Food, Glorious Food

It’s been a great month. We’ve had masses of French Beans and Mange-tout. Just how many more recipes can we find for green beans?
There has also been a good supply of radishes and spring onions, but the tomatoes are slow to ripen. The freezer is bursting at the seams with runner beans.
Yesterday I harvested all the onions and they are laid out to dry. It’s a good job we put them under cover because it rained half the night.
It’s been an absolute joy to see the vegetable plot full of greenery and the crops growing since we had some decent amounts of rain. If the potatoes, carrots and parsnips are developing as well underground as they are above ground we should be having plenty of those as well. The leeks are doing well and with any luck when they are added to all of the other root vegetables we should be able to enjoy one of Denise’s fantastic vegetable soups in the winter, but this time made from our own crops.

The chicken project is on hold until my hernia is sorted. It must have been all that digging!

I'm singing in the rain

These are the notes I wrote about three weeks ago, but busyness, holidays and a short illness have got in the way of posting. I'll will update again soon, but suffice to say the garden is looking good.

Last night it rained like billy-o and what a blessing that was, but we can’t have picked a much worse year to start our vegetable garden. It must have been one of the hottest, driest summers for ages. We seem to have spent an interminable amount of time just watering everything to keep it alive.

Despite that things have gone pretty well. We’ve had our first salad from the garden (well most of it). We’ve had lots of French beans already, but the runner beans and peas seem a bit behind. We can’t see what’s going on with carrots and parsnips but there seems to be plenty of growth so hopefully things are going well underground. We did have a bit of a scrab about around one of the potato plants and found a few to make a salad, but the rest can wait until later because they are supposed to be main crop. The onions still look good and I can hardly wait to get at them. Tomatoes are coming along well I think, and radishes and spring onions have provided us with a few additions to salads. It’s a different story for the lettuces though because the slugs, snails or whatever it is that eats them is getting far more than we do.

We are seriously considering having two or three chickens. I know they’re not vegetables, but they will provide us with fresh eggs. You may have to call us Tom & Barbara soon!

Hello, hello, good to be back

No, I hadn't forgotten the blog. We've been away on holiday in the South of France, which was wonderful. Our daughter and son-in-law kept the garden well watered for us while we were away.

You can really see the difference when you come back after a fortnight away. The potato patch is like a forest. The runner beans are close to the top of their wigwams, so I believe I have to start pinching the tops out soon. Parsnips and french beans are doing really well, and the carrots, peas and lettuces which I planted shortly before we went away are coming through. Onions are mostly doing very well. The only things that appear to be struggling a bit are the spring onions which are still very tiny, and the leeks which are still thinner than I expected as well as not too many of them having germinated. Some of the radishes were ready to eat as you'll see from the attached pictures. We've had a few in salads yesterday and today and they were very tasty. I expect I should be putting in some more radishes, spring onions and lettuces, indeed I probably should have done so already but with so much going on it's been hard to keep on top of it all.

I'm sure next year with the experience gained and with less groundwork to do things will progress in a more organised way.

We're almost there

What a weekend. The new shed is up. We ordered a skip in the week and spent most of Friday evening and Saturday morning breaking up old paving slabs and putting them in it along with the remains of the old shed, sundry pieces of brick and lumps of wood and anything else that wasn’t moving!
We also dug a bit more of the vegetable bed and got some peas in and a couple of small rows of chrysanthemums so we can have cut flowers in the summer and autumn. Still need to plant carrots and lettuces and should put in some more radishes and spring onions, but we’ve mostly managed everything. We’re pretty pleased with our efforts, and it should be a lot easier next year without all the garden re-arranging.
We dug around the outside of the new shed and removed as much Japanese Anenome root as we could. It seems a shame to get rid of them because they are lovely, but they are very invasive. I’m sure they will try to grow again, but I will declare war on them with contact poison as they come up. Re-planted the area with some summer bedding and planted some nasturtium seeds. They’ll brighten up the area and the leaves are excellent on salads.
We earthed up the potatoes again. They seem to have gone berserk, hopefully the end product will be good. Everything else we’ve planted seems to be doing quite well, but there’s still no sign of the parsnips. Some of the radishes should ready to eat soon. We’ll be able to have a ceremonial eating of the first fruits (vegs?).
Lawn has been cut, vegetable beds weeded apart from the two thin lines where the parsnips should come up. I don’t know what a parsnip seedling looks like so everything that’s nearby will have to stay until I’m sure one way or the other. The perennial border looks good despite having very little time spent on it. We do have half a dozen new plants to put in it but I’m not sure that will happen before we go on holiday.
We’ve bought a new plastic compost bin to replace the rotten wooden one. It needs to go where the old one was, so that’s going to require a bit of spadework.
Late on Sunday afternoon after we’d stood back and admired the look of the garden we thought we ought to give everything a good watering in. Having done that the heavens opened and we had the majority of June’s rainfall in a couple of hours.

