Flu and what-have-you

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 27 September 2011 in growing | 3 comments

So I got myself all stoked up to do stuff and blog about it to get myself back into the swing of things then I got the flu. The only thing that’s been productive around here in the last two weeks or so has been my phlegmy chest. I’m still not running at full steam but I thought I should try to hop back aboard the blogging train before all the carriages race away from me and this metaphor goes off the completely off the tracks ;)

These last few weeks have mostly been spent slumped on one sofa or another, watching a whole lot of films and eating a whole lot of soup. But in my slightly-better moments, I’ve done some sewing after getting a new embroidery book out of the library just before the virus hit (book review coming soon) and wandered down to see the chickens, lamenting about the sorry state of the garden and wondering if things will fruit/ripen before the frost hits.

The latter put me in a bit of a “I’m a bad gardener” slump until I realised that even with all the dead things, the things that won’t quite get there this year, the things that didn’t stand a chance and the lack of any summer sowing whatsoever, we’ve still got at least ten edible things growing in the garden that we can/will eat: achocha (outdoor – will pick soon), tomatoes (greenhouse & outdoor), courgettes, marrows (ok, so they’re essentially the same thing but we used them differently), cucumbers, peppers, chillis (all greenhouse), leeks, pumpkin and swiss chard.

And that’s before we get onto the wild greens/fruit (predominantly nettles but there are also some bullet-like blackberries at the end of the garden and the dregs of elderberries on the trees near the kitchen), the technically-edible-but-I-probably-won’t-eat-them-now things (like the new leaves/shoots on the squashes & the achocha, or the marigold leaves & heads) and herbs (rosemary, lavender & mint still going strong outside, basil & chives inside, and things gone to seed both outside & in that are still usable just not as good as before they flowered, like dill & oregano).

And it’s also not including eggs – the six girls are still kicking out on average five a day, which is nice.

When I’ve got a bit more energy/less mucus, I’ll write more about our growing year here – lots more lessons learnt and things to definitely not do next year – but this has made me feel a little better about things, that there have been some successes as well as the many failures.

What’s still on the go in your garden?

Overexcited about baby fruit & vegetables again

Posted by louisa on Friday 10 June 2011 in growing | 6 comments

Buff aside, things are going well in the garden at the moment. I had a nearly full day out there yesterday – digging, potting on, planting out, sowing more successional stuff and staring into space under the pretext of “planning”. I also spent a lot of time checking out how things are progressing…

Weeee! our first pinkening strawberry!

We’ve got quite a lot of fruit but this one is the first to go red. They’re Flamenco strawberries – starting a little late but should fruit right through until the autumn — a few at a time for a longer season will be better for us this year, although I think I might add an early crop/June-July cropping one for a jam-making glut :)

I also spotted my first set of to-be-courgettes this week – they’re only about 15mm by 5mm at the moment so we might need quite a few to make a ratatouille…!

They don’t need pollination so should just grow now – and knowing courgettes, by tomorrow they’ll be marrows ;)

In the winter squash department, I also spotted some round-bottomed female flowers on a few of the pumpkins – I think they will need pollinating when the flowers open up. There are plenty of male flowers open but I’ve not seen many bees around over the last week, so I might get in there with a little paintbrush, just to be on the safe side.

There are little tiny bumpy baby cucumbers appearing up too.

We’ve also got a few apples starting – it’s the trees’ first year here so we shouldn’t really let them grow apples (they should concentrate on growing up and out first) but we’re going to let each tree grow a couple, just to see what they’re like.

I think I’m especially excited about all these things because, aside from the courgettes, they’re all first for our garden – never grown strawberries, pumpkins or cucumbers before, and there is always the “what if they don’t grow?” worry.

How’s your fruiting going? Any suggestions for an early/summer glut strawberry type?