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The year of ….

Posted by on Tuesday 1 February 2011 in growing | 5 comments

A few days ago, someone started a discussion on UK Veg Gardeners about themes for the year:

“2011 is the “Year of the Raised Bed”. Last year was “Year of the Redcurrant Protector” (not a very snappy title I admit!) and 2009 “Year of the Shed” (much more successful).”

I replied that for us, 2011 is the “Year of Fruit”: “to be accurate it’s going to be Year Minus One of Fruit as most things won’t actually produce anything until next year – but all the work has to be done this year.”

But it’s actually the Year of lots of things here – I think that contradicts the point of having a “the year of” but nevermind! It’s:

  • The Year of Fruit – six apple trees & two pear trees are in, a cherry tree to follow; also, two blackcurrant bushes, a lingonberry bush, a cranberry bush and 12 strawberry runners (all which are displaying new green growth today – hurrah!) are also in, with maybe gooseberry & raspberry to follow. Fruit a go go!
  • The Year of the Front Garden – those new planters should help out a lot out there
  • The Year of Vertical Growing – baskets & wall planters & balcony window boxes & tiers of pots
  • The Year of Efficient Bed Usage – some beds were empty for a long time last year; not this year!
  • The Year of Perennials – the fruit is part of this; I want to start getting things in that’ll last so each year on, I can concentrate on other stuff
  • The Year of the Greenhouse – since it didn’t arrive until July last year, I intend to make the most of it this year – cucumbers, chillis and tomatoes, oh my
  • The Year of No More Plastic Tubs – not such a catchy name but last year, when I was setting up on the cheap, I bought a lot of plastic tubs & troughs. No more from now on though, and as they need replacing, I’ll do so with non-plastic options
  • The Year of Not Getting Overwhelmed – by planting too many of each thing specifically. But looking at the rest of this list, I think this might the hardest to achieve ;)

What’s it your year of?

Other posts you might like:

marrow flowers2010 – A Really Good Year Saying no to TV saves us £145.50+ a year Picking fruit trees – what to choose? What’s in your veg plot over winter…?

5 Comments

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  1. sara
    1 February, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    Wow thats a lot of “year of’s”..why don’t we just make it the “year of self-sufficiency and happiness”..thats what i’m aiming for..to be happy(not that i’m not happy) and grow and produce as much as we can without going to the shops so often..
    sara

    Reply
    • louisa
      1 February, 2011 at 5:08 pm

      That’s the overall aim, yes :)

      These are all just things that I noticed last year and was adamant about correcting this year – aside from the plastic pots one, they’re all about increasing the amount of produce I can get from the garden really, so I guess it could all be summarised as “the year of getting more stuff growing” ;)

      Reply
  2. sara
    1 February, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    Hmmm..had my tea and thought about it..how about ” THE YEAR OF GREENFINGERS AND SUCCESS”..
    sara

    Reply
  3. Su
    2 February, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    It would appear that I am unwittingly trendy! Not sure that I can cope with that. I bought 4 raised bed in B & Q before Christmas reduced to £5 each, I couldn’t even have bought the timber for that. The first one is assembled, ground turned over and now filled with a mixture of garden compost, leafmould and top soil. The second is assembled, in situ and ground dug over. The third is only assembled and the fourth only arrived (via bus) last night from my partner’s house where it has been temporarily residing. I don’t have any great hopes of growing masses of food since I have a slug problem that has to be seen to be believed, but I am going to give it a try.

    Reply
    • louisa
      4 February, 2011 at 12:55 pm

      Sara: love it. :D

      Su: Cor, lucky you! I’ve been on the look out for them (or something that I could use in that way) for a year but not seen any bargains like that!

      Reply

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