Farcebook

Tag: Beans

  • What a load of farmyard manure this gardening thing is.

    What a load of farmyard manure this gardening thing is.

    It’s only taken half a year, but my greenhouse is now finally ready for things to be planted in it! It has all its windows, won’t blow away and after a trip to Wickes the ground is now suitable for growing plants again.

    Can confirm the manure is real manure, from real cows, it might take a bit to get the smell out the car. The compost is some sort of weird fluffy nonsense full of sticks and a random nail. It’s not very good. I’ve used it to plant some beans and peas so they can germinate out the reaches of hungry pigeons. It’s not even pretending to be shredded wood or the other poorly composted garden waste they normally sell in bags.

    The greenhouse now stinks a bit, so I will leave the manure to rot down a bit more. I’ve dug it into the soil so hopefully the worms and things will get at it too. This is a before photo, I didn’t think to take an after one.

    Here’s the green manure I sowed the other week. It’s rained a lot recently so everything is starting to grow really well.

    There’s a small weed problem over on the bit where I am trying to grow carrots and parsnips. I can’t tell what anything is, and without picking out individual weeds this mess is just going to have to fight it out until nothing is at risk from an unexpected hoe slicing its leaves off.

  • Seed Planting

    Seed Planting

    Last year I farted about trying to start seeds early in pots at home. It never seemed that successful and involved more farting about hardening the plants off to the outdoor elements. So this year I just waited until the weather warmed up enough that they could go straight in the ground.

    There’s more onions, leeks, broad beans, parsnip, carrots and a bunch of sunflowers that I kept standing on. Hopefully they’ll grow and not get eaten by things. Dropping tiny seeds into vast expanses of soil and hoping they grow before the weeds take over always seems quite a risky process.

    Next door’s zoo watched on with interest and enjoyed the free greenery and the odd grub that I found hiding in the soil.

    And in what will become a weekly chore, the grass needed mowing. Was a bit easier this time, almost as if mowers are designed to cut shorter grass.

    Some things I’d forgotten about are still growing. There’s a forgotten about leek or onion and some rhubarb. I moved and split the rhubarb a few years ago and thought I’d killed it. I guess not. Keep going rhubarb, you’ll smother out that grass!

  • Mr Bean

    Mr Bean

    Beans are easy to grow, but if you don’t plant them in the correct place, they can be a bit hard to harvest.

    I did put up a nice bamboo frame, but then got mixed up with what beans I’d sown and by the time I noticed, the runner beans had turned into a creeping mass.

    Still, it out competed the bindweed. Next year, if there’s bare ground, it’s getting a bean plant in it.

  • Weeding and tidying

    Now we’re harvesting the various crops that have been growing, it’s a good time to do some tidying.

    After harvesting all the potatoes, I’ve dug the bed over ready for next year. At some point I’ll throw some fertiliser on it, and let the weather have a go at it too.

    It’s also been a chance to tidy up the piles of plant pots and boxes allotments seem to accumulate.

    And then finally some weeding to help the corn and beans keep growing.

  • Corn! Beans!

    Corn! Beans!

    Now the weather has cooled down a bit and there’s been some rain, the corn has grown pretty quickly.

    The beans have also gone a bit mad. I think next year I’ll remember where I’ve planted them and put up a little frame for them to grow up.