Run it up the Beanpole and see who salutes it.

My two little projects are coming on well. The front garden project is mainly flourishing, as you can see the Borlotti beans have finally got the bit between their teeth and raced up the beanpole. In fact 2 delicate shoots are wobbling precariously several inches above the beanframe, clinging to each other like acrophobic maidens. The Butternut squash is thundering along too in a heavy weight kind of way, however, the petit pois seem have given up the ghost and fainted clean away.

The Grand Radish Project goes from strength to strength, not only are the plants loving it, I am too. Thinning out, watering and generally keeping an eye on what's going on with them is so much easier at a higher level.

My Aunty Carol is a fan of Starbucks and has been collecting their 'grounds for your garden' for me. These are the used coffee grounds which they bag up and give away for free. I've done a little research and, apparently, coffee grounds are best used as a 'side dressing' (for the plants, not your salad) which means they are heaped on the ground about 2" away from the plants. So that's what I've spent this afternoon doing, carefully piling the coffee grounds around the base of any veggies with a reasonable amount of space around them. I'll report back on how effective it is.

I've also got my eye on the local Rowan berries as I'm going to try my hand at Rowan jelly for the first time this year. The berries look ripe although it's a bit early, in fact Richard Mabey's book recommends harvesting in October! I would prefer to wait a little longer til the apples are ripe as I need those for the jelly too, although I wonder how many berries will be left in a month's time given how greedy my arch nemesis, those pesky local sparrows, are.

Radish Project Update

I can't believe how quickly the radishes are springing up! I can almost watch them growing. I thinned them out last night which was far easier at waist/shoulder height in the guttering than in the ground. The slight disadvantage of the guttering is that the small amount of soil seems to dry out quickly, especially in this warm weather, so they need a close eye and frequent watering. Oh yes, the other disadvantage is next door's conservatory window which is about a metre behind the fence and is now covered in water marks where spray from the hose has drifted over. Oops. I'm now using the watering can.

Courgettes? What Courgettes?

Yesterday I realised the major flaw in my Grand Radish Project. The guttering is positioned very conveniently at beak height for any chicken who chooses to perch on the gate nearby. I've hurriedly nailed up an old plant tray and some windmills by the top of the gate in the hope of discouraging the chooks from perching on top of it. The appearance of my garden once again lurches wildly into 'eccentric'.

Also pictured is my new 'Bens bed', created in the patch previously inhabited by the diseased courgettes. Rachel's courgette is in view in the distance looking chipper in it's blue pot. The borlotti and french beans are leaping skyward and I've sprinkled radish seeds between them as a catch crop. So thankfully it looks like I'm not going to have a huge wasted space in the garden after all.

Now, my next problem is the butternut squash, it's burgeoning fast in this weather so I need to give some thought to what to do with it before it reaches out into the road and starts lassoing passing traffic.

The Grand Radish Project of 2009 is Go!!

Ta Daaa!! The much anticipated radish skyscraper is finally functional! After a small amount of public shaming yesterday Adam built the infrastructure last night. He drilled drainage holes in the guttering and then attached it to the fence using normal guttering brackets. The guttering itself came from Freecycle and a friend donated a few brackets from his shed (thanks Mark) which left me with just 1 to buy so the whole thing cost me £1.79.

This morning I've filled the gutters with compost and radish seeds. As you can see we chose the spot where the sun hits the fence during the morning. Also in the photo is an old cat litter tray (Unused I hasten to add, the cat turned her nose up at it. The top half is currently being used by the chickens as a dust bath when they're not scratching up the lawn.) which we've drilled drainage holes in and I've planted with mixed salad leaves. You can also just see the tops of the Jerusalem artichokes poking over the fence, they're taller than me now.

I still have one length of guttering left, I had intended to use it and just balance it on top of the salad trays but I ran out of compost and it seems a bit unnecessary to buy a whole big sack just to gain a handful of radishes. I've got some radish seeds left over and I plan to plant them as a 'catch crop' around the rapidly expanding bean seedlings which I'll plant up this afternoon. How many weeks ago was it I said I'd finished potting up???