Busy weekend........

..... but not much gardening.

It's been hectic. Ton of topsoil delivered Friday. Moved most of it on Friday evening and have earthed up the potatoes and spread the rest around. I expect we will eventually need at least another ton.

7 mile walk on Saturday followed by lunch, with 'Blisters', the church walking group . Came back and bought some canes to make a wigwam for the beans.

Sunday, church followed by putting up two wigwams for the beans and two for sweet peas which I planted seeds for at the same time. Denise has planted a few herbs. we went to the gym after that. The dwarf French beans that the grand-daughters helped plant are coming through now. No sign of the parsnips yet.

Monday morning was spent with us demolishing the old shed and taking most of it to the dump in preparation for the man coming to put up our new shed on Thursday. Our other shed is now so full of stuff you can barely move in it. Good job my bike is at the shop having a service. Looks like we're going to need a skip to get rid of the rubbish from the garden. There's still masses of digging and planting to do. If it doesn't happen soon then some stuff won't get planted. Did I mention we need a new compost bin?

Follow the red brick road

Pictures are of some flowers, Lucy planting seeds (Lauren couldn't go on the garden because she had her brand new shoes on), Lucy and Lauren preparing to plant and grandad hoeing while the girls draw plans of the garden.

Blimey, its ten days since my last post.

We've had some serious progress since then. I took a day of holiday and the path is finished. It looks pretty good but we need some more soil each side of it. It looks like we may have to buy one of those giant bags of topsoil in the not too distant future.

Our runner beans in pots are already 6" tall. We're going to let them and the three tomato plants have a day in the garden tomorrow to acclimatise them a bit. We'll have to decide on exactly what we're going to grow the beans up, but best advice at the moment seems to be wigwams. Best we don't forget to get them in as the nights are still very chilly. The three chilli plants that came up are progressing slowly and now have three leaves each.

The radishes are going well despite being nipped by the frost last week, but no sign of the spring onions yet. Parsnips are not up yet, but we're led to believe they take their time.

Our two grand-daughters Lauren & Lucy had a sleepover last Friday and in the morning they helped plant dwarf French beans. I think they are quite excited by our vegetable venture.

Asparagus and onions are doing really well. I'll take some pictures when I find some more time. It's been mental this week with one thing and another, and this weekend I'm off with a friend on a three day 150 mile cycle ride around Suffolk.

Today some of the potato plants poked their heads above ground, so even more need for extra topsoil.

We haven't forgotten our flowers, and last weekend went to Bungay Gardening Street Market and bought a few bedding plants, perennials, and a new Rosemary plant, because our lovely bush has given up the ghost. I think it just got too big and old. Looks like we'll have to buy our Rosemary to cook with until the new one is big enough

The forecast for the weekend is to be very warm which should encourage a good bit of growth in everything.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers

We've made a start on getting some bricks down on the path, but cold weather has curtailed our efforts somewhat. I thought May was supposed to be a pleasant month.

All the asparagus plants are up now. The onions continue to flourish and the leeks are coming on slowly. We have managed to get some parsnips in and plant some runner beans in small pots.

Best news is that three of the chillis we were beginning to think would never come up have come through.

Someone at work offered some tomato plants today. We'll have three and put them in a growbag I think, because I'm not sure there's going to be room actually in the soil.

The flower border is beginning to look a bit like it's old self. we must make sur we don't neglect it completely.

Not sure what's next on the agenda, probably more digging. We probably need a bit of a review. One thing that definitely has to happen is that the lilac bush has got to come out to make room for the new shed, but son-in-law Mick is going to do that for us.

Bikes are nice and clean and oiled, and I'm getting plenty of miles in again.

Progress

A successful few days. We managed to dig some more of the garden, moved the rest of the soil from the demolished ornamental wall and get some more stuff planted.

Yesterday after more digging we put the potatoes in and planted a row of radishes and spring onions.

The really good news is that our earlier plantings are showing signs of life. Almost all the onion sets are growing well, with 3-4" shoots on some of them. Four out of the eight asparagus plants are already through. We were amazed at how quickly they grow once they break through, and it's a bit frustrating because we can't cut any this year and they do look very tempting.

The leeks are coming up now. They look a bit like chives at the moment, but the ground is ready for them to be thinned and moved when it's time. A friend told us that she puts hers in toilet roll tubes when she plants them out, so we might try that with a few to compare results.

We're still not sure that we have room for everything we've bought, but fingers-crossed all will be well. We can always put a few things in amongst the flowers.

Weather outside looks foul at the moment, but all being well we'll finally get the parsnips in, which is a bit late I know, but I expect they'll be OK. Golf also beckons, and cleaning our bikes. Busy day ahead methinks.

Speaking of bikes it's been good to get back on mine this week after an enforced layoff. There's not much better than cycling through the Suffolk countryside at thi time of the year. Only two days ago amongst other things I saw a herd of around fifty deer and an adder.

