Garden update - early May

Compared to last year, we seem to be 3 or 4 weeks behind due to the long and cold winter we had. My daffodils only started flowering about 2 weeks ago. But I am sure plants will catch up in no time. Here are some highlights from my garden!

Peppermint

Wild strawberry

Red currant

Lovage

Comfrey

Chives

Oregano

''Fresh'' supermarket produce

I harvested my potatoes in September/October. I didn't have any fancy storage facilities. I still have a few left and they are still perfectly edible if getting a little wrinkled. They have only just started sprouting, 5 months later, as Nature intended, and I'll be replanting them next month.

Shop bought potatoes sprout within less than a week, and are sometimes black/bruised inside. I have recently gone through two bags of supermarket potatoes, and had a massive amount of waste from all the grey/black bits. Disgusting!

Makes you wonder how bloody old they are??

Well, the answer to that, apparently, is anything up to 12 months! Even ''new'' potatoes can be as old as 7 months! I never knew that and I'm really disgusted... And of course it's not just potatoes. It makes me realise the value of growing my own even more...

Garden in full swing

The garden is doing beautifully - certainly a lot better than I expected in my first year of gardening. The picture above is today's harvest for a lovely vegetable soup, the first meal made entirely out of garden produce. I'm so chuffed!

We've also had a few BBQ meals already, even tough the weather hasn't really been BBQ-friendly. But since S built it all by himself, we had to test it - and it did the job perfectly. The simple meal of beef burgers, garden potatoes and garden broad beans we had the other day was to die for!

We have also had our first ripe tomato - they are coming along slowly as we haven't had much sunshine, but they'll get there!

First harvest of broad beans:

Onions laid out to dry - this is only about a third of all my onions!

First harvests & gardener's pride

Isn't June the most amazing time of the year for gardeners? With all the lush greenery and harvesting your first crops you can finally see all your hard work paying off. I am absolutely amazed by the miracles of nature, I still can't believe all my beautiful tomatoes, aubergines, chillies, courgettes, carrots, beets, kale, lettuces and more have all grown from tiny seeds and many of them will soon be producing fruit and seeds of their own - the full cycle.

Incidentally, June is also the busiest time at work for me, not leaving much free time or head space for anything else. I admire people who live off their own land, all the farmers and homesteaders out there. I am trying to do my best with the little land I have, and I don't take anything for granted, I remember every sore muscle, every hour and every penny spent on this garden. But oh, the satisfaction I get from it is just unreal!

I do have problems with slugs and birds, with tiny caterpillars eating my gooseberry and currant leaves, with green fly infestation on my broad beans, with unpredictable weather and all. Nothing is perfect or easy, but it's all a brilliant experience.

I am one proud gardener... I made all this happen with my own two hands (and the help of S); I nurtured these plants to the best of my ability and now I am able to feed my family with these wonderfully fresh, nutritious, organically grown crops. It's the best feeling in the world!

Here are some of my veggies...

Garden update. Failures and successes

The garden now takes up most of my free time - sowing, planting, weeding, weeding and more weeding; first harvests and a bit of landscaping at the same time. I absolutely love my little paradise. It's far from perfect with its broken fence (hopefully getting replaced this summer), its clay soil, cold climate and lots of slug and mice visitors. But it's mine, and to me it's the most beautiful little garden on earth. 

Being in Scotland, everything seems to grow slower or start later than in the more southern parts of the country. I have seen photos of other people's gorgeous red radishes, mini green tomatoes and apples or even first ripe strawberries, while mines are only just starting to flower. The only crops I've been able to harvest so far in moderate quantities are lettuce and rocket. As a new gardener, this can be a bit discouraging, but I keep reminding myself that all I can do is make the best of what I've got. And the climate is something I definitely can't change! 

I am worried I might have problems with my garlic and onions due to the wet winter we had. I wouldn't be surprised to see some white rot. I've had a number of other failures, including:

- Nasturtiums - apparently they're supposed to self-sow and grow like crazy, but none of the seeds I planted has germinated.

- Pear tree - it's the second half of May and it doesn't have a single leaf on it. I think it's safe to assume it's dead.

