More manure has gone to the plot and by the end of the day I was fairly sure that I’ll have slightly more than enough. No problem; at least some of the remainder will help further fill Bed 3.

After sprinkling homemade compost over the rest of Bed 7, the next job was planting the garlic. I’ve put in 22 Picardy Wight cloves in two rows. They’ll get watered by the rain coming tomorrow.

I did everything I could for Bed 10: edging it, lining with 6-8 sheets of newspaper, Hügel sticks and filling it with manure. It needs a little of my compost and a topping of shop compost. I’ve covered my reduced heap of compost for now to stop it being washed away by the coming rain.

I went back in the afternoon but I was too knackered and it was too cold and windy for me to want to commit to cutting more cardboard edging. So I pottered about for an hour and started some gardening clearing up. I cut down the helianthus, where there’s some grass that needs to come out. I cleared up some geums as they’re springing to life again, and did a bunch of pick weeding on the ledge.

Another pile of compost and manure has gone down to the plot . I’ve now completely finished Bed 11 and I’ve marked out the rough area for the cucumber wigwam so that I can plant the garlic.

I’ve added half a bag of compost to Bed 3 as it’s a bit low. I’ll gradually add more over the year to bring it up to the top. The rest of the compost has gone onto Bed 9. I need the garden centre to restock now so I can finish the job. Yesterday I got their last 3 bags and got a great bargain on manure by paying £8 for 4 x 40l bags before it turned out that it was nowhere to be found, so I got 4 x 50l bags of a more expensive brand 🙂

Before lunch we opened Bed 7 and started heaving the homemade compost out of the bed. I edged and covered the flat end.

After lunch I gradually flattened out Bed 7, edged it, laid cardboard and put down hügel sticks. Then lovely manure and the top third got a dressing of my homemade compost instead of leaf mould. The rest of the compost shovelling will happen tomorrow when it’s light again.

The robins were back today. I’ve a feeling they are a bit nervous of non-regular visitors. I also had a crow land expectantly on my fencepost, so I think we know who emptied the first coconut.

I raked yesterday’s beds even and managed to empty two sacks of compost onto Bed 11. I’ve raked that out, but it needs a little bit more in the corner. Then that one will be done.

More bulbs are coming up! There are a number narcissi showing and the tulips are starting to show themselves in the front corner too. For the summer I’ll broadcast seed and try and keep a tight control on the yarrow. Then this bed could become pretty self-sufficient.

Bed 5 is now done and ready for parsnip seeds  in April. Two bags of compost have been added and I’ll probably need to add another next season (if not before) as this settles and compacts.

Suzy and I cleared Bed 8 and Bed 10 today. The former was particularly full of rubbish, including bits I’d thrown in there from other beds. We sat on the plastic squares that I’ve been using to bridge the mud and they’re going to be pretty good seats in the future.

I went back to Bed 6 this morning and finished removing the grass and edged and covered the second half with cardboard. I magically remembered to put the hügel sticks down. I did a pretty good layer, but am also pretty aware that I’ve got lots yet to go.

I topped the whole thing with a fat layer of manure, and put the plastic back on.

The new coconut was on the ground, which the robins didn’t seem to mind, but I’ve hung it low in the apple tree now. The robin was happy with that and when I left, the great tit was giving off at the top of the tree.

I’ve got lots of edging left – these plus a bigger pile on the other side of the shed. I don’t need all of them, just some. Aside from cleaning them up when I finally have some spare time, I want to work out if there’s some kind of bug hotel set up I can make with some of them – but one that hopefully isn’t just a haven for slugs.

It’s occurred to me that the area around the bottom of the elder and onto the semi-wanted mint part would also be a good place to have a multi-layer bug hotel.

Bed 11 is now complete for winter. It’s been fully edged with cardboard, lined and then give a fat layer of manure. The pile of my own compost in the bed has been spread on top as the leaf mould layer. I should have remembered hügel sticks, but didn’t think of it until too late.

There was half a bag of manure left over, so that’s been put onto Bed 5. That’s already reached its compost level, but it’s very deep, so the manure’s gone on next and I’ll add more manure and compost as we go. It’s a deep bed, which is good because that’s where I’m planning to try parsnips there.

