Gardener’s World (167-198)

Yep, it’s time for an update on the veggie patch! My current crop quota (plant-wise, rather than actual harvest as yet) stands at:

• Peas and runner beans – a couple of seedlings starting to come through
• Rhubarb – this was a ‘crown’ (or, more realistically, a stump to those not in the gardening know) but now has 2 leaves
• Gooseberry – growing nicely, but no fruit as yet
• Blackberry – relocated from the hedge; bit twiggy at the mo, but getting leaves
• Raspberries – leaves but not much else; not supposed to fruit in first year
• Strawberries – major crop!! Tonnes of alpine strawberries (tiny but deliciously sweet) and we had our first proper-size strawberries from the alpine’s neighbour this weekend (yummy). Plenty to come still once they’ve reddened.
• Courgettes – we’re down to 2 plants still alive (I think transplanting them when they were flowering wasn’t a good plan); flowers, a couple of leaves, no courgettes yet
• Beetroot – pink seedlings sprouting through the soil
• Pepper – only 3 peppers left on the plant but am hoping it will produce some more now we’re eaten the other 4
• Carrots – little green tufts that look like grass starting to come through
• Spring onions – seeds planted a couple of weeks ago; nothing as yet
• Potatoes – going crazy! Leaves are about a foot high and we’ve started banking up the soil like you’re supposed to
• Sweetcorn – not much activity
• Herbs – mint, rosemary, sage and curly parsley all doing fine

I’ve also just put some tomato plants out from the cloche into the main bed and they’re looking good (about 20cms tall).

Then, in my ‘cloche’ (kitchen cupboard from freecycle with plastic lid) I’ve got seeds from my sister that are just starting to sprout and include a couple of lettuce varieties and cucumber, as well as cherry tomatoes that I’m going to put out (about 2cms tall) from seeds from freecycle and six chilli plants given to me by a volleyball friend that are about 7cms tall and look great.

So, it’s all systems are go and we’ve managed to have strawberries and peppers so far – all very tasty and it feels fantastic to be harvesting things from our garden. It’s fun and we check the plants’ progress every evening when we get home from work (a bit obsessively actually), but I’m not sure that I’d be able to ditch buying fruit and veg from the supermarket and self-sustain us just yet. I’m not exactly sure how much money it’s saving us either, but oh well.

~ by diaryofadebtor on June 16, 2009.