The thrill of growing some vegetables at home.
by
Aisling Grimley.
I have a small outdoor space for planting, at the end of last summer I created a raised bed on one side to make my gardening useful as well as pretty - bring on the fruit and vegetables.
My raised bed looks a little like this one, maybe not quite as organised
First summer of harvesting - top favourites
My favourite harvests of the summer have been the on-going magic of mange-tout peas. I'm not sure when they grow but everytime I pass by there's another bunch for picking. We're all enjoying a munch and a fresh crunch. Last week I dug up my garlic bulbs - that was a major thrill. I planted 6 decent cloves at the end of last summer under instruction from my friend and master gardener Karita Saar - they are in an area that is not so sunny or particularly useful. Bingo 6 fat cloves of garlic are now drying out for 3-4 weeks before being used. Salad leaves have been brilliant for instant green summer salads the Brown Envelope Seeeds salad mixes suit our space very well. Raspberries and blackcurrants both worked very well and I'd recommend them. My pear tree hasn't done anything just yet.
A Black Cherry tomato plant which started off not looking too promising is set to produce a lot of little tomatoes at the end of the summer. Having read the article that I've attached below I realise I should remove the lower leaves to max out the crop. At the moment there are plenty of flowers and some tomatoes hoping to ripen up. I'm feeding them with liquid seaweed.
In the pipeline are brocolli, beetroot and autumn leaves. I couldn't bring myself to pick my leeks at the start of the summer so I let them go to flower and they produced fantastic big allium flowers.
My lemon tree still has one lemon from last season and some promising looking tiny lemons on the way. I'm just pleased and surprised to have managed to keep that one alive in our climate - the blossom smells fantastic. I'm told that the lemon tree is the only fruit tree that fruits and flowers at the same time.
This article from Quickcrop provided some very useful information for my current vegetable gardening needs, some useful information to share. They did a recent blog on urban gardening outlining the many possiblities for growing vegetables in small spaces. I've used Quickcrop's site before and they were extremely helpful on and off-line in organising the delivery of a veg trug for my Dad's 80th birthday two years ago. Reading their article has made me feel the need for a little on-line retail therapy and I quite like the sound of the golden beetroot they mentioned...
Are you growing fruit or vegetables? Please share any top gardening tips or photos.