Despite the demolition that is going on in the garden right now I’m still managing to do a little preparation for the coming season. I planted up some onion sets (Red Baron) in small pots. Normally, I’d put them straight into the ground however since I don’t have any beds to put them in right now I’m opting for the pots with a view to transplanting them later.
I’ve learned that there are a couple of tricks to growing successful onions. The first is not to plant them too close together. People will tell you that if you want smaller onions to just plant them closer - which is true - but if you plant them too close then you can’t get your hoe in to weed in between them and the result is a messy onion bed overrun with weeds. Onions hate to compete - they give up the fight and let the weeds take over. They suffer badly.
The other tip is that they like a rich soil with lots of nitrogen. Either grow them in a bed that was previous used for Legumes or apply a nitrogen fertilizer around a month before harvest. This will give them a great boost. Lastly, I would recommend growing them from sets. Seeds are fine if you have the time and you want a particular variety that is not available in sets but if you just want some nice onions then go for sets every time.
Welcome to any new readers who are visiting because you read my article in the Mail on Sunday today. If you’re new to My Tiny Plot you might want to start at the beginning to see how I cleared and created my allotment from scratch. Alternatively, you can use the Tags on the right hand side to drill down to an area you’re interested in, such as recipes or tips and tricks. Or you can use the timeline to see what was going on at mtp in a specific month, such as April 2007.
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Before:
After:
The garden is slowly being cleared ready for the landscapers to start on Feb 14th. As you can see we have lifted the patio and all the brick pathways within the beds. We’ve also taken up all the Bath stone that surrounded the pathways, scraped up all the gravel from the larger pathways and removed the wood that made up the major beds. The frog is in shock.
It’s been a lot of hard work and it’s not done yet since we still have to remove all the tree stumps. A task for which we have bought quite possibly the coolest tool ever - a wrecking bar! Not only does it have a super crazy name but is also about 6 feet in length. It makes you want to hold it in a Karate stance while singing ‘Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting’. And I would - if I could lift the thing! I suspect it might be a boy-only tool. Damn it.
But what’s it for? Well it’s the tool of choice for all discerning stump-removalists (apparently) so with at least 5 very averagely sized stumps to remove what else could we do but kit ourselves out with the best that Travis Perkins could offer? No really, we even bought some steel toe-capped boots and everything! Stumps - your days are numbered.
And… just a quick shout out to Freecycle - the best way to remove heavy stuff from your garden without actually lifting a finger. If you don’t have a group for your city then make one. Since clearing the garden we have advertised the stone slabs, concrete slabs, bricks, Bath stone and the bench. All have been claimed and most have been removed. Freecycle rocks!
A quick update on the plans for the garden. We had a quote from a couple of different landscapers and we decided to go with the nice chap who runs Littlescapes. We were very impressed with his work ethic, friendliness and all round dedication to the job. Plus he insisted on coming over to meet us face to face before he would give us a quote. Which made us feel special!
However, his quote was a little bit over and above what we had budgeted for. His quote was nearer to £10,000 and frankly we needed it to be nearer £6000. We did think about postponing the garden work until we could afford it but the thought of one season without anywhere to grow any veg made me feel sick. Plus we had systematically been burning bits of the garden for the last few months in anticipation of the new garden. We had already passed the point of no return. So we decided to knock a few items off the wishlist to bring the cost down. Henceforth, we will be doing without the following: waterfeature (always the first to go), lighting and electricity, cold frame (ouch), compost bins (again ouch), soil preparation plus plants and planting.
What’s left? I hear you ask. Hmm well… obviously the garden still needs clearing and some old stumps need removing. We’ll be doing that ourselves - well when I say we I actually mean Ryan. He’s already started on that - photographic evidence above. Littlescapes will be taking care of leveling the garden which is no small task, preparing the ground for drainage, laying all the pathways, making all the beds, and pruning and shaping plants and shrubs that are left.
Basically, they are doing the hard landscaping which will leave us a framework to work with. We’ll be doing the soil preparation and planting and Ryan will be building the compost bins (that’s my man). I’m still hoping to squeeze my brick-built coldframe in right at the last minute, but only if we can live on Macaroni Cheese between now and then.
As part of the redesign of my garden I have been busy researching which varieties of fruit trees I should plant. One of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make is which apple varieties to go for. Apple’s are split into pollination groups. A group is made up of those trees that flower at the same time and therefore can transfer pollen to each other. So it’s imperative that you choose two varieties from the same group.
If only it was this simple then everything would be fine. However, some varieties in each group are either self-fertile or are what’s known as Triploid (ie they produce pollen but are unable to pollinate other trees). If you choose a Triploid variety (like Blenheim Orange, Bramley’s Seedling, or Jonagold), you effectively have to ensure that you have three trees in all, the Triploid, its pollinator and another tree to pollinate the pollinator. Complex huh?
Another consideration is how damp your conditions are. Apple trees don’t take kindly to sitting in wet conditions and there are a few varieties that will not tolerate damp and cold, - one of these being the very popular Cox’s Orange Pippin. So you need to avoid those if you live anywhere that’s not very mild.
Yet another consideration is whether the tree is a tip-bearer (bears its fruit on the tips of branches) or a spur-bearer (bears its fruit along the side of each branch). The first is fine for and orchard situation but if you want ornamental trees you need to choose spur-bearers.
One more consideration (stay with me, we’re nearly there) is whether the tree bears fruit yearly or biennially. If you choose two trees that are Biennial then you could be in trouble if they both flower in different years. Add to that the choice of whether you will be growing eating apples or cooking apples and you have one complex decision to make.
So after around 3 weeks of research, finally I have made my decision. I’ll be going for:
- Discovery: A well-flavoured, crisp early apple with a long shelf life. Bears heavy, regular crops. The skin is bright crimson and the blossom is very frost tolerant. Suitable for growing nationwide. Eating apple. Pollination group B.
- Greensleeves: A midseason crisp, green apple. Hardy and reliable with good disease resistance. Crops heavily and is suitable for growing countrywide. Self-fertile. Eating apple. Pollination group B
You might have noticed that Greensleeves is self-fertile. This is okay because Greensleeves will pollinate Discovery but Discovery doesn’t necessarily need to pollinate Greensleeves. This should ensure that Greensleeves will always crop.
I’ve found the RHS Fruit & Vegetable Gardening book invaluable in helping me make my decisions.
Anyone else thinking about buying apple trees? Which varieties did you go for and why?
If you look really closely (possibly with the aid of a magnifying glass) you can just about see that the first signs of life in the garden are showing. The Garlic that I planted back in November is showing its tiny green, pointy head and so are the Tulip bulbs that were planted just afterwards. Yey! I’m so excited about the next growing season.
