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Strange vegetables
Mon Mar 10 22:09:58 GMT 2008
This weekend's gardening saw the very first of the season's planting, and the creation of my garden's insect hotel.
Insect hotel: the plan
The idea of the insect hotel is to create a space for insects and other wee beasties to live in. It's a little slice of nature in the garden. In my case, the patch of tree-root infested earth next to the garden wall is a great candidate. I used wood from the ash tree we chopped down last year, cunningly augmented to provide bug-friendly hiding spaces.
An insect hotel in the making
In addition to throwing bits of old wood around the space, I also added a layer of compost on the bottom of the pile along with a sprinkling of mixed flower seeds. I'm hoping that as the year progresses a few of these flowers may take root and grow up between the sticks.
The hotel: before
The hotel: after
In addition to creating the insect hotel, I also got part of my bed planted up with some onion sets.
Planted onion sets
Finally, I planted up some kale seeds which are now germinating quietly on a windowsill in the house. I'm expecting to see some shoots within a week or two, and then to plant them out six weeks or so later.
Now to the title of this piece: strange vegetables. Not only did I plant a few seeds this week, I also harvested a lot of cat poo from my vegetable beds. Unfortunately, this probably won't be the last time I do this: my area has a good supply of local cats, and my garden is one of the few spaces of open earth amongst a lot of paved yards. As such, I expect one of my challenges in the coming months will be to figure out ways to discourage the cats from using my garden as a toilet!
This week, I'll be trying two things: firstly, covering up loose ground with old compost bags. I'm sure it'll work, albeit at the expense of anything trying to grow underneath! Secondly, I'll be trying to make my garden smell nasty to the cats: I've read vinegar solution and citrus fruits both work. We'll see how it goes.