JANUARY 2023
A quiet time for planning and muck spreading
Januarys entry will be so brief as nothing really happens in the garden and nothing really should. It is hard work during the peak season so like the plants it is time to rest and hibernate, recover from the previous year and plan for the year ahead.
One job that we did do in the garden was to mulch all of the empty beds with cow manure from @redrubykate. Kate is a local farmer who breeds Red Ruby Devon cattle (soon to appear on a menu at Chapters) we got in touch with her to see if she fancied a trade off - I am not sure who go the better deal but I have managed to cover all the beds and the polytunnel and still have a pile of left to use later in the year. Kate is going to enjoy a meal at the restaurant - so everyone is happy.
Seed potatoes have been bought and are chitting in the house, seeds have been checked, organised & new seeds ordered plus the sowing plan has been written. It is tempting to get started as soon as you get into the new year but there really isn’t any point. You end up taking up so much space in the house with seedlings that grow leggy and end up being wasted.
I did buy Charles Dowding’s new book last year and spent quite a bit of time this month ready and making notes. 100% recommend this for anyone new to gardening or to the no dig approach, it is written in such a clear way and has a really sensible layout for sowing/harvesting for lots of different plants.
