What a relief a when spring decided to show her face this April and what a show she put on! Our greenhouse full of seedlings struggling in sub-5’C temperatures finally put on the spurt we needed and the garden changed to a distinctly joyful shade of green! The Crossing was blessed by the presence of swathes of bluebells under our old hazel and hawthorn hedgerows. Wild garlic adorned the entrance too, along with other old woodland plants such as dog’s mercury.
Bo and I have been busy sowing as many vegetable seeds as we can in our hand-made seedling boxes, and transplanting them out into our double-dug beds. What a difference the warmth has made! Our garlic have grown into giants, our brassicas have gotten extremely leafy, and the broadbeans flowered beautifully. The flowers have attracted so many beautiful bumble bees to the garden.
We are following the bio-intensive method and we have tried to companion plant as much as possible. We have planted various crops close to one another as they either stimulate the growth of other vegetables, encourage their pollinator or discourage their pests. This way we encourage a balance in the garden, and no use of pesticides. We have also planted herb companions with our vegetables for example borage with squashes as it encourages pollinators, mint and rosemary with cabbage to discourage cabbage moth, and many others too.
Emma has been busy planting fruit trees and currants and also preparing the no-dig beds. Not only that but Bo and Stu also managed to get the rabbit-proof fence up as well. What a busy Spring!
