Category Archives: garden

Waning Light

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I know I shouldn’t wish the rest of summer away, but when it’s dark and raining outside it’s hard not to get discouraged sometimes. I’ve got a late summer holiday coming up in less than three weeks now, and I’m sure a week of Spanish sunshine and lounging in the pool is going to be bliss, but I’m secretly really looking forward to autumn now.

It’s no secret I love autumn, anyone who’s followed my posts here for any length of time will know that already, and I’m starting to see lots of signs that it’s just around the corner now. In my garden there are loads of fat blackberries already in the hedge, so I’m already planning a trip out this weekend with some tubs to get enough to keep me in homemade pies and crumbles ’til 2012. One of the walks we take the dogs on goes along a long lane lined with blackthorn which is already getting heavy with sloes, so there’s going to be a lot of sloe gin being bottled in a month or two :) .

I tore out the dead pea plants and netting over the weekend which has made the garden look a lot tidier, although I’m going to miss eating them fresh. I guess that’s why I need to make sure I keep some seasonal crops in the garden. My corn fiasco didn’t kill it, and I actually have tiny ears of corn growing now, but my brocolli has gone crazy and is now covered in yellow flowers – I think maybe I was supposed to pick it before that happened, but it never really got to the stage of looking like heavy heads. The blackcurrant brushes are going strong, there’s a lot of new growth on the branches so I think I probably need to look at cutting it back soon (as if I know!), and the goji berries – despite growing like beanstalks – have had neither fruit nor flowers.

I can’t say I’m looking forward to the dark evenings and mornings again, those are the worst parts of autumn in my opinion, but watching the county quieten down again as the tourists go home and looking forward to Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night and everything else that happens at that time of year (I’m not going to use the ‘C’ word… yet). But first, holiday. These are going to be the longest three weeks at work ever.

Veg Out

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Two four-day weekends have been absolute bliss, I’ve been doing my best to relax as much as possible and make the most of them. I’ve got through a lot of films, a lot of hours off games, and enough meat to sink a battleship at barbecues. Alongside all of this, I’ve managed to spend a good deal of time out in the garden looking after my plants, and as it’s been a few weeks since I posted photos of it all on here I’ve decided to update with more pictures!

First up is my biggest crop, my pride and joy, my pea beds.

Peas

My peas in their new, much sturdier, home

They’re going great guns, and I’ve built them a new home with more canes and some strong pea netting. Hopefully as the weather warms up (wishful thinking I know) they’ll grow up tall and strong and I’ll have a good crop from them.

Peas

Growing strong, and grabbing hold of anything they can!

These are the chillies, and I’m really chuffed at how well they’re going. Since I re-potted them out of their propagator trays they’ve grown like mad. We’ve been preparing the front garden (getting rid of weeds/bushes, leveling lawn etc) and I’ve spotted a nice spot along the wall where I’m going to plant them before too much longer, plenty of sun and room to grow and produce some nice hot chillies.

Chilli pkants

My chilli plants, not far from being planted permanently

Believe it or not, this is broccoli. This was the crop that was doing the best in the propagators, but once I planted it I realised that it was too early really, they were very weak. Despite some of them dying off (mainly through a certain cat deciding it was the most comfortable place to sleep…), the rest are growing away now, and I’m hoping that I’ll get quite a few to eat in the Autumn.

Broccoli plants

Yeah, among that mess those are broccoli

If you read back a few entries here, you’ll see a rather sorry-looking tray of dirt and not much else that was meant to be corn. Nothing happened for so long that I was convinced I’d either done something wrong, or the seeds were duff, but lo and behold – shoots! I’m so pleased they’re growing! I know I might not get much to eat from these this year, but them just growing is a triumph all the same. They have really unusual dark purple stems.

Corn shoots

Woohoo! Life in the corn tray!

From the vegetables then, to the fruit. First up is some strawberry plants. I stuffed them in the top of an old planter when I was given them, just because I had nowhere else to put them, but since then I’ve sorted out some troughs and re-planted them, and they’re growing like crazy. The flowers are all out now and I’m expecting some fruit from them in the not-too-distant future.

Strawberry plants

Delicious strawberries soon, and so easy to grow

These are the goji berry plants my mum gave me. Since the last set of photos I’ve built them a teepee from cane and garden twine, and while they’re growing, I’m not expecting any fruit, not this year at least. They’re notoriously awkward to grow, but they’re alive at least – bonus!

Goji berry plants

My gojis with their new, "Native American" inspired home

And last but not least, my blackcurrant bushes. I bought these a couple of months ago and since then they’ve grown really well, and I have the start of fruit on them. You can’t really see from here, but they have tiny green berries starting to develop. I know I’m only going to have enough fruit to make a tiny pie, but I’m proud of them anyway, and I’m sure that if I learn how to prune them at the end of the season, they’ll keep growing bigger and stronger as the years go on.

blackcurrant bushes

Look closely, those are tiny berries!

So there we have it, my kitchen garden so far. I’ve got a few more things to go in before it gets too late for this year, but I’m both amazed and pleased that everything’s going so well at the moment. I might not be in a position to not bother going to Tesco any more for my fruit and veg, but I am going to be eating the ‘fruits of my labour’ (oh dear….) before too long. It’s amazing how satisfying and addictive it is, and after a trip to the garden centre on Saturday morning that culminated with a coffee and a massive almond slice, I can see why people get into it ;) Now all I have to do is stop a certain someone eating all my compost…

Murphy

Murph, the compost-deficient spaniel, sleeping off a meal of dirt...

Continuing Gardening Adventures

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NOW WITH PICTURES!

