A blogger in the garden...
Happy New Year!
The hangovers have subsided, the snow has melted and all thoughts are now turning to spring.
My bulbs, little narcissus, pale blue crocuses and delicate snow drops, are eagerly pushing their petals through the cold ground, ready to bring some colour and life back to my otherwise sleepy garden.
We've been similarly busy sorting through our stock of seeds and planning what to grow this year. Thinking back to last summer, our first in the garden, we learnt a lot and have found what works well in our little space and what, sadly, is either beyond our small plot or simply won't grow in a container on our patio.
Successes included our salad patch (I will never EVER buy shop bought salad again), beans, carrots and herbs. Potatoes were with mixed fortune but with a little bit more knowledge I think we may just crack it this year. Squashes, surely the easiest thing to grow ever, seemed less successful. Unpertubed, I scoured seed catalogues and have found some interesting varieties that promise to work in even the smallest of spaces.
Tomatoes in 2010 were a washout, quite literally. Heavy rain saw our crop decimated in a matter of days with a mix of blight and blossom end rot. We were devestated and are determined that 2011 will be the year of the tom! We've invested in some different seeds and will try again. Any tips you guys have would, of course, be most welcome!
So what are we growing?
Rondo carrots - small, round and perfect for container growing
Windsor Pumpkin - forget sprawling tendrils, these orange beauties reach the size of a small football
Buckingham Courgette - another container variety which should help us maximise our growing
Broad Beans and Mange Tout - we couldn't get enough of our beans last year so we're expanding what we grow
Tomatoes - Sweet Million and Koralik varieties which we hope will be more successful than our previous attempts with the Money Maker and Tom Thumb varieties.
Along with potatoes, beetroot, radish and a small herb garden.
We're also including some fruit this year with alpine strawberries and blueberries on the menu.
I'll of course keep you posted of our efforts, successes and failures as we embark on year two of what my mother insists is fast becoming "The Good Life". Now if only I could keep chickens....
The hangovers have subsided, the snow has melted and all thoughts are now turning to spring.
My bulbs, little narcissus, pale blue crocuses and delicate snow drops, are eagerly pushing their petals through the cold ground, ready to bring some colour and life back to my otherwise sleepy garden.
We've been similarly busy sorting through our stock of seeds and planning what to grow this year. Thinking back to last summer, our first in the garden, we learnt a lot and have found what works well in our little space and what, sadly, is either beyond our small plot or simply won't grow in a container on our patio.
Successes included our salad patch (I will never EVER buy shop bought salad again), beans, carrots and herbs. Potatoes were with mixed fortune but with a little bit more knowledge I think we may just crack it this year. Squashes, surely the easiest thing to grow ever, seemed less successful. Unpertubed, I scoured seed catalogues and have found some interesting varieties that promise to work in even the smallest of spaces.
Tomatoes in 2010 were a washout, quite literally. Heavy rain saw our crop decimated in a matter of days with a mix of blight and blossom end rot. We were devestated and are determined that 2011 will be the year of the tom! We've invested in some different seeds and will try again. Any tips you guys have would, of course, be most welcome!
So what are we growing?
Rondo carrots - small, round and perfect for container growing
Windsor Pumpkin - forget sprawling tendrils, these orange beauties reach the size of a small football
Buckingham Courgette - another container variety which should help us maximise our growing
Broad Beans and Mange Tout - we couldn't get enough of our beans last year so we're expanding what we grow
Tomatoes - Sweet Million and Koralik varieties which we hope will be more successful than our previous attempts with the Money Maker and Tom Thumb varieties.
Along with potatoes, beetroot, radish and a small herb garden.
We're also including some fruit this year with alpine strawberries and blueberries on the menu.
I'll of course keep you posted of our efforts, successes and failures as we embark on year two of what my mother insists is fast becoming "The Good Life". Now if only I could keep chickens....
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