Garden Diary... April

Yeah, well it's a few days late, so what? The pictures were taken in April...

There was a path under here at some point... There are also now two hanging baskets, with nasturtiums and lettuces.

2m (approx) square veg plot. Row and block planting is so boring. And sensible... I don't really recommend random blobs, but one has to try these things sometimes! The upturned yoghurt pots (Yeo Valley) have lettuces and the radishes from the 'experiment' underneath. Yes, I know you can't really transplant radishes, but I didn't want to waste them. And one has to try these things sometimes. The oblong white thing is a fleece structure with lettuces and now spinach underneath. I must get or make a proper little cloche. I've just sowed some chioggia beetroot (stripey Italian ones, very yummy) and sugar-snap peas and sorrel.

It's particularly stiking to compare this view of the garden with these ones.

'The experiment' - I dismantled this after maybe 6 weeks as I wasn't getting the right results.* Generally speaking the plants in the peat seemed to germinate slightly better and the radishes were straighter, but by the time I potted them on/transplanted them the New Horizon and garden compost ones were catching up. The coir was pretty hopeless, but people swear by it so I'll try it again with some vermiculite. It's a bit frustrating as it shows up the catch-22 of peat-free compost: not enough people use it so it's not large-scale enough to be consistent... so not enough people use it.

I'd be interested in other people's thought on composts.

*Irony alert.