Apart from the success of working for myself a few days a week at least, Garden Successes are the regrowth of the passion flower, the amazing growth of the Vine and rose around the pergola, the random squash which a collegue gave me to grow and tomatos - not the big fat moneymaker tomatoes but the rich sweet delicious harlequins which have done even better outside than they have done in the greenhouse - this is the same variety which sainsburys sell at £1.99 for about 10 and we have tonnes of them. They don't keep so have to be eaten quickly and I have been wondering about making some into chutneys. The little tumblers have also done well perched up above the ground in hanging baskets.
We have also done magnificently with our shallots which are potent little fellas, the red onions are scrummy if a little small and our Spring Onions are also on the hot side, the early charlotte potatos and carrots (Chantenoy not Atlas) id well and were delicious. The sweetcorn have grown well having about 12 cobs on 8 plants, I only lost one after planting out.
Definate regrets surround other plants where the lack of water was a problem. The Roosters potatos have done better in the tub than in the ground where slug damage and scab took their toll, a similar problem with the beans which had only a few flowers although they are another story. The Acer and Crab apple have not done as well as we had hoped, and the pumpkin never really recovered from a terrible aphid infestation. The leeks never made it into the ground and teh courgettes have been appalling! Afetr they are supposed to be teh easiest things to grow and yet i have no use for the courgette recipes I have put together after last years glut. Very odd - I think I'll leave 'fancy' varieties alone next year and stick to the basic varieties which i think can cope better with less experience, water and poorer soil.
We have been very Bee friendly this year, part of the reason for the garden being neglected was the quanities of bees we brought onto the plot with our borage (big plants - 2m tall!) and the hyssop. The poached egg plant brought hoverflies and the cornflowers have been a continual remider of our wedding as they were a big part of my bouquet. The led to it being rather difficult to get access to the plot as we had bordered it with all the bees favourite flowers.
The digging over of the plot happened today when husband got the fork out. With many of the spent plants taken out we realised that to leave it fallow until next spring would be a cruel waste and so we're going to get a Winter Rocket Garden, although I could start off many of the plants my greenhouse is rather stuffed with toms and peppers and so we'll give this method a go.
The other positive which has been evident of late has been the development of ten tings (I'll do a seperate post) and us really finding our feet with cooking. I am beginning to realise how unusual our little family (2 at present but watch this space over the next year) is in that we sit down to a home cooked meal every single night. Admittedly there was a very delicous portion of chips and scampi one evening last week however that was all the more delicious for it being unsual! Helpng us in the kitchen is a fabulous book published by DK called Healing Foods for special diets. Ignoring the fact that it is for special diets it is awesome! Full of quick and interesting foods, most of which go very well in our tagine which is another fabulous kichen cookpot. In fact thats another whole post! Maybe I'll catch up woth my postings this weekend!
http://www.rocketgardens.co.uk/
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