Filling the beds
21.08.2023 - 11:57
/ theunconventionalgardener.com
/ Emma Doughty
Last weekend Ryan and his dad built the first six of my raised beds (ultimately there will be 12 in the garden, giving me a little over 17 square metres of prime planting space). Now they need filling.
After doing a lot of calculations, and looking at bulk deliveries of compost and top soil, we have concluded that the most cost effective way of filling them is to visit the local garden centre and buy what we need in bags. It’s also the most convenient way of filling them, as it means we can do it in stages, rather than having to deal with several tonnes of top soil in one go. I’ve chosen a mixture of topsoil, organic manure and peat-free compost.
So last weekend we filled the first one, and I planted it with my edible dahlias from Lubera. They are new varieties bred for their edible tubers. I have one plant each of 6 different varieties, each one supposed to have a slightly different flavour. We’ll have to wait until harvest time in November to find out more!
I’m planning on mulching the beds with bark chips, but in the meantime I’ve sprinkled some of my old (harvested in 2010) Welsh onion seed on the surface of this one. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and it’s a plant I would like to reintroduce to the garden.
The exciting thing about the garden being on the way is that I can now start buying plants again! This morning I have ordered some pretty tulips, a ‘Super Perennial Tulip Collection’, which should contain 3 different ‘green flash’ varieties, and ‘Green Wave’, because they are colourful and frilly and just adorable. In my defence, they are also edimental – tulip petals are edible, although I have yet to try one myself. The only tulips I have had in my garden so far are Lady Tulips:
Which are still coming up, 8 years