Make your bed (but you don't have to lie in it)

The evenings are starting to draw in. I really love this time of the year, a time for contemplating what was good in the garden this year, what didn’t work and what you would like to do next year.  The seed catalogues will be coming out soon and we can sit by the heat of a crackling fire choosing the varieties of flowers, herbs and vegetables we would like to grow next season.

There is still much to do in the garden.  This week I have been tidying up the vegetable garden and making space for my autumn sown onion sets and garlic, I like to have them all in by the end of this month, but you can still plant garlic depending on variety up to the end of February.

I am basically very lazy, so like to make my life as easy as possible. I don’t enjoy weeding so there are methods I use to keep weeds to an absolute minimum in the garden, it may seem like a bit of work in the beginning, but it really does pay off in the long run.  I have my vegetable garden put down to beds, so it makes life a lot simpler.

I start by clearing the area of any weeds. There aren’t usually many so it doesn’t take long do this part. If the soil is a bit compacted, I stick the fork in and just loosen the soil, I don’t dig it or turn it.  Two or three wheelbarrows of my home made compost are then applied and spread out on the surface. 

Next get some newspapers or paper feed sacks (cut off the ends and flatten them out), you will need to dunk them in the water butt for about 30 seconds, this helps to stop them blowing away and makes it easier to dib through.  Put a layer of newspaper (2 sheets thick) or a single sheet of feed sack down until the area is neatly covered, then cover the paper with a layer of  either grass mowings, spoiled hay or silage or a bit more compost, it just keeps the paper in place so it doesn’t need to be too thick.

You are now ready to plant through the ‘mulch’ you have created.  Using a dibber or stick, you can make planting holes through the damp paper.  Autumn sown onions are very useful, they can be pulled next year when they have bulked up a bit and used in cooking or you could leave them to mature and they will be ready a good six or eight weeks before the main crop ones.  You can find onion sets in the shops now; look out for Radar, senshyu yellow and electric red. 

When planting onion sets, they only need to be put in a very shallow hole, you need to plant them with the blunt end downward otherwise they will grow upside down.  The correct depth is that you should be able to see the pointed top sticking out of the ground.  You may need to cover them with a net or fleece if you find birds are pulling them out, I have to cover everything up as the rooks destroy whatever I put in the ground.  Plant 3-4 inches (7-10cm) apart in all directions, when using beds there is no need to plant in rows so use equidistant spacing.

You can buy garlic now for planting.  Separate the bulb into cloves and plant them nice and deep, I try and put mine in at least 3-4” (7-10cm) deep again, I use equidistant spacing of 4 inches (10cm) in all directions.

Autumn leaves are falling and are a great resource for the garden.  Bang four posts into the ground and put wire round to make a container or you could collect them and put into the big bags you get stone and other aggregate delivered in.  If you can break the leaves up a bit all the better, pick them up with the lawn mower or get the children to jump around on them, this helps to make more edges for fungi to get going on.  Do not be tempted to put autumn leaves into the compost bin as they will not break down in this environment, compost is broken down by bacteria and dead leaves by the action of wet and fungi.  It is worth knowing that burning autumn leaves is very toxic to human health and can be tens of times more carcinogenic (cancer causing) than smoking.  When the leaves have broken down, they are a great addition to potting compost and a good source of humus for the soil.

You can contact me, Nelly Dean on cottagegardenerdromahair@gmail.com if you have any tips questions or comments