Well, I had been hoping to get some fruit plants in the ground this month, but it seems it is not meant to be as more snow, sleet and hail hit the forecast locally. So instead I have been hatching a cunning plan…
I have an area of the garden (surrounding the greenhouse) that is currently inhabited by brambles, nettles and other weeds. My lovely hens have been doing good work at keeping the majority of weeds under control whilst I’ve been focussing my attention on getting all the raised beds in the veg patch built. Now that the veg patch is more or less complete I’m keen to work on this area next. What I want to do is put some pathways in, create some borders and fill the space with cottage garden plants – loads of foxgloves etc. Traditionally, I’d have got stuck in to some digging and tried to plant everything in spring. But since I have decided to take a no-dig approach I have a better idea: I’m going to plant a pumpkin patch!
First, I will pull up what I can of the big, difficult weeds (the brambles and docks), then I’ll simply cover the ground with some compost and a sheet of black weed control fabric. I’ll do this in April…then, once I receive my Rocket Gardens plug plants, I’ll simply cut some holes in the weed fabric and plant my pumpkins and squashes (I’ve ordered a few extra this year as it’s a fairly big space – it’ll be a big crop but they store well so they won’t go to waste.)
The idea is that the weed control fabric blocks the light to the soil, thus killing off the weeds over the next few months. In the meantime, I get to grow loads of winter squashes and the weed fabric prevents the fruits from rotting on the soil. Then, come next spring I’ll have a lovely weed-free area and can get the cottage garden planted up really easily.