A place of my own

I have moved house again and finally gotten my garden back together.

I suppose I should begin this blog with an apology, I have been away a long time and my garden has taken a bit of a back seat with one thing and another.

However, to focus on the positive, I finally have a piece of garden that is only mine. I have a hedge! I was less excited when I had to trim the hedge with the shears I borrowed but it is definitely satisfying to hack at disobedient foliage for a couple of hours.

So the garden definitely isn’t what I would have made it. It was clearly designed for low maintenance and is basically comprised of many different types of mulch (slate, bark and gravel, all of which seems determined to amalgamate into some sort of agricultural Bombay mix). It also has a pit. The pit is so the basement can have a window and therefore conform to fire regulations. It is absolutely not permitted to turn the pit into a water feature/hot tub.  Believe me, I asked.

The encouraging thing is, even with all my other commitments, my garden has hung in there. I still have tomatoes (they seem to be what I am best at for some reason) and lots of herbs.

Today I planted my winter salad (purslane, land cress, rocket, corn salad and lettuces) along with some Chard and some extra herbs.

I am hopeful. Since I have much more space now I won’t have to squash my plants in so much and perhaps they will grow better.

Mum and Dad bought me a bucket (not an exaggeration) of plumbs so I am busy destoning, freezing, stewing and giving them away as fast as I can. You’ll hear from me again soon.

Keep Gardening!

Back from the Fringe…

Managing my pots after a week away.

Back from Edinburgh at an ungodly hour I still had just enough energy to wonder what had become of my plants. And, joy of joys, I have beans! Ok, so I have two bean plants from the large handful of seeds I sowed and one of them is still quite weedy but still, it’s something. The tub on the windowsill was pretty dry and I decided that if any more beans were going to germinate they would have done so by now so I watered the ones that have come up. 

After my first good night’s sleep in a week I couldn’t wait to get back to the garden. Firstly, I placed the bean container outside. I think I will bring it in again if it rains heavily since the box has no holes in the bottom and I am concerned about drainage. There were also a lot of little flies crawling on the soil, they don’t seem to be bothering my beans but I thought I might take advantage of the avian pest control service available in my garden. When the beans get a little bigger I will transplant them into a bigger pot and leave them outside permanently.

In other news my herbs are huge! I have an ample supply of all the soft herbs I use on a daily basis apart from mint. Warned about its vigorousness I planted it in a tube to restrict its growth but the other herbs seem to have stolen so much of its light that it never really got going. I have resolved that, when I harvest, I will pick the herb leaves that are closest to the mint as a form of pruning in the hope of giving the mint some more room. 

Unlike the beans the radishes have germinated with incredible success so I have thinned them quite considerably. When I was deciding how many to take out I considered the size of the average radish and tried to leave each plant enough room to reach that size. The spinach is starting to go to seed so I will be nipping out the tops the next time I need some (expect a delicious spinach recipe in the next few days). I am also ready with my perpetual spinach seeds so it’s not to disastrous if I only get a few more weeks’ worth of greens off these plants. 

My oriental veg pot is also looking incredible. It is definitely ready for harvesting. Something, I think a pigeon, has taken a few chunks out of some of the more tender leaves but it appears to be thriving in spite of this so I am not too upset. It appears planting a whole mini pack in one pot has gone just fine since the plants all seem to till have enough space.  

I will be planting my rainbow chard soon (can’t wait) and, following some conversations with neighbours, I will also be considering what I can plant in the boarders since everyone seems to think it’s a fabulous idea to have some vegetables in the garden. Thank heavens for nice neighbours. That’s all for now folks. Happy gardening, Ele.