Most of the soil has gone into the other 4 big raised beds - you can see that the ones in the photo above are pretty full now. I have put the remainder of the soil into a number of big pots:-
Most of these will be used for growing potatoes, so as I filled them I added a handful of "Growmore" general-purpose fertiliser into each one in preparation. I'm not adding any pelleted chicken manure this time (which I usually do, for potatoes), because I think the soil from the raised beds will have enough nitrogen in it already. I'm quite pleased with that soil, actually. I have been enriching it with compost year on year for the past 15+ years (I can't remember when I first made the beds!), and it is now lovely and dark, rich and crumbly.
The next phase of the project is to cover the empty space with shingle. What this means is that I will soon be able to get rid of the unsightly blue nylon builders' bag that has been lurking in my garden for the last two years! When it arrived it contained 1000kg of shingle. Even now, when it is about 75% used up, it is too heavy for me to shift, so I have to transport the shingle a little at a time, which is very time-consuming (and hard work).
Still, we're getting there, and the garden is beginning to look a little bit less like a tip.
Mark, is what you call 'shingle' what we in the US we call 'gravel'? I enlarged your photo & it sure looks like it. No wonder you cannot drag it around. I love your garden with all the wonderful things you so lovingly grow. Wish mine were even a third as nice as yours. Looking forward to watching your garden grow. Sandy
ReplyDeleteYou have been busy. It's exciting to have a change. I call it gravel too
ReplyDeleteJust for info: Shingle has larger-diameter stones (approx. 25mm) than gravel (usually about 10mm), and is usually water-washed - e.g. pebbles from a beach or from a river-bed. Gravel is often "sharp", i.e. not smooth!
ReplyDeleteYou've taught me something as I have called it all gravel - so I now have shingke in my pebble beds!
DeleteWell, it might be what they call "pea-shingle", which seems to be very small gauge (like gravel), but round at the edges like shingle from a beach..?
DeleteI can't wait to see it all done! Hurry up. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think shingle is often referred to as wooden roof tiles, probably more American, and small pebbles rounded by the sea in England. So for any blind readers who are a little confused from the USA or elsewhere gravel is a good description :)
ReplyDeleteIt's looking really good. And yes, we too have builders bags all over the place, too heavy to lift and needing emptying bit by bit :-)
ReplyDelete