Potatoes looking bountiful.
I really need to buy some of those potato grow bags when I move house.
Arriving to find a large delivery of bark chippings for the garden paths had been helpfully placed on the patio where our new greenhouse was to be constructed. We got stuck in by moving the bark chippings 6ft so Andy and his rag-tag bunch of construction engineers, John, Alfie and Nell could start building a greenhouse.
The beginnings of a Greenhouse.
This particular greenhouse was flatpack-on-steroids and so only the frame was finished today. I expect the panels will be put in soon.
Greenhouse progress by the end of the day.
There have been more hold-ups to vegetable planting. Soil conditioner had been ordered, Andy had been told it was delivered but no soil conditioner was to be seen. The silver lining is that we didn't have to move a couple of tonnes of soil conditioner.
Even without the soil conditioner other jobs had to be done. So myself, Nell and Emma set about evening out the paths with clay and topsoil whilst the greenhouse was being built. Next I turned over the compost pile, which is looking very rich and nutritious.
This was my third visit to the garden and I realised that I have not actually done any sowing, planting or plant-tending. So I was very happy to actually plant some potatoes in the bottom ground-level bed.
An open day is planned next Sunday (16th May), with activities and a chance to meet the people involved. Visit the DulwichDVG Project Dirt page for details.
[ add comment ] ( 1 view ) | permalink | related link
I visited Dulwich Park a while ago and after glancing at the noticeboards I spotted a flyer for the Dulwich Vegetable Garden (DVG) that was being established at the rear of an old ground keepers cottage. So I contacted Andy Bodycombe the project leader to see how to get involved.
So the Saturday after I was back with the hope of helping with the DVG. Three of us were there, myself, Andy and Tim. The garden currently has 8 raised beds and a large wheelchair friendly raised bed, and two non-raised planting beds, they also have a compost pile which has been started off with horse-manure from the riding school next door. Currently they are growing some beans, potatoes, rhubarb and onions, however they are a bit limited due to the necessity of having the soil pass some tests, which are being carried by the park. The land is owned by Southwark Parks, and they are paranoid about the quality of the soil, as such no serious planting until we get the all clear, they have been waiting 7 weeks for this to be sorted. Come on Southwark Council pull your finger out!
The mornings plan was to keep on top of weeding, line the wheelchair friendly beds with clay and build a bench. Moving clay is hard work, it took me about 6 wheelbarrow fulls. Now, the morning after, I'm feeling the unused muscles in my back complaining about all the heavy lifting they have done. The bench was worked on by Tim and Andy and they were finished in no time. We now have a place to sit and admire our land, there are plans to add at least two more benches.
Our bench, picture by Tim.
Other notable events are the finding of a bone during the weeding. I have no idea what animal it came from but it doesn't look human. I'll leave it to the interwebs to find out for me what creature it once was.
The mysterious bone! (Click image for larger version)
The garden is now waiting for delivery of a greenhouse and tool shed which should be all sorted within the fortnight.
The DVG can be followed on twitter, or more information about when work is being done can be seen by signing up to the DVG Project Dirt project page .
[ add comment ] ( 1 view ) | permalink | related link
Calendar
