I've created a separate blog now for the garden so if you click on the link it will take you there. Back garden veggie plot
A big shout out To Liz Zorab... Byther Farm. One of my go to gurus for veg growing inspiration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07hp2IcFw6w
And another to Steve whose knowledge and growing experience has proved invaluable https://www.youtube.com/c/StevesSeasideAllotment/featured
Our gardening zone is a 9a and I am planning on researching the things I can grow in this zone
I have now created a separate blog for my veggie patch
Saturday 14th November
After watching Steve's video on You Tube today I planted 14 Aqua Dulce broad beans. I am hoping to pick green leaves all through the winter. I've never eaten broad beans before so I will let a couple of the plants produce beans next year if they haven't exhausted themselves.
Friday 13th November
I've been following Steve on You Tube for a while and yesterday's reply he left to my comment got me thinking about growing tomatoes through the winter. I have in my 'seeds for next year' collection, some seeds for tiny bush tomatoes. I'll add the name later today when I set four seeds going to see how well they do through the winter months. We tend to keep our house a little on the cool side for tomatoes but I'll see how I get on. I was given some tomato plants many years ago and they produced tiny little tomatoes right through until late January when I forgot to water them. I didn't know the variety or enough about growing tomatoes back then but now that I have many years of experience tucked under my belt I'll give it a go. I am amazed at how the lettuce and radish just keep on growing without any protection at all on the plot. I always assumed lettuce would be very tender and they'd die in the winter. It's all about the varieties that we choose to plant.
The tomato seeds are called 'Micro Tom'.
Thursday 5th November
I've just been turning over one of my tubs of compost and then wandered around the garden making note of what is growing there. I am stunned at just how much I have managed to growing in a very short space of time. The Kale is looking really pretty and I intend to plant loads more next year. |
| Purple Kale grown from seed |
 |
| I was given this green kale as a tiny plant. It's looking really healthy and strong |
 |
| I've removed the nets off both beds but am leaving the blue tube |
 |
| I'm picking lettuce leaves and radish every day |
Friday 23rd October
On Monday I removed the black netting from one of the raised beds and then on Wednesday I removed the netting and the glass shower door that I had been using as a cloche from the other raised bed. The plants in both beds have amazed me by perking up and looking much stronger and healthier than they did while covered with the netting. Perhaps the level of light wasn't strong enough to encourage growth.Tony and I have gathered loads of leaves from trees which we plan to allow to break down over winter to use as a mulch on the raised beds next year. I will keep some back to turn into potting compost. The lettuce and radish are giving us a great crop and the rainbow chard, sprouts, curly kale and pak choi are coming along a treat. The beetroot have good strong leaves but haven't produced any beets. I am hoping that they will by the spring when things start to warm up. Carrots are coming along really well and the garlic has put on a huge growth spurt. I am planning on planting more garlic just in case this lot is growing too quickly and bolts. The onions are starting to show some growth too so with a bit of luck we will have a decent crop next year. Lately each time I cook with a shop bought onion I have cut the base plate off and popped them into a large container of compost and given them a little bit of shelter from the worst of the cold. They are beginning to poke out little green shoots and I intend to snip them off and treat them like strongly flavoured chives when I need some onion flavour. They are going to come in really useful if we do move up to a level three during this covid pandemic.
Thursday 15th October
It's a while since I did an update. I'm still picking from my first sowing of French Breakfast radish. They have been amazing and aren't too peppery. The leaves are very tasty too. Winter Lettuce is doing really well and every day I pick a little for Tony's packed lunch salad. Beetroot doesn't seem to be doing much but the leaves make a nice addition to salads, carrots are coming along nicely and the garlic is looking good and strong. The onions are only just peeping through and the kale looks amazing, I have both red and green curly kale and we will pick off them all through the winter. I have been vigilant and picked off every caterpillar so there has been hardly any damage. The pak choi is big enough for me to start picking a few leaves now and then but I need to have a look on you tube as it's not something I've grown before and have no idea how big it grows. Chard is coming along nicely and I have a second and third sowing of the French breakfast radish growing strongly and with a bit of luck it will crop for quite some time. One lot is under a cloche and the other is open to the elements so it will be interesting to see which one does the best.