- Violas - zero germination

- Comfrey - zero germination

- Mint - 3 plants bought and planted last autumn - only one has ''survived'' if you can call it that. The green growth on it is one single leaf the size of my smallest fingernail.

But other things seem to be doing well (if a bit slow) and I've already seen tiny red & white currants, miniature gooseberries, and courgettes the size of my finger. There's lots of blossom on my strawberries and one of my apple trees; the potatoes look very happy and the broad beans are growing fast - hope to see their flowers soon.

All in all, it's a very exciting time for a gardener!

Garden update: what I'm growing this year

As the days are getting longer and weather (slightly) warmer, my garden is starting to look promising. All my raised beds are now ready. Some things were planted last autumn, some this spring; some sown directly and some started indoors. Overall, the garden is still looking mostly bare, but every tiny little seedling feeds my imagination and gives me hope for a lush, green garden of Eden :-) 

So, here's what I'm growing this year!

Fruit:

- Red currant
- White currant
- Gooseberry
- Strawberries
- Wild strawberries (from seed)
- Apples
- Pears
- Summer raspberries
- Autumn raspberries
- Chinese kiwi
- Aronia
- Juneberry
- Japanese quince
- Goji berry

Most of these are very young plants and I am not expecting a lot of fruit (if any) from them this year. But you gotta start somewhere!

Veggies:

- Aubergine
- Beetroot
- Broad beans
- Bush beans
- Butternut squash
- Carrot
- Chard
- Chilli peppers
- Corn
- Courgette
- Garlic
- Jerusalem artichoke
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Onions
- Potatoes
- Radish
- Rhubarb
- Rocket
- Runner beans
- Tomatoes

With veggies it's a lot of trial & error, really. I expect to lose some to slugs or other pests, diseases or frost. I expect not to get great germination rate with every single one of them. But I am really looking forward to learning what works for me and what doesn't!

Herbs:

- Basil
- Bay tree
- Caraway
- Catnip
- Chives
- Coriander
- Dill
- Hyssop
- Lemon balm
- Lavender
- Lovage
- Lungwort
- Marjoram
- Mint
- Nasturtium
- Nigella
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Rosemary
- Rue
- Sage

Apart from these, I seem to have a lot of coltsfoot growing in my garden - it might be a weed but its leaves are supposed to be good for sore throat, so I'm planning to collect and dry some this summer.

Gardening for the soul

I recently read an article that got me thinking about how incredibly important my garden is to me, not just as a hobby or a potential source of fresh food, but as a way of re-connecting with myself and healing my anxieties and taking my worries away.

 ''I felt like the world around me was a dangerous sea and my garden was a little green life raft. I cut a new, long bed out of the grass. I worked the soil until I couldn’t find a sliver of weed root. I barrelled tons of compost and poured it all over the garden to improve the structure of the heavy clay. I sowed seeds, bought more herbaceous perennials than I could afford, and scarified the grass like a man possessed. As I worked on the garden the garden worked on me.''

[Source: Tom Smart / The Guardian / https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2016/jan/22/gardening-is-the-best-medicine-for-the-mind ]

I couldn't have put that better myself. As I work on my garden, my garden works on me. That's it.

Over the last 2 weekends S and I built two new raised beds, filled them with nearly 4 tonnes of soil, built a frame for anti-bird netting, planted potatoes and broadbeans and nurtured countless seedlings on the window sills. Most of that was hard, physical work, but it didn't just give me sore muscles. It cured a severe headache I had been dealing with for four days, it gave me a sense of accomplishment and made me feel re-connected with nature and with myself. It made me feel found, as opposed to feeling lost. I was there and then, grounded in the moment, doing something I find deeply meaningful. Getting my hands dirty and my soul clean. Healing.

Spring is creeping up on us!

This time of the year is soo exciting to me, a brand new gardener. I can see sings of spring popping up all over the garden and it just blows my mind, seeing all these little things waking up from their winter sleep.

The little patch in front of my house is full of things planted by the previous owners and I keep getting one surprise after another. The other day I discovered the oddest-looking furry little plant, which my Mum identified as lungwort. I've read up on it and it seems to have a lot of wonderful properties, so I'm all excited about trying lungwort tea some time this year! 

