First Crop Planting

We had given ourselves a deadline: by the end of the February long weekend, we had to have planted the garlic. It's a fairly reasonable target. In many places, people have already got their garlic bulbs in the ground, but we're in the tip-top north of Scotland so we've got to take a bit of care.

The cloves need cold weather to help them split their bulbs but, in Caithness, we run the risk of frost damaging the upper parts of the plants. We've had it before at the allotment, and all that time and effort can easily be wasted.

Before we planted it, though, we had to finish off the area to plant in. The structure of the raised bed had already been created using the flagstones that were already there, and breeze blocks for the other side. Now, it just had to be filled.

Several barrowloads of compost was wheeled from the Wild Wood (where the old compost heap was) to the Kitchen Garden at the back of the house. The compost itself seems to have never been turned, meaning some of the compost at the bottom is more of a congealed mass than soil fit to be planted into. It bulks up the bed, though, and hopefully there'll still be goodness in it. The compost near the top of the heap was lighter, fluffier and more like the compost you buy at the shop.

For one large raised bed, we used about half the compost heap, so I'm hoping we'll have enough for another raised bed. But this does mean that more compost will have to be bought in. More expense - it's a shame - but once it's done, we shouldn't need this amount of compost again. We'll need to top up the beds every year, but that should be it.

So... garlic is our first planting of a Stempster crop. Next up should be broad beans.