The things I'm growing are all coming along slowly. First there wasn't much rain and then there were some really chilly days. Hopefully the sun and warmth on 3 days of this week will help.
Everything is squeezed in far closer than any recommendation! I have a few rows of beetroot, several sweetcorn plants, some leeks, Climbing beans, onions, shallots, some clumps of chard, 4 courgettes and 3 butternut squash with tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines and peppers in the greenhouse . Coming later I've got saved runner bean seeds to sow and - the only things that are bought in ready grown - some Brussels Sprouts and Kale plants arriving in July.
May 24th
12 days later on June 5th not a lot of warmth so not much growth
The shallots and strawberry plants on the patio 5th June
In the greenhouse on 5th June
Compared to smallholding days this is hardly anything and even at Clay Cottage there was room for more than what I can do now.
So that leaves a lot of veg that I'm not growing here, I thought some people might be interested to know how and why I chose what I do grow and if you're not interested then click away now!
Potatoes :- Much as I love Charlotte new potatoes fresh from the garden, I just don't have room and don't eat enough to bother.
Carrots:- These are cheap to buy. Bought carrots keep for weeks in the salad drawer of the fridge if wrapped in a tea-towel.
Lettuce:- Living alone I don't eat much lettuce and have found one iceberg lettuce lasts for ages in the fridge, without much waste.
Radishes:- I like them but can manage quite well without.
Pumpkin:- Only need 1 for Halloween, costing less than a packet of seeds
Peas:- Need lots of space to grow enough to make it a worthwhile harvest. I grew Mange-tout for freezing for stir-fries at Clay Cottage. May do those next year.
Parsnip:- Love them roast but don't love them enough to grow something thats in the ground for a year
Brassicas :- (apart from the Kale and Brussel sprouts mentioned above) A Cabbage,Cauliflower or a head of Calabrese (Broccoli) lasts me several days and when growing them they always tend to all appear at the same time so it's better for me to buy now and again.
I've probably forgotten lots of other things but ran out of time
Back Tomorrow
Sue
It looks good and flourishing what you are growing Sue, potatoes take up so much room. Winter stuff is also important what with the use of kale recipes are asking for.
ReplyDeleteJust hope I can protect the green stuff from butterflies and pigeons!
DeleteThat's a very productive patch. Here, as always, I am fighting waist-high grass in the paddock, but have some broccoli and peas in a tiny bed at the side of the house. Have very well grown runner beans which MUST go in this weekend, but I need another couple of bags of compost to prepare the dug over bit they are going in. NO courgettes this year! Can't cope with the tyrrany!
ReplyDeleteThe French Climbing are taking an age to get going - were supposed to be much earlier than runners but at this rate they wont be
DeleteYour vegetable garden looks fantastic! :) xx
ReplyDeleteThank you - hopefully there will be a little to eat at sometime
DeleteSimilar here but slightly further behind. My French beans are taking an age to appear let alone get going.
ReplyDeleteI started the French indoors they are a bit slow to get climbing - nearly time to get the Runners sown now
DeleteYour leeks are much further on than mine (which look more like chives) We enjoy lettuce and radishes so I've been growing lots. Like DC, my French Beans seem slow too. This is my first year of gardening so I'm sticking to the book - but with limited space, I'm not sure that I'll do carrots again (they are inexpensive to buy) I'm learning so much from the blogs of other gardeners. Thank you for all the hints, tips, and comments
ReplyDeleteI started the leeks quite early indoors and then spaced them into bigger pots in the greenhouse before they went out
DeleteThe leeks are in the middle bed. Closest are onions!
DeleteThat is a lovely selection of vegetables. I agree with you about carrots—bought ones keep for ages, as do cabbages.
ReplyDeleteWith love from,
Kelly (Mrs. Kiwi)
I'm always amazed at how long the carrots will keep as long as they are dry and in the salad drawer wrapped in a tea towel.
DeleteI fail utterly at keeping carrots. They seem to look at me and deliquesce. I'll try your tip and hope that they last a little longer.
ReplyDeleteKeeping the carrots dry is the trick - hope it works for you too
DeleteVery good explanations of why you are not growing some things and it really makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI am only growing potatoes in bags this year ... and in future if it works out well ... the reason being we can empty one bag at a time to eat them fresh, I don't think there is blight in this area so I am experimenting, and the main reason, we had bought lots of compost and I thought getting a crop of potatoes out of it before upending it into the raised bed where it's planned to go would be a good plan. This year I am concentrating on fancy salad leaves as Alan loves them, a few radishes and sadly I have just one each of cucumber and courgette, but I think I do need to get another courgette plant, one is not enough. A good excuse to get a plant from the garden centre ;-)
I only spend a little a month on potatoes now so really not worth the work and space. I'd be no good on a wartime ration of mainly potatoes!
DeleteAll looking fantastic and very logical reasons why you are not growing items that were standard in previous years.
ReplyDeleteJust 8 years ago we were self-sufficient! Oh well best not to remember
DeleteWe've cut back this year too - it can feel so wasteful to grow gluts and at the height of summer it's sometimes impossible to give excess crops away isn't it? We've done runners because they are so nice fresh, courgettes because they are lovely young and just a few broad beans - they freeze so well.
ReplyDeleteAgree about carrots, fiddly to grow and so cheap to buy.
Alison in Wales x
Bought runner beans are always floppy and nasty!
DeleteYour garden looks very organised. I have three bags of potatoes , so much easier than digging a whole bed. Tried carrots and always end up with 3 or 4 good ones!
ReplyDeletecarrot fly is such a pest for home grown but I suppose that means shop bought are sprayed
DeleteYour garden looks marvelous. Well planned and it will, no doubt, be productive. Home grown fresh vegetables are the best and in my opinion the most tasty. In comparison, I'm growing one tomato plant on my upper level sun deck and happily it is doing well. So far, no blight. Due to wildlife, I can not have a vegetable garden as everything gets eaten.
ReplyDeleteI think I might have far too many tomatoes although at the moment they aren't producing many flowers.
DeleteThat looks organized and I can tell you know what you are doing. I do not so I do not garden but luckily my younger brother does so I get fresh produce from his surplus. Just right for me with out the work! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's all trial and error over 40 years!
DeleteSue, you've packed quite a lot into limited space! I'm hoping this summer brings you good weather for very productive crops. Although easy to grow, carrots, potatoes, lettuces and a few other veggies can still be found inexpensively in stores in abundant supply. It makes sense to dedicate garden space to those things you really prefer to keep a good stock of where the costs have gone up, up, up. --Elise
ReplyDeleteWe do not grow cabbage, cauliflower or broccoli as they take up so much room in the garden and the flea beetles seem to love them (same with kale). Carrots do not seem to grow for us any more and as you say can be bought relatively inexpensively. We do grow potatoes though as the bought potatoes the last few years are terrible.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I probably would have done exactly as you, maybe excepting some Yukon gold potatoes.
ReplyDeleteWhile you were focusing on what you're not growing, I am filled with admiration for what you ARE growing is such a small space and it the first year after moving (I think it's the first full year - or is the second?)
ReplyDeleteI love your growing beds and the greenhouse looks as if it is earning its space. All lovely. xx
ive had to buy a couple of pots of leeks from the carboot this week some helpful soul has strimmered mine off
ReplyDelete