The Sanctuary Garden

A mixture of relief and delight washed over me when two people arrived for the workshop. Both known plant killers, brown thumbs and unsure about even being at the event.

We went through watering, how to water, when plants need water, watering seedlings and why they die so easily. Then did little on seed size and how to handle them differently. Rootbound pots, what causes it, and how to untangle and pot up the plants. We covered splitting plants, supermarket plants specifically. Briefly covered vermiculite, perlite and compost. I also covered garden tools, and how few you really need.

By then end of the hours discussion, they both left with plants for their garden and windowsills. There was no pressure to ensure they lived, rather just to have a go.

They both seemed to have enjoyed it and learned something new. I enjoyed it too.

My initial plan was to use pallet wood to make beds, however time pressure meant I used what I had at hand. My beds have all been built with bricks and blocks. Until today.

Wood rots, and I did not want to use a manufactured preservative that would typically contain unsavory chemicals that I did not want plants I would eat, taking up. I decided on vegetable oil, it’s cheap and would offer some protection. One post recommended using vinegar with it so I did.

The wood was donated from furniture plus, it’s scrap bed slats. This limited the size of the bed to a bed size but it’s worked out well.

Much has happened and the temps in the poly tunnel are rising and the vegetables are responding. The potatoes are now poking their noses above the soil.

A new chilli bed in the poly tunnel. I’ll be able to interplant with lettuce or some other quick growing veg. Thanks to Lynda for donating the blocks.

The only word I can think of to describe nettle tea, where nettles are added to water and left for weeks, is latrine. This FPJ on the other hand smells like molasses and sweet ferment. They both do the same job. about a ‘house measure’ of black syrup is added to a watering can, and leafy plants are watered this nitrogen rich feed. They literally take off.

The process is simple. Collect nettles and doc leaves, using as much protection as possible. Welding gauntlets are advised as is a long sleeved shirt and wellies. When the barrow is full, use a sharp spade and much like the Zulu women of old who pounded maize in a mortar and pestle, cut up the nettles and dock leaves. It does not require huge amounts of force or you’ll probably damage the wheel barrow. After about five minutes, when it’s starting to look chopped up, add the brown sugar, I added 2kg, about 4 lbs. Mix and chop and change the orientation of the blade from time to time. After another five minutes it’s going to look bruised, dark green and the sugar will be well mixed in.

Add it to a 5 gallon bucket and gently compress it with the spade. Those buckets split in a heartbeat. Use an ordinary bucket filled with soil or rocks to weight everything down. Give it a mix every a few times over the next two weeks.

You will have a delicious, effective, organic nitrogen feed that cost £3.10 (sugar from Lidl) and you know what has gone into it. I’d not worry about shelf life because you’ll use it up pretty quickly.

For Scotland, it’s warming up. An early start planting out the new bed meant it was not too unpleasant. So I grew up in Zimbabwe, I should be used to the heat; that’s sounds plausible but I’ve been in the UK longer than I’ve been in Africa so I’ve acclimatised, besides my head meds also give me the sweats.

In the bed is some tobacco, Virginia and some Cuban cigar wrappers, lucky dip cauliflowers, chinese cabbage, and some drumhead cabbage. I was barely out with the seedlings and the cabbage whites were fluttering around. The hope is that by using upturned plastic pots to keep the fleece off the seedlings, the fleece will keep pests away and give them an advantageous micro-climate. The buckets of potatoes, onion and garlic have also been moved outside, which means I have space for another poly tunnel bed. More bricks…..

Using pallet wood, rather than buy a cage, I built a frame for the water butt. Without the frame, the water butt turned into football and because the base was not level, rolled off and emptied itself. My first job was to level the base. The pallets were placed onto to blocks and level.

The frames were held together with corner brackets and screws, used an angle grinder to smooth off the protruding screws. Vertical timbers kept the hoops in position and it was filled to about half. The tap ordered on ebay, arrived and was fitted on the IBC tank. I’ll let the chlorine dissipate overnight. It will make watering the poly tunnel so much easier.

My muscles ache today, but in a nice way. The plants are out growing their pots and it looks like I’ve hundreds to pot up. It’s cathartic and repetitive. It also feels like I’ve given the plants a new home, a bigger home. There is a local nursery that has a couple of crates filled with used plastic pots, free to take or add to. They are worth a mention as their plants are fab, this year I’ve added to my mint collection with ginger, orange, strawberry and banana. Their details are: The plant market buy local from locals.

Lynda, our neighbour, brought her brother Garry and his wife, Emma to see the poly tunnel, their reactions were very positive. Thank you for the donation, I hope you like the chilies.

Ray, who donated tomatoes, has been back in touch and has spinach and radishes as well as some long bamboo canes.

I’ve also been offered a poly tunnel cover, no idea what state or the size but I’ll pick it up this afternoon. In my journey to buy the battery I saw a poly tunnel frame, with no cover, in an overgrown garden. I’m going to ask if I can have it.

The new bed needs chicken wire around it; some in ‘stock’ from an old chicken run, probably a decade old. When that is up, I’ll plant swedes, cabbages and onions, if there is space. The weather has turned, as it always does in Scotland, the wind is freezing again but apparently will warm up later this week to a scorching 20C…

With so many young seedlings, I’ve made another raised bed, 4′ x 16′ to accept the plants. I’ll need to cover it with some protection as we have deer, pigeons and probably the odd bunny. It took two loads of bricks to make the walls and about 20 wheel barrow loads of compost to fill, so I’ve done my workout for the day.

The average temperatures are going up and the plants are responding to both the organic nettle feed and the heat. Using brown sugar and comfrey, I’ll have a feed ideal for tomatoes when they start to fruit. A few are showing flowers.

While dropping of some bags of waste from my workshop tidyup at the tip today, I managed to pull out a hosepipe. It’s a cheapie one and kinks all the time. It may be returned if it is unusable. Connecting it to a fountain pump, it works well as a hose to water the garden. The connection is not great, duck tape is not really the answer. I’ll use a jubilee clip onto the hose.