My growing (geddit?) addiction to the garden continues unabated, I’m really getting into it all now, and I’m starting to see some results.

The I currently have peas, blackcurrants, strawberries and now goji berries planted in the ground and growing like mad, a pot with chillies growing in it and three propagator trays with broccoli, chillies and corn. It’s going to take a few months before I get to enjoy the ‘fruits’ of my labour (groan), but I’m looking forward to a freezer full of fresh veg, berries for my desserts and some dried chillies to keep my food spicy for the rest of the year.

This first season is mostly experimental for me, as I have no idea about the quality of the soil in the gardens, or what type it is etc. Fertile? Good drainage? Acidic? Not a scooby. I’m sure it’ll all come with time, and inevitable disappointment as one or more of my experiments fail, and that’s when I can really get into it. I need to sort the growing beds out properly too with some wooden borders, as you’ll see below, because I’m getting some serious weed/lawn encroachment going on.

Anyway, the main point of this update was because for once I’ve remembered to take some photos of all the growing stuff!

Peas, awaiting new canes and netting

 

Goji berries, I'm competing with mother to see who gets the first fruit!

 

Blackcurrants, growing like crazy. I've got flowers so am hoping for some fruit

 

Brocolli, growing like mad, these need planting soon

 

Chillies, going well

 

Corn... honestly

So yeah, with the exception of the corn (which I think is just biding its time…) things are going really well, I’m fairly optimistic of a good crop later this summer.

Green Fingers?

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I managed to spend a bit more time out in the back garden this past weekend to keep up the momentum on my current gardening drive. I put peas in and a frame up to support them three weeks ago, and I finally have quite a lot of visible green shoots appearing in the dirt, which is awesome and very encouraging. What I end up with is another matter of course, I’ve got no idea how good my soil is yet, but for now at least something out there is alive.

I’ve got a big terracotta pot at the foot of the stairs, between two radiators, in an effort to get some chili seeds sprouting. I’d absolutely love to have fresh chilies growing in the garden this summer, as I get through a lot of them, and the pleasure I’d take from eating ones that I’d grown would only add to it. A few spare strawberry plants are growing in a massive pot in the front garden, just to see if they’ll take. Added to that little lot, I also bought a couple of blackcurrant bushes(?) which have a home in the ground in the back garden. Next on the ‘plant and see if it lives’ list is some corn, garlic and onions. I’m really keen on getting a few more fruit trees out there too, but sadly fruit plants can cost quite a bit.

Digging beds and holes in the garden isn’t much fun at all, made all the more annoying by the fact that all of the rubble from the old house extension (which was knocked down to build the current one) was used to build the garden up a bit, which means it’s impossible to put a spade or fork in anywhere deeper than an inch. “Clang! Clang! Clang – Ouch, you b*st*rd thing!” – that’s the sound of me digging in the back garden. I’d love to have a garden with just the occasional stone, but that’s a pipe dream. On the flip-side to all of this though, I’m finding it enormously satisfying. I really didn’t think I would, but it’s so nice to get back indoors after an afternoon working hard, getting dirty and covered in soil. Looking back out at the freshly dug beds makes that first beer all the more satisfying :) .

Green Fingered?

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As much as I’d love to start this post with a Muppet-related joke, for the sake of decency I won’t  :) . Instead, this is all about my impending gardening adventure! Wooooo! I’m a firm believer that adding the word ‘adventure’ to anything takes it from the mundane to the awesome.

I’m lucky to have a large, if ‘rugged’, back garden, and this is the year I finally do something with it. Last year I tried laying some grass seed in the hope that a lawn might magically appear like some kind of lush green carpet, but given the fact that the garden is a) really lumpy and uneven, and b) covered in weeds and random plants, what I’ve ended up with is slightly greener scrubland. The sheer amount of work it would need to make a bowling green style lawn is beyond me, so instead I intend to get my ‘Good Life’ on and grow me some food.

I’ve already planned what’s going where, and although that’ll no doubt change in no time at all, I’ve already made a start. I got out in the garden last weekend with a cultivator and spade and started to dig the first rectangular bed. Hours later, and in a lot of pain, I was a bit further forward, but came up against my first real obstacle – the old extension.

When the old extension on the back of the house was knocked down the rubble was used to build the garden up, so there’s about an inch (if that) of top soil before it’s rock city; and I don’t mean Detroit. As much as I love Rock, the broken bricks, blocks and tiles make it impossible to get a spade in without hitting something solid, and by the end of the afternoon my hands were killing me from hitting stone after stone. However, not being one to be beaten easily, I have a plan of action.

Firstly I’m going to invest in a decent garden fork in order to break the ground up properly and get the biggest of the rubble out. After that I’m going to line the edge of the beds with boards (having a friend who works for a timber yard has its bonuses), and finally I’ll top the beds up with compost. This will effectively give me slightly raised beds, but will also help give a few inches for my vegetable bounty to take root. Once the really hard work’s out of the way we should be on our way into Spring, and I’ll be able to get the seeds and bulbs into the ground.

So far my crop will consist of peas, corn, garlic, broccoli, potatoes, chillies, carrots and spring onions on the vegetable front, and I’ll be planting raspberries, apples (I know, long-term plans), cherries and anything else I can think of and have room for. The rear garden gets more sunshine than the front which is why it’s all getting planted out there. This does mean I’ll have to turn the front garden into a lawn, but it’s going to be less of a mission than the back. I can’t wait to be picking things and eating them fresh at summer barbecues.

Pictures of progress to follow, loyal people-so-bored-they-read-this.