The Good Life

When The Good Life was on our screens in the 70's, the concept of growing vegetables and caring for livestock in our back gardens was stuff of comedy. Yes lots of people grew vegetables but on their allotments and not in their front gardens!
I absolutely loved watching Tom and Barbara, Gerry and Margo and still love the repeats today. Thirty years on, the idea of 'The Good Life' is no longer a joke. For those not able to own an allotment, those wanting to grown their own are turning to their gardens and growing vegetables in raised beds, amongst the flowers or in pots just like Tom and Barbara.

Today in my lunchbox was a salad of lettuce, red onion and tomato all picked from the garden. I couldn't quite manage the olives or butter beans but give me time and global warming and maybe I would grow the olives! I shouldn't joke about global warming but if more people grew veg and we pressured supermarkets to source vegetables closer to home, then we could help to make a small dent in this ever looming problem.

The garden is perking up after giving it a liquid feed or two. My sweetcorn is suffering from blackfly but I blasted them with the hose on full power so I just need to keep on top of the little buggers. My butternut squashes are starting to flower. I need to limit each plant to three flowers to ensure lovely large squashes.

My raspberries have finished but I am a little confused as I bought them as Autumn fruiting raspberries and they seem to be over but putting on lots of growth which points to Summer fruiting raspberries. I think I will contact Marshalls for some advice. I might get a second crop. Ooh what lovely thought, more scrummy raspberries.

It's like pulling onions

At last some success. I have pulled my red onions but had to put them in the summerhouse to dry out and not as tradition would have it, on the soil and in the sun. Also I have started to dig up my Charlotte potatoes; we have them for tea tonight with roast chicken - yum.

I am rather worried about my sweetcorn. Instead of healthy green stems they are starting to yellow. I have read that if the soil is sandy and there has been high rainfall, then the nutrients will leach out of the soil. This is what I think is happening, so I have given them a liquid feed and some magnesium sulphate so I am hoping that might green them up. The wind and rain has rather battered my butternut squash. Some of the stems have almost broken so I am not holding out too much hope for some of them. Its a mixed bag really, with some highs and some lows. Still, looking at someones else's beautiful garden with the promise of tea and cake, usually raises the spirit, so this afternoon we took ourselves off to an NGS garden in Ferndown, Dorset. This was a tiny garden but absolutely chocked full of gorgeous plants. The front was cottagy, my favourite sort of plants and the back was quite tropical. In 2005 the garden was a finalist in the Daily Mail garden of the year competition.

The front garden had a meandering path to the front door with lots of cottage garden favourites like clematis, monarda, phlox, sidelcea, crocosmia and astrantia to name but a few. They had plants for sale so I bought crocosmia lucifer, a favourite of mine and astrantia major. I love the pin cushion flower heads of the astrantia. The back garden had a Spanish feel to it and plants had a more tropical appearance.There were even a couple of bananas in the corner. It felt quite sheltered with all the tall plants creating a cosy atmosphere. And of course at all good open gardens, they provide refreshments, with proceeds going to charity.

You can find all the details of the NGS yellow book at http://www.ngs.org.uk/gen/default.aspx where you can pinpoint local gardens to you and their opening times. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon with plants, tea and cake. (I think I have been here before!)

Wild and Windswept

Is it actually July and has a tornado ripped through my garden?

OK, so that is rather an exaggeration but it is damn windy for July, isn't it?

I think my potatoes are nearly ready but after my disastrous garlic, I am a bit reluctant to lift them. After reading and researching, I have come to the conclusion that I pulled my garlic too early. Better luck next year.

I have run out of space for my Butternut Squash. They need far more room than I anticipated. It's funny how I thought my two veg beds were quite big when they were empty but now I have come to realise that they really are too small for the job. I also thought that I would put the Butternut Squash where the potatoes are but my timing is way out.

So to get over this dilema, we have covered the spot where my new veg bed will be with plastic, popped peat free grow bags on the top and planted two squashes in each. It doesn't look very pretty but the plastic will kill the grass underneath, so we can dig it over my easily at the end of the season.

All the other vegetables are growing well. The lettuce is ready to cut. The carrots have had their first thinnings. I hate choosing which one to pull out, how do you choose, apart from the weakest and always feel so guilty.

I have found a local horticultural society, who meet the 2nd Tuesday of each month, which is this coming Tuesday. It's only £3 to join and you get 10% discount at 4 local garden centres, so it has to be worth popping along to check it out. There's not many places I go anymore, where I am the youngest but I bet I am going to be hard pushed to find someone there who is younger than me. I might be pleasantly suprised - we'll see.

The Sweet Smell of the Garden

We went away last weekend, so I have been playing catchup in the garden this weekend.

