Its been a long time since I posted here, there ARE reasons...1) it was Winter and nothing happend and 2) My camera broke and I was putting things off until I could take some pics ...so here I am...and spring has SPRUNG!! In Scotland for the last couple of years we seem to have got our summers at the end of March until mid may, then it rains until September so I am determind to make the most of all the good sunny weather I can.
So the hot bed has been made :)
We used an old concrete trough which for the last 5 years has done sterling service as a normal planter giving me an abundance of courgettes,peas and onions. For the glass top we used part of an old shower which we had aquired from freecycle some months ago and promptly put in the shed and forgot about it. Would you beleive it fitted exactly!
The OH made a wooden frame so the whole thing sat level, and made up the end peices. All that we need to do to it now is run a couple of bungee ropes over the top to secure from high winds.
The filling is made up of a straw and manure mix with @ 3 inches of potting compost on the top.
I'll let you know what I decide to plant in it this year. Next year I hope to have my eye on the ball and try to grow some early spring / late winter salad in it.
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Very awesome! What a way to re-use. I'm SO ready to plant my gardens, but I just know if I get things out we'll have at least one more hard freeze and I'll lose everything. I made that mistake about three years ago and lost all kinds of flowers and vegs. Ugh. The peas are ready to go in, though, so is the spinach and spring mix lettuces.
ReplyDeletewell after a week of warm 16-29 oC wewather it SNOWED today :P I really have to make myself wait until late June for planting out..I have been caught out so many times before...we can get some very hard frosts here until then.
ReplyDeleteWow, June? That's craziness! You don't have a very long grow season, do you? Our official last frost is usually around the second week of April, but most of the time, it's the end of March. Daffodils and crocus are already blooming like mad and the pastures are greening up beautifully.
ReplyDeleteYeah its not a long season BUT we do get a lot of sunshine (so long as the cloud stays away :P) Midsummer we get daylight for @ 18 hrs a day which is why Scotland is famous for its raspberries and strawberries :)
ReplyDeleteIts pointless trying to grow things like tomatoes consistently here though, even with a heated greenhouse if you have a cloudy summer (like we have the last 2 yrs) forget it.
I try to concentrate on traditional crops so lots of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions (ok not strictly scottish but...:P). I also have a lot of success with courgettes and peas and have apple trees doing well :)
But yeah...it would be nice to have a climate that gave a little more diversity :)