and is now looking pretty lush, although I would have liked for it to cover more ground than it does--which is possibly a result of my broadcasting skills.  To make up for it, there is now a blanketing of hedge garlic seedlings everywhere else in the bed.  I don't mind this, to tell the truth.  It's a weed, yes, but as I don't have anything else to grow there, I'd rather the soil was covered by it than by more pernicious weed (such as blackberry brambles or creeping buttercup).  Plus the chickens eat it, and it's even edible for us humans.

Mustard and rye seedlings

Back in last year's chicken yard, the mustard and rye seedlings and up and growing.  I put them down in late January, I believe.  I'll probably get the spring green manure mix out there too, to fill in any gaps;  I've got both alfalfa and crimson clover.  I prefer the alfalfa as a perennial chicken food source, but I sure do love those pretty crimson clover flowers--the bees and other pollinators love them too.

At this point, I don't have concrete plans for the old chicken yard, but I know chickens will be on it again in the future, so some perennials (either ornamental or food producing) are in order--preferrably shade tolerant.  Green manure now will help keep the weeds at bay and prepare the soil for future plantings;  chickens can eat it when it matures, too.