I have unearthed my garlic and if they had been a success, I would have taken a photograph and would have reported me jumping for joy but as I pulled them from the earth, my heart sank with disappointment. Some of them were waterlogged and the ones which weren't, were small and a bit insignificant. I left them on the top of the soil in the sunshine today and then brushed off the dirt and have hung them to dry in the garage. When I entered the garage half an hour after hanging them up, there was a faint whiff of garlic in the air!

Talking of whiffs you cannot beat the smell of Sweet Peas. This is a success I can photograph and sing about. I absolutely love Sweet Peas. Next to Dahlia's these are my favourite flowers. They

are so delicate but pack a punch in the nasal department. They need to be fed and watered well and in doing so, reward you with flowers in abundance. Professional growers, grow them on a cordon, (one stem) and cut off the tendrils, which are a nuisance as they wrap themselves around the stems which distorts them. I heard someone today, say that you shouldn't let them flower until they are 2ft tall but I just can't do that, I am too impatient and am happy to have small flowers and lots of them. The important thing to do, is to pick the flowers regularly and not let them set seed, otherwise they will stop flowering. So the more you pick, the more they will flower.

Although I have planted Autumn fruiting raspberries, I am picking the fruit from the bushes now which has puzzled me. I have been growing plants for many years and have quite a good knowledge but vegetables and fruit are new to me. There is so much to learn. The advantage of growing on an allotment, would be that there are lots of people around you with experience and advice but growing on your own with just a few books for help is not so easy. I am thinking that it might be a good idea to join a horticultural society. There must be one local to me. I will do some research.

This afternoon, we took ourselves off to the Purbecks to visit Kingston. They opened 9 gardens in the village for charity which were absolutely heavenly. One garden had a small plant stall and I bought a Dahlia. It has dark foliage and the flower is an acid yellow.

Most of the gardens were small but had the most wonderful views of the Purbecks, the sea and Corfe Castle.

I love visiting ordinary peoples gardens and talking to them about their passion.

The village church was open for tea and cake. I got the last scone with jam and clotted cream - I really felt extremely happy. Gardens, cream tea and sunshine. It really doesn't get better than that!

First Taste of Summer

YUM, YUM YUMMY! I tasted the first produce from my garden last night. I was so excited to see the strawberries all juicy and ripe just waiting to be picked that I shouted Strawberries! at the top of my voice (well according to my son, I didn't realise I was that loud) but it was a very exciting moment for me.

Before I could eat them, I ran inside and searched for a lovely bowl to photograph them in. The light was just right, nice and diffused but still bright enough.

The veg plot is going crazy at the moment. Some of the leaves on the onions and garlic are starting to yellow, so I don't think it will be too long before they are pulled from the ground. I hope not because I have some Butternut Squash waiting in the wings and desperate to be put in the ground. I think I am definitely going to move to a bigger plot next year, I just love growing your own and it tastes so good!!!!!!!!!!

Getting Familiar with Your Garden

We moved into our house and garden last August, so as with all inherited gardens, you need to spend the first year seeing what pops out of the ground. Our predecessors, were more keen on grass than plants but I have found a few gems dotted around the garden.

Callistemon (Bottlebrush)

Clemetis (name unknown)

Digitalis (Foxglove)

Kniphofia (Red-Hot Poker)

This last plant, I am a little bit stuck as to the name. It started to flower the beginning of April and looks absolutely beautiful now, with the whole plant covered in these pink flowers. The bees absolutely love it too! I think it might be called Chamelaucium uncinatum (Geraldton waxflower) but I'm not sure. The leaves are thin like Rosemary. If anyone knows the name then I would be very grateful if they could get in touch.

My veg patch is looking mighty fine too. With everything shooting up towards the heavens.

I have really enjoyed the vegetable growing so far and cannot wait to start tasting them but my raised beds are quite small and I am very limited to what I can grow. I am thinking that I may transfer my veg plot to another part of the garden, next year. I have a bed which is just grass at the moment and I thought I might have a dry gravel garden there (as done by Beth Chatto) but I am having a rethink and might have a large veg bed there instead, depending on my success this year. I will probably have changed my mind many times over before the end of the year though!

Monty Don

I was saddened to hear that Monty Don is stepping down from presenting Gardeners' World after suffering a mild stroke 6 weeks ago.

I really enjoyed Monty's presenting style and he will be missed from the show. Who said gardening was relaxing! Mind you, filming the programme took 12 hour days and after spending a considerable amount of time filming his Around the World in Eighty Gardens series, it's not surprising that he pushed himself to the limit. I thought he didn't look very well, when he was planting out his sweet peas, before he took a break. Thank goodness he is making a recovery and I wish him well.

Now begs the question, 'Who shall take his place'?

I wonder if Carol Klein and Joe Swift will manage the show for this season on their own and they will recruit a new member next Winter. Whoever it is, I hope it's someone with a passion for getting their hands dirty like Monty and the lovely Geoff Hamilton did and not a garden designer. Although Chris Beardshaw has quite a few fans amongst the ladies!

I wait to find out who will be chosen , along as it's not Alan!