There are different flowers popping up here & there and I can only guess what they are. My edibles are doing ok - there are loads of tiny buds on my Japanese quinces; my garlic and onions are still looking strong and my rhubarb is definitely growing. These days I'm in the garden at least once a day, marvelling at all the changes!

I don't know what this plant is, but looks like it's going to have yellow flowers very soon.

Heather is looking absolutely beautiful.

Daffodils have grown so much over the past couple of weeks!

I will definitely have some rhubarb this year :-)

The sage is thriving - I've harvested quite a bit over the winter months but it's still producing new leaves.

Garlic seems to be doing alright.

Lungwort - isn't it the most peculiar looking plant?

I think these are crocuses but I wouldn't bet my life on it...

Seeds

Spring is still far away, but it doesn't stop me getting excited about my little seed collection. We recently visited my parents and I received a few seed packets from my mum; I have also bought some myself. It's not a huge selection as I don't want to get overwhelmed; besides I only have so much space to work with.

I have (more than pictured above):

Carrots (2 varieties)

Chard

Lemon balm

Wild strawberries

Caraway

Nigella

Parsley (collected from my mum's own plants last year)

Peppers (mix of sweet and hot)

Aubergine

Lovage

Corn

Bush beans

Chives

Dill

Butternut squash

Courgette

Kale

Foxgloves

Daisies

Tomatoes

Some of them can be sown indoors right now in February, which I did this morning. I also ordered broadbean seeds, but they haven't arrived yet - I think I will plant half of them indoors and half directly in the raised bed and see what happens. 

This is my first year of gardening and I still have loads to learn; being impatient doesn't help, so I try to control myself. I wish I could sow everything already! Here in Scotland though the last frost can appear as late as mid-May, so I need to be careful.

I already have a fair amount of things growing in the garden that I have planted since autumn; my rhubarb is doing exceptionally well and is a pleasure to watch. The garlic, onions and strawberries look good; all the fruit bushes and trees on the other hand still look dead so I have no idea how they are doing. Time will tell!

Garden update: new additions, changes and insane weather!

This winter has been very mild; we have only had a few frosty nights and zero snow. For several weeks the weather was very spring-like, and the plants in my garden started waking up. 

My apple tree has quite a few big, fat buds on it. 

The rhubarb has shown its face. 

The flower bulbs I found buried in the potato planter, and scattered all over the garden back in autumn, have all sprouted. I'm not sure what they are, possibly daffodils, but it definitely looks like I'll have some flowers this spring! 

The garlic and the onions I planted in October seem to be doing particularly well, although I am not sure if they are supposed to look like this in the middle of the winter! This is my first year of gardening so I really don't know if I should be happy or worried...

Buds on the apple tree

Garlic jungle! No picture of onions as their bed is covered with fleece.

Baby rhubarb

Daffodils (I think??) 

There are a few new additions to my garden as well. I  wanted to grow kale, and while researching the subject I discovered a perennial variety of this lovely vegetable. It's called Daubenton's Kale, apparently a very old variety, and is supposed to be very hardy. When I bought it online, the orders were limited to 1 plant per customer, which was a bit disappointing, but then it is supposed to grow very tall (up to 2 metres!) so if all goes well I should have enough leaves just from this one plant. I can also propagate it from cuttings if needed. At the moment it's sitting in a fleece tent, to protect it from slugs and snails until it's established and starts growing.

Another newbie is a second apple tree - Golden Delicious. We love apples so I thought doubling my chances of getting a decent crop would be a good idea :-) I don't expect much from them this year, but hopefully by 2018 they will be established enough to start producing.

And lastly, not a plant but certainly a very important part of my garden - a compost bin. It's a 300-litre bin, which I hope will be enough for our needs. So far the council has been collecting all of our green waste, but no more, I shall start producing my own compost now! Although first I need to find a good spot for it. The first place I put it in didn't quite work - the bin (weighed down with several bricks, mind you!) got blown away last night by the insane wind (or was it a hurricane!) that's been torturing us for a couple of days now. There's been some damage to the garden but I have rectified all that I could, and I hope the plants are resilient enough to survive.

Daubenton's perennial kale, resting under its fleece tent

New apple tree - Golden Delicious

Brand new compost bin