Busy in the polytunnel

Well, the weather has been absolutely glorious and rather HOT, so hot that Sam has been wilting and that I have been having great fun cooling off in the stream after a hard days planting. The water is a tad cold - as this picture shows.

It's been hot, hot, hot in the tunnel but the weather is cooling now so it's rather lovely in there (I'm thinking of moving in full time).

Here's the field in it's full buttercup and blossom glory.

We've been - well I've been - very busy in the polytunnel since the last post, making the raised beds and planting. Somehow I thought I'd get it all done in a couple of days - ha!

I'm only just about done now .. and I've been working flat out (sending Sam demented as I haven't been able to help with the house).

Here's the progress.

I started by marking out the raised beds.

Then I got planting!

Here's a sample of what I put in ..

Sweetcorn and lettuce (and beans up top)

Lots of squashes - summer and winter varieties

Brussel sprouts and lettuce

Cauliflower and mizuna (we're already grazing the mizuna).

Tomatoes and peppers - peas at far end.

Sam made me some fab planters for outside the tunnel .. to put some extras that didn't quite fit in (more on that next time). There are beans to climb up the poles and some quinoa.

We also made a mound bed out of extra mushroom compost along the edge of the tunnel, with the idea that it will soften the view of the tunnel from the house. There are peas, squashes, oca and will be some flowers too this week. It is actually quite a breezy spot, so my initial idea of sunflowers may not be ideal.

 

Finally, as if all that isn't enough, we got a neighbour to rotivate the  ground out the back. It was really rough and weedy. It's only just dry enough to work. I'm not a great lawn fan and intend to have raised veggie beds there by next year, but it is handy to have some grass there for now - and for paths between the beds in the future. I'd planned on sowing a wildflower mix BUT would have had to rotivate it in after - so to save time and energy we've gone straight to grass.

I'll make the raised beds in September - the no dig way (cut the grass, cover with cardboard, then rotted manure / compost, then straw, then black plastic). I'll leave it over winter and plant in the spring.