A little more

Still struggling with the tail end of this cough but have managed to dig over about another 8 sq yds. It was full of old roots so was very hard work, but is now nicely raked and hopefully will be able to plant some spring onions, radishes and parsnips in the next couple of days.

Checked the potatoes to see how the chitting is going and I think we'll get them in by the weekend.

No sign of anything else coming up yet, but more and more of the onions are getting going.

Still have to finish the path, but need to get on my bike again because I've been virtually inactive for three weeks. Not enough hours in the day, although there would be if I didn't have to work.

Return of the blogger

While I have endured my forced absence from the garden some of the onion sets have started to shoot. It's very exciting because it's our first sign of new growth.

I am finally getting over this hideous cold/cough thing. Eventually had to go to the doctor's and found out I had a chest infection, so have been on antibiotics for a week.

Updates to the blog will continue now we can get back to doing stuff again, although Denise tells me I am to take it easy. Perhaps I'll be able to do some cycling an golf too.

By the way did I mention Norwich City's promotion?

The cold from hell

This cold is seriously getting me down. I will be buying shares in Kleenex tomorrow.
Denise has managed to keep things moving though. She has been busy continuing to dismantle the ornamental wall and moving soil down the garden from the wall, She also sowed the pepper seeds (six in the packet - Unwins catalogue says ten).
The birds have taken to throwing some of our onion sets around as I was warned they would. I have replaced them in the hope that not too much damage was done.
On a brighter note Lowestoft Town were crowned Rymans League Division One (North) champions yesterday after an impressive 5-1 home win in front of over 1100 spectators. Two championships in a row and three more steps to the Football League. Off to watch the Masters golf now. Hopefully Lee Westwood will give us a British victory.

Slow progress

My cold is having a serious effect on this project. I want to go to sleep for about an hour every time I do fifteen minutes work.

We've managed to get some sand onto the pathway ready for laying the bricks, although we do need a bit more. Also moved some of the soil from the old ornamental wall into the hollow that was the pond.

Leek seeds have gone in today. There were forty seeds in the packet, but I noticed the Unwins catalogue said fifty to a packet. I compared contents of the parsnip seed packet with the catalogue, and the story is much worse. When I feel better I will investigate further and write to them.

While sowing leek seeds today it occured to me that we might not have enough room for everything we've bought. Time will tell, but we may have to reduce the amount of planting for some things. I'm not sure we'll really need 500 parsnips (assuming they all germinate).

New planting

Onion sets and a row of asparagus. At least part of the garden looks tidy. Also a picture of a springlike corner.

Why is it that it doesn't matter how many times I preview and move text it never appers on the blog where I put it?

What a state!

We used to have lovely shrubs and a pond here, but at least the new shed looks nice. unlike the remainder of the wall we've been using for hardcore. Some more of it has been used since I took this picture.

Potatoes

I think I know how to help deal with the whole lack of time, lack of topsoil to fill the pond problem.

I'll get the area where the pond was as flat and tidy as possible and plant the potatoes in there. I can buy topsoil in small quantities to 'earth up' the potatoes as they grow and then worry about getting the whole garden level during next winter.

This is a bit of an experimental year after all.

Where are we now?

Today I managed to plant a row of eight asparagus crowns and three rows of onion sets. That's the good news. Bad news is that.......

1. We still don't have enough topsoil to fill the pond and get the garden level.
2. We have a path dug out that has some hardcore in, and we have some bags of sand to put on top of the hardcore
3. We have some bricks to lay to make the path, but probably not enough.
4. We have a half demolished decorative wall at the top of the garden that we've been using for hardcore. this now needs finishing off.
5. Our top shed, which was going to be replaced at the end of the summer is rapidly giving up the ghost and will need replacing as soon as possible.
6. I seem to be developing a cold.
7. The bathroom needs completely re-decorating!!!

Time is against us, but I expect we'll muddle through.

Why?

A few months ago we (Denise and I) decided that it would be a good idea to grow our own veg. With retirement not too many years down the road, now seemed a good time to start. We would after all be experts by the time we are retired and be able to save pots of money by growing our own.

To make room for this the secret garden and wildlife pond would have to go, which was a pity in some ways, but would have the benefit of not having to keep our grandchildren from drowning in the pond. The rickety old shed would also have to go and be replaced by a new one.

In typical fashion this all took a bit of a while to get going, but we now have a lovely new shed and having paid someone to clear away all the hedges we have a large area to grow stuff in. Removing the pond was fun. I made holes in the liner with a fork and then removed lots of smelly, gloopy mud.

About three weeks ago we ordered loads of seed, some seed potatoes, onion sets and asparagus crowns. It's now a race against time to get them all in.

All this is set against a backdrop of trying to get the interior of the house in order. Two days ago I finally managed to put the new sideboard together and Denise is now busy re-arranging all the cupboards. Bad news is that I'll probably never find anything again. Good news is we have somewhere to store all the alcoholic drinks together.