Preparing the garden for winter Part 3 - new raised beds

We have a new raised bed to replace the one that fell to pieces.  Here it is half way through construction:

and then completed and filled with the compost and soil we took out of the old bed, plus some extra from the little planter just to the left of the new bed.  We were pleased with the state of the soil; it looks to be in good health and we spotted a few worms - always a good sign.  We had read that adding extra manure to soil just before planting is not always a good idea, so we just worked in some soil improver. 

N has planted the bed with winter greens/cabbage, sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli (the plants we bought at the nursery at the end of August), and has sown some spinach seeds at one end.

The remaining winter greens are in one of the old beds, under the mesh cover.  Although there aren't many butterflied about now, we thought it worth trying to protect some of the plants, as 'something' has already been at the leaves.  hence the blue slug pellets - we much prefer not to have to use them but we have lost so many seedlings to ravenous slugs, it's unfortunately the only way we can ensure at least some of the crop survives.  We are vigilant when we are in the garden, and 'remove' slugs and snails when we see them.

The other raised beds will be removed and replaced as and when - we are still harvesting courgettes and carrots from one of them.  Eventually we replace that one with two bigger beds.  We worked out that this will increase our growing capacity by about half as much again as we had before.  We are really excited about this and have been discussing how that will affect what we can grow.  We know that we can never be self-sufficient in fruit and veg (at present we don't grow any fruit), but it is surprising just how much our small plot can yield.  We have kept a chart of how much produce we have produced this season, and when we have pulled the final few veggies, I will tot up the totals.  

Changing the subject completely, there has been a lot of media attention the past couple of days about freezing energy prices (should the current opposition party win the next General Election).  The energy firms and investment companies have been thrown into a dither over this promise, and there is much debate as to whether this policy would be feasible or not, and the consequences of such a price freeze.  Politics aside, it seems to me that perhaps we should, as a society/country (and perhaps globally, too) look at ways of not using as much energy in the first place.  In my rather simplistic view, we are so careless with our energy consumption, giving little thought to the consequences of our modern lifestyles.  Maybe we should spend a little more time and effort into looking at ways to reduce energy consumption instead of wasting it.  We are, quite literally, paying for our reliance on oil/electricity/gas, and it's not going to get much better.  Surely if everyone did a little towards saving energy, that would add up to make quite an impact.  It's seems sad that energy-saving and being careful and wise about energy consumption doesn't seem to make headlines in the same way as a promise to freeze prices does.  I know that this is simplifying the issue, but I think it needs to be part of the discussion.