Fava Bean in Flower

First flowers appearing on the Fava beans, on the first sowing made back in Mid-October.



The Kale/Fava/Pea bed looks nice against the Autumn leaves.



This is an experiment in times to plant Favas and Kale (Kale should have been sown earlier, I think; I have only started any reasonable harvesting since Christmas (2 meals), and its still small. We'll see how the Favas go, but the fact that they have flowers is positive. Lets hope there are some bees hanging around, or hummingbirds. This year we havent had much rain yet, I'm watering the crops. The nights are fairly cold, bundle-up weather, but it could be mistaken for spring. I suppose I really should be recording temperatures to do a real experiment.

Its also an experiment in interplanting Favas (provide nitrogen), Kale (use nitrogen, and may help hold up the Favas, and Peas (add support AND provide nitrogen). The idea was supposed to be that the Favas would take over once the Kale was pretty much over, but I think for that, the Kale needs to be planted earlier.

Lovely Rain

This rain we're having is a godsend - its coming about half an inch or more, about once a week, enough to slowly build up a nice soil moisture bank that should take us through the next few months. To help it along, I have been taking some water thats pouring out of the gutters and pouring it into the ground at the top end of the garden, where it will hopefully build up the water levels even more. Because the rain was so strong today, I took the opportunity to shake out some fertilizer so that it could soak in nicely and not burn the plants. Not too much though, I'm trying to keep as organic as possible. I'm not a purist though.

The photo shows my recycling plant - the compost piles. These are largely kitchen peelings, lawn trimmings, weeds and leaf sweepings. I contain these in wire mesh cylinders - easily and cheaply made with wire mesh from a hardware store. These take surprisingly long to build, as the stuff rots and compacts quickly. I turn the heaps every couple of weeks or so, to re-oxygenate the piles - more often when the grass clippings are fresh. It also helps to mix the ingredients.

The peas sown in early Feb are now also putting in their first pods, and are about 3-4 feet high. The broccoli rabe has finally taken off, and may be harvestable soon (the crop isnt huge, but I should get a meal or two out of it - it was really a test run to see how well it grows here in Almaden. Meanwhile, I have been engaging in plotting my next moves in this bed - I've planted out some jiffy-pot-grown sweetcorn (Kandy Korn hybrid, Ferry-Morse) and filled in a few holes with seed, so I should have a little-staggered crop. Corn has to be grown in blocks, as its wind-pollinated, and the bed is fairly narrow, so I've been planting through the peas, broccoli, as well as in the bare spots. The plan, when these are starting to take off - say a foot high - is to plant runner beans beside them. The beans can then climb the corn as they grow. Hopefully.

I have plans to do the same against the fence - this time with a mixture of sweetcorn and sunflowers.

So far, from the Xmas sowing of peas, I have had 3 meals - or rather, 2.5 (the first was rather thin). I have at least one more coming, and probably one after that. Then, its off to the compost with the rest - and the soil will have plenty of nitrogen added by the peas. I hope to get these peas finished shortly, so I can plant other stuff in that bed - either Zucchini, or maybe salads (its getting quite shady now that the tree above it has leafed.