Thursday 1st October
I have tiny baby onions popping up all over the place. At the beginning of September I scattered a packet of onion seed all over the surface of pots and planters and then promptly forgot all about them. I thought they were grass shoots at first but when I tried one it was a very powerfully flavoured teeny weeny onion. Radishes are just starting to pop through and I have sown more to give me a succession of leaves for salads. I had my first few baby leaves from the lettuce today. I intend to take one or two from each plant now that they are producing a decent crop.
Monday 28th September
The garlic that I planted is really pushing through now. Twenty five of the thirty cloves that I planted are showing good strong growth so hopefully I will have a good crop next year. Onions are just starting to show some sign of growth and I have no idea whether my dwarf french beans will actually produce any beans but they are absolutely smothered with flowers.
 |
| Dwarf French bean plants |
 |
| Garlic growing in between a sprout and a chard plant. Winter Lettuce in the background |
Saturday 26th September
I created another set of raised bed planters today and then I sowed more French breakfast radish, winter lettuce and beetroot. They will make a lovely addition to winter salads as I can eat both the leaves and any radishes/beetroot that might grow. Either way I will still have plenty to add to salads. Lunch today was extra nice with the addition of radishes and their leaves, home grown tomatoes and some home made sauerkraut. At the moment I am adding shop bought lettuce but the ones I sowed a while ago are almost ready to start picking from. I may even add some baby kale leaves for an extra flavour next time I make a salad lunch. Earlier this year I bought a pot of basil from the supermarket and have picked leaves off it for months. I kept it well fed and watered and it has amazed me. It was looking a bit tired this morning so I have taken some shoots off and put them in a glass of water to root. The basil plant has gone on the compost heap and will break down nicely with all the other bits and pieces from my garden.
Thursday 24th September
I really can't believe just how much fresh produce we are already eating from the veggie plot. I would highly recommend gardening as a very useful hobby if you have the space. Even if you don't have a garden you can grow veggies in pots and planters. Who said house plants couldn't be edible. Basil for instance has the most beautiful green or burgundy leaves and the taste is amazing. Mint is another herb that you can grow in a pot on the windowsill and there are so many different varieties.
 |
| Garlic just starting to push through |
 |
| Carrots |
 |
| Peas grown for the shoots and lovely curly kale |
 |
| Lettuce, beetroot, chard, sprouts, carrots, pak choi, garlic and onions |
 |
| It's looking very healthy |
 |
| Radish, beetroot, chard, sprouts, spring onion and kale in this raised bed |
Today I planted another forty onion sets in the raised bed. I have some big plastic tubs to use as raised beds as soon as I have picked the last of the tomatoes and allowed the hollyhock and sunflower to finish flowering. It will give me a better idea of how I want to place them so that they maximise the available light. I plan to cover them all with blue water pipe and netting so that it all matches the rest of the veggie plot and keeps it all looking neat and tidy.
Garlic is pushing out new shoots already and I am hoping for a decent crop next year.
Tony's lunchtime salad was all picked fresh from the garden. Since discovering that radish leaves are edible they are now being torn into little pieces and tossed into the salad with beetroot leaves.. waste not want not.
Thursday 17th September
I picked my first radishes today. They were planted less than a month ago and I am delighted to see how well they are growing. Lettuce is growing strongly as are the 'winter veg' that I planted.
 |
| Radish growing like crazy under the netting |
Tuesday 15th September 2020
Last week I sowed three more short rows of carrots and then on Sunday I planted fifty onion sets and thirty garlic sets. It will be interesting to see how many grow into good sized bulbs for next year. The lettuce, beetroot, French radish and carrots are coming along nicely and the Kale and sprouts are looking very healthy.
