{"id":386,"date":"2011-04-08T21:14:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T20:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gsu.eventmedialabs.com\/?p=386"},"modified":"2015-07-21T00:56:03","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T23:56:03","slug":"whats-growing-in-the-sewelly-garden-in-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/whats-growing-in-the-sewelly-garden-in-april\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s growing in the Sewelly vegetable garden in April?"},"content":{"rendered":"
It’s been a while since I updated the blog on the goings on\u00a0in our own\u00a0veggie garden so on one of the warmest days so far this year (today\u00a0it reached\u00a035oC in the polytunnel) I took a few snaps. There’s\u00a0not much happening above ground at the moment but hopefully lots going on below.<\/p>\n
This bed is now full of\u00a0early potatoes\u00a0(Orla variety) that were chitted and planted on the 27th March.<\/p>\n
This particular\u00a02.5kg bag were certified organic (bought from Highbank Farm Shop in County Kilkenny<\/a>)\u00a0and\u00a0has filled this bed.<\/p>\n A\u00a0slightly larger\u00a0bed has been prepared ready for the main crops that will be going in within the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n (For more info on potatoes see here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n <\/a> They’re coming along well now and the main task over the coming weeks in this bed\u00a0will be to keep the\u00a0weeds away as they’ll be competing for space.<\/p>\n You might notice the stones here…. it doesn’t matter how often I pick them up, they keep coming back!<\/p>\n <\/a> This is the rest of the old\u00a0strawberry bed that we’re chipping away at.\u00a0 Our neighbours cattle reached over and ate half of it last year (even cheekier!) but as this bed has now been in production for a full three years we’ll be collecting the strawberry runners ready to move to a new location and composting the old plants.<\/p>\n See here <\/a>for a post on looking after strawberry beds.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n This is the ‘best’ strawberry bed that didn’t need too much work to help it along this spring.\u00a0 We just removed all the\u00a0dead or rotten foliage, trimmed off any old runners and generally tidied up.<\/p>\n Hopefully we can look forward to another lovely crop of Cambridge strawberries this summer.<\/p>\n We’ll net them once the flowers start to form to protect them from birds and give them a seaweed\u00a0feed too.<\/p>\n This is the new shallot and onion bed that we planted sets into on 16th March.<\/p>\n We sowed Red Sun and Sturron but have half a bed empty so buying some more sets is on my to do list. You might have noticed that there’s not a lot of difference in growth between these and the overwintering ones. We’ll be harvesting both beds at about the same time.<\/p>\n One thing we’ve learnt from previous years is that we eat lots of onions!<\/p>\n The curly kale is starting to go to seed now so we’re letting it go and will save the seeds.<\/p>\n We’ve been harvesting the leaves from these plants since August and they’re\u00a0one of our favourite overwintering\u00a0plants.<\/p>\n They’re a very hardy crop and easy to grow and manage.<\/p>\n See here <\/a>for more tips on growing this fab leafy veg.<\/p>\n Mr G planted a few fast growing\u00a0radishes alongside the slow growing parsnips on the 22nd March and it’s a race against the slugs.<\/p>\n I’ll be heading out with my torch over the next few evenings to see if I can catch a few of the little\u00a0blighters!<\/p>\n <\/a> Sown last April or May it’s only just starting to produce now.<\/p>\n However, it longevity is\u00a0helping me\u00a0out as I’ve earmarked the space it’s\u00a0growing in for a carrot crop later in the year –\u00a0so as these plants are looking too good to compost I’m happy to leave them there and\u00a0they’ll prevent me from planting\u00a0up the space too soon!<\/p>\n <\/a> The mangetout\u00a0planted directly on 25th February has been a bit patchy germinating. That shouldn’t be a problem though as I’ve planting a few more seeds this week\u00a0giving us\u00a0a successional crop.<\/p>\n <\/a>
\nThe next\u00a0bed contains the overwintering onions and garlic that I wrote about here.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMr G was outside weeding the rhubarb and old strawberry bed yesterday.\u00a0 Now it’s clearer we can add some well rotted manure, giving the rhubarb\u00a0a bit of a well needed feed.<\/p>\n
\nThe leaves of the rhubarb are being nibbled at by\u00a0fluorescent green beetles that are\u00a0also using them as a mating ground (cheeky devils).<\/div>\n
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\nI’m coming to the conclusion that purple sprouting broccoli is for the patient gardener.<\/p>\n
\nInside the polytunnel\u00a0seedlings are starting to appear. I took a chance planting early inside this year but I’m always experimenting to see just how early we can get away with planting in there.<\/p>\n
\nThe lettuce has all germinated and I planted some more this week.<\/p>\n