Spring 2023 here has often felt wintry, with cool winds, occasional frosts (four in April), and a notable lack of sunshine through March. Just 66 hours in the whole month, less than in most Decembers.
Sowing and planting has continued in the rain, using my lineage of average best dates. No dig helps massively because we can access the ground in all weathers. And without causing compaction because the soil structure is firm, stable, yet open to roots.
Even this year, my sowing dates have been good for plants to get underway. Then growth after planting has mostly been slow. Later sowings in 2023 have not lost time compared to earlier sowings.
00:00 Introduction
00:34 Spinach and lettuce under fleece
01:32 Securing a cover against wind using extra hoops
01:47 Potatoes just planted in a trial bed of no rotation
02:55 Overwintered broad beans, some frost damage
03:56 Leeks rising to flower
04:32 Asparagus, a taste of spring
05:02 Sorrel, a taste of late winter - broad-leaved and buckler-leaved
05:54 Raspberries, with metal border
06:25 The wormery
07:21 Apple mint
08:19 A pond… this one will have a liner!
08:50 Homeacres’ soil profile, and the water table
09:16 6/7-month-old woodchip
09:56 Mustard
10:16 Garlic, with coriander interplant
10:44 Compost heap
12:20 Carrots and radish - mesh covers not fleece
13:08 In the greenhouse, much warmer!
13:47 Flowers for interplanting
13:52 Celeriac and celery, both pricked out
14:21 Lettuce and broccoli in module trays
14:37 Hotbed, giving warmth to peppers, aubergines, tomatoes and asparagus
15:47 Tomato plants, potted on
16:18 A quick look at different composts
17:09 Tulips, and orach - lovely colours
17:42 Peas, with fleece recently removed
17:59 Brassicas with fleece still on - cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli
18:22 Onions, with fleece recently removed
18:37 Lettuce with fleece plants lying directly over
19:04 A brassica bed with spring cabbage, and spinach
19:22 A new no dig bed - removing a dandelion, and a look at the soil beneath
20:15 How to deal with perennial weeds
20:48 Surviving broccoli plants, Claret F1 hybrid
21:36 Rye for grain
22:09 Wood in homemade compost
22:39 Lettuce plants in the polytunnel, in their 5th month of cropping, including Red Lace mustard
23:47 Clearing lettuce plants and getting the ground ready for next plantings
24:44 No rush for sowing cucurbits
Filmed 12th April by Nicola Smith, at Homeacres no dig garden in Somerset UK, zone 8 winters and zone 5b summers. temperate oceanic climate.
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