The next big job is the construction of a large raised bed for the bush fruit. The bed will be 27ft x 13ft (8.3m x 4m). The problem with this bed is the slope, one end is around 22 inches (0.57m) lower than the other so it will need a lot of top soil to make up the difference. Some very large timbers will be used to retain the soil at that end of the bed and scaffold boards will be used at the sides and at the shallow end. The soil will get a treatment of rock dust and compost. The whole bed will be covered with a 24ft x 12ft (7.4m x 3.7m) fruit cage.

The vegetable beds are waiting for the first planting which should be later this month. There is garlic sprouting in a cold frame which will be planted out around the end of February. Broad beans will be planted in 'Root Trainers' in the 1st week of the month and planted out in about 4-6 weeks. There will also be some trial rows of direct sown broad beans soon.

Top of the horizontal timber is level. This show the slope! The high end will have 1 further large section timber on top of the 2 shown. Immediately behind the timbers is a drainage ditch which will be filled with aggregate.

This was a very busy period. The fruit cage was completed and fruit bushes planted: 1 red currant 'Rovada', 1 white current 'Blanka', 3 black current 'Ben Connan', 5 gooseberries - 1 'Whinhams Industry', 1 'Invicta', 3 'Leveller' and 2 blackberry 'Loch Ness'. All thrived except 2 black current which failed to root.

It took ~ 9 tonnes of soil to fill the terraced fruit cage. That is a lot of wheel barrows full!

The raised beds were progressively planted with veg transplants grown from the greenhouse and directly sown seeds as weather permitted. Early carrots were planted undercover in March after the soil had been warmed with a plastic cover. The germination rates have been really excellent even with carrots and parsnips. The secret is having a fine tilth, getting the correct soil temperature and keeping the soil moist at all times. The rock dust and compost mixture looks to be ideal for seed sowing!

Another 2 raised beds were added between the fruit cage and the ditch. They are 4ft x 13ft (1.2m x 6m0 and are planted with brassicas and courgettes. The filling is soil with rock dust added at the rate of 8lbs per sq yard (4kg per sq. metre).

The raspberries 'Autumn Bliss' are growing well and all 10 have rooted. Some seems to be suffering from a deficiency which I have not yet identified. It could be iron due to the relatively high pH of the soil (~7). I treated the beds with sequestered iron but have not seen a real improvement yet.

The irrigation system was installed in May and proved to be essential due to the very dry months of May and (early) June. Rainfall was well below average with almost drought conditions in many areas. The system has worked well by watering when the soil has dried out.

The water input valves and meter (right) with the solenoid valves and manifold (left) before fitting the controller. The three white distribution pipes can be seen leaving the manifold box.

The ultimate aim is to use a solar powered rainwater irrigation system.

The first season in the remineralised garden has been very successful. The yield of most crops has been nothing short of spectacular. The automatic irrigation system really helped even out the soil moisture levels and kept them near optimum for plant growth. This was especially important during May and June.

Early potatoes did especially well with very good yields. There was early evidence of potato leaf roll virus in a few roots but this was confined to one variety. The severity of the problem, and the very marked symptoms, suggest it was the second year of the disease and was carried in infected tubers. Other roots of this variety have produced deformed tubers.

More fruit
Three new beds have just been added, one for rhubarb and two for strawberries. The photograph opposite shows the top triangular bed for strawberries with another new triangular bed to the side of the fruit cage for rhubarb. The other strawberry bed is out of shot on the left. The white powder on the soil is gypsum to help break the very heavy clay.

The two thornless blackberries planted in the left side of the fruit cage have been removed. The wire system will be changed soon and 15 summer fruiting, long cane raspberries will be planted before Christmas. This will make better use of the space in the cage.

This is a photograph of the newly prepared rhubarb bed. The soil was dug and all the couch grass and nettle roots removed. It was a long process! The trench is an attempt to stop couch and nettle roots coming back into the bed from the ditch which runs down the garden. The idea is that the roots end up in thin air and wither and die. Time will tell if this works!

Most of the autumn work is completed now. The soil in the established beds is covered with either leaf mould from last year, composted cow manure or a green manure. The idea is to protect the soil surface from heavy winter rain to avoid compaction. Also, applying surface dressing of organic matter really does improve the soil. The new beds will be covered in the next couple of days although the rhubarb crowns are due any day now so it might have to wait until after they are planted.

A few months after this photograph was taken it was decided to pipe the drainage ditch that ran just to the right of the new bed. This meant it was possible to have a group of 6 beds - incorporating the 2 shown here - see later entry below.

The design for the 'pods' is from from "Solar Gardening" by Leandre Poisson and Gretchen Vogel Poisson. (This is a photo from the book)

I am making just one to start. As the fibreglass glazing material cannot be sourced locally in the UK I plan to use twin wall plastic glazing and to modify the design by adding a strengthening strut across the inside top of the pod. The pod will also be 6 ft long and not 8 ft as shown in the book.