Friday September 4th 2020
Yesterday I removed all the pots and tubs from the first raised bed and moved the contents into the bed itself. Tony brought me a whole load more compost to fill the bed with and the weather was lovely gardening weather. This morning I rearranged the pots into the new corral area near the conservatory window. Next year I will grow lettuce basil and other things that don't mind being in a semi shaded area. At the far corner of the garden next to the raised beds I have the most beautiful Hollyhock growing. The flowers are like big peachy pink pompoms and it is close on ten feet tall.
 |
| I started off with two planters and a sink |
 |
| A quick reshuffle gave me space for another long narrow planter |
 |
| In the far corner of the veggie plot on the left is the hollyhock |
Tuesday September 1st 2020
I always feel that September is the start of Autumn and the seasons change over very quickly at this time of year. The veg plot though newly planted is starting to produce lovely fresh produce and this past weekend Tony and I made a second raised bed and created six large planting tubs. I need to do a little bit of research to see what kind of things I can sow now for a winter crop.
Today I've had a busy day in the garden despite the constant drizzle. I put up the mesh fence panel that Tony made and then I used some scaffold boards to make a small corall for my veggie pots. I intend to stand it on the gravel in front of the conservatory and make a low netted tunnel so that I can grow some salad crops and herbs throughout the autumn and hopefully the winter too. I have a lot to learn about what I can grow through the colder months of the year but I want it as close to the house as I can get it as I won't want to trek down the garden in the middle of winter. It doesn't need a back as it can butt up against the conservatory wall
 |
| New fence panel |
 |
| To stand in front of the conservatory window |
 |
| Kale, sprouts, chard, beetroot, radish, peas, French beans and bokchoi. |
 |
| Very tasty cucumbers and still plenty more to come |
Monday August 24th
The French Breakfast radishes that I sowed last week are looking great already and the beets are just starting to show themselves above the compost. My scaffolding boards arrived this afternoon so Tony and I have created a raised bed. It won't be filled with compost this year as everything can remain in its pot or planter until next year. I want to get a good start next spring though so bags of compost are on my Christmas list.
 |
| French breakfast radishes are looking healthy |
 |
| The raised bed |
 |
| It looks a bit like Murphy's wood yard at the moment |
Friday August 21st
This morning I picked 1.5kg of greengages from a local tree and am tempted to try my hand at wine making. It's a bit of a watch this space moment today.
Thursday August 20th 2020
I have just discovered much to my delight that it's not just the beans but also the leaves and flowers on runner bean plants are edible. I will cook some of the leaves this coming weekend and let you know how they taste. The flowers I will toss into salads.
Wednesday August 19th 2020
Tony is making a little fence to divide the veggie garden from the lawn and it looks really nice. With a bit of luck he will make a matching fence panel for the right hand side of the garden when he gets in from work tonight.
Tuesday August 18th 2020
Last night I went online and ordered some scaffolding boards so that Tony and I can make some raised beds. Today I have moved all the veggies from the patio and popped them under the net tunnel. It looks a lot tidier now and I've come in for a rest and a cuppa. The 'good hip' is grumbling today so I don't want to overdo things. I've dragged some of the big pots around to the shed. Tony will help me to move them when he gets in from work as they are a bit too heavy for me to manage. At long last I got around to planting up the third row of the gutter garden. We don't have proper gutter ends for the third row so I improvised with a couple of milk cartons. The lettuce aren't showing through yet so I am keeping my fingers crossed that the seed was ok. It's old stuff so I have lost nothing but a bit of time if it doesn't grow. In the third row I planted French breakfast radish and Beetroot Bolthardy. Both supposedly grow very quickly so it will be interesting to see if I do have some at the back end of September.
 |
| The gutter garden |
Monday August 17th. 2020
Today I created a net tunnel for my veg plot in the garden. It was really easy to make as I simply used plastic water pipe and some scaffolding netting. As I've decided to follow the 'no dig' method of gardening I placed a layer of cardboard along the row directly on top of the grass. I will add more cardboard as it becomes available. My intention is to plan for next year while utilising the space available for the rest of this year. Into a pair of large rectangular planters I sowed radishes and beetroot and have transplanted some Kale, Chard and a few sprouts. With a bit of luck the radish and beetroot will all be harvested long before the chard is big enough to cast a shade over them.
I see it! Your redesign is coming on a treat, will keep you busy for weeks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a difference you are making, all your hard work will be rewarded with all the fruit and veg you produce.
ReplyDeleteIt's a real thrill to be able to pick my own produce from my little veg plot
Delete