Bed 9 has a new cover now, as the old one no longer fits. It’s been open for a week, but nothing had been disturbed in the leaf mould level. I had to tread on it a few times and it’s quite soft and spongey, so should settle down a good bit further, especially with the compost on top.

I walked around the plot a little after lunch and found the very first bulb poking up. This should be one of the narcissus bulbs.

I was going to leave Bed 6 until spring, but the ground is dry enough that I thought I’d make a start on it. I’ve left the newspaper in place and cut away the edge grass. Half is now lined and edged and I’ll aim to do the rest tomorrow. As this is a wet bed in winter, I must try and remember to hügel stick this one in case it helps to hold any of the water.

Back to Bed 9 and the first job was to lay the cardboard. It was a pretty good fit and I covered the cracks with newspaper. The poppy by the post is being left to take its chance. 3 sacks of manure went into this bed to make a reasonable layer. The bags are all reliable quality so far.

We added a thin layer of leaf mould on top. There is by no means enough for all the beds as I had originally planned, so I’m being a little more circumspect with it now. We’ve emptied the last bit into a plastic sack for easy access. The bottom of it is particularly good stuff. We’ve refilled the bin with a sack or two of the 2021 leaves. I should have mowed them first, but never got around to it. Must do that this year.

The new suet coconut was ridiculously diminished when I came back after lunch. Maybe the crows had been in, but a tit had been on it when we left in the morning and I saw the robin and a great tit on it after lunch. I was surrounded by birds: the robins, a blackbird, the tit, a goldfinch…

I saw the robins on the fenceposts across the plot, with one doing a courtship dance of bobbing, head up and tail up. I’ve read that during courtship the female is allowed into the male’s territory, which suggests that the bold one is the male.

Bed 9 has grown and so is being left open until we cut new plastic. I was a little concerned that the birds would immediately kick my leaf mould around, but it looks like the cardboard base perhaps deters them from being too vigorous.

I made a big start on Bed 11, edging more than half with cardboard and evening out the earth. I’ve bagged up lots more clay, taking it from the compost heap. There’s more to go, but I have nowhere easy to put it now. I’ll use this homemade compost as at least some of the leaf mould layer. I’ll deal with the other end of the bed when this first part is done.

Bed 9 was my focus this morning and I turned the clay-ridden, weedy bed into a weed-free, level one. I did cardboard edging all the way round, which has taken care of gap which will get more wood in the spring.

I was going to edge Bed 1 with cardboard, but it quickly became clear that it’s not really possible once the bed is at all filled. It needs to be the first step. Fortunately I don’t think it’ll really be a problem in this bed, and I’ll keep an eye on it in case anything needs a squirt of weedkiller.

I pretty much weeded the bed and removed some clay. The big verbena has been moved into the clump in the left border. Making the hole at least allowed me to take out a bit of couch grass root.

I’ve covered the bed with a thick layer of newspaper and put the plastic down too. The beds have been made a bit narrower thanks to the thickness of the wood, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem. I’ll open this bed as soon as it’s feasible to build its layers of leaf mould, manure and compost. The manure is super cheap at the moment, so I’ve bought another 8 sacks.

I’ve bagged up some of my clay piles so that I don’t keep walking on them and they don’t slowly merge back into the garden.

We did lots of logistics today and got all the scavenged cardboard down to the shed, along with my new plastic tiles for avoiding the mud, a bucket of hügel sticks, and the bags of leaves from Normandy. Bad road signage and a closed road included, we also picked up 3 bags of compost (still frozen!) and 4 bags of manure from the garden centre.

I pulled back the plastic on Bed 1 and scattered hügel sticks across the wet cardboard. I’m not 100% sold on them, but I think I’ll stick with it (ha ha) for the remainder. I was concerned about the depth of the beds, having put cardboard down, so further reading assures me that it’s a temporary layer. It’ll decompose in time and be soft enough for roots to grow straight through.

The manure turned out to be absolutely perfect stuff (and only frozen in the middle!). It’s fine, rotted chippings and feels like the perfect base layer for the beds before I add leaf mould and compost. It was also discounted, so I need to get lots more!

I put 4 bags onto Bed 1, which I think will do for now. Then leaf mould and compost, with maybe more compost in the spring. The moment I walked away, the two robins turned up to see what was happening. I’ve covered it up again now, so I’m not taken by surprise by any mean weather elements.