Harvesting at last!
OK, harvesting is definitely too grand a word for a handful of tiny tomatoes and a cucumber but they’re edible! Actually, I’m almost embarrassed to write this post after Anna-Lisa’s Garden to Plate article but here goes anyway.
As I was looking around at my plants and taking pictures for the blog I realised actually how much I’ve learned from this ‘practice run’ of growing. Previously I’d only ever grown tomatoes which is no huge achievement as they are pretty tough and provide lots of fruit but this year I tried a variety of veg with no prior knowledge or previous experience at all. I wish I would say that despite this lack of knowledge I’ve yielded a healthy crop that could feed us for the year but sadly that’s far from the truth.
However, from what I’ve learned I know that next year will be better. There are 3 simple things (within my control) that I need to improve:
1. More space
I’ve realised that I grew too many of each plant within a limited amount of garden and greenhouse and they didn’t have enough room to grow. For the things that I grew in pots, the pots were too small.
2. More food
OK, this is a pretty poor thing not to do and I don’t have any other excuse other than being ridiculously busy this summer. The poor plants simply needed to be fed more often, I can see that they’re lacking nutrition and I’m still expecting them to provide me with fruit and veg. BIG lesson learned there and very easy to fix.
3. Get tougher on pests
Although the slugs, snails and caterpillars have just about obliterated by cabbage, broccoli, onions and leeks I just couldn’t bring myself to use the necessary means to stop them. I thought I could keep them away using various barriers but the slugs and snails on my garden are determined and have no mercy on the poor plants – I have to step it up next year.
Beyond my control, less rain and more sunshine would be a huge help too!
Oh, and one more thing – I have to start reading about how to do this stuff instead of just guessing. It’s difficult for me though, I’m just not a ‘read the instructions’ person.
Anyway, some of the latest developments in the garden and greenhouse are the tomatoes and cucumbers as I mentioned already. There are many more tomatoes but they’re not ripe yet and the other cucumbers are still tiny.
The sweet peppers are only just flowering and the sweetcorn is just showing some tiny cobs (which I found very exciting indeed).
I thought that the potatoes I threw in a bucket had died but when I went to empty the bucket I saw they had produced a few baby potatoes, although they were green so I can’t eat them.
The poor veg patch itself which started it all is looking more and more like a giant piece of Nottingham lace with hundreds of holes from slug and caterpillar jaws. The broccoli keeps getting taller though so there might be some hope there.
September 14th, 2007 at 9:18 am
You should be proud of what you have achieved and every year you grow you will gain more knowledge. With regards to feeding your garden, it is always best to get the soil right before you sow or plant your vegetables. Using organic matter such as that from your compost bin is very important in soil preperation, as is using a a rotation system and companion planting such as ‘Three Sisters’ for sweetcorn, beans and squash or pumpkins. Controlling pests can be difficult, however if you encourage the right wildlife into your garden then it can help without using chemicals (i would never use chemicals in mine). Frogs, hedgehogs and the song thrush eat snails so by encouraging them to your garden will help. Hoverflies, lacewings and ladybirds eat aphids so if you plant sugar rich flowers near vegetables that are affected then it can help. You also need to encourage such wildlife to hibernate in your garden over winter for next year, so having natural habitats for them such as piles of logs will help. Keep growing and you will defeintely keep learning.
September 14th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Thanks Anna-Lisa
I would never use chemicals either and wouldn’t encourage anyone else to do so.
We have lots of pest eating wildlife in our garden, the pond brings frogs and hoverflies and there are lots of shrubs for thrush and blackbrids. In fact we have a whole family of blackbirds each spring who help us out with the snails.
For small mammals though its much more difficult because so many of our neighbours have cats and there are foxes too. Its not unusual for me to find remains of animals that have been attacked.
Our garden is wildlife friendly but the feline visitors aren’t I’m afraid – Don’t get me started on that though!
Thank you for the soil and feeding advice – I’m hoping that my compost will be ready by next spring.
September 24th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Hi! I was surfing the internet Monday afternoon during my break, and found your blog by searching Yahoo for greenhouse gardening. This is a topic I have great interest in, and follow it closely. I liked your insight on , and it made for good reading. What do you think of these hydroponics gardens?
September 28th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Hi Greenhouse Gardening.
Thank you for your comment. I’m still learning the very basics of gardening and honestly wouldn’t know the first thing about hydroponics. Although I should imagine that it would require pumps etc for the water and therefore energy to run them. Not sure if that it such a great thing for green gardening unless the energy is renewable.
September 15th, 2009 at 9:48 am
How do I get RID of neighbours CATS from using my garden for faeces?
September 15th, 2009 at 9:51 am
What product to use in garden to keep neighbours CATS away?….faeces and spray of urine? PLEASE….do not have a DOG to kep cats away.