Six on Saturday – April 7th – raised bed disaster

What’s that strange glowing blob in the sky? And more to the point, why is the sky blue instead of that murky grey colour? It must mean the sunshine is out, so we could finally get some more work done on the allotment!ย Welcome to myย  Six on Saturday!

  1.  Several weeks ago, I ordered a new raised bed – I thought the plastic corners would help make it more sturdy. After a couple of phone calls to chase the company, it finally arrived this week, so I was looking forward to getting it all set up on the allotment. There was a slight problem though… the plastic corners were all smashed to pieces.
    So we’ve now arranged to take this piece of rubbish back to the store for a refund, and I’m still needing to find a decent, sturdy metre-square raised bed! Anyone got any suggestions, given that my DIY skills are lacking at being able to make my own?
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  2. I finally got around to weeding the second strawberry raised bed yesterday. It looks like the March snow killed off a few of the strawberry plants in this bed as well as the main one (no photos until I get a replacement frame for that!), so either I will use some of the spare strawberry plants from the garden or I might actually be reckless and buy some fresh plants to fill the gaps. Anyone have a favourite variety they would recommend? (My original 9 plants came from a newspaper promotion and I haven’t a clue what variety they are!)
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    The strawberry plants on the right are the Just Add Cream ones, and I planted out four Snow White on the left of that raised bed yesterday – they look absolutely minuscule, but these are the biggest four so far!

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  3. According to my half-written allotment diary from last year, we were already picking rhubarb by this point. It’s way too small to pick right now, but it’s all growing really well so hopefully it won’t be long before Rhubarb Crumble season starts!

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  4. No photo of the main potato patch, but this is the overflow patch! I have read that you can put black polythene down on the soil surface to save the need for earthing up the potatoes, so if I can find some I might give that a go once these sprout through the soil.

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  5. The peas were looking a lot healthier than the spring onions, and I decided it was time they were planted out. The label on the pot just said “plant out as soon as possible” which was really informative! I’m hoping that the way I put the netting in a zigzag will mean it’s not too challenging to pick the peas (assuming they grow!).

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  6. And finally, I have no idea whether it was a deer, badger, the wind, or just the cabbages wanting to escape, but I think we need to work on replacing the fleece covers!

Here’s hoping for some more dry weather, so the plants can recover from all that cold and snow last month.  Don’t forget to check out the Propagator’s Six on Saturday and read through the comments section for more blogs to check out!

16 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – April 7th – raised bed disaster”

    1. I tried for my half-size raised bed and kind of got four lengths of wood fixed together…. but it was quite haphazard on the accuracy of the nails! Originally I wanted to cut slots to just slot the pieces together, but that was a total failure, hence needing to nail them together instead.
      I’ll take a look at those links, thanks ๐Ÿ™‚

  1. Yes, my rhubarb is well behind too although I have some in a forcer which are ahead of the others. The crumble will be worth the wait. I also make rhubarb cordial which would probably be subject to the sugar tax if I were ever to sell it!

    1. I’ve never tried forcing rhubarb – maybe next year that might be worth a try, given how many plants I have! Rhubarb cordial sounds like an interesting make – is that hard to do?

    1. The person on the plot next to mine is a whizz with woodwork…. I haven’t actually asked him outright, but I dropped a few hints about being stuck for a raised bed (and being unable to make my own) and just got told “it’s easy, just nail the boards together”.
      He did kindly supply me with the wood he had lying around in his shed, which ended up being my 1/2 sized raised bed.

      But swapsies for plants does sound a neat idea if I can find someone willing!

  2. Smugness alert: I picked and ate my second lot of forced rhubarb last week. My mother in law gave me a forcer a few years back. Big pottery thing. But a bin, or some such, does the job too.

    1. I think you’re entitled to be smug with that! I did think about using a plastic bin, but I thought it might just get blown across the allotment if there’s a strong wind (there’s no shelter on the plot at all)

    1. The broad beans are being well behaved under their fleece, but the cabbages just seem to be rebelling! I have no idea what gauge of fleece this is (it’s the same as on the broad beans, and they’re being quite well behaved!), but I’ll keep an eye out for some heavier gauge fleece for next year ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. We split the rhubarb a couple of years ago, so hopefully those ‘new’ plants will be ready to pick from this year ๐Ÿ˜€ The previously person on our plot had dug up most of the plants before they left, but they didn’t dig up the rhubarb, so we got all those plants for free! ๐Ÿ˜€

  3. What you need is a cheap chest of drawers w/the back out of it – start stalking student housing dumpsters. Take out the drawers & there’s your raised bed. The drawers can be used as smaller planters for herbs or flowers or lettuces. (Yup, I’m cheap as cheap.) Your cabbage saga is intriguing (let my cabbages go). If you find out who the culprit is, let us know. And your rhubarb looks so lovely! Things are happening, now that we’ve had some sun.

    1. That sounds a much better plan than trying to find a purpose-built one! I’ll have to keep an eye out for something like that ๐Ÿ˜€

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