[tagwex]

I thought I would share my infant plot with you

[Sive]

Lovely ponies ( and mutt ! )....and so much space too.....how big a garden do you have ?

[tagwex]

Hello fellow Wexfordian,
Short answer is too much. Just short of 3/4 of an acre but I don't think we will be vegging it all out. Definitely too much here for our own needs so it depends how the sales go. Ponies are not ours, just in to do a job and the mutt is a simpleton!

[Blowin]

Ah! I think I understand now. When I saw 'Wexford' in your profile, I thought you were PART of it. I didn't realise you ARE Wexford and that we're in the company of landed gentry.

Seriously, though, I think you're attacking the plot sensibly, i.e. as one big patch, but I imagine you'll eventually divide it into at least two, maybe four. Those poor old ponies haven't got much to eat and won't fully clear the ground so I'd pull those horrible red things up to prevent their seeds dropping?

On the one hand I'd give my pension to have those trees for protection against the wind - a huge problem here - but, as you improve your soil, they'll send their roots into it for superior nourishment. I do have that problem in a couple of parts of the veg plot and they tend to be 2nd class areas for productivity unless I regularly dig a trench round the edge and pull out the invaders. Depending on the species of tree, you may have a ready supply of pea sticks, support stakes etc so all is not lost.

Good luck with it. Spuds are the best thing for 'cleaning' a plot as they use up most of the available water and prevent other plants (weeds) flourishing.

[Sive]

A little bit of Wexford heaven, tagwex, and well sheltered too, by the looks of things, good luck with it. We're on a hill here in north Wexford and wind is a big problem, but then the views..... and the light...... make up for it ! We can't have it all.

[tagwex]

@blowin: now I wouldn't go so far as landed gentry, I had another bit of land but the ex-wife somehow ended up with the lions share and I got the road!

The 'main patch' as I call it is 30m x 15m which I thought was enough to be getting on with for this year but I am enjoying it so much that I have extended it this week for winter crops so we shall see how that goes.

The patch the ponies are on has the most shade. The topsoil is over 400mm deep. The horrible red things are docs and they all got the round up weeks ago and are definitely dead. Somebody told me that each plant can have 80,000 seeds. I dug up the docs with the mini digger on the site of the new 8 drills, roots and all, and they are in the barrel waiting to be burnt. Will get around to those left standing soon. The ponies have really eaten a lot in the few days that they have been here, the grass was waist high when they came in but a significant amount has just been walked down to the ground. There is another bigger area for them to chew down but is almost constantly in shade with even taller trees on the boundary. Serious amounts of 6 year old horse manure coming here shortly (free thankfully). The trees are mostly conifers (tap roots shouldn't be a problem) with a few ash and one oak. Hazel sticks here by the dozen for support stakes. I was told by my gardening guru yesterday that I would get away with using the same plot again for the potatoes next year and using my own seed for one year as the ones growing now are certified - any comments anyone? I am cursed with couch grass here.

[tagwex]

@sive: No views here, too many trees! But we do have the best weather in the sunny south east don't we?

Tara Hill?

[Sive]

And the most wonderful light.....and it gets brighter the further south you go. You couldn't ask for more.